Brave-browser: Tor not working just after clean install

Created on 23 Jan 2019  路  9Comments  路  Source: brave/brave-browser

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Clean install (make sure that profile does not exists)
  2. Immediately after Brave is launched open https://check.torproject.org/ in Tor Window

Actual result:


Tor is not used
Tor will not be used till browser restart.
Tor process is not running.
tor

Expected result:

Tor is used

Reproduces how often:


90% of the time

Brave version (brave://version info)


Reproduced on the latest builds for all channels.

Brave | 0.58.21 Chromium: 71.0.3578.98聽(Official Build)聽(64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | 15234034d19b85dcd9a03b164ae89d04145d8368-refs/branch-heads/3578@{#897}
OS | Windows 7

Brave | 0.59.28 Chromium: 72.0.3626.64聽(Official Build)聽beta聽(64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | eaa9668e80ce5405e7f1902579558ea725c06ca1-refs/branch-heads/3626@{#708}
OS | Windows 7

Brave | 0.60.16 Chromium: 72.0.3626.64聽(Official Build)聽dev聽(64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | eaa9668e80ce5405e7f1902579558ea725c06ca1-refs/branch-heads/3626@{#708}
OS | Windows 7

cc @brave/legacy_qa @tomlowenthal @riastradh-brave

QA Pass-Linux QA Pass-Win64 QA Pass-macOS QTest-Plan-Specified QYes featurtor featurtoleakproofing prioritP2 release-noteinclude
Source
picture btlechowski

Most helpful comment

@kjozwiak I can reproduce this on Linux. This is an issue because the option available in hamburger menu. Until Tor binaries are downloaded the Tor Window options is not shown on profile icon which is correct. Because we have the option to launch a Tor window from hamburger menu it creates a Tor window without the binaries downloaded completely. Thats why even after Tor binaries are downloaded it doesn't work until browser is restarted. Ideal behaviour should be show Tor window option in hamburger menu only after Tor binaries are downloaded.

I used keyboard shortcuts to reproduce the issue as it works quicker than using the hamburger menu.

On Muon we had the progress indicator to stop users loading a site without Tor binaries being completely downloaded. So either bring back the progess indicator in URL or just hide the option until its downloaded. My vote would be to hide the option(everywhere hamburger/file menu/keyboard shortcuts) until binaries are downloaded fully

picture srirambv on 25 Jan 2019
❤1 👍1

All 9 comments

haven't been able to reproduce on macOS yet using

Brave | 0.59.28 Chromium: 72.0.3626.64聽(Official Build)聽beta(64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | eaa9668e80ce5405e7f1902579558ea725c06ca1-refs/branch-heads/3626@{#708}
OS | Mac OS X

LaurenWags picture LaurenWags on 23 Jan 2019
👍1

Same results as @LaurenWags. Tried reproducing it ~20 times on macOS without any luck. Used 0.59.28 Chromium: 72.0.3626.64.

kjozwiak picture kjozwiak on 23 Jan 2019
👍1

Sounds like a race condition?

tomlowenthal picture tomlowenthal on 23 Jan 2019

Sounds like a race condition?

Definitely seems like it. If you manage to type something in the URL before Tor gets initialized 馃憞, that particular Tor window will load everything without using Tor.

Jan 25 00:12:08.962 [notice] Tor 0.3.4.9 (git-4ac3ccf2863b86e7) running on Darwin with Libevent 2.1.8-stable, OpenSSL 1.0.2p, Zlib 1.2.11, Liblzma N/A, and Libzstd N/A.
Jan 25 00:12:08.963 [notice] Tor can't help you if you use it wrong! Learn how to be safe at https://www.torproject.org/download/download#warning
Jan 25 00:12:08.963 [notice] Configuration file "/nonexistent" not present, using reasonable defaults.
Jan 25 00:12:08.967 [notice] Scheduler type KISTLite has been enabled.
Jan 25 00:12:08.967 [notice] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9360
Jan 25 00:12:08.967 [notice] Opening Control listener on 127.0.0.1:0
Jan 25 00:12:08.967 [notice] Control listener listening on port 58071.

