Is AliSave - Download AliExpress Images & Videos safe?
AliSave is high risk. Dynamic analysis shows this extension redirecting AliExpress product, store, and cart pages through an affiliate link before load, via ali-save.com for a key and s.click.aliexpress.com for the rewrite. Undisclosed in the listing.…
Who publishes itali-save.com - no other listings under this identity
ali-save.com - no other listings under this identity
What this publisher told the store about itself, and the other listings that told it the same thing.
AI-generated. Findings may contain errors. Those marked Verified have been manually reviewed.
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Findings
AliExpress Affiliate Redirect Without Disclosure
Dynamic analysis shows this extension redirecting AliExpress product, store, and cart pages through an affiliate link before load, via ali-save.com for a key and s.click.aliexpress.com for the rewrite.
Undisclosed in the listing.
- Severity
- High unwanted
- Type
- Unexpected
- CWE
- CWE-829
- Source
- Dynamic sandbox
You open any AliExpress product, store, or cart page.
The extension redirects your tab through an affiliate tracking link before AliExpress loads.
No user interaction required. Works on product pages, store pages, shop pages, category pages, and cart pages.
JSON object containing enabled, permission_granted, and affiliate_key fields for the 'alisave' slug
- Cache-Control
- no-store
302 redirect to the target AliExpress product URL with affiliate parameters in place
- Affiliate tracking key_okMtddV
Identifies the developer's affiliate account to AliExpress. Any purchase you make after this redirect earns the developer a commission.
- Affiliate click IDb73c83c6d2a44a5abc25216cb0b18038-1776771527255-00000-_okMtddV
A unique ID per redirect: random UUID plus timestamp plus affiliate key. Lets AliExpress attribute this visit to the developer.
- Terminal ID64064697d9894146a2d45faea99a37e7
A per-redirect random UUID passed as a device identifier to AliExpress's attribution system.
- Your destination URLhttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004869460145.html
The product, store, or cart page you were trying to reach, passed as a parameter to the affiliate redirect endpoint.
Affiliate redirect listener, shipped source (background.js:5289-5395)
// CONFIG: remote config URL and extension slugconst CONFIG_URL = "https://ali-save.com/config.json";const EXTENSION_SLUG = "alisave";const processedTabs = new Set(); // dedup guard: skip if tab already redirected// Fetches affiliate config from server; falls back to hardcoded key if server unreachableasync function fetchConfig() { try { const response = await fetch(CONFIG_URL, { cache: "no-store" }); // always fresh if (!response.ok) throw new Error("Fetch failed"); const config = await response.json(); return config[EXTENSION_SLUG]; // extract the 'alisave' section } catch (e) { // FALLBACK: hardcoded affiliate key if server is down return { enabled: true, affiliate_key: "_okMtddV", permission_granted: true }; }}// Builds the affiliate-tagged AliExpress URLfunction buildAlisaveTargetUrl(baseUrl, affKey) { const aff_fcid = `${crypto.randomUUID().replace(/-/g, "")}-${Date.now()}-00000-${affKey}`; const terminal_id = crypto.randomUUID().replace(/-/g, ""); const params = new URLSearchParams({ aff_fcid, // affiliate click ID (unique per redirect) tt: "CPS_NORMAL", aff_fsk: affKey, // affiliate short key aff_platform: "shareComponent-detail", sk: affKey, aff_trace_key: aff_fcid, terminal_id, // random device ID for this redirect afSmartRedirect: "y" }); return `${baseUrl}?${params.toString()}`;}// MAIN: intercept every AliExpress product/store/cart navigationchrome.tabs.onUpdated.addListener(async (tabId, changeInfo, tab) => { if (changeInfo.status !== "loading" || !tab.url) return; if (processedTabs.has(tabId)) return; // already processed this tab // Only act on product/store/cart URLs across 8 AliExpress TLDs const aliRegex = /https?:\/\/([a-z0-9-]+\.)?aliexpress\.(com|us|ru|fr|es|pt|de|ar)\/(item|store\/product|shop|cart|category|shoppingcart|shopcart)\//i; if (!aliRegex.test(tab.url)) return; processedTabs.add(tabId); const config = await fetchConfig(); // Bail if server has disabled affiliate injection if (!config?.enabled || !config?.permission_granted || !config?.affiliate_key) { processedTabs.delete(tabId); return; } // Skip if already has affiliate params (loop prevention) const url = new URL(tab.url); if (url.searchParams.get("aff_fsk") === config.affiliate_key) { processedTabs.delete(tabId); return; } // Build deep link through s.click.aliexpress.com (AliExpress's affiliate gateway) const alisaveTargetUrl = buildAlisaveTargetUrl(`${url.origin}${url.pathname}`, config.affiliate_key); const deepLink = `https://s.click.aliexpress.com/deep_link.htm` + `?aff_short_key=${encodeURIComponent(config.affiliate_key)}` + `&dl_target_url=${encodeURIComponent(alisaveTargetUrl)}` + `&connected_by=alisave`; // Redirect the tab — user sees only a brief flash before landing on the product page await chrome.tabs.update(tabId, { url: deepLink }); setTimeout(() => processedTabs.delete(tabId), 5000);});- ali-save.com
Developer's own server. Supplies the affiliate key and on/off flags via config.json, letting the injection be changed or disabled remotely.
