Firefox crashing about every 10-20 minutes

[Hadmut Danisch]

Hi,

no details yet. Since today's ubuntu 18.04 update my firefox is crashing completely about every 10-20 minutes while browsing. terminates immediately, all windows/tabs gone instantly.

I'm not absolutely sure, but I'm unter the impression that it always happens when visiting pages with commercial ads or having such pages in a tab.

Since I am hosting web sites with ads myself, I am aware that for about three weeks several readers complained about malware and page redirects, which have been limited to MacOS/iOS/Safari so far, but it proves that particular Browsers are under attack through embedded commercial ads. Thus, I am also not sure whether it is actually caused by today's update or just a conincidence. But it looks as if there's something out there which causes firefox to immediately crash and terminate. All windows immediately gone, program terminated. Smells like some sort of attack or maybe just a regular bug and no intentional attack.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: firefox 70.0+build2-0ubuntu0.18.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-66.75-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-66-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.8
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: hadmut 5779 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20191021054351
Channel: Unavailable
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Sun Nov 3 16:20:45 2019
DefaultProfileExtensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
DefaultProfileIncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
DefaultProfileLocales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
DefaultProfilePrefErrors: Unexpected character ',' before close parenthesis @ /usr/lib/firefox/omni.ja:greprefs.js:930
DefaultProfilePrefSources: prefs.js
DefaultProfileThemes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IfupdownConfig:
 # ifupdown has been replaced by netplan(5) on this system. See
 # /etc/netplan for current configuration.
 # To re-enable ifupdown on this system, you can run:
 # sudo apt install ifupdown
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-06-09 (511 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Lubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Release amd64 (20180426)
Profile0Extensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile0IncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
Profile0Locales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile0PrefErrors: Unexpected character ',' before close parenthesis @ /usr/lib/firefox/omni.ja:greprefs.js:930
Profile0Themes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile1Extensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile1IncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
Profile1Locales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile1PrefErrors: Unexpected character ',' before close parenthesis @ /usr/lib/firefox/omni.ja:greprefs.js:930
Profile1Themes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile3Extensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile3IncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
Profile3Locales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile3PrefErrors: Unexpected character ',' before close parenthesis @ /usr/lib/firefox/omni.ja:greprefs.js:930
Profile3PrefSources: prefs.js
Profile3Themes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profiles:
 Profile3 - LastVersion=69.0.2/20191002193559 (Out of date)
 Profile2 (Default) - LastVersion=70.0/20191021054351 (In use)
 Profile1 - LastVersion=None/None (Out of date)
 Profile0 - LastVersion=None/None (Out of date)
RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/12/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: H61TIW08.111
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: H61H2-TI2
dmi.board.vendor: Medion
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Medion
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrH61TIW08.111:bd10/12/2012:svnMedion:pnG24:pvr1.0:rvnMedion:rnH61H2-TI2:rvr1.0:cvnMedion:ct3:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.family: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.product.name: G24
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: Medion

[Seth Arnold (seth-arnold)]

Hello Hadmut,

I don't have any firm evidence, but I suspect you're seeing https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/11/scammers-are-exploiting-an-unpatched-firefox-bug-to-send-users-into-a-panic/

There's also some AppArmor DENIED messages in your logs; we've had reports of these with the new Firefox, but I don't think anyone's mentioned stability problems as a result of the denial. Do the crashes you saw line up with the timestamps (or frequency) of the DENIED messages in the logs? Do they go away if you add:

owner @{HOME}/.mozilla/firefox/*/mediacapabilities/lock.mdb k,

to your /etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.firefox profile and reload the profile with

apparmor_parser --replace /etc/apparmor.d/usr.bin.firefox

?

May I make this bug report public?

Thanks

[Hadmut Danisch (hadmut)]

Hi Seth,

no, at least it does not seem to be that bug, because when the problem occurs here, the browser is instantly gone. No freeze or display or message. Immediately dead and terminated, windows closed.

I was away yesterday, but I'll check this further today and tomorrow.

And yes, make the report public. I don't see a reason to keep this secret, it's just that it happens automatically once you check the security vulnerability hint.

regards

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Thanks for the report Hadmut.

Can you try running firefox in safe mode (firefox -safe-mode) and let us know whether the crashes still occur?

Are there related crash files in /var/crash/ ?

[Hadmut Danisch (hadmut)]

No crash files in /var/crash and no crashes yesterday and today.

Since the browser was working well for two days now, after crashing every few minutes when reporting the bug, I consider it as highly probable that this is not a regular bug that occurs during normal browsing, but something related to particular code that came with particular ads. Maybe still a specific coincidence due to unusual code, maybe an exploit. Currently I cannot reproduce the bug, but will check this as soon as I observe it again.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

setting to incomplete until it happens again/crash details are provided

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for firefox (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]