Closed Bug 647878 Opened 13 years ago Closed 8 years ago

plugin-container.exe high CPU loads

Categories

(Plugins Graveyard :: Kaspersky AV, defect)

Product:
Plugins Graveyard
Component:
Kaspersky AV
Platform:
All
Windows Vista
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
critical

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

People

(Reporter: webmaster, Unassigned)

Details

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; WOW64; rv:2.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0
Build Identifier: All new Firefox 3 and 4 versions

On multiple systems, Win 7 64, Vista 32 and Vista 64, using any recent version of Firefox with Plugin Container, CPU loads go dangerously high when any Flash page is opened.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Start Firefox
2. Visit any website with Flash
Actual Results:  
As a baseline, I am reporting based on the use of a HP Touchsmart with a Turion x2 at 2.2ghz.

Task Manager reports around an average of 40% CPU use by Plugin Container For Firefox. After a few minutes, cooling fans speed up and the system begins to get very hot.

Closing the page with Flash drops Plugin Container CPU usage back to around 1%. Hardware temps reduce and cooling fan slows back to normal.

Expected Results:  
I would expect CPU usage to be around 10% like is reported when running the same web pages from Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. Neither run up my hardware temps to any noticeable difference.

This began with the introduction of Plugin Container. I had 0 problems prior to that. Unfortunately, I fear hardware heat damage will occur on a couple of my laptops and have had to go to other browsers, now only quickly testing newly developed websites in Firefox instead of it being my main browser.

We have a number of clients who are suffering from poor website performance on their Flash pages under Firefox.

I have spent hours searching on this issue. It seems to be very widespread, across even to the Linux world, but yet nothing seems to be done in spite of various bug reports... or did I miss the one that matters?

I am marking this a Critical as I fear it could cause destruction of computer hardware due to constantly intensive CPU cycles and extreme heat generation. As for system crashes, I cannot point to Firefox but I have had a greater number of unexplained system shutdowns on two machines in the last 6 months or so.
Note that Plugin Container is basically your plugin 
(Flash for instance), with a thin layer around it. Previously, users complained that the browser was using too much cpu, now it's Plugin Container. If there's a problem, it  might be in the plugin itself. Make sure that the plugin is up-to-date (check using <http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/>), and your graphics drivers too (graphics intensive pages often cause that).
Jo,

I have the latest Flash plug-in. Video is up to date... the whole system is up to date according to hp, firefox, adobe and windows.

I hear what your are saying and perhaps this is just a horrid version of the Flash plugin. Still, here are keys.

Running the same page in Chrome cuts CPU use to 1/4th that of Firefox... same with IE.

Adobe doesn't seem to think it is their problem, Firefox doesn't seem to think it is their problem. But obviously the problem exist, is widespread across platforms and versions. What are we Firefox devotees to do? Just quit using Firefox?

My fear is that I will accidentally open a page with a Flash ad, get a phone call, set my laptop down in a less than perfect spot, like on a couch and come back to a cooked system. Seriously, this thing is a lap cooker and "only" when running a flash site in Firefox. CAD, no problem... Photoshop, DW, 50 browser instances in three browsers, email and a few other intensive apps... no problem.

1. If this is a bug with the Adobe plugin, is anyone talking to Adobe about this?
2. Is there anything I can do to stop this other than killing Flash?
I just tried the same video (<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG8wZjKEnNQ&feature=topvideos>) in Firefox and in Chrome. Firefox was using 8%+1% (firefox.exe + plugincontainer.exe), Chrome 7%+1% (both processes are called chrome.exe, but Flash is packed inside Chrome itself).
BTW, chrome has it's own flash player bundled into it managing it's own version. double check your Firefox version.
Jo,

Eureka! AV software. In the case of my two computers, it is F-secure. In the
case of my partner who is experiencing the same problems, I believe he is
running Kapersky.

I have firewall exceptions for both Firefox and added in plugincontainer.exe
and it made no difference in loads. Only shutting down the AV succeeded in
ending the high loads.

Why does task manager show this load under plugincontainer.exe while the AV
program seems to be running along at normal loads? Misleading.

As stated, I have confirmed that at least two different AV programs are
producing like results. I would suspect this is the cause for so many reports
of a problem with plugincontainer.exe.

I just switched to Webroot AV and CPU loads are now down to maybe an average of
5% on the same Flash webpage that was averaging 40% loads under F-secure.

Sorry for missing the obvious in my troubleshooting, but the three systems with
unlike AV along with task manager reporting plugincontainer caused me to
discount AV as a possibility.

