Signal-android: Unable to restore encrypted backup

[johanw666]

• [x] I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates
• [x] I am submitting a bug report for existing functionality that does not work as intended
• [x] I have read https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/wiki/Submitting-useful-bug-reports
• [x] This isn't a feature request or a discussion topic

---

Bug description

I can not restore the new encrypted backup after I remove and re-install Signal on a device. Same issue as https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/7446 that was closed in the mega cleanup.

Steps to reproduce

• install Signal 4.18.1 (official Playstore apk).
• register Signal.
• Exchange some messages with other Signal users.
• Create full backup.
• Uninstall Signal
• Install Signal
• Start Signal
• Try to restore backup

Actual result: I always get a toast with "Incorrect Backup Passphrase".
Expected result: The backup is restored.

Screenshots

The backup file with the password shown above can be found at https://mega.nz/#!0JAE0ICZ!m7mdGvQbl1wkTpJJbf1FIMKvxCovreG_gDW7JkfQ-xI

Device info

Device: Sony Z3 Compact (D5508)
Android version: 6.0.1
Signal version: 4.18.1

Link to debug log

Since Signal did not start I placed a logcat output on https://mega.nz/#!0JhxXZqA!oR2jjR_POoZqw_vfws92KwgVU-uq3F2UT9oefuMCHnI

The relecvant part is:

04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637): java.io.IOException: Bad MAC
04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637):   at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.backup.FullBackupImporter$BackupRecordInputStream.readFrame(FullBackupImporter.java:248)
04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637):   at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.backup.FullBackupImporter$BackupRecordInputStream.readFrame(FullBackupImporter.java:189)
04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637):   at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.backup.FullBackupImporter.importFile(FullBackupImporter.java:67)
04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637):   at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.RegistrationActivity$2.doInBackground(RegistrationActivity.java:372)
04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637):   at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.RegistrationActivity$2.doInBackground(RegistrationActivity.java:364)
04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637):   at android.os.AsyncTask$2.call(AsyncTask.java:295)
04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637):   at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:237)
04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637):   at android.os.AsyncTask$SerialExecutor$1.run(AsyncTask.java:234)
04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637):   at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1113)
04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637):   at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:588)
04-04 23:32:22.214 W/RegistrationActivity(30637):   at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:818)

[dns2utf8]

I tried plaintext export but it has disappeared from the menu

[moxie0]

@johanw666 For some reason this still seems to affect only you.

[johanw666]

I just read on the user forum someone with a similar issue. But for curiosity: is someone else able to restore this backup with the password from the screenshot?

[sudotony]

I am experiencing the same issue in "production" i.e. my in-real-life Signal backup.

Steps I took:

• Install Signal Private Messenger (likely to be version 4.16.9)
• Register
• Exchange messages with both Signal and non-Signal users
• App likely updated to 4.17.5 in background
• Click "Chat Backups" in "Chats and Media" settings
• Take a screenshot to save the passphrase
• Accidentally hit cancel
• Click "Chat Backups" in "Chats and Media" settings
• Confirm "I have written down this passphrase ..."
• Take _another_ screenshot to save the passphrase
• Click "Enable Backups"
• Click "Create backup"
• Copy Signal\Backups to PC

Then:

• Unlock bootloader, flash recovery, wipe everything, install rom
• Copy Signal\Backups from PC
• Install Signal
• Launch Signal
• Attempt a "Restore from backup"
• Enter the 30 character passphrase left to right top row, left to right bottom row (as per this image)
• Receive toast error "Incorrect backup passphrase"

[sudotony]

@johanw666

is someone else able to restore this backup with the password from the screenshot?

I have just tried to restore signal-2018-04-04-23-18-37.backup on my device with no luck. Currently on version 4.18.2.

[johanw666]

And you have been able to restore other backups on that device? That suggests an invalid backup file.

[sudotony]

@johanw666 No, I never mentioned anything about being able to restore other backups on my device. You asked if someone else is able to restore the backup with the screenshot provided passphrase, so I gave it an attempt but was not able to.

The only other backup file I've attempted to restore on my device is my own backup created on the same device, but with a different ROM.

[johanw666]

@sudotony yes, that was what I meant: did you succeed in restoring yourr own backup? If my backup file is invalid I might try some things, like removing all contacts from the test device and see if that helps. And start debugging in the backup exporter instead of the importer like I did until now.

[sudotony]

@johanw666 no I have not been able to restore my own backup or yours.

[w-ponds]

I am having the exact same problem when trying to restore. I am upgrading from a Motorola Droid Turbo to a Moto Z Force. I have tried several time already. My file is rather large at 2.74Gb so maybe that makes a difference? There are over 150,000 messages. Strange thing though. The last time I did it I zipped the file to make the transfer quicker. It brought the size down to about 600Mb. When I unzipped the file it was still at 600Mb. Not sure what happened there. It is essential that I be able to backup and restore as those text messages are pretty important.

[johanw666]

The last time I did it I zipped the file to make the transfer quicker. It brought the size down to about 600Mb. When I unzipped the file it was still at 600Mb.

