Websites blocked by mobfree.click

[Mattcoopes90]

Yeah, another browser would probably stop it, but so does the add blocker. I want to know where it is coming from.
Did you turn off do not track in Safari? Try setting Safari like mine, clear your cache again, then try it one more time.

I've got everything exactly as yours is and it is still coming up. I litirally clicked on one website and all this data came up

 

[JamesMB]

When you check settings/battery and tap the clock or any entry, do you show anything running in the background?

 

[JamesMB]

My search results are showing it happening in Safari, Firefox, and Chrome...I thought at first that several websites had been hacked, and the websites themselves were causing the redirects. But two of the biggest offenders seem to be weather.com, and walmart.com, and neither one redirects me. I'm thinking it's gotta be something on the phone, but other than an app, I don't know what it could be, since you have cleared cache, changed DNS servers, and it happens on both wifi and cellular.

Are you in the US?

 

[Mattcoopes90]

My search results are showing it happening in Safari, Firefox, and Chrome...I thought at first that several websites had been hacked, and the websites themselves were causing the redirects. But two of the biggest offenders seem to be weather.com, and walmart.com, and neither one redirects me. I'm thinking it's gotta be something on the phone, but other than an app, I don't know what it could be, since you have cleared cache, changed DNS servers, and it happens on both wifi and cellular.

Are you in the US?

No I'm in the UK I get it mostly with Engadget and The Verge. Seems to be fairly random though. Sometimes a specific article on site that triggers it rather than the main page.
I have clicked on the clock, the attached is what it shows.

 

[Erdbeertorte]

Those problems can also be caused by some kind of profile that has been maybe accidentally installed. Profiles can take control over some functions of the phone.

They are located in Settings/General/Profiles. Normally there should be nothing if you don't use a VPN or the iOS Public Beta Program for example.

 

[kytosol]

I have this exact same problem for a few weeks and certain websites seem to redirect to mobfree.click. I only have this issue on my iPhone (iPhone 6 - iOS 9.2).



Websites I tend to notice the issue in:

http://consequenceofsound.net/

http://consequenceofsound.net/



I have closed safari, cleared history and website data, gone into advanced and cleared all website data, restarted my phone but nothing seems to have resolved my issue. I had a strange profile on my phone, most likely from a recent trip to japan where I used a data sim card, however on removal of the profile the issue appears to persist.



The issue occurs using 4g and wifi and doesn't appear to be related to the network I'm connecting on.



At this stage, my best guess is that an add on these websites contains some code that looks for safari mobile browser and redirects me. The other alternative is there is an app that is somehow hooking into something in safari and causing the redirect, but I'm guessing that is probably less likely.



I'd be keen to hear if anyone manages to solve the issue. I'm just a curious to find out how it is actually being done as well as resolving it...

 

[JamesMB]

At this stage, my best guess is that an add on these websites contains some code that looks for safari mobile browser and redirects me. The other alternative is there is an app that is somehow hooking into something in safari and causing the redirect, but I'm guessing that is probably less likely.

i haven't figured out what triggers it either. I can't get it to happen on my 6S, that's why I didn't think it was website related. Besides, it is happening on too many sites. Weather.com and walmart.com seem to be the most reported.

 

[asv56kx3088]

Did you install any kind of profile? If yes, removing profile from unknown sources will do.

 

[kytosol]

Did you install any kind of profile? If yes, removing profile from unknown sources will do.

I did have an unusual profile that was required to be installed while overseas, however I have removed the profile and the issue appear to persist.

 

[kytosol]

OK this is interesting. The issue occurs in Safari and Chrome on iOS for me.

As multiple affected browsers on the device seems to indicate that either
- The issue is at the phone/network level such as DNS issues, malicious iOS profiles or malicious apps.
- The websites themselves are compromised. (However this seems unlikely as major websites appear to be having this issue and you would expect more posts on various forums).

Next step for me will be a factory reset of my phone to see if the issue corrects itself.

 

[JamesMB]

Did you install any kind of profile? If yes, removing profile from unknown sources will do.

I never thought about checking profiles.

 

[JamesMB]

OK this is interesting. The issue occurs in Safari and Chrome on iOS for me.

As multiple affected browsers on the device seems to indicate that either
- The issue is at the phone/network level such as DNS issues, malicious iOS profiles or malicious apps.
- The websites themselves are compromised. (However this seems unlikely as major websites appear to be having this issue and you would expect more posts on various forums).

Next step for me will be a factory reset of my phone to see if the issue corrects itself.

I think it is phone/network level. Perhaps an app.

 

[kytosol]

A full reset of all settings and content DIDN'T resolve the issue. I chose to setup as a new phone with default apps and settings only. I didn't connect to wifi and only used cellular data and the redirect occurred straight away. After this, I went to the sites in question and did recieve the redirect on several occasions.



From this, now that I've ruled apps/settings out and network related issues such as DNS/profiles out, I think the only remaining culprit is the websites themselves. The 2 websites in question that give me issues are http://consequenceofsound.net/ and http://questionablecontent.net/ and both seem to have banner ads. I am thinking that perhaps both sites have a particular malicious banner ad that loads with some java script that includes a redirect to mobfree.click when iOS is detected. This is supported by the fact that the redirect doens't happen every time and that pretty much all other causes have been ruled out.



I do wonder that perhaps I've visited a website that has caused a particular malicious ad to follow me around several sites, which would also support why some users receive this issue more often then others.



I'm now in the process of restoring my iPhone to it's previous state as there isn't much else I can think to test.