Thanks for hanging with me on this.
Also of interest, before killing F-secure, I turned off Plugin Container in my FF 3 install. CPU load runs at 40-50% showing Firefox as the troublesome program. So in fact Plugin Container is not the added layer causing the problem.

Is the Flash plug-in the same for IE? Note that I was not experiencing high CPU loads with IE. I understand from the above that Chrome runs its own compilation internally.

I do still have a F-secure system I can test on if this would help with any troubleshooting.
>Is the Flash plug-in the same for IE? Note that I was not experiencing high CPU
>loads with IE. I understand from the above that Chrome runs its own compilation
>internally.
No, flash for IE is totally different, Active X not at all the same as Firefox
Is there anything that can be determined by this report? Flash, AV or FF bug?
(In reply to comment #7)
> >Is the Flash plug-in the same for IE? Note that I was not experiencing high CPU
> >loads with IE. I understand from the above that Chrome runs its own compilation
> >internally.
> No, flash for IE is totally different, Active X not at all the same as Firefox

Note that http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ will offer you a different version if you surf it with IE than with Firefox. Quite a number of people are confused by that, since they will swear that their Flash version is up to date, while it might be in 1 browser, but not in the other one. Grrrrrr...

(In reply to comment #6)
> Also of interest, before killing F-secure, I turned off Plugin Container in my
> FF 3 install. CPU load runs at 40-50% showing Firefox as the troublesome
> program. So in fact Plugin Container is not the added layer causing the
> problem.

Switching off Plugin Container means that Flash will now run inside the browser itself, so the 40% cpu-load just moves with it.
Is this to say the plugin checker link above does not report properly? It does tell me I am running the latest Flash update. Also, I only rarely run IE, leaving it most likely the Flash would update in FF every time.

We obviously have softwares that are NOT playing nice together affecting lots of users. How should we proceed?
FWIW, Opera uses the same Flash plugin as Firefox.

As for why the AV would result in higher CPU loads for the Flash process but not for itself, you have to understand that AV often hooks into certain system APIs, and by doing that, it has the potential of making some system calls significantly more expensive, and if the Flash that Fx/Opera uses happens to make use of those calls, then the burden could fall on them and not the AV.

Also, You can always download the latest version of Flash directly:
http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax.exe
http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe

The _ax is for IE while the other is for non-IE (except for Chrome, which bundles Flash).
I did a Opera install to test the Flash Plugin. I am loading the same webpage with a very light Flash application. (I get the same results on any Flash page except heavier Flash apps do runs loads higher... duh)

Testing a Vista 32 system running F-secure AV.

Opera - CPU loads up and down between 1% and 7%
Firefox - CPU loads up and down between 30% and 50%

Chrome - 1% and 7%
IE - 2% and 8%

I don't think we can blame Adobe for this. I don't think we can blame F-secure for this. I think we have to ask why only with Firefox?
To clarify: Other browsers + F-S is okay, and Firefox + no F-S is okay.  Right?

Could you download & run this:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653
(IIRC, to do what I'm about to suggest, you should run it with admin privs)

When the plugin container's CPU is pegged, double-click on it in Process Explorer.  Then click the Threads tab in the dialog that shows up.  Ignore the message about symbols.  You should see a thread with really high CPU usage.  Double-click on that thread, hit Copy All, and paste it here.
(In reply to comment #13)
> To clarify: Other browsers + F-S is okay, and Firefox + no F-S is okay.  Right?

That is correct.

I also checked with my friend running Kapersky who was also having problems, but CPU loads on his system now seem to be back to an acceptable level. Perhaps an upgrade to Kapersky? Who knows, but it went away.

I also have sent logs to F-secure support and they are looking into this as well.
> 
> Could you download & run this:
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653
> (IIRC, to do what I'm about to suggest, you should run it with admin privs)
> 
> When the plugin container's CPU is pegged, double-click on it in Process
> Explorer.  Then click the Threads tab in the dialog that shows up.  Ignore the
> message about symbols.  You should see a thread with really high CPU usage. 
> Double-click on that thread, hit Copy All, and paste it here.