That is definitely something that should not happen. Is it still a zipfile? (Check if the file starts with PK if you open it in a text editor) Do you still have the old phone? You could try to make another backup on it.

If it keeps failinbg and you have root on both device you might try this: https://community.signalusers.org/t/howto-manual-backup-restore-if-full-backup-does-not-work/2462

[w-ponds]

Unfortunately I don't still have the zip file. I do still have both phones as I am trying to complete the transfer. Neither are rooted though so can't go through with the manual method quite yet. It is sounding like that is what I may have to do. Do you have a recommendation for the best way to root them? I'm always warry of downloading someones "rooting" software just in case there's something screwy in it.
Since the backup file was so huge before (2.74Gb) I went ahead and trimmed all conversations at a 1000 message limit. This reduced the file to 884Mb. I tried to restore but the results were the same. Still doesn't like the passphrase. I am assuming this is a bug and Signal knows about it? I know I have restored other phones in the past but I sure don't remember having to go through this method. Is this something new as of the last year or so?

[bepaald]

@johanw666 ,

I have been busy writing a program to deal with signal encrypted backups on PC (without the signal app). I imagine it having lots of useful features in the future (viewing, editing, re-encrypting), but at this point it does not do a lot. But what it does do, is decrypt a database and dump the plaintext to stdout. I've tested it on the file you attached in this bug report, and it seems to decompress fine with the password you provided.

So, I think this at least shows that the export function works, and a valid backup is created. Why importing does not work, I don't know. My decryption code is translated fairly literally from signal's java code, so I can't really imagine it not decrypting properly. But that is where my program stops at this moment, it just dumps the decrypted output to stdout, so maybe the problem is in putting the decrypted data in a new signal database.

I don't know if this information is useful to you, but it might provide a hint as to where to look for a possible bug (that is, in the code putting the decrypted data in a new database).

Also, in your backup I see only two messages, both containing the text "Test.", but it also contains a lot of contact info (names and phone numbers). That is why I won't post it here (though the info is in a sense already public now, since you posted the file and passphrase), but if you want, I can send you the output of my program privately,

Lastly, everything I've said above is all assuming no bugs in my program, so it could all be false information.

edit Just new to github

[sudotony]

@bepaald may I have a copy of the code so I can attempt to decrypt my own backup file? I may then attempt outputting to an XML file compatible with SMS Backup & Restore.

[nonnomichele]

Hi all, I'm having the same issue on my lg g2 d802: I'm currently on signal 4.19.1 and my rom is lineageOS 14.1-20180418.

Since a couple of months I'm trying all the suggested solutions to restore an old backup made on a mokee rom (of wich I have a nandroid and that can be successfully restores), but without any success.

During the time I faced different issues, but with the mentioned 4.19.1 version I'm able to do a full encrypted backup on the mokee and restore it after completely uninstalling/reinstalling signal (previous versions were unable to restore even on the same mokee rom - just to say that something definitely changed on the signal side, it seems not just a rom issue).
But if I try to restore the same backup file on the lineage, the result is always the same: incorrect backup passphrase.
As a last resort test I tried to create a backup on the lineage (containing a couple of test messages), uninstall/reinstall signal and restore: the result is always incorrect backup passphrase;
I tried all other suggested methods I found both here and on the community forum, but with no success.

Please tell me if I can help providing some logs or anything else that can be useful to identify the problem.

[johanw666]

@nonnomichele if you still have the Nandroid backup you might try this: https://community.signalusers.org/t/howto-manual-backup-restore-if-full-backup-does-not-work/2462

[johanw666]

@bepaald I removed the backup from Mega due to the contacts being present. That it contains only 2 messages with Test in it is correct. Can you point me to the source of your software?

[nonnomichele]

@johanw666 sorry for the late reply and thanks for the suggestion. I already tried your method but I couldn't get it to work with signal 4.19.1. It always force closes when I launch it after the copy of the (renamed) keystonerfiles.

[WSLUser]

I have a similar issue in which I am unable to even present the passphrase when re-registering with a new phone (using the same number) to restore the encrypted backup. If there's a way to decrypt it outside the Signal app, I can try importing plaintext in Signal after decrypting. Suffice to say, I'm unable to produce a debug log for something that was never prompted for and I don't have root access and using stock android 7.0.
The backup was completed successfully after removing SD card on a Metro LG Stylo 2.
The restore was attempted on a Sprint LG G6.
Signal version: 4.19.3 (both phones)

[xpingjockey]

I'm trying to move between phones - 2 note 4s. I've tried both methods (root keystore backup) and the encrypted backup from within the UI. Neither methods are working for me. Signal v4.19.3. Root method causes force close. From the UI, keeps stating incorrect passcode.

Android 8.1 - LineageOS - Not official, Sprint Note 4.

Edit - corrected Signal version (4.19.2 to 4.19.3) - typo'd it, sorry.

[mikeymop]

@xpingjockey The backup location changed to /storage/emulated/0/Signal/Backups in 4.18.3 which I have from the play store.

I would like an option to choose between plaintext and encrypted backups as the encryption has not yet worked for me since it was introduced.

I tried to install a previous version 4.16.1 to create a plaintext backup however it crashed on start.