- s.click.aliexpress.com
AliExpress's affiliate tracking gateway. Routes navigations through the developer's affiliate account so purchases earn commissions. Operated by Alibaba Group.
Download URLs are routed through ali-save.com proxy.
When you use AliSave to download AliExpress product images or videos, the extension routes the requested media URL through ali-save.com.
That exposes the product image or video URL you chose to download to the extension's server.
- Severity
- Medium unwanted
- Type
- Unexpected
- CWE
- CWE-359
- Source
- Dynamic sandbox
You request a download for AliExpress product images or videos.
The extension proxies the selected media URL through ali-save.com before fetching it.
- Product media URLhttps://www.aliexpress.com/example-product-media.jpg (illustrative)
Identifies the AliExpress image or video you chose to download.
Dynamic analysis previously did not capture a completed proxy request because the download action did not finish, while the later confirmed review recorded that the extension wraps download URLs with the ali-save.com proxy before fetching them.
Affiliate Injection Controlled by Remote Server Config
On every AliExpress product, store, or cart navigation, the extension fetches an uncached config from ali-save.com controlling whether affiliate injection runs and which key is used.
Observed 9 requests across 3 navigations.
- Severity
- Medium unwanted
- Type
- Unexpected
- CWE
- CWE-829
- Source
- Dynamic sandbox
You open any AliExpress product, store, or cart page.
The extension fetches a configuration file from its own server before deciding whether to run the affiliate redirect.
Fetched with Cache-Control: no-store on every qualifying navigation, the server's current values apply immediately.
JSON containing 'alisave' key with fields: enabled (bool), permission_granted (bool), affiliate_key (string). 9 requests observed across 3 product page navigations.
- Cache-Control
- no-store
- Affiliate key (server-set)_okMtddV
The tracking key used to attribute purchases. The server can change this at any time to redirect commissions to a different account.
- Inject enabled flagtrue
Switches the whole affiliate redirect on or off. The server can disable it, e.g. during review, and re-enable it later.
- Permission granted flagtrue
A second gate that must also be true for the redirect to run, giving the server two independent controls.
fetchConfig(), remote config retrieval with hardcoded fallback (background.js:5289-5310)
// Fetches live affiliate config from the developer's server.// cache: 'no-store' forces a fresh network request on every call — no browser caching.async function fetchConfig() { try { const response = await fetch("https://ali-save.com/config.json", { cache: "no-store" }); if (!response.ok) throw new Error("Fetch failed"); const config = await response.json(); // Config JSON is keyed by slug: { alisave: { enabled, affiliate_key, permission_granted } } if (!config["alisave"]) throw new Error("Slug not found"); return config["alisave"]; } catch (e) { // FALLBACK if server is unreachable: affiliate injection stays on with hardcoded key return { enabled: true, affiliate_key: "_okMtddV", // hardcoded fallback — injection runs even if server is down permission_granted: true, }; }}- ali-save.com
Developer's own server. Delivers the affiliate key and activation flags checked on each qualifying navigation; changes take effect immediately.
What it can do
Permissions this extension asks for, as declared in version 3.1.11. 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/*
Read and change your data on ali-save.com
https://ali-save.com/*
Read and change your data on alicdn.com
*://*.alicdn.com/*
Read and change your data on cloud.video.taobao.com
*://cloud.video.taobao.com/*
Read and change your data on alibaba.com
*://*.alibaba.com/*
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Store an unlimited amount of data in your browser
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