uBlock Origin for Chrome - Disables Google Search

[dannyodare]

Hello,

With Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, I've just installed the latest 'default' version of uBlock Origin (v.1.8.4) on the latest version of Google Chrome (v.52.0.2743.116 m 64-bit). However, it disables Google Search. For instance, when I do a search for 'Zappa', it just gives me a blank page: and the following appears in address bar:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=zappa&oq=zappa&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60j69i65l2j0j69i60.2647j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Similarly, when I do a search for 'Garcia', I get a a blank page and this:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=garcia&oq=garcia&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i65l2j0l3.4600j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

However, uBlock Origins works fine with Mozilla Firefox.

If it helps, I had simiilar problems with AdBlock Plus - had to keep reinstalling Google Chrome to partially fix the problem (ie, the omnibox still never works, but it get directed to the Google Search page, from which I can proceed).

Any ideas?

Thanks,
DANNY O'Dare

[gorhill]

Did you try running uBO as the only extension, and with only default settings?

[dannyodare]

OK, I'll double check and give it a go.

On 14 August 2016 at 13:46, Raymond Hill [email protected] wrote:

Did you try running uBO as the only extension, and with only default
settings?

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[dannyodare]

Hi,

Tried the above, but - alas - did not work. Same situation as before.

On 14 August 2016 at 13:48, Danny O'Dare [email protected] wrote:

OK, I'll double check and give it a go.

On 14 August 2016 at 13:46, Raymond Hill [email protected] wrote:

Did you try running uBO as the only extension, and with only default
settings?

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[gorhill]

Things to do to try to find out what is happening:

• Open the logger for that page, see what it says, especially what is being blocked or hidden (you will need to reload the page once the logger is opened).
• Toggle on/off the no-cosmetic-filtering switch. Does it have an effect?

[dannyodare]

Disabling the 'no-cosmetic-filtering switch' makes no difference.

How do I 'open the logger', etc?

Just to emphasis - this happens on _every_ page (ie, a blank page).

On 14 August 2016 at 14:29, Raymond Hill [email protected] wrote:

Things to do to try to find out what is happening:

• Open the logger for that page, see what it says.
• Toggle on/off the no-cosmetic-filtering switch
  https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Per-site-switches#no-cosmetic-filtering.
  Does it have an effect?

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[gorhill]

How do I 'open the logger', etc?

The logger.

Also, look at dev console for the pages which are blank (Ctrl-i). Any error message in there? If so, maybe cut&paste here.

[gorhill]

Do you have any settings/flags in your browser which you changed from defaults? Any apps (chrome://apps)?

[dannyodare]

Searching, opening up a random page (ie, 'Zappa'), I get this:

chrome-extension://cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm/logger-ui.html#tab_129

Dev Console gives me the following error messages:

Failed to load resource: net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT
https://www.google.co.uk/gen_204?v=3&s=hplus&atyp=csi&ei=-newV6yzCKjFgAas_Y
….3970,cst.0,dnst.0,rqst.2436,rspt.3,rqstt.1260,unt.1252,cstt.1252,dit.4144
Failed to load resource: net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT
https://www.googleapis.com/generate_204 Failed to load resource:
net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT
https://cse.google.com/adsense/search/async-ads.js Failed to load resource:
net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT
https://www.google.com/cse/static/en/google_custom_search_watermark.gif
Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 (Not
Found)
contentscript.js:1665 INIT FLOAT FORM

Thanks.

DANNY

On 14 August 2016 at 14:49, Raymond Hill [email protected] wrote:

How do I 'open the logger', etc?

The logger https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/The-logger.

Also, look at dev console for the pages which are blank (Ctrl-i). Any
error message in there? If so, maybe cut&paste here.

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[dannyodare]

No, default settings.

On 14 August 2016 at 14:56, Raymond Hill [email protected] wrote:

Do you have any settings in your browser which you changed from defaults?

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[gorhill]

contentscript.js:1665 INIT FLOAT FORM

That is of interest. That is not from uBO's content script, so it would be nice to be able to find out from which extension this comes from. Can you click on the contenscript.js:1665 and see where this leads you?