[WSLUser]

@mikeymop The version you stated doesn't exist...If you go into Settings, then Advanced, you will see your Signal version. It should be at 4.19.3 as everyone (even beta) was pushed to this version. If I place the xml backup into that location, will Signal prompt for a passphrase prior to registration?

@moxie-signal It also seems to me that an option to import the encrypted backup should exist after registration in case you aren't prompted like I wasn't and you don't have to lose messages you sent because a new passphrase is required for backing up those messages which then prevents restore of another backup with a different passphrase. The capability of restoring backups created with different pass phrases should also exist. But these lacking capabilities are separate from this issue though related so I'll break these out.

[moxie0]

Is anyone having this "invalid passphrase" problem that isn't running LineageOS?I know @johanw666 is, and it seems like at least a few others here are too.

[mikeymop]

The OP is a stock device.

Additionally my failure is from transferring from a Stock Essential phone to a Stock Google Pixel.

[moxie0]

@mikeymop Can you provide a debug log for your failure on stock Android?

[mikeymop]

Do you want a log of me _restoring_ the backup, or of me creating the backup? I read in another issue that implied it could be the backup.

Also is a Logcat is sufficient? I could take that when I get home (from work) and get the device in hand.

I would offer to give you dmesg, but that would mean wiping the phone with my data, which I am trying to preserve, to install a userdebug build.

[moxie0]

@mikeymop Could be anything, but it'd be best to start with a logcat of the restore. Thanks!

[w-ponds]

I am having the "invalid passphrase" and am running the stock OS on a Motorola Z Force.

[johanw666]

@moxie0 I am not running LineageOS but a Sony Stock ROM with Android 6.0.1.

[mikeymop]

@moxie0 Here ya go. I didn't see much in regards to signal.

https://pastebin.com/qxsGiazm

[MaxKoll]

I ran into the same problem (same symptoms at least) and found a way to work around it: I am using Xposed (v89), which is apparently interfering with the decryption process. After disabling Xposed I was able to restore my backup without any problems.

@johanw666 From the log file you provided I gather you are using Xposed, too. Perhaps you also might try to restore the backup with Xposed disabled.

(Signal v4.18.3, LineageOS 14.1, Xiaomi Redmi 2)

[mikeymop]

Hm. I'm not using xposed.
Does signal depend on dm verity?

On Sat, May 5, 2018, 5:34 PM MaxKoll [e-mail] wrote:

I ran into the same problem and found a way to work around it: I am using
Xposed (v89), which is apparently interfering with the decryption process.
After disabling Xposed I was able to restore my backup without any problems.

@johanw666 https://github.com/johanw666 From the log file you provided
I gather you are using Xposed, too. Perhaps you also might try restoring
the backup with Xposed disabled.

(Signal v4.18.3, LineageOS 14.1, Xiaomi Redmi 2)

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You are receiving this because you were mentioned.
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[johanw666]

I tested again with 4.19.3, but now I can't make any backups at all with the official backup code:

05-06 01:31:40.057 18198 18223 W JobConsumer: java.io.IOException: Renaming temporary backup file failed! 
05-06 01:31:40.057 18198 18223 W JobConsumer: at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.jobs.LocalBackupJob.onRun(LocalBackupJob.java:78) 
05-06 01:31:40.057 18198 18223 W JobConsumer: at org.whispersystems.jobqueue.JobConsumer.runJob(JobConsumer.java:76) 
05-06 01:31:40.057 18198 18223 W JobConsumer: at org.whispersystems.jobqueue.JobConsumer.run(JobConsumer.java:46) 
05-06 01:31:42.722 18198 18198 W PassphraseRequiredActionBarActivity: onPause() 

Full log at https://debuglogs.org/bd90f10bfde12ca9778c1ecb82b37a0182f2db1acd8750d691ccc588312fe2a9 , what's the matter with that new log provider? Seems unable to process EOL's.

[carrott]

I am having the same "Renaming temporary backup file failed" problem making a backup with an unmodified Galaxy S7 running Samsung's Android 7.0 and Signal 4.19.3 from the Play Store. I'm also unable to restore a backup made with another phone to this phone following the normal instructions.

I was successful restoring the backup by placing it in the /storage/HEX-CODE/Android/data/org.thoughtcrime.securesms/files/Signal/Backups directory, where HEX-CODE resembles the number linux often uses for an unnamed FAT filesystem.

I think Signal is confused about where the external storage is. This phone has both an internal storage and an external sdcard. I have tried unsuccessfully to perform backups and restores with no external sdcard installed, and from an external sdcard.

Looking at the backup code, it chooses a destination for the backup, writes the backup to a temporary directory and then renames it to the final location. I suspect that the temporary directory is on a different filesystem to the chosen backup storage location, and so the rename fails. The restore code uses the same logic to choose the backup directory and attempts to find a backup to restore, on this phone, apparently that location is /storage/HEX-CODE/Android/data/org.thoughtcrime.securesms/files/Signal/Backups

[johanw666]

@carrott HEX-CODE is what windows calls the volume serial number. There exist windows tools to change this, usually this is chosen at random after a format.

