1882059 - Firefox reports "Update check failed", potentially due to NordVPN Threat Protection

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Toolkit :: Application Update, defect)

Description

[Mehadi Hassan]

Attachment: Screenshot 2024-02-26 at 9.08.15 AM.png

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:123.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/123.0

Steps to reproduce:

Whenever I open the Firefox app on my Mac it says I have a new update despite being on the latest version. Also, when I go to the settings and check for updates, it says, "Failed to check update." I downloaded the newest version manually, but it still shows the above issue.

Actual results:

Failed to check for updates and detect that I am already on the latest version.

Expected results:

If I am not the latest version, then it should not prompt that I have an update available. When clicking to check for an update, it should show either I am not the latest or the new version.

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Toolkit::Application Update' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please correct in case you think the bot is wrong.

Comment 2

[Robin Steuber (she/her) [:bytesized]]

I have a few questions that I need you to answer:

1. How long have you been experiencing this problem?

2. It looks like you are on version 123.0, is that correct?

3. What is your update channel? Release? Beta? Developer Edition? Nightly? ESR? If you aren't sure, you can navigate to about:support and look for the "Update Channel" row.

Whenever I open the Firefox app on my Mac it says I have a new update despite being on the latest version.

Can you provide a screen shot please? Or tell me exactly what it says and what buttons are available? There are multiple notifications that this could describe and I need to know which one you are seeing.

---

Lastly, could you please collect and attach a Browser Console log?

1. Navigate to about:config.
2. Set app.update.log to true.
3. Open the Browser Console either with the hotkey Command+Shift+J, or via Hamburger Menu->More Tools->Browser Console
4. In the Filter textbox at the top, enter AUS: to filter out everything except the update messages.
5. Navigate to the "Update" section of about:preferences. It should automatically check for an update.
6. Once the update check has completed, copy the messages out of the Browser Console and attach them to this bug.

Comment 3

[Mehadi Hassan]

1. How long have you been experiencing this problem?

• From the release date of v123 as I was on v122 I got the notification of v123 and downloaded on the same day.

2. It looks like you are on version 123.0, is that correct?

• Yes.

3. What is your update channel?

• release

4. Can you provide a screen shot please? Or tell me exactly what it says and what buttons are available? There are multiple notifications that this could describe and I need to know which one you are seeing.

• I receive them once or twice a day if I am not wrong. On the top right corner, below the hamburger, it shows a toast-type notification that an update is available. If I dismiss it, then there is a dot on the hamburger menu, and when opened the hamburger menu it shows the same. If I am not wrong on the v122, when I received the update notification for v123 and I pressed download, it took me to the page of v123 specifically. But as I am on v123 and when I press the download on the toast, it takes me to the regular firefox download page, not any specific version page.

Console Log:
(When I navigated to update section it did not auto check for update so I clicked check for update)

AUS:AUM AppUpdater:check - currentState=STATE_IDLE
AUS:AUM AppUpdater:check - starting update check
AUS:SVC CheckerService:checkForUpdates - checkType: 2
AUS:SVC CheckerService:checkForUpdates - Making new check request for check id 9.
AUS:SVC CheckerService:getUpdateURL - checkType: 2
AUS:SVC CheckerService:getUpdateURL - update URL: https://aus5.mozilla.org/update/6/Firefox/123.0/20240213221259/Darwin_aarch64-gcc3/en-CA/release/Darwin%252023.3.0/ISET%3ANEON%2CMEM%3A8192/default/default/update.xml?force=1
AUS:SVC CheckerService:#updateCheck - sending request to: https://aus5.mozilla.org/update/6/Firefox/123.0/20240213221259/Darwin_aarch64-gcc3/en-CA/release/Darwin%252023.3.0/ISET%3ANEON%2CMEM%3A8192/default/default/update.xml?force=1
AUS:SVC CheckerService:#updateCheck - request got 'error' event
AUS:SVC CheckerService:#updateCheck - Failed. request.status: 2152398919
AUS:SVC getStatusTextFromCode - transfer error: Data transfer was interrupted (please try again), code: 2152398919
AUS:AUM AppUpdater:check - Update check failed; CHECKING_FAILED

Comment 4

[Mehadi Hassan]

I think I found the issue. It was Nord VPN threat protection blocking the update. Is there any reason Nord VPN counts this as a threat? However, it does not show on the blocked list inside Nord VPN.

Here is the video - https://we.tl/t-1LyH0CEeRq

Comment 5

[Robin Steuber (she/her) [:bytesized]]

(In reply to Mehadi Hassan from comment #4)

I think I found the issue. It was Nord VPN threat protection blocking the update. Is there any reason Nord VPN counts this as a threat? However, it does not show on the blocked list inside Nord VPN.

Here is the video - https://we.tl/t-1LyH0CEeRq

Oh, that is extremely interesting, thank you. Clearly something needs to be done about this, but I'm going to need to talk to some people to figure out exactly what.

Comment 6

[Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him]]

mkaply: our plan is to reach out to NordVPN to understand what might be happening here (something about HTTP without TLS? content scanning the MARs triggering antivirus false-positives?) and to monitor to understand impact. Are you aware of existing contacts at NordVPN, or could you redirect to folks who might have contacts? Thanks!

Comment 7

[Mehadi Hassan]

Unfortunately, I do not have any contact with NordVPN.

Comment 8

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

We don't have any NordVPN contacts, and I don't know of anyone that has any.

Comment 9

[Robin Steuber (she/her) [:bytesized]]

I've made an attempt to reach out to NordVPN myself. I'll update this when and if I get a response.

Comment 10

[Robin Steuber (she/her) [:bytesized]]

I got a response from NordVPN, but I don't really have any updates to give yet. They just had a couple of questions. One of which was whether the NordVPN software that is causing this problem is up-to-date.

@mehadihassan116 - Could you give the the version of NordVPN and the version of macOS that you are currently running?

Thanks!

Comment 11

[Mehadi Hassan]

I am on the latest version, which is NordVPN 8.16.1

Comment 12

[Robin Steuber (she/her) [:bytesized]]

Could you provide NordVPN Activity Logs? I'm not sure if there is anything sensitive in them, so it might be best to send them to me directly at [e-mail].

These are the steps to get them:

1. Open the NordVPN application.
2. Click on the question mark icon “?” at the bottom left of the map.
3. Click “Activity Logs”. Once clicked, Finder will open the location where NordVPN diagnostics are stored.
4. The latest log file that is present in that folder would be the one we require.

Comment 13

[Robin Steuber (she/her) [:bytesized]]

This has been waiting on the reporter for some time. I'm going to go ahead and close the bug. We can reopen it if the reporter provides the requested information.