[Bug 2065432] [NEW] Unable to authenticate with smartcard: gnome-shell throws on unhandled promise rejection

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

You have been subscribed to a public bug by Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton):

[ Impact ]

 * Starting from gnome-shell version 46.0, which is available in noble, logging in to the 
   Ubuntu system with smart card does not work.
   
 * Only workaround is to downgrade gnome-shell to a version 45.0

 * Login problem is caused by two seperate issues, one caused by the bug in the upstream [1],
   second is related to ubuntu specific code added as part of patch:
   gdm-util-Figure-out-default-service-from-service-definiti.patch
   
 * Upstream issue has been alraedy fixed with [2], issue was caused by feature
   which was checking conflicting sessions during login.
 
 * To fix login problem, upstream patch needs to be backported as well as
   ubuntu specific code fixed

[ Test Plan ]

 * To reproduce an issue, smart card (with at least self signed certificate) is required.
 
 * The simplest steps to reproduce the problem:
   1. Create user "test"
   2. Configure sssd.conf:
     root at rmalz:/etc/sssd# cat sssd.conf
     [sssd]
     services = pam
     enable_files_domain = True
     certificate_verification = no_verification

     [certmap/implicit_files/test]
     matchrule = <SUBJECT>.*

     [pam]
     pam_cert_auth = True
   3. Enable smart card login:
   pam-auth-update --disable sss-smart-card-required --enable sss-smart-card-optional

 * With these settings, login "test" user. Two problems will occurr.
   First, gnome-shell will not prompt for a smart card PIN and will continue to ask for password.
   This is caused by incorrect detection of default auth service, issue introduced with:
   gdm-util-Figure-out-default-service-from-service-definiti.patch
   
   Second, if first problem is fixed, login screen will freeze. This issue is caused by upstream
   bug [1].

[ Where problems could occur ]

 * Upstream patch is changing behavior of finding conflicting sessions,
possible risk of regression for non smart card cases

 * There is additional patch [3], introduced as part of fix for [1]. It seems that this patch is fixing presentation issue
   which is different from initial login problem and no part of this SRU.

 * Patches for both [2] and gdm-util-Figure-out-default-service-from-service-definiti.patch have been tested locally, allowing
   to login without issues.

[ Other Info ]

 * Links:
   [1] - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/7526
   [2] - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/merge_requests/3448/diffs?commit_id=e5d9a0fec869adbe610c46114afaede04f8c89e2
   [3] - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/merge_requests/3448/diffs?commit_id=647747fbd6afef2f9f939682ab6527f3877ffbfb

 * Original case description:
Upstream report: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/7526

Opening as part of response to support ticket.

After boot, GDM does not prompt for smartcard authentication correctly.
It is possible to strike Esc and get GDM to prompt for a username and a
smartcard PIN from the initial locked-out state, but this does not start
a new desktop session and instead hangs. Striking Esc allows for the
login to be attempted again, but with the same results.

Syslog entries include unhandled promise rejections from the
onSessionOpened event in loginDialog, and perhaps more importantly also
from the user verification stack that is used to create the initial
authentication options prompt (stack traces of the syslog entries
attached).

Affects GDM 46.0-2ubuntu1 in Noble.

To reproduce, configure smartcard auth for a network user on a new Noble
install and try to sign in.

** Affects: gnome-shell
     Importance: Unknown
         Status: Fix Released

** Affects: gnome-shell (Ubuntu)
     Importance: High
         Status: Fix Committed

** Affects: gnome-shell (Ubuntu Noble)
     Importance: High
     Assignee: Robert Malz (rmalz)
         Status: In Progress


** Tags: authentication desktop fixed-in-gnome-shell-47.0 fixed-upstream gdm gnome gnome-shell noble patch smartcard udeng-3558
-- 
Unable to authenticate with smartcard: gnome-shell throws on unhandled promise rejection 
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2065432
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Sponsors, which is subscribed to the bug report.