Renaming from external to internal storage will fail of course, because it are different filesystems.

[xpingjockey]

@MaxKoll -- xposed was the issue. I disabled xposed, rebooted, and was able to restore the backup. Now all we have to do is wait for 4.20 for the backup/restore to microsd to be fixed (hopefully).
Thanks...

[bjohas]

Hello all, I came across this thread when I was unable to create backups, as @johanw666 and @carrott note above. Have opened a separate bug report https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/7789 so the issue is easier to spot by others.

[Jargle]

I am seeing this on a new Pixel 2, when importing from a Pixel 1. The backup was made today with the same version of Signal on both phones.

What I see:
I get the correct screen when opening Signal for the first time that a backup was found, and input my old backup's password. I then type in the password (which I screenshot from my old phone) left to right, top row and then bottom row, and click Ok. Signal then seems to correctly count all the old messages (very quickly) then says "Invalid backup password!" after pausing for a while on the full message count.

I see this stacktrace in logcat:

05-14 16:39:04.309 6166-10045/? W/RegistrationActivity: com.google.protobuf.InvalidProtocolBufferException: Protocol message end-group tag did not match expected tag.
        at com.google.protobuf.CodedInputStream.checkLastTagWas(CodedInputStream.java:124)
        at com.google.protobuf.AbstractParser.parsePartialFrom(AbstractParser.java:143)
        at com.google.protobuf.AbstractParser.parseFrom(AbstractParser.java:176)
        at com.google.protobuf.AbstractParser.parseFrom(AbstractParser.java:188)
        at com.google.protobuf.AbstractParser.parseFrom(AbstractParser.java:193)
        at com.google.protobuf.AbstractParser.parseFrom(AbstractParser.java:49)
        at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.backup.BackupProtos$BackupFrame.parseFrom(BackupProtos.java:4937)
        at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.backup.FullBackupImporter$BackupRecordInputStream.readFrame(FullBackupImporter.java:265)
        at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.backup.FullBackupImporter$BackupRecordInputStream.readFrame(FullBackupImporter.java:189)
        at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.backup.FullBackupImporter.importFile(FullBackupImporter.java:67)
        at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.RegistrationActivity$2.doInBackground(RegistrationActivity.java:372)
        at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.RegistrationActivity$2.doInBackground(RegistrationActivity.java:364)
        at android.os.AsyncTask$2.call(AsyncTask.java:333)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
        at android.os.AsyncTask$SerialExecutor$1.run(AsyncTask.java:245)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1162)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:636)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:764)

[haffenloher]

@Jargle @mikeymop Your issue seems to be different from the "Bad MAC" one; you're both getting InvalidProtocolBufferExceptions on restore. Best would be to open a new report for that.

As two people confirmed the "Bad MAC" errors were due to Xposed, should we close this issue?
Edit: Actually, they both didn't post logs, so it's not 100% clear if they were experiencing the "Bad MAC" issue or something else.

[johanw666]

As two people confirmed the "Bad MAC" errors were due to Xposed, should we close this issue?

I'll test if disabeling Xposed works after I'm able to make a backup again at all in 4.20. However, why close the issue? I see nothing in the code that should be broken by Xposed.

[WSLUser]

I don't have Xposed but I seem to suffer from a similar issue as I mentioned above. I don't know how to check if "Bad MAC" is the issue but if I can get repro steps, I can see if that is the issue. If it's not, then this issue might be able to be labeled as "due to Xposed", but until then, this issue needs to remain open and worked on.

[johanw666]

@DarthSpock you can try to restore, then after it fails send a debug log (Settings - Advanced - Submit debug log).

[herrxyz]

did a backup 2 days before (dont remeber version number, always have newest version from playstore, around 8MB / 8k chat messages), changed from mokee8.1 to a rom kind of lineage15.1 and was able to restore my backup (to signal 4.19.3) without problems (stumbled upon this issue because I didnt find the key at once)
-> just as information that it works some times, even with different roms (but with same screen-unlock-key / only signal-backup, no android keyring or titanium/nand-backup). dunno if this info is helpful

[rsyqvthv]

got this issue as well, disabled xposed and reboot to restore without any lucky. :(

please give us an option to do the unencrypted backup for off Clouds users, as I never restored the encrypted backups successfully.

[caugner]

On a fresh install of Signal 4.19.3, with a recent backup in the Signal/Backups, I didn't get a prompt to restore the backup either.

