Malwarebytes incompatible with Chrome?

[exile360]

It's legitimate.  You can find out more at the following links for each version of the extension:

Chrome
Firefox

Also, a new update for Malwarebytes 3 is now available which resolves many reported issues.  You can find out more here and you may install it by opening Malwarebytes and navigating to Settings>Application and clicking on the Install Application Updates button.  Once fully up to date you should see the following version numbers under Settings>About in Malwarebytes:

[Nightwalker]

Quote

• Fix for anti-ransomware failing to load when there is an exclusion on a removed drive
• Fix for the error relating missing DLLs that under certain circumstances could cause the UI to fail to launch
• Removed anti-exploit shield from Chrome due to Google’s new policy against code injection into Chrome
• Fix truncated text on some dashboard messages and labels
• Fix for excessive driver logging that could  in some cases occur

I dont want to lose anti exploit protection because of Google's whim, its such a shame.

[exile360]

You could try doing what I've done.  I added chrome.exe back as a custom shielded application under Settings>Protection>Manage Protected Applications under the Real-Time Protection section just beneath where you turn Exploit Protection on/off and then clicking Add in the dialog listing the shielded programs then providing the following input into the fields provided then clicking OK:

The real shame is that, due to the fact that they still use the same filename "chrome.exe", many third party browsers not built by Google which use the same Chromium source code (like SRWare Iron, which is what I'm using currently) also lost their protection because of this change, so I've added it back to keep my Exploit Protection as I see it as by far one of the most proactive protection mechanisms in Malwarebytes and across the entire security industry based on what I've seen and learned about it.

[Nightwalker]

Thanks Exile, your reply is much appreciated.

I fully agree with you, the Exploit Protection is one the most proactive and powerful protection mechanisms out there.

[Shinola14]

Thanks! Nice to get positive feedback. 

[JHall]

I haven't had any problems up to now using Chrome under Windows 7 32-bit. However today I found that every time I launched Chrome it would hang almost immediately, sometimes locking up the whole machine as a result, and the only way to close Chrome down was to reboot the machine. I've now turned off Malwarebytes Web Protection, and Chrome is behaving normally again. So I suspect that the most recent Malwarebytes update may have broken something. I'm using v 3.5.1.2522 / 1.0.421. (I've not been using the Malwarebytes Chrome extension.) 

mbst-grab-results.zip

Edited August 30, 2018 by JHall
provide extra info

[exile360]

Greetings,

I noticed a couple of items in your quarantine from Chrome from a few days ago and I suspect that it may somehow be related.  I would suggest performing a scan with ADWCleaner and having it remove anything it finds, then restarting your system to complete the threat removal process if anything was found.

Once that is complete, test again to see if Chrome behaves properly with Web Protection active.  If the issue persists then you might consider resetting/reinstalling Chrome to see if that helps as it could be that some lingering corruption or component of the PUPs that were detected by Malwarebytes remains resulting in this bad behavior.  I would advise going through the instructions found here as that may help.

[KenW]

I read about this in the Emsisoft forum. Google is blaming problems with Chrome on any program that hooks into it. This is the post

 

Chrome wants EAM updated or removed

another post about the problem

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/18/08/24/164254/bitdefender-disables-anti-exploit-monitoring-in-chrome-after-google-policy-change

Edited August 30, 2018 by KenW

[exile360]

Yes, that is correct.  More info can be found in the following links from BleepingComputer:

Google Chrome Showing Alerts About Incompatible Applications
Bitdefender Disables Anti-Exploit Monitoring in Chrome After Google Policy Change

[JHall]

10 hours ago, JHall said:

I haven't had any problems up to now using Chrome under Windows 7 32-bit. However today I found that every time I launched Chrome it would hang almost immediately, sometimes locking up the whole machine as a result, and the only way to close Chrome down was to reboot the machine. I've now turned off Malwarebytes Web Protection, and Chrome is behaving normally again. So I suspect that the most recent Malwarebytes update may have broken something. I'm using v 3.5.1.2522 / 1.0.421. (I've not been using the Malwarebytes Chrome extension.) 

mbst-grab-results.zip

How did that zip file get there? I didn't consciously attach it. Anyway, I seem to have spoken too soon in thinking that Malwarebytes was to blame. The culprit seems to have been AVG, which I still had running from the days before MB was a full anti-virus product and hadn't seen any pressing need to remove. It seems to have just done a major update of itself without bothering to inform me, which seems to have introduced an incompatibility with something on my machine, possibly with MB but I'm not sure. Anyway, I've now uninstalled AVG, and touch wood all now seems to be fine.

[exile360]

Excellent, I'm glad that you found the culprit.  Yes, I do believe there are a few known issues with AVG.  I had a customer a few days ago with a similar problem.  He had one or two traces of AVG left on his system that were creating performance problems and once it was removed completely the issues vanished so hopefully that was the only issue on your system as well but please let us know if things stop working correctly.

[Shinola14]

19 hours ago, exile360 said:

Excellent, I'm glad that you found the culprit.  Yes, I do believe there are a few known issues with AVG.  I had a customer a few days ago with a similar problem.  He had one or two traces of AVG left on his system that were creating performance problems and once it was removed completely the issues vanished so hopefully that was the only issue on your system as well but please let us know if things stop working correctly.

19 hours ago, exile360 said:

Excellent, I'm glad that you found the culprit.  Yes, I do believe there are a few known issues with AVG.  I had a customer a few days ago with a similar problem.  He had one or two traces of AVG left on his system that were creating performance problems and once it was removed completely the issues vanished so hopefully that was the only issue on your system as well but please let us know if things stop working correctly.