 

[JamesMB]

A full reset of all settings and content DIDN'T resolve the issue. I chose to setup as a new phone with default apps and settings only. I didn't connect to wifi and only used cellular data and the redirect occurred straight away. After this, I went to the sites in question and did recieve the redirect on several occasions.



From this, now that I've ruled apps/settings out and network related issues such as DNS/profiles out, I think the only remaining culprit is the websites themselves. The 2 websites in question that give me issues are http://consequenceofsound.net/ and http://questionablecontent.net/ and both seem to have banner ads. I am thinking that perhaps both sites have a particular malicious banner ad that loads with some java script that includes a redirect to mobfree.click when iOS is detected. This is supported by the fact that the redirect doens't happen every time and that pretty much all other causes have been ruled out.



I do wonder that perhaps I've visited a website that has caused a particular malicious ad to follow me around several sites, which would also support why some users receive this issue more often then others.



I'm now in the process of restoring my iPhone to it's previous state as there isn't much else I can think to test.

This has got me dumbfounded.....I have found at least a dozen sites where this redirect is happening, and yet I can't get it to happen on either of my iPhones. Yet, since you set up as a new phone, that proves to me that the phone isn't involved.

It also can't be traced back to the various ISP's because it also occurs on cellular data.

I also don't see how a malicious add could be the cause, since you set up as new, that would have removed any malware.

 

[kytosol]

I also don't see how a malicious add could be the cause, since you set up as new, that would have removed any malware.

I was thinking that perhaps a particular ad like a banner ad has some javascript on it that is causing the redirect. This means no malware is actually 'installed' but rather when the browser loads the page it will grab the code for the banner ad during the page load. Depending on what ad is served, you may or not get the redirect. It also makes sense that the malicious creator of the ad would target just phones in the script so it is less likely to be discovered by the banner ad company and pulled as they probably only test on a desktop browser.

 

[Mattcoopes90]

I was thinking that perhaps a particular ad like a banner ad has some javascript on it that is causing the redirect. This means no malware is actually 'installed' but rather when the browser loads the page it will grab the code for the banner ad during the page load. Depending on what ad is served, you may or not get the redirect. It also makes sense that the malicious creator of the ad would target just phones in the script so it is less likely to be discovered by the banner ad company and pulled as they probably only test on a desktop browser.

Interesting idea

I get the redirect litirally everytime I try to load the effected link. On some sites I can browse fine but as soon as I select an article that it has happened on once it will happen everytime. So shouldn't this be the case for everyone with that in mind.

 

[stevemiller]

I have had something similar happen in the past. A tech blog website that had never had issues in the past suddenly was doing all these terrible redirects.

I posted a comment about it and several others replied with similar issues. The site owner looked into it, and it was a malicious ad that was being served to users in a particular region. Which is why some but not all would experience the issue.

Anyway it got resolved pretty quick once myself and others flagged it. Although that might have been good luck, as I'm sure larger companies would be slower to react to user feedback.

Sad thing is that installing an ad blocker is the easiest solution from and end user perspective, even though site owners probably often have no idea and no desire to allow ****** ads like that.

 

[JamesMB]

I was thinking that perhaps a particular ad like a banner ad has some javascript on it that is causing the redirect. This means no malware is actually 'installed' but rather when the browser loads the page it will grab the code for the banner ad during the page load. Depending on what ad is served, you may or not get the redirect. It also makes sense that the malicious creator of the ad would target just phones in the script so it is less likely to be discovered by the banner ad company and pulled as they probably only test on a desktop browser.

Makes sense, and also explains why I am unable to get the redirects.

I have had something similar happen in the past. A tech blog website that had never had issues in the past suddenly was doing all these terrible redirects.

I posted a comment about it and several others replied with similar issues. The site owner looked into it, and it was a malicious ad that was being served to users in a particular region. Which is why some but not all would experience the issue.

Anyway it got resolved pretty quick once myself and others flagged it. Although that might have been good luck, as I'm sure larger companies would be slower to react to user feedback.

Sad thing is that installing an ad blocker is the easiest solution from and end user perspective, even though site owners probably often have no idea and no desire to allow ****** ads like that.

Yeah, I never thought about it being a regional thing. But that would explain why I can't get it to happen on my device. I also thought about the fact that adblockers seem to stop it, and it if was associated with the phone itself (app or DNS changes), I don't think an adblocker would help.

 

[Jcdumdumaya]

Does factory resetting work?

 

[JamesMB]

Does factory resetting work?

Can't you read?????

 

[Jcdumdumaya]

Can't you read?????

I never saw someone mentioning factory reset

 

[tmanto02]

Interesting idea

I get the redirect litirally everytime I try to load the effected link. On some sites I can browse fine but as soon as I select an article that it has happened on once it will happen everytime. So shouldn't this be the case for everyone with that in mind.

Try disabling JavaScript in safari settings. It will at least narrow down the possibilities. I had a similar thing happen on Macrumors it's self once and it was a crappy ad server that was causing the issue. The site developers recognised the issue and fixed

 

[saiyan]

Thanks for all your help. The content blocker seems to have done the trick. Thanks for the suggestions.

Can you please tell us which content blocker did you use to block mobfree redirect?
Thanks

 

[Tyler23]

I had the same thing last night when trying to access Walmart.com.

Before I even noticed, I had accidentally clicked on the link for an app from that page that brought me to the app store.

Is that dangerous for my device? Could I have been infected with anything?

 

[heligo]

I'm in the UK and have the same problem. I'm using a Content Blocker (Focus by Firefox) and always use Safari in Private Browsing mode.

Occasionally when I browse Engadget I am redirected to mobfree.click