gcr-prompter is logging too much

[Simon Déziel]

When prompted to unlock a SSH private key, gcr-prompter logs no less than 29 messages in auth.log:

  Jan 12 10:55:42 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: received BeginPrompting call from callback /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:42 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: preparing a prompt for callback /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:42 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: creating new GcrPromptDialog prompt
  Jan 12 10:55:42 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: automatically selecting secret exchange protocol
  Jan 12 10:55:42 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: generating public key
  Jan 12 10:55:43 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: beginning the secret exchange: [sx-aes-1]\npublic=pub-base64\n
  Jan 12 10:55:43 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: calling the PromptReady method on /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:43 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: returned from the PromptReady method on /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:43 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: received PerformPrompt call from callback /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:43 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: receiving secret exchange: [sx-aes-1]\npublic=pub-base64\n
  Jan 12 10:55:43 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: deriving shared transport key
  Jan 12 10:55:43 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: deriving transport key
  Jan 12 10:55:43 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: starting password prompt for callback /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:43 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gtk: GtkDialog mapped without a transient parent. This is discouraged.
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: completed password prompt for callback :1.2@/org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: encrypting data
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: sending the secret exchange: [sx-aes-1]\npublic=pub-base64\nsecret=secret-base64==\n
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: calling the PromptReady method on /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: returned from the PromptReady method on /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: received PerformPrompt call from callback /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: stopping prompting for operation /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: closing the prompt
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: stopping prompting for operation /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: couldn't find the callback for prompting operation /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: stopping prompting for operation /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: couldn't find the callback for prompting operation /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: stopping prompting for operation /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: couldn't find the callback for prompting operation /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2
  Jan 12 10:55:44 simon-laptop gcr-prompter[7123]: Gcr: calling the PromptDone method on /org/gnome/keyring/Prompt/p4@:1.2, and ignoring reply

This looks like debug logging to me. Also, it's probably best to avoid logging the secret exchange (obfuscated above).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: gcr 3.18.0-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.3.0-6.17-generic 4.3.3
Uname: Linux 4.3.0-6-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.19.3-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Jan 12 10:54:14 2016
SourcePackage: gcr
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. The issue you are reporting is an upstream one and it would be nice if somebody having it could send the bug to the developers of the software by following the instructions at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME. If you have done so, please tell us the number of the upstream bug (or the link), so we can add a bugwatch that will inform us about its status. Thanks in advance.

[Martin von Wittich (martin.von.wittich)]

I've found an upstream bug report: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=773009

I've also devised a simple workaround:

martin@dogmeat ~ % cat /etc/rsyslog.d/20-gcr-prompter-discard.conf
# gcr-prompter logs debug info to /var/log/auth.log
# https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gcr/+bug/1533267
# https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=773009
if $programname == 'gcr-prompter' then stop

Run `sudo systemctl restart rsyslog` after creating that file, then gcr-prompter should no longer produce any logs.