Maybe this is the cause (obtained via adb logcat):

05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil: 
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil: org.thoughtcrime.securesms.database.NoExternalStorageException
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.util.StorageUtil.getBackupDirectory(StorageUtil.java:39)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.util.BackupUtil.getLatestBackup(BackupUtil.java:36)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.util.BackupUtil.getLastBackupTime(BackupUtil.java:25)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.preferences.ChatsPreferenceFragment.setBackupSummary(ChatsPreferenceFragment.java:111)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.preferences.ChatsPreferenceFragment.onResume(ChatsPreferenceFragment.java:80)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.support.v4.app.Fragment.performResume(Fragment.java:2308)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(FragmentManager.java:1465)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveFragmentToExpectedState(FragmentManager.java:1750)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(FragmentManager.java:1819)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.support.v4.app.BackStackRecord.executeOps(BackStackRecord.java:797)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.executeOps(FragmentManager.java:2590)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.executeOpsTogether(FragmentManager.java:2377)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.removeRedundantOperationsAndExecute(FragmentManager.java:2332)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl.execPendingActions(FragmentManager.java:2239)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.support.v4.app.FragmentManagerImpl$1.run(FragmentManager.java:700)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:751)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6186)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:889)
05-26 14:28:33.966 24051 24051 W BackupUtil:    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:779)

[xXxBobDolexXx]

I am unable to restore my backup made a few days ago using the passphrase I was given, and I do need those conversations back. Do I have any options? It's always incorrect passphrase even though its exactly what they gave me

[mikeymop]

Do you have an older copy of the backup? You can try restoring on another version of Android but in my case the backup was ruined.

There was a utility posted in this forum that can try to restore the backup.

[xXxBobDolexXx]

im trying on both backups, they havent been touched by anything except to have been moved. ill try reading through to find the utility, but i really do need to get these back

[xXxBobDolexXx]

After reading through the thread, it seems xposed gets in the way of the decryption process. Disabling xposed and attempting to restore my backup again resolved my issue.

[johanw666]

That leaves the question HOW Xposed could interfere with this process. Are there specific modules that interfere or is it the presence of the framework itself?

[xXxBobDolexXx]

One would think if it's the framework itself that it wouldn't work even if disabled since the files are still there, I may be wrong though.

If everyone who has this issue posts what modules they have we may be able to narrow it down.

Mine are:
DisableFlagSecure
LuckyPatcher(I know it's frowned upon shhhhhhhhh)
AllTrans

Those are the only ones I have

[johanw666]

I have a lot more modules loaded, but from the above set I have DisableFlagSecure and Lucky Patcher.

I have Xprivacy (often a culprit) but I disable this module for open source software I trust like Signal.

[xXxBobDolexXx]

Likely one of those modules then. DisableFlagSecure messes with framework.jar which i hear is pretty deep system level stuff, and we already know what lucky patcher does

[w-ponds]

The fact remains though that other people, like myself, have stock phones without Xposed installed and are still having the problem. It is amazing to me that Signal company has not fixed this yet. This is a serious flaw in their software!

[haffenloher]

@w-ponds are you sure you're experiencing the same issue? Did you check the logs (e.g. using adb) to see if you're getting the same "Bad MAC" IOException described in the first post? There's a couple of different issues mixed up in this thread and it's getting hard to keep track.

[kiplingw]

Could anyone point me to where the restore encrypted backup feature is located? Under Import I see only "Import system SMS database" and "Import plaintext backup" only.

I have signal-2018-06-23-10-21-11.backup placed in Signal/Backups. I don't have Xposed installed. I'm using Signal 4.21.6 on LineageOS 14.1-20180623-NIGHTLY-jfltexx.

[xXxBobDolexXx]

You should have a folder in your sdcard directory labeled Signal. Your
backups are in there. It will ask for your 30 digit code before setting up
the app. For Android anyway not sure if it's a thing on iOS

On Sat, Jun 23, 2018, 10:38 PM Kip [e-mail] wrote:

Could anyone point me to where the restore encrypted backup feature is
located? Under Import I see only "Import system SMS database" and "Import
plaintext backup" only.

I have signal-2018-06-23-10-21-11.backup placed in Signal/Backups. I don't
have Xposed installed. I'm using Signal 4.21.6 on LineageOS
14.1-20180623-NIGHTLY-jfltexx.

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[kiplingw]

On Sat, 2018-06-23 at 19:42 -0700, xXxBobDolexXx wrote:

You should have a folder in your sdcard directory labeled Signal.
Your backups are in there. It will ask for your 30 digit code before
setting up the app. For Android anyway not sure if it's a thing on
iOS

Thanks Bob. I already tried that folder. What I did was unregister /
uninstall Signal then re-install it. This time it saw the backup.

[w-ponds]

@haffenloher The issue I experienced was the issue initially reported in this post by @johanw666 When I try to restore a backup I get the "Incorrect Password Phrase". I was never actually successful with restoring and finally gave up. All of those past conversations are now stuck in a backup file. It's all of the conversations with family that I have lost because those are the only ones that were Signal conversations and thus encrypted. The rest of my conversations were backed up by Verizon on their "super secure remote cloud storage" (not!). Anyway, I never got around to looking at logs and I suppose those are probably long since gone inside of my phone? So, I'm not sure if my problem was in fact the Bad Mac IOException.

[nekromoff]

https://github.com/xeals/signal-back

[w-ponds]

Thanks! I'll try this when I have a chance!

Willis

On 6/26/2018 6:52 PM, Galimatias Nekromoff wrote:
>

https://github.com/xeals/signal-back

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[WSLUser]

@nekromoff I took a look at your repo and looks like a great WIP for normal OS but for clarification, will/does your project support Android? (Linux support isn't the same)

[nekromoff]

It's not my repo. It's something that helped me to decrypt encrypted
messages and then import them to the new phone. Because Signal wasn't able
to do so and the Signal import/export UX sucks so much, it's basically
unusable.

