[SRU] kdesu fails to authenticate with sudo from Jammy

Bug #1965439 reported by Erich Eickmeyer
270
This bug affects 54 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
kdesu (Debian)
Fix Released
Unknown
kdesu (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Rik Mills
Jammy
Fix Released
High
Rik Mills
Kinetic
Fix Released
High
Rik Mills
kubuntu-settings (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Unassigned
Jammy
In Progress
High
Unassigned
Kinetic
Fix Released
High
Unassigned
sudo (Ubuntu)
Won't Fix
Undecided
Unassigned
Jammy
Won't Fix
Undecided
Unassigned
Kinetic
Won't Fix
Undecided
Unassigned
ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Erich Eickmeyer
Jammy
Fix Released
High
Erich Eickmeyer
Kinetic
Fix Released
High
Erich Eickmeyer

Bug Description

kdesu fails to authenticate with sudo from Jammy.

See upstream bug: KDE bug: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=452532

Examples: Launch Kubuntu driver manager from system setting, launching ksystemlog from the main menu, or trying to run krusader root mode option via its 'Tools > Start Krusader Root Mode' menu entry. Assuming that the current user is a member of the sudo group.

On entering the correct password authentication is refused, stating that
possibly an incorrect password has been entered.

It appears that kdesu fails to cope with the sudo config change in this
commit:

https://salsa.debian.org/sudo-team/sudo/-/commit/59db341d46aa4c26b54c1270e69f2562e7f3d751

kdesu was fixed in Debian with:

https://tracker.debian.org/news/1330116/accepted-kdesu-5940-2-source-into-unstable/

and fixed in kinetic with:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kdesu/5.94.0-0ubuntu2

The issue can be worked around by adding /etc/sudoers.d/kdesu-sudoers with the contents

Defaults!/usr/lib/*/libexec/kf5/kdesu_stub !use_pty

[Impact]

 * Users are unable to authenticate to and launch applications via kdesu.
 * This should be backported to restore functionality that users expect.

[Test Plan]

 * Launch Kubuntu driver manager from system setting, launching ksystemlog from the main menu, or trying to run krusader root mode option via its 'Tools > Start Krusader Root Mode' menu entry. Assuming that the current user is a member of the sudo group.

* Confirm that the application authentcate and launch as successfully as in previous releases.

[Where problems could occur]

 * While this update only returns sudo to its default behaviour (used in previous releases and virtually all other distributions) for kdesu, care should be taken to test some other applications that seek root permissions to confirm that no unexpected consequences occur.

Revision history for this message
Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer) wrote :
Changed in kubuntu-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: New → In Progress
assignee: nobody → Erich Eickmeyer  (eeickmeyer)
importance: Undecided → Critical
Revision history for this message
Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer) wrote :
tags: added: patch
Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntustudio-default-settings - 22.04.22

---------------
ubuntustudio-default-settings (22.04.22) jammy; urgency=medium

  * Fix for inability to load driver manager (LP: #1965439)
  * Update screenshots/previews for sddm and themes

 -- Erich Eickmeyer <email address hidden> Thu, 17 Mar 2022 13:32:48 -0700

Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Rik Mills (rikmills)
Changed in kubuntu-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: Confirmed → In Progress
Revision history for this message
Rik Mills (rikmills) wrote :

The fix from Erich Eickmeyer has been uploaded for kubuntu-settings.

However, as this is a non-optimal solution that spawns an xterm window, I do not consider this completely 'fixed'.

Hopefully a better solution can be found before release.

Revision history for this message
Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer) wrote :

This seems to be a bigger bug and applies to software-properties-qt and perhaps pkexec. As it turns out, one cannot launch "sofware-properties-qt" from within plasma-discover either. Even though it calls pkexec to launch it, it fails every time even if the user is a system admin.

Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: Fix Released → In Progress
summary: - Driver manager KCM can no longer launch
+ software-properties-qt can no longer launch
summary: - software-properties-qt can no longer launch
+ software-properties-qt can no longer launch when called by pkexec
Changed in policykit-1 (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in software-properties (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in policykit-1 (Ubuntu Jammy):
importance: Undecided → Critical
Changed in software-properties (Ubuntu Jammy):
importance: Undecided → Critical
Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
importance: Critical → High
Changed in kubuntu-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
importance: Undecided → High
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Paul Loughman (snowhog) wrote : Re: software-properties-qt can no longer launch when called by pkexec

A kludge workaround this issue is to run the command: sudo software-properties-qt --open-tab=x (where x is 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 [the 'tab' number]) from a konsole session. It at least allows one to access software-properties.

description: updated
Revision history for this message
Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer) wrote :

software-properties-qt simply does not launch when run from the live session except when using the workaround mentioned by Paul above in comment 6 or when run by the Driver Manager link in System Settings.

Revision history for this message
Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa) wrote :

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1965439

tags: added: iso-testing
tags: added: kubuntu ubuntustudio
Revision history for this message
KC1DI (davekc1di) wrote :

Affects me also

Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: In Progress → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer) wrote :

Changing back to "In Progress" because, much like Rik is for Kubuntu, I'm not happy with the solution I made as it's a hack at best.

Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: Fix Released → In Progress
Revision history for this message
Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer) wrote :

Adding kdesu in this as it's likely the culpret, not pkexec, according to this upstream bug: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=452532

Changed in kdesu (Ubuntu Jammy):
importance: Undecided → High
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in kdesu (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Lukas Sommer (sommerluk) wrote :

Same problem for me. I did not upgrade to the beta version of 22.04, but waited until the official upgrade was available. Nevertheless, kdesu does not work.

Revision history for this message
Giuseppe Scarlato (betanab) wrote :

I have the same problem after upgrading from Kubuntu 21.10 to Kubuntu 22.04. My original OS installation was Kubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Rik Mills (rikmills)
summary: - software-properties-qt can no longer launch when called by pkexec
+ software-properties-qt can no longer launch when called by kdesu
Changed in policykit-1 (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: Confirmed → Invalid
Changed in policykit-1 (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Invalid
Revision history for this message
ppp (pigeonskiller) wrote (last edit ): Re: software-properties-qt can no longer launch when called by kdesu

Affects me also.

The bug persists also with newer version sudo_1.9.10-3_amd64.deb from debian repo.

Installing older version sudo_1.9.5p2-3ubuntu2_amd64 from Impish repo seems to solve the problem.

I'm testing it...

Revision history for this message
Rahim (rahim007) wrote :

Facing the same problem with fresh install of Kubuntu 22.04

Revision history for this message
Little Girl (littlergirl) wrote :

It also affects me in Kubuntu 22.04 in both Muon and Discover. A work-around (besides the one mentioned above) is to open Settings --> System Settings --> Driver Manager and put in the password when prompted. That will open to the Drivers tab, but you can open any of the other tabs from there.

Revision history for this message
Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer) wrote :

Apparently downgrading to the version of sudo in impish solves the problem, which means a change in sudo caused this.

Changed in sudo (Ubuntu Impish):
status: New → Invalid
Changed in sudo (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Impish):
status: New → Invalid
Changed in software-properties (Ubuntu Impish):
status: New → Triaged
Changed in kubuntu-settings (Ubuntu Impish):
status: New → Invalid
Changed in kdesu (Ubuntu Impish):
status: New → Invalid
Changed in policykit-1 (Ubuntu Impish):
status: New → Invalid
Changed in software-properties (Ubuntu Impish):
status: Triaged → Invalid
Changed in sudo (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Rik Mills (rikmills) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Daniele Inglisa (s1lver) wrote :

Sorry for my ignorance, but I'm afraid the source of the bug is deeper (and not intrinsic to software-properties-qt), as the same bug also occurs when trying to start, for example, KSystemLog.

Revision history for this message
Rik Mills (rikmills) wrote :

Seems to be caused by: https://salsa.debian.org/sudo-team/sudo/-/commit/59db341d46aa4c26b54c1270e69f2562e7f3d751

Commenting out the: 'Defaults use_pty' in /etc/suduoers seems to fix things for me.