First off, thanks Exile360, thanks for confirming the Chrome extension. However, after more reading, I'm going to do a 360 (no pun intended) and looking to switch over to Edge. Your comment on "leave no traces" when uninstalling anything was helpful. Will Edge work well in conjunction with Malwarebytes 3.0? I don't think they have an extension for Edge, but wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. I'd be using Win 10 firewall. Thanks.

19 hours ago, exile360 said:

Excellent, I'm glad that you found the culprit.  Yes, I do believe there are a few known issues with AVG.  I had a customer a few days ago with a similar problem.  He had one or two traces of AVG left on his system that were creating performance problems and once it was removed completely the issues vanished so hopefully that was the only issue on your system as well but please let us know if things stop working correctly.

On 8/30/2018 at 8:22 AM, KenW said:

I read about this in the Emsisoft forum. Google is blaming problems with Chrome on any program that hooks into it. This is the post

 

Chrome wants EAM updated or removed

 

[exile360]

No problem at all.  No, they don't have an extension for Edge at the moment, but I did hear that they are working on one so hopefully soon one will be available.  Malwarebytes 3 itself works just fine with MS Edge so you shouldn't have any problems at all there.

In the meantime, if you still want the features of Chrome but without Google's new "compatibility issues" that they've created you can switch over to an alternative based on the same source code like SRWare Iron (that's what I use, and in fact it's what I'm typing this post on right now) or Vivaldi.  Both are based on the same source but don't include the built in Google tracking and advertising features included in Chrome nor do they have this prompt about incompatible software.

You can read more about the Chrome "compatibility issue" at the following links:

Google Chrome Showing Alerts About Incompatible Applications
Bitdefender Disables Anti-Exploit Monitoring in Chrome After Google Policy Change

Basically Google has decided that because they want their users to have a stable browsing experience, that they're no longer going to allow any processes to hook into their browser's process which means all AV and anti-malware vendors must stop injecting DLLs into the chrome.exe process for things like monitoring for malicious scripts and exploits (something Malwarebytes 3 did up until the most recent update yesterday which was changed to conform to Google's new policy).  So as long as you are using a Chrome alternative, you can actually add your browser to the shielded applications list in Malwarebytes for Exploit Protection and enjoy the same level of defense from nasty web based exploit attacks and malicious scripts in web pages (if you need instructions on how to do so let me know).

[Shinola14]

LOL. There's a reason my user name is Shinola. So yes, if it's no trouble, send me some instructions or tips. Thanks, you've been most helpful.

[exile360]

Hehe, no trouble at all.  To add a Chromium based browser to Exploit Protection in Malwarebytes 3 (and even Chrome itself until Google actually takes steps to prevent it in their code, which they do plan on doing next year from what I've heard):

Open Malwarebytes and navigate to Settings>Protection and below where it says Real-Time Protection and just beneath the setting that turns Exploit Protection on/off, click the button that says Manage Protected Applications.  In the window that opens click the Add button and then enter the following information (you can enter whatever you like in the Application name field as that's just a title for what the rule will be called; it isn't tied to any specific file or program) and then click OK:

If using a browser other than Chrome or one based on Chrome that uses a different name for the main executable (the browser's process name as it appears in Task Manager and the like), change the Application file field to match or you can use the Browse... button to navigate to the program's installation folder to select the browser's main executable directly.

Once that's done, just leave the Program type field set to Browsers since it is a web browser you want to protect, click OK and you're all set  .

[fabulosospucas]

On 8/29/2018 at 1:31 PM, exile360 said:

Greetings,

The issue you are experiencing actually has nothing to do with Google Chrome (or their false claims of incompatibility with Malwarebytes; for more on that topic please refer to this article: Google Chrome Showing Alerts About Incompatible Applications as well as the info here: Bitdefender Disables Anti-Exploit Monitoring in Chrome After Google Policy Change).  Your logs show that you have component update 1.0.391 which is known to have this issue with BSODs.  This was fixed in the most recent component update version 1.0.421 so to install that, open Malwarebytes and navigate to Settings>Application and click on the Install Application Updates button then allow it to download and install any available updates and restart your system once it completes (you can verify when it is done by looking under Settings>About and checking the Component package version: field which should show 1.0.421 once it is up to date).

If that fails or it doesn't update for some reason then you can try downloading the installer directly and installing it over the top of your existing version by downloading and running it from here.

Once you have the latest build installed the BSODs should no longer occur, however please let us know if they do or if you have any other problems after updating.

Thanks

Thank you for your reply. I did update the component (I now have it on 1.0.441) but the issue still persists, once every week I get this BSOD and don't know how to fix it. Only brought it up here because of that Chorme warning about compatibility issues. 

[exile360]

Please do the following to see if it corrects the issue:

1. Download and run the Malwarebytes Support Tool
2. Accept the EULA and click Advanced Options on the main page (not Get Started)
3. Click the Clean button, and allow it to restart your system and then reinstall Malwarebytes, either by allowing the tool to do so when it offers to on restart, or by downloading and installing the latest version from here
   

Once that is done please test to see if the issue still persists and let us know how it goes.

Thanks

[alhazred]

I still use Internet Explorer 11 .  I assume MBAM anti exploit still works without conflict with that browser

[exile360]

15 minutes ago, alhazred said:

I still use Internet Explorer 11 .  I assume MBAM anti exploit still works without conflict with that browser

Yes, no issues with IE 11 at the moment that I know of (I use it myself, along with SRWare Iron, though IE is what I use for web searches and general browsing to sites I'm less familiar with as I can secure it more so than Chrome thanks to the options MS includes for security and a few system tweaks I know of).