On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 2:40 PM, DarthSpock [e-mail]
wrote:

@nekromoff https://github.com/nekromoff I took a look at your repo and
looks like a great WIP for normal OS but for clarification, will/does your
project support Android? (Linux support isn't the same)

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[johanw666]

I finally found the time to test this a bit through. When I disable the Lucky Patcher Xposed module in the Xposed app restore works. The DisableScreenSecure module appears not to interfere with Signal. I have no idea how this module interferes with the backup restore. I'll try to contact the author of Lucky Patcher and see if he has any idea.

So for me this issue can be closed, unless someone else wants this issue to remain open for some other problem?

[w-ponds]

@johanw666 As I and some others mentioned, we don't have the Xposed app and still have the problem. I'm not familiar with that app but is it possible there is factory installed software that would cause the same problem? I had the problem on a stock Motorola Z Force with only factory software installed other than Signal and a few other personal apps.

[greyson-signal]

@w-ponds I want to be able to separate your issue from the others that are being discussed on this ticket. It seems like a lot of these issues are being caused by Xposed. However, it looks like you're getting the same issue on what I assume is two stock, non-rooted devices? If that's the case, please open a separate ticket with debug logs. It'd be great if you could get logs right after the backup, as well as right after the restore (or restore-attempt, rather).

As for the rest of this issue, it looks like it's resolved by not using Xposed, so I'll close this out.

Thanks!

[johanw666]

@greyson-signal disableling Xposed is overreacting, just disabeling the Lucky Patcher module (and reboot) is sufficient to make restore succeed in my case. I wonder what the problem is though. I only use options about Android not moaning when apk signatures are changed (the first 2 options in the settings).

[kostas888]

I have the same problem.
Made encrypted backup.
Updated Android.
Tried to restore encrypted backup, but says "incorrect backup passphrase".
Restored in .xml file by https://github.com/xeals/signal-back but it doesn't support cyrillic and make .xml file in UCS-2 instead of UTF-8.
When will be fixed this problem?
(miui 9.5.8.0)

[holmboe]

I am seeing this on a stock Oneplus 6T with Signal 4.29.7. Wanted to move from a Oneplus 5 but simply can't. I do not have Xposed installed.

[mike-edel]

I have the same issue on stock Nokia 7 Plus (Android 9)
On Signal 4.29.7 it would just crash after reading 11040 messages.
Switched to beta and now getting "incorrect backup passphrase" at the same point.
Can decrypt the backup using signal-back on Windows so I assume both the key and the backup itself are fine.

Will also try restoring on the old phone to see if that works.
Actually, scratch that - its the only working install I have so I will keep it for now.

[1911hajduk]

After struggling the last days with this very annoying bug I found a "solution" that worked at least for me:
I had about 11k messages, backup file size was about 770MB. Always ran into "incorrect backup passphrase". Tried several times, always the same error although i was sure that I put the 32 number pass correctly in. Then today I just deleted some conversations, 3-4 conversations i really dont needed. Made backup, now it was about 7k messages, restored on new phone and b00m, it worked. Signal accepted it and restored it. So glad, so happy now. Just wanted you to inform, maybe this is a "solution" for your problems. Seems some messages seem somehow corrupt and signal wont restore the backup.

[holmboe]

I talked to a friend who had similar issues and it turned out that that he had insufficient space on the originating phone so that the backup file was somehow truncated and in the end gave the error message that the passphrase was incorrect. I have yet to test this with my own phones.

It is possible that @1911hajduk managed to get a smaller, but more importantly a properly formed, backup after deleting a few thousand messages.

[mike-edel]

I can rule out free space in my case. Besides, the cmdline decryption tool was working fine for most of the people in the thread.
Will try deleting convos but where to start?

On December 11, 2018 2:18:38 PM GMT+01:00, Henrik Holmboe [e-mail] wrote:

I talked to a friend who had similar issues and it turned out that that
he had insufficient space on the originating phone so that the backup
file was somehow truncated and in the end gave the error message that
the passphrase was incorrect. I have yet to test this with my own
phones.

It is possible that @1911hajduk managed to get a smaller, but more
importantly a properly formed, backup after deleting a few thousand
messages.

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[nekromoff]

I can rule out lack of free space as well. I had plenty of space available,
but the backup/restore procedure failed. It worked with the third-party
tool that I have linked above. So, clearly a bug in the Signal.

On Tue, Dec 11, 2018 at 6:13 PM Mike [e-mail] wrote:

I can rule out free space in my case. Besides, the cmdline decryption tool
was working fine for most of the people in the thread.
Will try deleting convos but where to start?

On December 11, 2018 2:18:38 PM GMT+01:00, Henrik Holmboe <
[email protected]> wrote:

I talked to a friend who had similar issues and it turned out that that
he had insufficient space on the originating phone so that the backup
file was somehow truncated and in the end gave the error message that
the passphrase was incorrect. I have yet to test this with my own
phones.

