Firefox 43.0 in 13.2 - Download Denial (if more than 1 user active)

I discovered this today because it is a fresh install and it was my first
attempt at downloading something via the browser (a pdf file).

I did al the usual troubleshooting stuff for FF and nothing worked. I
tried SeaMonkey and that worked fine. Then I tried my spare account and
that also worked.

Searching on google for some hints and I found following two bug reports:

  1. Firefox 43.0: Downloads fail
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/1527884

2… https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1233434
Linux: temporary download directory is not created specifically for each
user

The workaround fix I got for myself is by deleting
‘mozilla_mozillaUser0’ in the /tmp directory and then launching FFox
in the main account to recreate it and lock it in as its own. That will
do me for now and I should hope a patch to fix this issue will be
forthcoming soon via the updates.

Lastly, I apologise if it has been covered already but I could not
see anything in the Google search results.

Cheers,
Peter

I think you may be saying (and i related to your bug reports) that FF may currently have a bug if more than one User is created on the machine and FF is unable to d/l files to each User.

That’d be surprising because typically all web browsers on every OS (not just Linux) downloads to a temporary directory which can be shared between Users and when complete is stored in ~/Downloads (or similar for non-Linux). The folder ~/Downloads is specific to the logged in User so there cannot be any confusion.

Per your launchpad link, it may be a simple permissions issue on the shared temporary folder. Comment #9 suggests changing the temp folder permissions as the current workaround, but a more permanent fix will likely be implemented by FF using correct security when writing the file.

TSU

I seem to recall an earlier thread that mentions this problem, though perhaps for Leap.

There should be an update to firefox 43.0.3. Perhaps that will fix the problem.

On 05/01/16 02:36, tsu2 wrote:
>
> I think you may be saying (and i related to your bug reports) that FF
> may currently have a bug if more than one User is created on the machine
> and FF is unable to d/l files to each User.
>
> That’d be surprising because typically all web browsers on every OS (not
> just Linux) downloads to a temporary directory which can be shared
> between Users and when complete is stored in ~/Downloads (or similar for
> non-Linux). The folder ~/Downloads is specific to the logged in User so
> there cannot be any confusion.
>
> Per your launchpad link, it may be a simple permissions issue on the
> shared temporary folder. Comment #9 suggests changing the temp folder
> permissions as the current workaround, but a more permanent fix will
> likely be implemented by FF using correct security when writing the
> file.
>
> TSU

Hi,
The below description pretty much explains it in full technical
details and matched my problem symptoms:

>>
Description hrvoje.habjanic 2015-12-17 13:49:39 PST

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:43.0)
Gecko/20100101 Firefox/43.0
Build ID: 20151210085006

Steps to reproduce:

On a single host (ubuntu 14.04.3) i have multiple users. Each of them
uses remote desktop (x2go) to connect and browse. When first user starts
browsing (firefox), and tries to download something, a special file
/tmp/mozilla_mozillaUser0 is created.

When second (different) user try to download something (not the same
thing!), clicking on download link does not produce “Save to” dialog, or
saves file to designated location. Instead, new entry is added to
download manager, with status “failed”.

Actual results:

On first user download, “save to” dialog is presented, and user is able
to save file.

On second user download, there is no “save to” dialog and file is not
saved. Instead, file is logged in download manager with “failed” status.

Both users have selected to show “save to” dialog!

Expected results:

Second user should be able to save the file.

Comment 1 hrvoje.habjanic 2015-12-17 14:00:34 PST

Hi.

It would seem that /tmp/mozilla_mozillaUser0 directory is to blame in
here. It is created when first download is attempted, and it is not
deleted or moved away. Also, it have 0700 permissions, so other users
can not access it.

Removing this directory, enables other users to download normally, BUT,
again, because is recreated, next user again have the same problem.
Changing permissions to 0755 makes this work next user - because new
directory is created - “mozilla_mozillaUser1”. But, again, with 0700
permissions, which make jet another next user having the same problem.

What is interesting in this whole mess, is that assigning TMP
environment variable makes this directory not showing up, and thus,
fixing this bug.

Regards,

H.
<<
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1233547

Cheers,
Peter

On 05/01/16 05:56, nrickert wrote:
>
> I seem to recall an earlier thread that mentions this problem, though
> perhaps for Leap.

> There should be an update to firefox 43.0.3. Perhaps that will fix the
> problem.
Appears to be fixed for 44.0 Beta and above and hopefully it will be
also patched for 43.0.3.

On 04/01/16 23:32, Peter_Abc wrote:
> I discovered this today because it is a fresh install and it was my first
> attempt at downloading something via the browser (a pdf file).
>
> I did al the usual troubleshooting stuff for FF and nothing worked. I
> tried SeaMonkey and that worked fine. Then I tried my spare account and
> that also worked.
>
> Searching on google for some hints and I found following two bug reports:
>
> 1. Firefox 43.0: Downloads fail
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/1527884
>
> 2… https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1233434
> Linux: temporary download directory is not created specifically for each
> user
>
> The workaround fix I got for myself is by deleting
> ‘mozilla_mozillaUser0’ in the /tmp directory and then launching FFox
> in the main account to recreate it and lock it in as its own. That will
> do me for now and I should hope a patch to fix this issue will be
> forthcoming soon via the updates.

43.0.4
Firefox Release

January 6, 2016
Version 43.0.4, first offered to Release channel users on January 6, 2016

We’d also like to extend a special thank you to all of the new
Mozillians who contributed to this release of Firefox!

Fixed

Fix for startup crash for users of a third party antivirus tool (Bug
1235537)

Multi-user GNU/Linux download folders can be created (Bug 1233434)

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/43.0.4/releasenotes/


Hopefully this update gets pushed through to openSUSE soon.

On 05/01/16 02:36, tsu2 wrote:
>
> I think you may be saying (and i related to your bug reports) that FF
> may currently have a bug if more than one User is created on the machine
> and FF is unable to d/l files to each User.
>
> That’d be surprising because typically all web browsers on every OS (not
> just Linux) downloads to a temporary directory which can be shared
> between Users and when complete is stored in ~/Downloads (or similar for
> non-Linux). The folder ~/Downloads is specific to the logged in User so
> there cannot be any confusion.
>
> Per your launchpad link, it may be a simple permissions issue on the
> shared temporary folder. Comment #9 suggests changing the temp folder
> permissions as the current workaround, but a more permanent fix will
> likely be implemented by FF using correct security when writing the
> file.
>
> TSU

Hi,
The below description pretty much explains it in full technical
details and matched my problem symptoms:

>>
Description hrvoje.habjanic 2015-12-17 13:49:39 PST

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:43.0)
Gecko/20100101 Firefox/43.0
Build ID: 20151210085006

Steps to reproduce:

On a single host (ubuntu 14.04.3) i have multiple users. Each of them
uses remote desktop (x2go) to connect and browse. When first user starts
browsing (firefox), and tries to download something, a special file
/tmp/mozilla_mozillaUser0 is created.

When second (different) user try to download something (not the same
thing!), clicking on download link does not produce “Save to” dialog, or
saves file to designated location. Instead, new entry is added to
download manager, with status “failed”.

Actual results:

On first user download, “save to” dialog is presented, and user is able
to save file.

On second user download, there is no “save to” dialog and file is not
saved. Instead, file is logged in download manager with “failed” status.

Both users have selected to show “save to” dialog!

Expected results:

Second user should be able to save the file.

Comment 1 hrvoje.habjanic 2015-12-17 14:00:34 PST

Hi.

It would seem that /tmp/mozilla_mozillaUser0 directory is to blame in
here. It is created when first download is attempted, and it is not
deleted or moved away. Also, it have 0700 permissions, so other users
can not access it.

Removing this directory, enables other users to download normally, BUT,
again, because is recreated, next user again have the same problem.
Changing permissions to 0755 makes this work next user - because new
directory is created - “mozilla_mozillaUser1”. But, again, with 0700
permissions, which make jet another next user having the same problem.

What is interesting in this whole mess, is that assigning TMP
environment variable makes this directory not showing up, and thus,
fixing this bug.

Regards,

H.
<<
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1233547

Cheers,
Peter

On 05/01/16 05:56, nrickert wrote:
>
> I seem to recall an earlier thread that mentions this problem, though
> perhaps for Leap.

> There should be an update to firefox 43.0.3. Perhaps that will fix the
> problem.
Appears to be fixed for 44.0 Beta and above and hopefully it will be
also patched for 43.0.3.

On 04/01/16 23:32, Peter_Abc wrote:
> I discovered this today because it is a fresh install and it was my first
> attempt at downloading something via the browser (a pdf file).
>
> I did al the usual troubleshooting stuff for FF and nothing worked. I
> tried SeaMonkey and that worked fine. Then I tried my spare account and
> that also worked.
>
> Searching on google for some hints and I found following two bug reports:
>
> 1. Firefox 43.0: Downloads fail
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/1527884
>
> 2… https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1233434
> Linux: temporary download directory is not created specifically for each
> user
>
> The workaround fix I got for myself is by deleting
> ‘mozilla_mozillaUser0’ in the /tmp directory and then launching FFox
> in the main account to recreate it and lock it in as its own. That will
> do me for now and I should hope a patch to fix this issue will be
> forthcoming soon via the updates.

43.0.4
Firefox Release

January 6, 2016
Version 43.0.4, first offered to Release channel users on January 6, 2016

We’d also like to extend a special thank you to all of the new
Mozillians who contributed to this release of Firefox!

Fixed

Fix for startup crash for users of a third party antivirus tool (Bug
1235537)

Multi-user GNU/Linux download folders can be created (Bug 1233434)

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/43.0.4/releasenotes/


Hopefully this update gets pushed through to openSUSE soon.