Is AliExpress: Search similar products safe?

Medium risk

AliExpress: Search similar products reroutes AliExpress item clicks through the shopnow.pub affiliate tracker.

When you click an AliExpress item link on supported AliExpress domains, the extension prevents the normal click and opens a background tab to a shopnow.pub redirect URL. That redirect includes the clicked product URL in the to parameter, and the same affiliate redirect helper is used for product clicks from the popup and similar-products modal.

Mikhailv3.4.2Chrome Web Store
47Risk
Who publishes it

Mikhail Ryabov - no other listings under this identity, 1 shared hostname

What this publisher told the store about itself, and the other listings that told it the same thing.

Publisher
Mikhail
Declared legal entity
Mikhail Ryabov
Registered address
Naperville Office Park, Naperville, IL 60540, US
Registered contact
Mikhail

Shared hosts - 1 hostname

Hostnames hardcoded in this extension that few other listings call. That can mean one operator behind both, and it can equally mean a small shared vendor, so it is context rather than a conclusion. Hosts that many listings call are left out: they are services, not connections.

recom-acs.aliexpress
Also called by 1 other listing: Ali Insider- AliExpress Product Research Tool

AI-generated. Findings may contain errors. Those marked Verified have been manually reviewed.

Publishers can request a review.

Findings

AliExpress item clicks route through shopnow.pub affiliate redirect.

When you click an AliExpress item link, the extension rewrites the navigation through the shopnow.pub affiliate redirect endpoint, with the destination URL as a parameter, before opening the redirected page in a new tab.

Severity
Medium unwanted
Type
Unexpected
CWE
CWE-359
Source
Dynamic sandbox
What actually happens
You did this

The user clicks an AliExpress item link.

The extension did this

The extension reroutes the click through shopnow.pub with the destination product URL embedded.

Captured request
GEThttps://shopnow.pub/redirect/cpa/o/snxf8sgoigl82m84lvxo0jowlbufxaah/
Fields in the request
  • AliExpress product URL
    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001234567890.html (illustrative)

    Identifies the product page you clicked and passes it to the affiliate redirect service as the destination.

What it can do

Permissions this extension asks for, as declared in version 3.4.2. Asking for a permission is not a finding on its own - it is what the extension can do if it chooses to.

  • Read and change your data on aliexpress.com

    *://*.aliexpress.com/*

  • Read and change your data on aliexpress.us

    *://*.aliexpress.us/*

  • Read and change your data on aliexpress.ru

    *://*.aliexpress.ru/*

  • Store data in your browser

    storage

  • Run its own code inside the pages you visit

    scripting

  • See the address and title of every tab you have open

    tabs

  • Read and change cookies, including the ones that keep you signed in

    cookies

Where it sends data

Destinations our analysis observed AliExpress: Search similar products contacting. Sending data somewhere is not a finding on its own - an extension that syncs your settings has to talk to its own server - but it is where your data can go, and who else it goes to.

  • shopnow.pub

    AliExpress: Search similar products sends data to shopnow.pub. No other extension we have analysed sends data here.

Updated 30 September 2026joghfdanngcpobcbmdapcemgbjphihag