It is possible that @1911hajduk managed to get a smaller, but more
importantly a properly formed, backup after deleting a few thousand
messages.

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[dckhole]

have the same problem (including the same bad MAC exception as the OP) with stock android 8.1.0 (nexus 5x) upgrading to 9.0.0 (pixel 2). same signal version on both, 4.31.6. tried a few times and no luck. I have about 30k messages in a 1GB backup file.

[Carolien989]

Same problem as described by 1911hajduk, and ended up with the error-message: "incorrect backup passphrase":

"After struggling the last days with this very annoying bug (..)
I had about 11k messages, backup file size was about 770MB. Always ran into "incorrect backup passphrase". Tried several times, always the same error although i was sure that I put the 32 number pass correctly in."

My source-phone is a Jiayu G4 (2+32GB) Android 4.2.1 Signal 4.31.6 (19k messages, 556MB)
The destination-phone is a Xiaomi A1 (4+32GB) Android 9.0.0 Signal 4.31.6

I made another backup-file at the source-phone, which was completed without asking for writing down another 30 number password. Restoring this second backup-file at the destination-phone started by using the same 30 number password, so this password seems to be the same for all backups.

Starting restoration on the destination-phone, Signal choose the latest of the two backup-files correctly without asking, and seemed to restore more messages: it stopped at approximately 13k messages when the error: "incorrect backup passphrase" popped up again.
So I was optimistic for only a short while when the restored-message count passed 12k, because restoring the first backup-file stopped at 11500 messages.

A few remarks:

• Both back-up files were transferred to a class-10 SD-card (the first to a 16GB card and the second to a 32 GB card with little improvement).

• And indeed, as mikeymop mentioned on may 3:
  The backup location changed to /storage/emulated/0/Signal/Backups in (signal version) 4.18.3 (..)

• My debug-log (signal - settings - advanced - submit debug log):
  https://debuglogs.org/84309f2de1498d513518f95523a2a5993a9a76fb0dfc797ecb56696ababf8522

To be continued ...

[brotkiste]

I have the same problem with a Backup from June 24 (186,9 MB) importing to Signal 4.31.6

[droark]

Hi. FWIW, I recently attempted to back up two separate devices. The tl;dr is that I think you need to be on unrooted / stock firmware in order for the backup to work. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm just going to pass along my findings. This was on the latest Signal (4.32.8).

Anyway, I have two different scenarios below. Please take everything with a large grain of salt. I'm no expert at debugging Android, although I've been through the upgrade dance several times and can roll my own LineageOS. :) All phones have unlocked bootloaders and are running the latest firmware.

PHONE 1: Nexus 5X --> OnePlus 6T (Phones rooted, with TWRP installed in recovery.)
5X was rebooting randomly, so I attempted a backup. Took 4-5 tries but it finally managed to not reboot in the middle of a backup. The backup was ~1.6GB. Offloaded to the 6T. This did not work. Signal would read the messages, get to a certain point, and then fail. (I can't remember the error message.) Attempting to use Titanium Backup to back up everything didn't work either. To make the owner happy, I had to dump everything to XML and import that, which wasn't ideal (media not properly imported).

PHONE 2: Pixel XL --> OnePlus 6T (Phones not rooted or running TWRP in any way, although the Pixel had been doing both before I flashed the latest clean firmware image without wiping my data.)
Made a backup, which was ~750MB. Pushed to the 6T. Signal accepted the backup and never complained.

The upshot is that, if at all possible, you seem to be best off running phones with pure, unaltered firmware, and possibly without root. It sounds like Signal dives pretty deep into some Android internals. I can see how messing with said internals could cause Signal to choke. Unfortunate, but I can't blame the team for being unwilling (or perhaps unable) to support every two-bit hack out there. Anyway, I recommend flashing a clean image before backing up, and restoring ASAP, before installing any hacks/roots/etc.

Good luck!

[FoxGit]

Some error upon transfering from Moto G3, Android 6 to Mi A2, Android 9.
Backup size: 370MB
Backup import starts counting the messages then exits with "incorrect passphrase"

[Suitundo]

How can this subject be closed while it's not fixed?..
I've tried two times to make a backup and transfer it to my new phone, but both times I get incorrect passphrase. The two seperate passphrases that were generated were double checked, clearly correct entered, but Signal doesn't accept. Thanks for this brilliant function.

[bepaald]

How can this subject be closed while it's not fixed?..
I've tried two times to make a backup and transfer it to my new phone, but both times I get incorrect passphrase. The two separate passphrases that were generated were double checked, clearly correct entered, but Signal doesn't accept. Thanks for this brilliant function.

The reason for closing is found earlier in this thread: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/7637#issuecomment-403529204

The new issue tracking similar backup restore problems is still open and can be found here: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/8355 (this is also linked in this thread)

I'd suggest you read the new issue carefully if you have anything to add.

[antonok-edm]

I was struggling for a while with this when moving to a new phone - I made one backup which wasn't working, then reset my backup setting and made a second one with a new passphrase, checked md5sums and realized some bits had been flipped during my file transfers, finally managed to successfully transfer the correct second backup file, and still encountered the "incorrect backup passphrase" error.

