What is Auto Purge?
The Malwarebytes research team has determined that Auto Purge is a search hijacker. These so-called "hijackers" manipulate your browser(s), for example to change your startpage or searchscopes, so that the affected browser visits their site or one of their choice.
How do I know if my computer is affected by Auto Purge?
You may see this entry in your list of installed Chrome extensions:
and these warnings during install:
You will see this icon in your Chrome menu-bar:
and these changed settings:
How did Auto Purge get on my computer?
Browser hijackers use different methods for distributing themselves. This particular one was downloaded from the webstore:
after a redirect from their website:
How do I remove Auto Purge?
Our program Malwarebytes can detect and remove this potentially unwanted program.
- Please download Malwarebytes for Windows to your desktop.
- Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
- When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
- Click on the Get started button.
- Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
- When the scan is finished click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
- Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.
- No, Malwarebytes removes Auto Purge completely.
We hope our application and this guide have helped you eradicate this hijacker.
As you can see below Malwarebytes Browser Guard, as well as the full version of Malwarebytes would have protected you against the Auto Purge hijacker. It would have blocked their website, giving you a chance to stop it before it became too late.
Technical details for experts
Possible signs in FRST logs:
CHR NewTab: Default -> Active:"chrome-extension://fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo/n.html" CHR DefaultSearchURL: Default -> hxxps://autopurge.org/s/?category=web&p=ap&q={searchTerms} CHR DefaultSearchKeyword: Default -> AutoPurge CHR Extension: (Auto Purge) - C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo [2019-12-13]Alterations made by the installer:
File system details [View: All details] (Selection) --------------------------------------------------- Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0 Adds the file 128.png"="12/13/2019 8:40 AM, 5907 bytes, A Adds the file e.js"="12/6/2019 3:57 PM, 2134 bytes, A Adds the file manifest.json"="12/13/2019 8:40 AM, 1921 bytes, A Adds the file n.html"="12/6/2019 4:20 PM, 2837 bytes, A Adds the file o.html"="12/6/2019 4:26 PM, 2878 bytes, A Adds the file o.js"="12/9/2019 12:29 PM, 3127 bytes, A Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0\_metadata Adds the file computed_hashes.json"="12/13/2019 8:40 AM, 425 bytes, A Adds the file verified_contents.json"="12/9/2019 1:09 PM, 1807 bytes, A Registry details [View: All details] (Selection) ------------------------------------------------ [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\PreferenceMACs\Default\extensions.settings] "fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo"="REG_SZ", "51849DCA4BB0186BF30113B9C2088695BDBD71821EB702DE1B2CB63F8ABFFB63"Malwarebytes log:
Malwarebytes www.malwarebytes.com -Log Details- Scan Date: 12/13/19 Scan Time: 8:59 AM Log File: 79829d66-1d7e-11ea-8815-00ffdcc6fdfc.json -Software Information- Version: 4.0.4.49 Components Version: 1.0.770 Update Package Version: 1.0.16096 License: Premium -System Information- OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 CPU: x64 File System: NTFS User: {computername}\{username} -Scan Summary- Scan Type: Threat Scan Scan Initiated By: Manual Result: Completed Objects Scanned: 235953 Threats Detected: 15 Threats Quarantined: 15 Time Elapsed: 35 min, 22 sec -Scan Options- Memory: Enabled Startup: Enabled Filesystem: Enabled Archives: Enabled Rootkits: Disabled Heuristics: Enabled PUP: Detect PUM: Detect -Scan Details- Process: 0 (No malicious items detected) Module: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Key: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Value: 1 PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, HKCU\SOFTWARE\GOOGLE\CHROME\PREFERENCEMACS\Default\extensions.settings|fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo, Quarantined, 300, 773266, , , , Registry Data: 0 (No malicious items detected) Data Stream: 0 (No malicious items detected) Folder: 3 PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0\_metadata, Quarantined, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0, Quarantined, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\EXTENSIONS\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo, Quarantined, 300, 773266, 1.0.16096, , ame, File: 11 PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0\_metadata\computed_hashes.json, Quarantined, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0\_metadata\verified_contents.json, Quarantined, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0\128.png, Quarantined, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0\e.js, Quarantined, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0\manifest.json, Quarantined, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0\n.html, Quarantined, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0\o.html, Quarantined, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\fgmndfjkhiomcbbehomlnjkcgejoaldo\1.0_0\o.js, Quarantined, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Secure Preferences, Replaced, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Preferences, Replaced, 300, 773266, , , , PUP.Optional.AutoPurge, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Secure Preferences, Replaced, 300, 773265, 1.0.16096, , ame, Physical Sector: 0 (No malicious items detected) WMI: 0 (No malicious items detected) (end)As mentioned before the full version of Malwarebytes could have protected your computer against this threat.
We use different ways of protecting your computer(s):
- Dynamically Blocks Malware Sites & Servers
- Malware Execution Prevention