I found 23 Chrome extensions hijacking 758,000 users' searches…

I scanned Chrome extension manifests for chrome_settings_overrides and found 23 extensions silently routing 758,000 users' searches through hidden monetization networks.

The pattern: install a free extension (satellite imagery, maps, news reader), your default search gets quietly replaced and every query goes through the operator's middleware before reaching a search network, generating affiliate revenue you never consented to.

Key findings:

8 distinct brokers behind these extensions. If one extension gets pulled, another goes up under a different name.
Several extensions have zero functionality beyond the search override
One extension affirmatively claims "We don't track your searches" while its own privacy policy says otherwise
One uses runtime declarativeNetRequest injection so the real behavior is invisible to static analysis

The `hspart` parameter in the final search redirect URL is the clustering key. One value maps an entire broker network regardless of extension name, domain, or publisher identity.

Full report: https://malext.io/reports/SearchJack/

Impact

The campaign causes a large-scale privacy violation by sending all user search queries to anonymous third-party brokers without consent. It affects approximately 758,000 users globally. Because the operators control the search traffic, they can alter search results dynamically to inject phishing links or malicious downloads without updating the extensions themselves. This elevates the risk from mere adware to a potential security threat capable of delivering harmful content to users. The anonymity of publishers and brokers complicates enforcement and remediation efforts.

Defensive guidance

Individual extension removal by users can mitigate exposure but is insufficient to disrupt the campaign due to multiple disposable extensions and broker-level persistence. Enforcement actions targeting the affiliate brokers and stricter vetting by extension stores are necessary to fully address the threat. Users should review and remove suspicious or untrusted extensions, and organizations should consider policies restricting extension installation. Monitor vendor advisories and Chrome Web Store policies for updates on enforcement actions.

Summary

SearchJack is a coordinated campaign of 23 Chrome browser extensions that override users' default search engines to route queries through affiliate monetization middleware, affecting about 758,000 users. The extensions advertise diverse features but mainly function to generate affiliate revenue by redirecting searches through at least 8 distinct brokers. The campaign infrastructure relies on Yahoo Hosted Search and similar affiliate programs with weak publisher vetting, allowing anonymous operators to monetize user searches at scale. Some extensions use runtime injection techniques to hide their true behavior from static analysis. The operators anonymize their identities, and individual extension removals are ineffective without addressing the broker infrastructure. This campaign results in privacy violations and creates a potential vector for injecting malicious content into search results.

I found 23 Chrome extensions hijacking 758,000 users' searches for affiliate revenue

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AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 9 Jun 2026, 09:55 UTC

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