I was close to giving up, and then I saw @Carolien989's comment:

I made another backup-file at the source-phone, which was completed without asking for writing down another 30 number password. Restoring this second backup-file at the destination-phone started by using the same 30 number password, so this password seems to be the same for all backups.

This made me a little curious, as the second passphrase I was given was definitely different from the first one. I tried the original (first) passphrase, and it began decrypting immediately.

I suspect my particular issue stems from some kind of race condition, because I tapped the switch to disable/enable backups very quickly and clicked to make a new backup immediately afterwards. It generated a new key, but didn't use it for the newer backup at all.

[Querulous]

This made me a little curious, as the second passphrase I was given was definitely different from the first one. I tried the original (first) passphrase, and it began decrypting immediately.

I suspect my particular issue stems from some kind of race condition, because I tapped the switch to disable/enable backups very quickly and clicked to make a new backup immediately afterwards. It generated a new key, but didn't use it for the newer backup at all.

I can confirm this. Backup that I created immediately after disabling and reenabling backup creation could not be decrypted with passphrase displayed on backup creation but that one I created ~30 minutes later was working fine.

[elbrutalo]

https://github.com/xeals/signal-back

I'm also experiencing this problem. I got a 4,7 GB backup file and the correct passphrase. somehow signal aborts the import after 60.000 messages with the wrong passphrase message.

After the abort none of the messages have been imported.

Since I'm also unable to decrypt the backup with signal-back my only guess is that the backup file somehow could be corrupted. is there any way of restoring the backup at least partly (the abort ist after 60.000 messages which should be the most of them)?

the signal-back-log is as following:

...
2019/09/02 14:09:49 found file type: {image jpeg image/jpeg}
2019/09/02 14:09:49 found attachment binary 1563263433709
2019/09/02 14:09:49 file 1563263433709 has no associated SQL entry; going to have to guess at its encoding
error: failed to extract attachment: failed to decrypt attachment: failed to read att: EOF

Thank you very much for your help. It's the only backup still available.

[bepaald]

@elbrutalo
Yes there may be a way to restore (most of) your backup. I have written a tool to try to do that. It is all documented in the (still open) bug report about this problem here: #8355. It is quite a long read though, so I'll just refer you to my github repo: https://github.com/bepaald/signalbackup-tools. The readme has instructions for fixing broken backups. If you don't mind sharing, I'd be very interested if you succeed in restoring the backup and how much data you've lost (I'm counting success stories ;)).

[elbrutalo]

@bepaald thank you so much for the tool. Unfortunately I don't have any experience with linux or compiling scripts etc. ... I managed to create a Fedora Live bootstick but I already fail to install the C++ etc. and even after two days of intensive googling I am no further. If anyone could assist me in guiding me through this process, I would be incredibly grateful.

[AlexandreBonneau]

This made me a little curious, as the second passphrase I was given was definitely different from the first one. I tried the original (first) passphrase, and it began decrypting immediately.
I suspect my particular issue stems from some kind of race condition, because I tapped the switch to disable/enable backups very quickly and clicked to make a new backup immediately afterwards. It generated a new key, but didn't use it for the newer backup at all.

I can confirm this. Backup that I created immediately after disabling and reenabling backup creation could not be decrypted with passphrase displayed on backup creation but that one I created ~30 minutes later was working fine.

Well, this comment saved my day!
I had a 3.7GB backup file that couldn't be restored, so I first removed some media and got to a 3.1GB backup size, then removed the previous saves, waited a few minutes (and even rebooted the phone), then created a new one, and then the code was ok.

[crissimaster]

I have the problem to restore a backup created by signal 4.58.5.
signalbackup-tools did'nt helps, it stops after processing some messages.

Also I tried the alan/back-restoration branch, master with applied patch from that branch as well.
But that also fails.

The problem should be really fixed by the developers. This is a absolute show stopper.
If someone change the mobile (which is quite common) the conversions are lost.
signal is a good messenger and this makes a dark shadow on it :/

For me now I'm still off more than 3 weeks :(

I'm really willing to help to get this done, by providing logs, testing new versions, more...
@alan-signal / @gdg-signal / @jim-signal / @alex-signal : Just contact me, to find a way for solving this problem.

[bepaald]

@crissimaster I think it would be very helpful if you could submit a debug log of a failed backup restore. Especially for the signal devs.

If my program (I wrote signalbackup-tools) stops without having done its job, but also without an error message, that is probably a bug in my program. If you wouldn't mind, I would like to see the full output of the program to try and figure out what's going on.

I would also be willing to help you get your backup imported. I have had quite a bit of success in fixing people's backups so far, but it might take some time and require some patience and a lot of help from you.

It's actually been a while since I've worked on the program since most bugs causing backup failures seem to have been fixed, but I think I could get back into it quite quickly. If you want to try, just create a new issue on my tools' git and we'll see what we can do.

[crissimaster]

@crissimaster I think it would be very helpful if you could submit a debug log of a failed backup restore. Especially for the signal devs.

Here is the debug log (signal related).
redmi_note_8_20200503_22020_signal_2.log