Now as that was added to fix a CVE, reverting that probably isn't a easy fix

Rik Mills (rikmills)
no longer affects: software-properties (Ubuntu)
no longer affects: software-properties (Ubuntu Impish)
no longer affects: software-properties (Ubuntu Jammy)
no longer affects: policykit-1 (Ubuntu Impish)
no longer affects: policykit-1 (Ubuntu Jammy)
no longer affects: policykit-1 (Ubuntu)
summary: - software-properties-qt can no longer launch when called by kdesu
+ applications can no longer launch when called by kdesu
no longer affects: ubuntustudio-default-settings
Rik Mills (rikmills)
no longer affects: ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Impish)
no longer affects: sudo (Ubuntu Impish)
no longer affects: kubuntu-settings (Ubuntu Impish)
no longer affects: kdesu (Ubuntu Impish)
Revision history for this message
DR. VIMAL HURRY (vhurry200) wrote : Re: applications can no longer launch when called by kdesu

I'm having the same problem on both my desktop & laptop running Kubuntu 22.04. Sudo muon e.g. gets the job done (to change software sources) but it is very irritating that the dialog box won't accept my password. I never had this problem on Kubuntu 21.10. Please fix this bug as soon as possible. Thanks!

Revision history for this message
Rik Mills (rikmills) wrote :
Rik Mills (rikmills)
Changed in kdesu (Ubuntu Jammy):
assignee: nobody → Rik Mills (rikmills)
Changed in kdesu (Ubuntu Kinetic):
assignee: nobody → Rik Mills (rikmills)
status: Confirmed → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package kdesu - 5.94.0-0ubuntu2

---------------
kdesu (5.94.0-0ubuntu2) kinetic; urgency=medium

  * Disable use of sudo 'Defaults use_pty' for kdesu. (LP: #1965439)

 -- Rik Mills <email address hidden> Thu, 26 May 2022 15:13:22 +0100

Changed in kdesu (Ubuntu Kinetic):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Changed in kdesu (Debian):
status: Unknown → New
Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Kinetic):
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
Rik Mills (rikmills)
Changed in kubuntu-settings (Ubuntu Kinetic):
status: In Progress → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntustudio-default-settings - 22.10.1

---------------
ubuntustudio-default-settings (22.10.1) kinetic; urgency=medium

  * Revert changes for Jammy for driver manager (LP: #1965439)

 -- Erich Eickmeyer <email address hidden> Fri, 27 May 2022 09:01:47 -0700

Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Kinetic):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Changed in kdesu (Debian):
status: New → Fix Released
Rik Mills (rikmills)
Changed in kdesu (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: Confirmed → In Progress
Revision history for this message
Custom Automated Systems ® Pte Ltd (customautosys) wrote :

Confirmed facing this bug. I managed to use the .desktop file workaround for Discover, but it does not seem to work for Muon.

Revision history for this message
BlackMage (blackmage) wrote (last edit ):

affects me too, i am at Ubuntu Jammy 22.04, i use LXQT as desktop and Muon as package manager. when will a fix be released?

Revision history for this message
Giuseppe Scarlato (betanab) wrote :

@Blackmage

If you need to use "Software Sources", there is a workaround that works for now.

1) Open a terminal and run xterm
2) in xterm run sudo software-properties-qt

Revision history for this message
Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer) wrote :

-MOREOVER-

This bug is being worked on by volunteers. It will be fixed when it's fixed.

Rik Mills (rikmills)
description: updated
summary: - applications can no longer launch when called by kdesu
+ kdesu fails to authenticate with sudo from Jammy.
description: updated
Rik Mills (rikmills)
description: updated
summary: - kdesu fails to authenticate with sudo from Jammy.
+ [SRU] kdesu fails to authenticate with sudo from Jammy
Revision history for this message
Fahim Shahriar (fahim-shahriar) wrote :

When? :(

Revision history for this message
Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer) wrote :

********************************************
Since this seems to be an issue, before commenting, please see this:

To maintain a respectful atmosphere, please follow the code of conduct - http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu/conduct. Bug reports are handled by humans, the majority of whom are volunteers, so please bear this in mind.

This means you MUST be patient as *unpaid volunteers* are working on fixing bugs.
*********************************************

Revision history for this message
Fahim Shahriar (fahim-shahriar) wrote :

Got it. Actually I just shifted to Kubuntu from Mint and found this bug. And also found that it has been reported long ago. So just wanted to make sure that it has been resolved or not. Sorry for it!