Here you go.

ntoskrnl.exe!KeWaitForMultipleObjects+0xabd
ntoskrnl.exe!PsGetCurrentThreadTeb+0x64f
ntoskrnl.exe!NtOpenProcessToken+0x1ae1
ntoskrnl.exe!KiDeliverApc+0xce
ntoskrnl.exe!KeInsertQueueDpc+0x654
ntoskrnl.exe!KeWaitForMutexObject+0x492
ntoskrnl.exe!NtWaitForSingleObject+0xc8
ntoskrnl.exe!ZwQueryLicenseValue+0xbca
ntdll.dll!KiFastSystemCallRet
kernel32.dll!WaitForSingleObject+0x12
NPSWF32.dll!native_ShockwaveFlash_TCallLabel+0x176f5

Thanks!
I'm not sure there's a point to leaving this bug open, if we can verify that it only happens with Kaspersky.
Component: Plug-ins → General
QA Contact: plugins → general
Component: General → Kaspersky AV
Product: Core → Plugins
QA Contact: general → kaspersky-antivirus
I have reported this problem twice in your forums and several others have responded, having the same issue. It also happens with XP and only happens with some images. There is an advertisement from United Healthcare which sucks up 99% of the CPU. I posted a link which always locked up, but unfortunately they have now changed the ad from United healthcare to Lockheed, and it no longer gives the problem. There was also a consistent problem with a Bank of America add, but it too has been changed. This is one of the forum links. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/959013#answer-436179. It seems to be associated with animation in the images as the current Lockheed Martin add (check http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2013/07/10/should-we-have-a-national-park-on-the-moon/?wpisrc=nl_tech_b) briefly engages 97% of the CPU. I think you can see that if the animation continued, the Lmckheed add would be a problem.
If you are affected by this interaction issue with AV software, you should report it to the vendor.
Georg,
The only place I am affected is on Mozilla. Neither Chrome or Explorer has the problem. There are multiple adds from different companies (vendors?). People have reported the issue on YouTube. The software creating the virtual lock up is plugin-container.exe and the vendor is Mozilla. I have been trying to report it for some time. If you pull up this page, you will see the CPU usage for plugin-container go as high as 90% due to a Lockheed add. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2013/07/11/the-x-47b-score-one-for-the-away-team/?wpisrc=nl_tech_b .
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/the-circuit-fcc-reform-yahoo-asks-court-to-unseal-2008-argument-officials-worry-snowden-accessed-china-spy-files/2013/07/11/646ce9d6-ea4a-11e2-aa9f-c03a72e2d342_story.html?wpisrc=nl_tech_b has a Wells Fargo add which never gets to 10%.
This bug has apparently been narrowed down to an interaction issue with Kapersky AV.
If you see notable performance issues that are not related to this, please file a new bug with the details:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Core&component=Plug-ins

Note that plugin-container mostly hosts plugins, over which we don't have control. Also, both Chrome and Internet-Explorer run different Flash versions, so Opera is better suited for comparisons in case of Flash.
I'm new here as of 5 mins ago.

I had terrible performance problems with Norton and recently changed to Kaspersky on my WinXP SP3 machine - I need old hardware for engineering reasons!

The relevant bit is that within no time at all, I had even worse performance. I'm reporting my first findings now to Kaspersky but they are on holiday.  Some further investigation needed but this is the discovery...

During normal use, one or collectively the avp.exe process/es consume 100%CPU.

Observation...

Boot Windows as normal -no applications!
Fire up Windows Task Manager to view Processes.
Highlight avp.exe & put CPU ahigh at top.
From Taskbar, close Kaspersky & wait for avp.exe to close.
***Start TB and/or FF and allow few seconds for tasks to settle.
Restart Kaspersky and watch processes settle.

Use machine as normal at high performance... yes, CPU in idle almost all the time!

I note that in the same session you can even close and re-open TB and FF and it is still fine.

NB. Should disable comms while Kaspersky is off.

Anyhow, this might work for other people and other AV - and if so, someone might code a proper fix.

Rog
I am getting memory leaks every single day from plugin-container.
I recently set Adobe Flash to automatically load, and I leave my laptop on every night. I have 8 specific tabs open every night:
Facebook, youtube, twitter, Tumblr, google+, pokemon showdown, yahoo fantasy baseball.
Five of these can use flash, and g+ uses Google Talk plugin.
I find my laptop slow (yesterday is crashed) because plugin-container jumps up to 4.5+ gb of ram by the morning, and is using up north of 50% of my CPU.

So, I see a memory leak and performance issue that can be replicated.
Arch Linux, KDE 4.14.10, Firefox 39.0
I tried Adobe Flash 11.2.202.481-1 for Linux and freshplayerplugin using Chrome's flash 18.0.0.204-1

This bug should be reopened, because it happens with Flash:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=844886
Closing old bugs in the Plugins component. We aren't going to track issues in 3rd-party plugins in the Mozilla bug tracker. In addition, support for NPAPI plugins will be removed at the end of this year; for more details see the post at https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2015/10/08/npapi-plugins-in-firefox/

If there is a serious bug in Firefox, it needs to be filed in the "Core" product, "Plug-Ins" component.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 8 years ago
Resolution: --- → INCOMPLETE
Product: Plugins → Plugins Graveyard
You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.