Score:2

Ubuntu

SPAM Notifcations

topher217

6/21/23, 12:37 AM

As of a week or so ago I started receiving what appears to be spam gnome notifications shortly after logging in (within a few minutes but not necessarily immediately). They always appear to be from a site called alison.com. I see nothing relevant in my Ubuntu Settings -> Notifcations specific to this, nor anything in my syslog @ /var/log/syslog. This is the first time I've ever seen anything resembling spamware on Ubuntu so curious if others have seen similar things.

So my core question is how to get rid of these. As a first step though, is there a log somewhere that tracks gnome notifications or someway I can filter another log to see such information? I'd like to track down where these are coming from such that I can stop their source.

Edit:

Adding release info as requested in comments:

Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS
GNOME Version 3.36.8
Windowing System X11

And adding info about lack of screenshots. The notifications pop up and disappear in a matter of seconds so capturing a screenshot has proven to be quite difficult. I will continue to try and update if I succeed.

Edit 2

I found in the Firefox notification settings that alison.com has allow notification permissions. I suppose it is possible I inadvertantly did this as some point, but I honestly don't remember even visiting this site ever. Is there a way of verifying how/when this permission was set or some other way of proving to myself that this was an accident caused by myself and not some ongoing spamware lurking in the shadows?

0 + 0

notification

logs

guiverc

6/21/23, 12:52 AM

Providing a release is always helpful (as we know some details as to what software stack you're running), as well as specific details as to server/desktop/core install (you mention GNOME so it's likely a desktop install for *unstated* release). I'd check your browser addons; but currently you've provided no example (picture; text) for an *unstated* Ubuntu product and *unstated* release so we'd only be guessing as we've been provided with few specifics. FYI: browsers running as *snap* packages tend to be harder to infect, but if with bad extensions added; are generally easier to clean..

matigo

6/21/23, 1:09 AM

This may be coming through your browser, possibly via an extension. If you're using Chrome (or something built from it), then [this answer](https://askubuntu.com/a/1067618/1222991) may help.

Organic Marble

6/21/23, 1:24 AM

Check what notifications are allowed in Chrome.

Nmath

6/21/23, 1:51 AM

Edit your question and include a clearer description of what you are experiencing. A screenshot would be helpful, or include the entire text of the notification.

heynnema

6/21/23, 3:45 AM

In Firefox/Chrome, review the saved cookies, and search for "alison", and delete those cookies.

topher217

6/21/23, 4:50 AM

I added release info and a bit more context as well as reasoning why I have no screenshots (yet). I found several items in the firefox history for alison, and none for firefox, so guessing these are coming via firefox based on what I'm reading here. I've found and cleared the cookies from alison.com, but it is still not clear to me how these notifications can be generated via firefox. Shouldn't any gnome notification leave a log/trace somewhere? I can clear cookies and whatnot, but I'd like to be sure the root cause is gone via tracking it back to the source.

heynnema

6/21/23, 1:53 PM

You visited some web site that dropped the cookies into your system. The cookie gives permission for that web site to push notifications. If you've removed the cookies as per my instructions, you've probably taken care of the problem.

Score:1

Ubuntu

heynnema

6/21/23, 1:55 PM

From the comments...

In Firefox/Chrome, review the saved cookies, and search for "alison", and delete those cookies.

I've found and cleared the cookies from alison.com.

I found in the Firefox notification settings that alison.com has allow notification permissions.

0 + 0

topher217

6/22/23, 6:47 AM

I was unaware cookies could give such permissions. Could you provide some example or reference to see how this works?

heynnema

6/22/23, 9:33 AM

@topher217 You'll have to Google it for more information. I'm not exactly sure how it all happens. There are preferences in Firefox that can limit/reject cookies.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: SPAM Notifcations

TH: การแจ้งเตือนสแปม

RO: Notificări SPAM

RU: СПАМ-уведомления

VI: Thông báo SPAM

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.