PUP.Optional.Imali

Short bio

PUP.Optional.Imali is Malwarebytes’ generic detection name for a family of potentially unwanted programs PUPs targeting the Chrome browser. Their counterparts for Firefox generally have specific detection names.

Symptoms

You may find Chrome extensions of this type:

PUP.Optional.Imali installed

and users of affected computers may have seen these warnings during install:

and notice a newtab page similar to this one:

Type and source of infection

PUP.Optional.Imali usually comes in the form of a browser extension that hijacks the newtab of the affected browser setting it to one of their own search sites.
PUP.Optional.Imali generally is downloaded from the Chrome webstore since most of the extensions are Chrome extensions.

PUP.Optional.Imali in the Chrome webstore

Protection

Malwarebytes protects users from PUP.Optional.Imali by blocking their domains.

Malwarebytes blocks newtabtv.com

Remediation

Malwarebytes can detect and remove PUP.Optional.Imali without further user interaction.

Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop.
Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
Click on the Get started button.
Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
Click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.

Malwarebytes removal log

A Malwarebytes log of removal will look similar to this:

Malwarebytes
www.malwarebytes.com

-Log Details-
Scan Date: 11/12/18
Scan Time: 8:56 AM
Log File: 7593243e-e650-11e8-8808-00ffdcc6fdfc.json

-Software Information-
Version: 3.6.1.2711
Components Version: 1.0.482
Update Package Version: 1.0.7799
License: Premium

-System Information-
OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1
CPU: x64
File System: NTFS
User: {computername}\{username}

-Scan Summary-
Scan Type: Threat Scan
Scan Initiated By: Manual
Result: Completed
Objects Scanned: 237978
Threats Detected: 15
Threats Quarantined: 15
Time Elapsed: 2 min, 39 sec

-Scan Options-
Memory: Enabled
Startup: Enabled
Filesystem: Enabled
Archives: Enabled
Rootkits: Enabled
Heuristics: Enabled
PUP: Detect
PUM: Detect

-Scan Details-
Process: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Module: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Key: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Value: 1
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, HKCU\SOFTWARE\GOOGLE\CHROME\PREFERENCEMACS\Default\extensions.settings|dlamfhohmjabfadgdmaogjbdjjadgkdb, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799

Registry Data: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Data Stream: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Folder: 3
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\dlamfhohmjabfadgdmaogjbdjjadgkdb\0.8_0\_metadata, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\dlamfhohmjabfadgdmaogjbdjjadgkdb\0.8_0, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\EXTENSIONS\DLAMFHOHMJABFADGDMAOGJBDJJADGKDB, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799

File: 11
PUP.Optional.NewTabTV, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\ROAMING\MOZILLA\FIREFOX\PROFILES\{profile}.default\EXTENSIONS\{5849FC76-08E3-4D14-9D43-6BBA81FD99F0}.XPI, Quarantined, [2119], [507451],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Secure Preferences, Replaced, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Preferences, Replaced, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\EXTENSIONS\DLAMFHOHMJABFADGDMAOGJBDJJADGKDB\0.8_0\REDIRECT.JS, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\dlamfhohmjabfadgdmaogjbdjjadgkdb\0.8_0\_metadata\computed_hashes.json, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\dlamfhohmjabfadgdmaogjbdjjadgkdb\0.8_0\_metadata\verified_contents.json, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\dlamfhohmjabfadgdmaogjbdjjadgkdb\0.8_0\background.js, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\dlamfhohmjabfadgdmaogjbdjjadgkdb\0.8_0\logo.png, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\dlamfhohmjabfadgdmaogjbdjjadgkdb\0.8_0\manifest.json, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\dlamfhohmjabfadgdmaogjbdjjadgkdb\0.8_0\popup.html, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799
PUP.Optional.Imali.Generic, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\dlamfhohmjabfadgdmaogjbdjjadgkdb\0.8_0\redirect.html, Quarantined, [4620], [443118],1.0.7799

Physical Sector: 0
(No malicious items detected)

WMI: 0
(No malicious items detected)


(end)

Add an exclusion

Should users wish to keep this program and exclude it from being detected in future scans, they can add the program to the exclusions list. Here’s how to do it.

Open Malwarebytes for Windows.
Click the Detection History
Click the Allow List
To add an item to the Allow List, click Add.
Select the exclusion type Allow a file or folder and use the Select a folder button to select the main folder for the software that you wish to keep.
Repeat this for any secondary files or folder(s) that belong to the software.