[dannyodare]

When I click on the above, I get this:

[remove huge copy-pasted block of code]

[gorhill]

Can you provide me with the URL of where you see that code instead?

[dannyodare]

Does this help?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=zappa&oq=zappa&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60j69i65l2j69i60j69i61.3431j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

On 14 August 2016 at 15:23, Raymond Hill [email protected] wrote:

Can you provide me with the URL of where you see that code instead?

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[dannyodare]

No, it appears that I cannot give you an URL of the page - just the above
(blank page).

On 14 August 2016 at 15:53, Danny O'Dare [email protected] wrote:

Does this help?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=zappa&oq=zappa&aqs=chrome..
69i57j69i60j69i65l2j69i60j69i61.3431j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

On 14 August 2016 at 15:23, Raymond Hill [email protected] wrote:

Can you provide me with the URL of where you see that code instead?

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[gorhill]

Ok, instead of clicking on contenscript.js:1665, right-click on contenscript.js:1665 and select _"Copy link address"_. Paste the result here.

[gorhill]

I am guessing that error comes from an extension named _"Flash Video Downloaded"_ (site) installed in your browser. Appears to be scammy, since the extension is no longer available at the link given on the site.

Remove this extension, and see if this helps.

[gorhill]

Here is a piece of code in the large block of code you pasted above:

var GoogleSearchRefinements = new function(){

    const REFINEMENTS_ID = "fvd-seopack-google-refinements";
    const REFINEMENTS_LIST_ID = "fvd-seopack-google-refinements-list";
    const URL_PATTERN = "http://flashvideodownloader.org/fvd-suite/to/s/chrgoogref/?query=%query%";
    const DISPLAY_REFINEMENTS_AFTER_CLOSE_INTERVAL = 24 * 3600 * 1000; //

24 hours

So I think it's a pretty good guess that you have a malicious extension installed. From what a gather from the code, it installs an overlay with it's own stuff, obfuscating Google Search's real results. Removed it, and if you can't find it, you will have to seek support where appropriate. Maybe follow this guide -- at least starting from step 4: https://decentsecurity.com/holiday-tasks/.

[dannyodare]

Hi,

Here is the right-click on 'contenscript.js:1665' (I have never installed
Flash Video Downloaded):

file:///C:/Users/Me10/AppData/Local/Google/Chrome/User%20Data/Default/Extensions/pbegekjleoplkhibgbmkmnnfffcpfanh/5.1.1_0/modules/pagescroll/contentscript.js

On 14 August 2016 at 16:05, Raymond Hill [email protected] wrote:

Ok, instead of clicking on contenscript.js:1665, right-click and select _"Copy
link address"_. Paste the result here.

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[dannyodare]

Strange, I have never installed Flash Video Downloaded - and SUPERanti-spyware, etc does not find anything malicious or suspicious. Oh well, never mind - thanks for your help.

DANNY

[gorhill]

A Google search of pbegekjleoplkhibgbmkmnnfffcpfanh shows that you have this extension installed: better Browser - for Chrome, which is from _"offered by FVD Inc"_ -- so I gather this is the FVD in question. So you do not have the _"Flash Video Downloader"_ extension itself, but another extension made by the same people.

In any case, the fact that you get this error message in the console means you did not test with only uBO installed.

[wisnoskij]

Thanks for this thread, I have been having the same issue. I had FVD installed, but even with it uninstalled that does not fix my problem. I am not noticing anything that does not look like it is coming from Google on either the logger or console.

I don't have any apps installed beside the google ones which come with it. I have Free Download Manager Chrome extension 2.1.9 and Checker Plus for Gmail installed, but disabled for this testing. (plus a few default Google extensions that come bundled)
I have the tab muting flag enabled.

[gorhill]

but disabled for this testing

Did you force a reload of the Google page after this? Content scripts of extensions stay loaded in a page until the page is force-reloaded. To be even more cautious, restart the browser after you disable all other extensions. Also see chrome://policy/, some malware on your computer may have install an bad extensions as a managed one. Bottom line is that there is no issue of uBO causing Google search page to be blank, most likely is that something else on your side is doing this.

[wisnoskij]

Yes, I did a full restart of chrome and have since restarted my computer and the issues persists.

