Tor Browser crashing in Whonix VirtualBox since upgrade to Host Linux Kernel version 5.10.0-15

Hi, this must be a host kernel issue.
Had the same problem, google search lead me here. I’m running tails in kvm, tor browser was crashing with the latest kernels 5.18 and 5.17 on host (even older versions of tails 4.x), after downgrading to kernel version 5.15.55 (probably LTS version) on kvm host, the browser is stable again. My system is gentoo, except the kernel all the relevant versions are up-to-date (at the time of posting).

I am pretty certain this is a Linux host kernel version vs VirtualBox version issue.

This might be related:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1012627

(A Linux kernel security patch was backported to the stablized Debian bullseye Linux kernel, which might be the cause for these issues.)

Workaround documented here just now:
Linux Host Kernel versus Tor Browser and other Crashes

Workaround doesn’t solve the issue for me. Both Gateway and Workstation running on 5.10.0-14.

VirtualBox DKMS on Arch.

Only whonix or so as other operating systems inside vbox?

If vbox is hopeless case for you then please use Whonix in KVM version.

Since when does this happen?

In that case it could be a different issue and Tor Browser Crash Errors applies.

Tor Browser Crash Errors was a thing long before this issue kernel issue happened.

I’ve been using Whonix since its early days, updating regularly, and it was flawless until these Tor crashes at the begining of June. As I use it through VB, I thought the solution in this thread would stop them but it’s still unstable.

In my opinion, this issue is rooted in virtualization, the same browser crash is exhibiting on tails running in kvm (see my previous post here), but when I run same tails from usb directly on hardware, tor browser is not crashing. Also, I can consistently reproduce the problem on kvm with host kernels 5.16-5.18, but on 5.15.latest its working fine. My cpu is AMD btw. Still thinking what all these here described details means and what is the common culprit. Something must have been changed in tor browser, which does not like the virtualization, maybe some compile flag, or some specific cpu version, or some unexpected combination of something.

solution partially worked for me: limit the number of virtual CPUs to 1 in Virtualbox settings for Workstation. With this crashes less often.

Also there is an another bug here when Firefox crashes and crash the xorg xserver too. It occurs on some sites that use webgl with the latest extesnions like shaders or so. Seems the problem is in video adapter driver which doesn’t implement these extensions. The last bug occurs both on old real hardware adapters too

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please upload VirtualBox 6.1.38 to Debian fasttrack


Whonix VirtualBox Integration and Upgrades

My setup: Linux OS (jammy jellyfish) - Oracle VM - Whonix (where i use tor browser) Linux version: No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS Release: 22.04 Codename: jammy I have all the lastest software version for the software that I’m using. (I’ve checked)

The problem - My tor browser started crashing displaying a exit node zero error:

“ERROR: Tor Browser ended with non-zero (error) exit code! Tor Browser was started with: /home/user/.tb/tor-browser/Browser/start-tor-browser --verbose --allow-remote . Tor Browser exited with code: 139”

I’ve searched for a while and the only answer i’ve found is to degrade my kernel version but since security is my focus this wouldn’t make any sense:

“ This issue happens after a Linux host kernel upgrade. Common symptoms of this issue are: • APT showing hashsum mismatch. • other kernel issues • Tor Browser crashes

It is happening because VirtualBox does not support yet that kernel version. [5] This wiki chapter was written on 19 July 2022 and might be improved later perhaps with better options as they become available. The only known workaround for now is to downgrade to Debian Linux kernel version 5.10.0-14. Obviously this is a bad solution. “

Can you help me find any other alternative? Or at least let me know if I should wait for an upgrade? Thanks in advance.

Which VirtualBox version are you using?

If…

6.1.32

…too old.


Even…

https://packages.ubuntu.com/jammy-updates/virtualbox

6.1.34

…is too old.


kinetic…

https://packages.ubuntu.com/kinetic/virtualbox

6.1.38

That’s good but I understand Ubuntu Kinetic hasn’t been released yet.

This might be fixed in VirtualBox 6.1.36. And even more likely so in Virtualbox 6.1.38 which is already available from upstream VirtualBox.

The problem is…

…Debian fasttrack at time of writing is shipping only version 6.1.34 and I have no idea when or if Debian will update VirtualBox.

Installation of VirtualBox from VirtualBox.org Repository (6.1.38) might be possible but it’s cumbersome and quote:

Note: after upgrading the VirtualBox host version, this can cause issues with the guest VMs such as broken VM size adjustment (full screen) [2] unless the VirtualBox guest additions are also upgraded inside your virtual machine (which is not covered in these instructions).

related:
Previous VirtualBox Integration

Linux Host Kernel versus Tor Browser and other Crashes has been updated.

Now there’s a better method available. Install a newer version of VirtualBox from VirtualBox.org Repository.

Testers wanted!

This situations has also been improved:

5. Update VirtualBox guest additions.

Recommended: At time of writing 11 September 2022, as of VirtualBox version 6.1.38 Migration to Oracle Style VirtualBox Guest Additions is recommended.

Can you give me a more simplified guide to do the correct instalation? or put here the link to access the original guide? Given that this forum interface is kinda weird to understand at first…

Thanks in advance

Related:

The already as simple as I could get it after a few hours of work version is this:

It doesn’t get much simpler anytime soon.

  • Cause of issue: Software not developed by third parties (meaning not Whonix) (i.e. Linux kernel; VirtualBox) got updated and is now incompatible. And your Linux distribution Ubuntu not providing an up to date VirtualBox version either.
  • Abstract task: get a newer version of VirtualBox.

The issue is unspecific to Whonix.

This means you don’t need necessarily depend on instructions from the Whonix website. These are supplementary. If you find the supplemental instructions on the Whonix website useful, that’s great. These always maximize security as far as that’s reasonably possible (not asking for highly unlikely stuff such as downloading the VirtualBox source code and auditing it by yourself).

If you find instructions elsewhere such as on the VirtualBox website, you can use them. Maybe the instructions can be as simple as a one liner but it would be less secure. So making the instructions simpler while not compromising on security is very hard.


In the future, the instructions might get a bit simpler thanks to extrepo - safely adding repos.

Already under consideration: Whonix VirtualBox Integration and Upgrades - #8 by Patrick

But even if extrepo, it would still be quite a few commands to copy/paste.

The only way to make it really easy would be to provide first class integration of VirtualBox into a Linux distribution. That might happen under the Kicksecure project and/or Whonix-Host. But that will take a long time until it’s there and obviously asking to change the host linux distribution is also a big ask.


references:

Linux Host Kernel versus Tor Browser and other Crashes has been updated.

This is now easy to fix at least for Debian users since the version of VirtualBox available from Debian fasttrack does not have this issue. In other words, this is fixed in recent VirtualBox versions.

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