Firefox add-on YouTube Unblocker installed malware

An add-on for Firefox that bypasses geoblocks on YouTube has been blocked by Mozilla. YouTube Unblocker has been banned because the add-on installed malware undetected and tampered with the browser’s security settings.

A user of the add-on discovered that YouTube Unblocker made changes to the user.js file to bypass Firefox’s security settings. This, among other things, ignored Mozilla’s blocklist, so that the add-on could then download another add-on undetected. Avast labeled this add-on called Adblock Converter as malware.

Mozilla has placed the relevant add-on on its blocklist, which means that it will also be removed from the browsers for users. Those who have used YouTube Unblocker are advised by ghacks.net to manually remove all traces of the add-on and the malicious download. This can be done in the Safe Mode of the browser or by using the Refresh function, which removes all add-ons completely.

The Firefox add-on is said to have had hundreds of thousands of users. On the website of the makers, unblocker.yt, you can also see that there are variants for Chrome, Safari and Opera. However, these cannot be downloaded via the official channels from the browsers themselves.