Ubuntu
update-manager package

cannot use update manager

Bug #988841 reported by Jackson Sandberg Lawler on 2012-04-26

268

This bug affects 3 people

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	update-manager (Ubuntu)	Expired	Undecided	Unassigned

Bug Description

whenever I open update-manager now, I get this message:

E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_main_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

This happened just after I told the program to check for updates. I am at school and they have a filter program that blocks us (the students) from getting online without logging on first. I forgot that I had to log on first because I opened update-manager before I opened my browser (where the username and password is prompted upon initial attempt to visit a webpage).

First thing, I opened update manager, and checked for updates. it told me to check my internet connection; that was when I realized that I had forgotten to log in. So, I opened my browser and typed in my username and password and then got on to google just fine. Then, I tried to update again, and almost immediately, I presented with the error message I mentioned before.

I marked this as a security vulnerability because I think that it might be, since I cannot receive any updates anymore.

Jackson Sandberg Lawler (jaylaw555) on 2012-04-26

visibility:

private → public

Revision history for this message

Michael Vogt (mvo) wrote on 2012-04-26:

Thanks for your bugreport.

Could you please attach the file:
/var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_main_binary-i386_Package ?

What version of ubuntu/update-manager/apt are you using currenly?

Changed in update-manager (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Incomplete

Revision history for this message

Jackson Sandberg Lawler (jaylaw555) wrote on 2012-04-26:

us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_main_binary-i386_Packages Edit (7.5 MiB, text/plain)

To see if apt-get could fix the problem, I tried running:

sudo apt-get check

which yielded:

   E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
   E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/extras.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_main_binary-amd64_Packages
   E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

I am using Ubuntu 12.04 64- bit
I am using update-manager: version 0.156.14
I am using apt 0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10 for amd64 compiled on Apr 20 2012 10:19:39

I have attached the filed you asked for, and I will also attach the file that produced the error in the above.

Revision history for this message

Jackson Sandberg Lawler (jaylaw555) wrote on 2012-04-26:

here is the file that produced the error mentioned previously Edit (721 bytes, text/html)

Revision history for this message

Jackson Sandberg Lawler (jaylaw555) wrote on 2012-04-26:

I also cannot install any software from the Ubuntu Software Center, or using apt-get in the terminal. Please help me!

Revision history for this message

Jackson Sandberg Lawler (jaylaw555) wrote on 2012-04-26:

I know what happened. Somehow, the content of every single file in my packages directory was replaced by this by the firewall at my school when I forgot to log in before checking for updates:

<HTML><HEAD><META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="0;URL=https://192.168.76.1:4100/fw_user_login.html?redirect=http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/InRelease"><meta http-equiv="PRAGMA" content="no-cache"><meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD><BODY><b>You must login before accessing this site.</b><p>Your browser should be redirected to the login page shortly, or you can navigate directly there by selecting the link below:</p><a href="https://192.168.76.1:4100/fw_user_login.html?redirect=http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/InRelease">Firewall Login Dialog</a></BODY></HTML>

There are 18 files that contain nothing but that now.

Revision history for this message

Jackson Sandberg Lawler (jaylaw555) wrote on 2012-04-27:

You may mark this as solved. All I had to do was find every file that had been changed as described previously and delete all of its contents and then run update-manager again and it worked. I am sorry if I seemed flustered; it was unintentional if I came across as such. I don't know what caused this issue, but I think update-manager did something wierd when it tired to look for updates and was intercepted by the login prompt.

Revision history for this message

Michael Crane (michaelwcrane2) wrote on 2012-05-01:

I ran into the exact same problem, after my computer connected to wifi at a hotel, but I had not logged in yet. I was connected, but there was no internet connection. The first page in any browser is automatically rerouted by the server to the login screen.

I hope that this does not happen every time I'm at a hotel, but the bigger issue that I have is that I am unable to edit the files as described above. I am told that I do not own the files, and I am unable to change the permissions on them. Am I doing something wrong?

Revision history for this message

Jackson Sandberg Lawler (jaylaw555) wrote on 2012-05-01: Re: [Bug 988841] Re: cannot use update manager

I ran into that problem too. I opened up a terminal and ran the following
command:

sudo nautilus /var/lib/apt/lists/

That will open up the folder containing all of the files that need to be
changed as root in nautilus. As root you can double-click on a file to
edit it, or for some it may be necessary to right-click and select Open
With Other Application... and then choose the text editor you want to use
to delete the contents of all of the files--I used gedit b/c its simple and
it works.

i hope that helps! If it doesn't I will try to help you further if I can.

