We have looked at these comments and the various links and would like to give the all-clear at this point.

There is no malware involved here, nor will you be redirected to sites with pornographic content. It is solely a display error of GIF or other media files .

So you can take a deep breath and read our background explanation on the current “phenomenon” at your leisure.

Warning from Facebook users for Facebook users

Users are currently posting a sharepic about the dubious links in Facebook comments, which is now widespread and causing uncertainty:

Screenshot Facebook
Screenshot Facebook

“Dear members, new spam has appeared on Facebook.
Once directly from the group and the 2nd screenshot was taken by me under a picture article.
These links redirect (according to Google search) to pornographic sites, and it can also be assumed that you are infecting your systems with malware.
These can then access your online banking, email account, Paypal, etc. in the background and without your knowledge when you log in.
Please DO NOT click on these links, but report it to the admin team.
Thanks."

Text from the sharepic (sic!)

What is behind the cryptic fcbdn links?

There are currently several variants of these links, such as:

  • external-vie1-1.xx.fbcdn.net
  • external-dus1-1.xx.fbcdn.net
  • external-mad1-1.xx.fbcdn.net
  • external-frx5-1.xx.fbcdn.net
Screenshot of a comment with fbcdn.net link on Facebook
Screenshot of a comment with fbcdn.net link on Facebook

We looked at the registration of the URL on whois.com and were able to determine that “fbcdn.net” is registered on Facebook or the parent company Meta. This registration is currently active and runs until 2031.

Screenshot whois.com
Screenshot whois.com

If you access the URL fbcdn.net directly, you will be redirected to facebook.com.
At this point we can rule out that malware is downloaded when the link is accessed, as this site is used by the Meta Group.

The question that now arises: What is this URL for? And why do so many links like this appear in comments?

What is “fbcdn” used for?

Behind this abbreviation is the “Facebook Content Distribution Network”, which delivers photos and videos to Facebook users.
This happens via a so-called “CDN” (Content Delivery Network). Facebook, Netflix and YouTube, for example, use content delivery networks to serve the billions of users who retrieve data from their servers. ( Source )

A media file that is made available by the Facebook Content Delivery Network always has the now very well-known URL “fbcdn” in the HTML code.

Display of media files not possible

We have looked at some links. If you click on these, it becomes a little clearer what possible causes for the problem could be: “URL signature expired”, “Unsigned URL”, “The connection to the server sphotos-a-vie.xx.fbcdn.net failed. ” etc.

Screenshot of a displayed page
Screenshot of a displayed page

The actual content can be found behind the host address within a seemingly endless link: https://media0.giphy.com/media/VD4d4aRGMDv3kCy0ro/giphy.gif
In this case a GIF file from Giphy. These GIFs are linked, for example, by Tenor or Giphy – via the Facebook Content Distribution Network: “fbcdn”.

Conclusion

These links are not Trojans or other malware, but rather a link to a media file (photo, video, animated GIF).

However, something went wrong with the links that lead to the cryptic comments, so the link itself is displayed instead of the actual media file

Possible reasons for these failed links are most likely related to the respective Facebook host address, which ends in xx.fbcdn.net.
The cause could be, for example, an expired signature for this address. URLs with expired signatures are blocked by modern browsers and other web services by default. As a result, the linked content is no longer displayed correctly.

Therefore: These links are annoying placeholders, but they are not dangerous.

Source: Whoat Where Why

You might also be interested in: Warning about fraud on the “Facebook Marketplace”


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )