X authorization issues or simply b0rked Firefox?

chexmix · 10-10-2017, 07:07 PM

Hi Folks -

I've had a post up over at the CentOS forums for a while, but haven't gotten very far with solving this. FWIW, I had precisely the same issue when I installed Scientific Linux (another RH-like distro - I'm trying to have one around for study purposes).

Firefox wouldn't display anything other than white screens. I know content was loading into the browser, because I could get cursors to respond to invisible hyperlinks ... but visible graphics, no dice. I could fix the problem temporarily by 'refreshing' Firefox with extensions disabled ... but this was only temporary.

In the course of investigating I discovered my Xorg.0.log was full of these:

Code:

[ 1729.133] AUDIT: Sun Sep 3 09:14:39 2017: 1316: client 19 connected from local host ( uid=1000 gid=1000 pid=5428 )
Auth name: MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 ID: 229
[ 1729.134] AUDIT: Sun Sep 3 09:14:39 2017: 1316: client 19 disconnected
[ 1729.140] AUDIT: Sun Sep 3 09:14:39 2017: 1316: client 19 connected from local host ( uid=1000 gid=1000 pid=5428 )

One of the CentOS folks thought this was significant and it might indicate my X authorisations are fouled up.

Here's what I got when I ran xauth on CentOS:

Code:

[chexmix@oortcloud ~]$ xauth
Using authority file /run/gdm/auth-for-chexmix-gO1LCF/database
xauth> list
oortcloud.example.org/unix:0  MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1  876f1ef00e6893b2c8755d968a2e4620
#ffff#6f6f7274636c6f75642e6578616d706c652e6f7267#:0  MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1  876f1ef00e6893b2c8755d968a2e4620

I guess that /run location for what I thought would be the /home/chexmix/.Xauthority file is standard usage now, but what about the rest? Is that second line junk, is it causing the problem and should I delete it?

I am flummoxed by this issue, and it's tedious to troubleshoot since the installation lacks a working browser via which I can investigate / ask questions. I have to come over to another system to do that.

Does any of this sound/look familiar to anyone? Either the Firefox issue or the related(?) X.org messages?

Thanks,

Glenn

Shadow_7 · 10-10-2017, 08:16 PM

If you're using a user other than the one that started X.

$ xhost local:

From the user who started X to allow ALL users to access X. Or local

therusername which adds only that user to access the X session, plus the existing authorized user(s). I'm not sure if that's what you want to do, but one option. The more hack-ish method is to copy the .Xauthority for the user who started X, chown it, and set the XAUTHORITY variable and the DISPLAY variable. I had a compromised system once with an odd entry in those places that was sending data out on port 53 at about 1/3rd dialup speed. Killing atieventd (partially installed fglrx driver) and removing the entry from xauth fixed it, but I still did a fresh install.

As far as firefox, perhaps strace it and see what it's opening / waiting on. Removing the $HOME/.browserstuffs tends to get the browser back to behaving. Where .browserstuffs is whatever a new user creates if the only thing that it runs is the browser. Something like .cache/mozilla/ and .mozilla in the $HOME path. Removing them might help, probably easier to create a new user and test with the new user. Removing them ofc removes browser history, cookies, and bookmarks, so if you don't remember your logins or most visited sites, don't do that.

About the only trouble I have with firefox is that it takes more then 30 seconds for it to launch if the internet connection is offline. Which is highly annoying if I need to restart the router to get the internet back. It's almost quicker to physically walk into the other room and unplug / replug the hardware. If it weren't for stepping over the cat, dog, pet toys, and such.

ondoho · 10-11-2017, 02:14 AM

i have seen a thread here on LQ where 'MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE' was relevant to the solution, so maybe search for that string?

i'd also try to dis/enable hardware accelaration for firefox. a quick preferences toggle, can't hurt.