On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 10:33 AM, Michael Crane <email address hidden>wrote:

> I ran into the exact same problem, after my computer connected to wifi
> at a hotel, but I had not logged in yet. I was connected, but there was
> no internet connection. The first page in any browser is automatically
> rerouted by the server to the login screen.
>
> I hope that this does not happen every time I'm at a hotel, but the
> bigger issue that I have is that I am unable to edit the files as
> described above. I am told that I do not own the files, and I am unable
> to change the permissions on them. Am I doing something wrong?
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/988841
>
> Title:
> cannot use update manager
>
> Status in “update-manager” package in Ubuntu:
> Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> whenever I open update-manager now, I get this message:
>
> E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with
> MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu
> .com_ubuntu_dists_precise_main_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package
> lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
>
> This happened just after I told the program to check for updates. I
> am at school and they have a filter program that blocks us (the
> students) from getting online without logging on first. I forgot that
> I had to log on first because I opened update-manager before I opened
> my browser (where the username and password is prompted upon initial
> attempt to visit a webpage).
>
> First thing, I opened update manager, and checked for updates. it
> told me to check my internet connection; that was when I realized that
> I had forgotten to log in. So, I opened my browser and typed in my
> username and password and then got on to google just fine. Then, I
> tried to update again, and almost immediately, I presented with the
> error message I mentioned before.
>
> I marked this as a security vulnerability because I think that it
> might be, since I cannot receive any updates anymore.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/988841/+subscriptions
>

--
Jackson Lawler

I ran into that problem too.  I opened up a terminal and ran the following
command:

sudo nautilus /var/lib/apt/lists/

That will open up the folder containing all of the files that need to be
changed as root in nautilus.  As root you can double-click on a file to
edit it, or for some it may be necessary to right-click and select Open
With Other Application... and then choose the text editor you want to use
to delete the contents of all of the files--I used gedit b/c its simple and
it works.

i hope that helps!  If it doesn't I will try to help you further if I can.

On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 10:33 AM, Michael Crane <michaelwcrane2@gmail.com>wrote:

> I ran into the exact same problem, after my computer connected to wifi
> at a hotel, but I had not logged in yet. I was connected, but there was
> no internet connection. The first page in any browser is automatically
> rerouted by the server to the login screen.
>
> I hope that this does not happen every time I'm at a hotel, but the
> bigger issue that I have is that I am unable to edit the files as
> described above. I am told that I do not own the files, and I am unable
> to change the permissions on them. Am I doing something wrong?
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/988841
>
> Title:
>  cannot use update manager
>
> Status in “update-manager” package in Ubuntu:
>  Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
>  whenever I open update-manager now, I get this message:
>
>  E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with
>  MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu
>  .com_ubuntu_dists_precise_main_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package
>  lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.
>
>  This happened just after I told the program to check for updates.  I
>  am at school and they have a filter program that blocks us (the
>  students) from getting online without logging on first.  I forgot that
>  I had to log on first because I opened update-manager before I opened
>  my browser (where the username and password is prompted upon initial
>  attempt to visit a webpage).
>
>  First thing, I opened update manager, and checked for updates.  it
>  told me to check my internet connection; that was when I realized that
>  I had forgotten to log in.  So, I opened my browser and typed in my
>  username and password and then got on to google just fine.  Then, I
>  tried to update again, and almost immediately, I presented with the
>  error message I mentioned before.
>
>  I marked this as a security vulnerability because I think that it
>  might be, since I cannot receive any updates anymore.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/988841/+subscriptions
>

-- 
Jackson Lawler

Revision history for this message

Jackson Sandberg Lawler (jaylaw555) wrote on 2012-05-01:

I ran into that problem too. I opened up a terminal and ran the following command:

sudo nautilus /var/lib/apt/lists/

That will open up the folder containing all of the files that need to be changed as root in nautilus. As root you can double-click on a file to edit it, or for some it may be necessary to right-click and select Open With Other Application... and then choose the text editor you want to use to delete the contents of all of the files--I used gedit b/c its simple and it works.

Revision history for this message

Jackson Sandberg Lawler (jaylaw555) wrote on 2012-05-01:

#10

I was talking to my friend about this problem right after I fixed and he pointed out that this behavior for the update-manager makes it a security risk. It makes us vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack. Might I suggest that the update-manager perform a checksum operation before it replaces these files with nonsensical data, that, in theory, could be a man-in-the-middle attack. It makes me very nervous to be on public network, like my school's or a hotel's network like with Michael Crane.

Revision history for this message

Cem Kıy (se-cemkiy) wrote on 2012-05-08:

#11

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf

sudo apt-get update

You can try:)I was also.

Revision history for this message

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2012-07-08:

#12

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

Changed in update-manager (Ubuntu):
status:	Incomplete → Expired

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cannot use update manager

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update-manager package