Rik Mills (rikmills)
description: updated
Changed in sudo (Ubuntu Kinetic):
status: Confirmed → Won't Fix
Rik Mills (rikmills)
Changed in sudo (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: Confirmed → Won't Fix
Revision history for this message
Rik Mills (rikmills) wrote :

An upload of kdesu to fix this is currently in the Jammy unapproved queue, awaiting review by the SRU team

Revision history for this message
Chris Halse Rogers (raof) wrote : Please test proposed package

Hello Erich, or anyone else affected,

Accepted kdesu into jammy-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kdesu/5.92.0-0ubuntu1.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-jammy to verification-done-jammy. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-jammy. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

Changed in kdesu (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
tags: added: verification-needed verification-needed-jammy
Revision history for this message
mtu (mtu) wrote :

On Jammy, I have installed the following packages from jammy-proposed:
- libkf5su-data (5.92.0-0ubuntu1.1)
- libkf5su5:amd64 (5.92.0-0ubuntu1.1)
- libkf5su-bin (5.92.0-0ubuntu1.1)

I have performed the following tests, in accordance with the bug description:
- launching KSystemLog from the K Menu
- launching Software Sources from Settings in Discover
- launching Software Sources from Settings in Muon

All tests were successful, so I can confirm that the bug is fixed in Jammy.

tags: added: verification-done-jammy
removed: verification-needed-jammy
Revision history for this message
mtu (mtu) wrote :

Note that with kdesu fixed, the hotfix to kubuntu-settings by Erich Eickmeyer can possibly be reverted, removing the ugly xterm workaround when launching Driver Manager from Kubuntu Settings.

Revision history for this message
Rik Mills (rikmills) wrote : Re: [Bug 1965439] Re: [SRU] kdesu fails to authenticate with sudo from Jammy

On 31/08/2022 10:38, mtu wrote:
> Note that with kdesu fixed, the hotfix to kubuntu-settings by Erich
> Eickmeyer can possibly be reverted, removing the ugly xterm workaround
> when launching Driver Manager from Kubuntu Settings.

Yes, if this update gets accepted into the main archive for jammy, that
will be the next thing to do.

Revision history for this message
Rik Mills (rikmills) wrote :

Note: also tested some other apps/control modules that gain root permission via other methods for certain contentions. e.g. partitionmanager, sddm (display manager) control module. These worked correctly as before.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package kdesu - 5.92.0-0ubuntu1.1

---------------
kdesu (5.92.0-0ubuntu1.1) jammy; urgency=medium

  * Disable use of sudo 'Defaults use_pty' for kdesu. (LP: #1965439)

 -- Rik Mills <email address hidden> Tue, 16 Aug 2022 15:36:07 +0100

Changed in kdesu (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100) wrote : Update Released

The verification of the Stable Release Update for kdesu has completed successfully and the package is now being released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

Changed in sudo (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Won't Fix
Revision history for this message
Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton) wrote : Please test proposed package

Hello Erich, or anyone else affected,

Accepted ubuntustudio-default-settings into jammy-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubuntustudio-default-settings/22.04.26.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-jammy to verification-done-jammy. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-jammy. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: In Progress → Fix Committed
tags: added: verification-needed-jammy
removed: verification-done-jammy
Revision history for this message
Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer) wrote :

Oh wow! This is long-since overdue and verified for Ubuntu Studio! Working completely on Jammy with ubuntustudio-default-settings 22.04.26.1 from jammy-proposed!

tags: added: verification-done verification-done-jammy
removed: verification-needed verification-needed-jammy
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntustudio-default-settings - 22.04.26.1

---------------
ubuntustudio-default-settings (22.04.26.1) jammy; urgency=medium

  * Revert changes for Jammy for driver manager (LP: #1965439)

 -- Erich Eickmeyer <email address hidden> Fri, 08 Jul 2022 21:05:27 -0700

Changed in ubuntustudio-default-settings (Ubuntu Jammy):
status: Fix Committed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
BlackMage (blackmage) wrote :

Why is there still no fix released in Jammy?

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