Here's an alternative STR that I found a bit easier to use and reproduce:

  • launch brave with a new profile
  • open New Private Window with Tor and quickly mash some keys and press Enter

This way, it will attempt a DDG search. If you manage to quickly mash some letters/keys in before Tor is initialized, the DDG search will be performed without using Tor. Now within the same window, open check.torproject.org and you'll see the exact same thing @btlechowski mentioned above.

Reproduced on the following platforms:

  • Win 7 x64 VM - Reproduced
  • Win 10 x64 VM - Reproduced
  • Win 10 x64 (psychical machine) - Reproduced
  • Mint 19.1 x64 VM - Reproduced
  • macOS 10.14.2 x64 - Couldn't reproduce (but I think I'm not fast enough as Tor loads quickly)

Used the following build:

Brave | 0.59.28 Chromium: 72.0.3626.64聽(Official Build)聽beta(64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | eaa9668e80ce5405e7f1902579558ea725c06ca1-refs/branch-heads/3626@{#708}

Looking at @btlechowski's findings, looks like this isn't a new regression and is currently reproducible under 0.58.21 Chromium: 71.0.3578.98.

@tomlowenthal I don't think this is a blocker but I would like to see what the security team thinks. Thanks!

kjozwiak picture kjozwiak on 25 Jan 2019

@kjozwiak I can reproduce this on Linux. This is an issue because the option available in hamburger menu. Until Tor binaries are downloaded the Tor Window options is not shown on profile icon which is correct. Because we have the option to launch a Tor window from hamburger menu it creates a Tor window without the binaries downloaded completely. Thats why even after Tor binaries are downloaded it doesn't work until browser is restarted. Ideal behaviour should be show Tor window option in hamburger menu only after Tor binaries are downloaded.

I used keyboard shortcuts to reproduce the issue as it works quicker than using the hamburger menu.

On Muon we had the progress indicator to stop users loading a site without Tor binaries being completely downloaded. So either bring back the progess indicator in URL or just hide the option until its downloaded. My vote would be to hide the option(everywhere hamburger/file menu/keyboard shortcuts) until binaries are downloaded fully

srirambv picture srirambv on 25 Jan 2019
❤1 👍1

Ideal behavior is to ship Tor binaries with the installer so you don't have to wait.

tomlowenthal picture tomlowenthal on 25 Jan 2019

See https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/3349 for diagnosis of a related bug whose fix might fix this too.

Progress bar is blocked on https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/359.

riastradh-brave picture riastradh-brave on 14 Feb 2019

I had this similar issue on Windows Desktop and I was able to fix it by cut & pasting two folders from a previous User Data Brave install.

C:\Users\420VaypeNaysh\AppData\Local\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\User Data

  • tor
  • Tor Profile

Close / Quit Brave and just rename your existing folders before you cut / paste.

explorer_2019-02-14_14-48-16

grand-lotus-iroh picture grand-lotus-iroh on 14 Feb 2019

Verification passed on

Brave | 0.61.39 Chromium: 73.0.3683.39聽(Official Build)聽beta聽(64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | cc53b0e12fcaf42e4bab8d6c23bd4fb7aae99f6c-refs/branch-heads/3683@{#413}
OS | Windows聽7 Service Pack 1 Build 7601.24312

This issue is partially fixed. It is no longer possible to open pages without Tor (Error page is shown).
But Tor is still not usable till browser restart. Logged: https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/3512

Verification passed on

Brave | 0.61.41 Chromium: 73.0.3683.39 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)
--- | ---
Revision | cc53b0e12fcaf42e4bab8d6c23bd4fb7aae99f6c-refs/branch-heads/3683@{#413}
OS | Linux mint

  • Verified the STR mentioned in the description
  • Encountered #3512

Verification PASSED on macOS 10.14.3 x64 using the following build:

Brave | 0.61.45 Chromium: 73.0.3683.39聽(Official Build)聽beta(64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | cc53b0e12fcaf42e4bab8d6c23bd4fb7aae99f6c-refs/branch-heads/3683@{#413}
OS | Mac OS X

btlechowski picture btlechowski on 27 Feb 2019
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