No policies are set. And the suspect extension was uninstalled, so it was not managed.

Maybe I will just try a reinstall of Chrome.

[gorhill]

Try toggling on/off the no-cosmetic-filtering switch for the page. Does that do something?

[wisnoskij]

No, tried that already, and again right now.

[gorhill]

Can you inspect he DOM, find out why the page is blank?

[wisnoskij]

Great idea. And, this is weird.
The page working normally, at least for me, has style="opacity: 1;" in the body tag.
When I turn on uBlock this is removed, causing the default to take over, and the body becomes transparent.

Is there some logger which will log changes made to the page?

IE shows this opacity tag as well, so maybe it is default Google. A lot of things interact with opacity, but there is one script that stands out because of its excessive use of !important

body{opacity:0;}#gb{display:none;} #leftnav{visibility:hidden;} .r{font-size:18px !important;} a{text-decoration:none !important;} .r b{font-weight:normal !important;} .ds{margin-left:0; !important;} .tbos{color: #777 !important;} ._Ihd{ border-bottom: 3px solid #4285f4 !important; color: #4285f4 !important; }

But this is shown in my IE as well. If someone posted the correct source code returned for a google search I could compare what I am getting and make sure that it is not my ISP, router, or other software that is editing the html before chrome even gets to it.

[wisnoskij]

Ya, I reinstalled Chrome, and have the same issue. As soon as I install uBlock O Google stops working. Also, I believe this same issue is causing me to get the old style view of Google Images. Will test on a Linux live disk and see what I get.

Thanks so much for guiding me though identifying this so far. But it appears like this might be a hard issue to track down and since it is clearly not an uBlock issue, you don't need to keep helping me, if you do not want to. But I will update this thread as I go.

[wisnoskij]

Reinstalling Chrome seemed to give the issue new fangs. Shortly after my computer went into full virus meltdown mode. Reinstalled Windows, and have been using new software as much as possible and testing Google all the time to make sure nothing sneaks in. But completely starting over completely fixed all my issues. It had to be some outside program, as it even fixed my issues with downloads and removed the 'opacity' attribute which I even got in IE. I doubt that chrome gives extensions enough privileges that FVD was able to do that, and I it definitely never tricked me into downloading/installing anything.

[matt-derrick]

i'm having this same issue. seems that the google search isn't quite 'disabled' it's just marked with the 'opacity=0' css, which makes the whole page blank. you can still click on links so the content is still there, you just can't see it.

i've removed all extenttions except ublock and the issue persists. in fact the only way to solve this issue is to disable ublock.

is there any info i can provide to help track down the issue?

[gorhill]

is there any info i can provide to help track down the issue?

It's not an issue with uBO -- you probably have a rogue extension, uBO does not modify opacity of DOM element. Best is to seek support where appropriate, here is only to report issue with uBO proper.

[matt-derrick]

how can it be a rogue extension if i've removed all other extensions? couldn't this be a bad element in one of the filter lists?

[rafaelpini]

I have the same problem and noticed something very odd: the same happens if I install Adblock.
If I disable uBlock OR Adblock, Google search goes back to normal...

[rafaelpini]

Well, I´ve found a workaround. Adding the following rule to uBlock fix this error:

* ajax.googleapis.com * allow

I guess Google changes the opacity from 0 to 1 to maybe look like that it is loading faster...

[gorhill]

@rafaelpini Your solution suggests something is blocking network requests to ajax.googleapis.com. If you remove your rule, can you see in the logger if and what blocks network request to ajax.googleapis.com?

[rafaelpini]

@gorhill Well, I´ve found the culprit. "EasyList‎ (forums.lanik.us)" is what is blocking Google from changing back the opacity.
On my previous comment I´ve written the wrong rule, this was the one correcting it:

* google.com * allow

[gorhill]

What is the filter in EasyList causing the problem?

[rafaelpini]

I´m not really sure, but my guess is this:
/adsense/*

It´s the only script blocked on my logger. Here goes my complete log:

[gorhill]

I have a strong suspicion that http://cse.google.com/adsense/search/async-ads.js is not something used by Google Search -- "cse" stands for "custom search engine", something else on your computer is hijacking your Google Search page, to probably display their own ads.

[matt-derrick]

i'm having the same problem as rafaelpini and im on a fresh install of windows 10, and none of my extensions have ever caused a problem before. for now i'm just disabling easylist and that seems to solve the problem.

[rafaelpini]

@gorhill Thanks for the feedback! I´ve run adwcleaner, Hitman, Malwarebytes and RogueKiller without any detections. Do you know how can I further debug this?

[gorhill]

none of my extensions have ever caused a problem before

Until one of them is bought and starts to push ads. It's up to you to take this seriously, I can only tell you to look further.

For instance, one can find out which extension injects stuff in a page by opening the dev console for the page, force a reload of the page, click _Source_ pane in dev console, click _Content scripts_ in the left-hand bar, expand the tree view in there, it will list the extensions with content scripts for the page.

The only advise I can give is to not be in denial about this issue, but it's up to you in the end, I can't investigate for you.

[rafaelpini]

There is something going deeper here... Even disabling all extensions and also using incognito mode I can see this rewrite. If I use Firefox it doesn´t happen. Maybe some sort of virus replaced Chrome in a low level way to create this rewrite, so I will try to fully uninstall Chrome and see if that fixes it.

[matt-derrick]

Look, I have LITERALLY removed EVERY extension except ublock. I just reinstalled windows 10 a few days ago. I've got avast installed. I've tested it with and without it turned on. This issue has existed across two computers.

For instance, one can find out which extension injects stuff in a page by opening the dev console for the page, force a reload of the page, click Source pane in dev console, click Content scripts in the left-hand bar, expand the tree view in there, it will list the extensions with content scripts for the page.

I've done that, and the ONLY thing there is js files from the uBlock plugin.

So maybe you should take this issue a little more seriously. Personally I'm tired of arguing with you about it, so I'm unsubscribing from this thread.

[gorhill]

@matt-derrick Notice that you did not provide much from your side, you did not try to dig for evidences. you could also like others provide information about the logger output, but you chose not to provide this. OP also said something similar to what you say, yet there was indeed a rogue extension on his side in the end. @rafaelpini 's symptoms are exactly the same as OP, and the evidence so far point to something on his computer hijacking Google Search with a custom search engine.

[rafaelpini]

Yep, there is definitely something else going on here... Just uninstalled Chrome but this redirection to "cse.google.com" keeps going on. It also happened on Canary and Internet Explorer, so there must be some sort of malware on my system (despite the fact that the most common tools were not able to id it).

@gorhill I´m very thankfull for you support! This is a very scary problem that I will further investigate, but really had nothing to do with uBlock.

[gorhill]

I have been trying to see how your search page look given your logger screenshot, and this what I got: left is the real Google Search result, right is maybe what seems to load on your side as per your logger output:

Does your result page looks like one of them? (I used "buy car" as it generates a result page with ads for sure).

left: https://www.google.com.br/?gws_rd=ssl#q=buy+car
right: https://cse.google.com.br/cse?cx=011161834579293522025:wohu-cbqm3a&q=buy+car

Notice that as per your logger output, the page on the right is pulled as an iframe in the legit Google Search page. So something is injecting that iframe -- surely it's not Google doing this.

[TravisH997]

gorhill, I have the same issue. How do I troubleshoot? Here is a screenshot of the logger for a google search "test" - http://imgur.com/a/hTZ5j

It's definitely a cse, but even after reading this thread I'm not exactly sure where to go from here?

Again, everything lined out here is what I'm dealing with.

[gorhill]

https://www.google.ca/search?q=google+search+blank+page

[TravisH997]

Wow OK didn't realize there was that much information. I had been searching in regards to uBlock, dur!

Thank you for all your time and effort gorhill :)

[HouseOfRoe]

I'm having the same issue - uBlock origin stops me from using my omnibox on my Macbook Pro. What's weird is that everything was working fine until an email attachment had the awful Trovio Search virus in it and it took over my browsers. I think I have managed to delete it now when I use chrome the omnibox doesn't work if I have uBlock active. Any ideas on what I should do?

[gorhill]

I am going to have to lock this issue: please do not you uBO's issue tracker as a generic computer support platform.