Signal-android: Impossible to establish secure session for a reinstalled peer on 7th new moon or like

[grinapo]

I have:

• [x] searched open and closed issues for duplicates
• [-] read https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Android/wiki/Submitting-useful-bug-reports

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Bug description

Feel free to close if you are disturbed by the lack of details. I try.

I have an old peer, last messages were a year ago. Today I have tried to message him and Signal (android) was only offering insecureSMS. The peer have been writing to my _other_ phone so it works. However I was able to verify safety number (for an insecure only session?), but no reset session and like. He wasn't able to message me.

Then I have opened up the chrome web client, and seen the following (old) exchange:

• old messages (ok)
• some old messages which were neither delivered nor received and the web client says "number is not registered"
• a 'secure session reset' old message, with number not registered as well

Then I have tried to send a new message from the web client, and it was successfully delivered. Also, from that point, my phone have changed to secure connection with all the matching menu entries.

Device info

Device: OnePlus One
Android version: 6.0.1
Signal version: 3.28.4

[riyapenn]

Contact [email protected] for personalized support.

[grinapo]

Do I look as someone who need support? 😦 It's you, dummy. Your problem, not mine. I tend to realise that you people don't care about fixing your bugs, why the f--- should I waste my time on you reporting them?
Thanks for the arrogance. Next time read first, reply later.

[Trolldemorted]

that was the kind way of saying "we know that our server randomly drops users and not even in a consistent way", i guess. There are many issues about it, e.g. https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Android/issues/5859, https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Android/issues/5531 or https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Android/issues/6049.

[moxie0]

This does seem like a legitimate issue to me

[grinapo]

@moxie0 it results a state of a contact where it is known [to the other party] but stuck in _insecure_ connections, without _any visible means to tell_:

• why is it insecure (while both sides know one another and they have matching safety numbers)
• how to make it secure again.

If I wasn't trying the chrome client (which I hardly ever use) and it wasn't "magically" fixed itself I would have to try to clear app data (=reset everything) or remove and reinstall it, and I am not sure even that would have fixed it (since there may be a problem on your server, I don't know). Since Signal is widely used by non-professionals now they would have pretty hard time to figure out what to do.

And indeed it is similar ('duplicate') of #5531 and #6049 .

[Trolldemorted]

@grinapo do any exceptions occur when you open the contact's thread?

[grinapo]

@Trolldemorted I cannot readily create a 2 years old chat inactive for more than a year to reproduce the bug, and since I have mentioned that it has been fixed when the web client touched it I cannot tell what internal stuff may have happened back then. I would rather not share my guesses here, many would feel I'm not qualified. :-) Next time I see it I try to extensively logcat it before letting Mrs. Keyboard Macro downcustomering me again.

[grinapo]

Seems to have been fixed (GCM sync problem). Yay.