Mastodawn

Proton 1d ago

The bug corrupts Android's network stack at the system level after a VPN update, causing users to blame their VPN provider.

Restarting the app doesn't help, with the only fix being a full device reboot or VPN app reinstall, something which most users never figure out.

This affects several VPN providers on Android 16, and only Google has the access to diagnose it properly.

After 7 months of waiting, we're now asking publicly: Google, when are you fixing this?

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/441315112

Proton 1d ago

Issue Tracker Links:

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/447433152

Google Issue Tracker

hnapel 1d ago

@protonprivacy

MF J6 on a raft, this is why I see ads where I didn't expect them as VPN (Wireguard) is connected to a router using PiHole DNS.

Silmathoron ⁂1d ago

@protonprivacy is this supposed to be limited to A16 and the Google stack? Because I'm having a very similar issue on A15-based /e/OS from @e_mydata where the VPN (seemingly) randomly stops. It seems to be a bit less severe, though, since just restarting the app restarts the VPN properly, but I was wondering if it was related.

Semitones 1d ago

@protonprivacy Will Proton ever create / sponsor a cell phone OS to be a true google replacement?

@semitones https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/21033-second-donation-to-grapheneos-by-the-proton-foundation

Proton 1d ago

Second donation to GrapheneOS by the Proton Foundation - GrapheneOS Discussion Forum

GrapheneOS discussion forum

GrapheneOS Discussion Forum

Semitones 1d ago

@protonprivacy I thought grapheneos still depends on google to fix bugs in the underlying AOSP, I'm talking a Linux OS that can run android apps

Okuna 1d ago

@semitones @protonprivacy as far as I know, not in AOSP, because this is open source and I have read or heard that gos is fixing things Google doesn't fix.

John Doe 1d ago

@protonprivacy @semitones That was 2 years back as per the link. They need regular support. Please prioritize this.

@protonprivacy @semitones

Or we could stop the grift & circle jerk. Release your source code so we can make secure email a real standard. Stop releasing to the play store entirely & teach people to install their own apps safely.

Start initiatives to teach children about public private keys, identity verification, trust, & best practices.

Be a man proton.

Or are the normie dollars making you salivate? With fascism on their doorstep, you do have more customers, better bank on their ignorance…

@rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones
Proton: "hey google is ignoring this issue, lets make them fix it"

You: "you are not 1000% perfect, Proton! Man up! Greedy fucks!"

Me: Fuck google

Me: Fuck proton too

@rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones

Dont let perfection be the enemy of good.

Or something like that.

Or, and this is a wild concept... we can hold everyone accountable. Crazy, I know.

@rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones

Sure. But cant do everything at once.

Skill issue
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones
Since you have the skills, I look forward to your open source VPN, email service etc.

I also look forward to your initiatives that teach children about public private keys, identity verification, trust, & best practices.

Re: https://mastodon.social/@rusty__shackleford/116284710450646193

Cedar Fen Farm Cedar Fen Farm 1d ago

@ItsePerkele @rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones

Rudeness aside. There is a compelling reason to ditch google as fast as possible. Security and personal control. We need to rapidly shift the center from a market focus on helpless users who want to be fed and diapered to people that want to own their own lives before we get lobbied and legislated out of existence.

@oldoldcojote @rusty__shackleford @protonprivacy @semitones

Yup I don't disagree with any of that. I've degoogled myself pretty well. I do watch youtube every now and then through Revanced app. I'll buy a Jolla or some such phone as my next one, but my biggest issue is being dirt poor at the moment. Can't do any upgrades until the situation improves.

But other than degoogled android and youtube, I don't use google services.

@ItsePerkele @oldoldcojote @protonprivacy @semitones

Hell yeah, every bit helps. Capital is a serious barrier and keeps some of us from participating in boycotts further exemplifying how broken things are. Keep it up. Social consciousness and all that bs, hope you have a smooth day out there.

@rusty__shackleford @oldoldcojote @protonprivacy @semitones

Its pretty funny how much stuff I've learned in the past year alone, just because I wanted to completely get off the Mr. Corporate Death Machine. I switched to Debian, ditched Discord for IRC and like mad man decided Weechat would be the client to go to. I've been looking into self hosting all my silly bullshit. I'm getting tired of reddit and missing the good ol' mid 2000's forums, so I'm looking into that as well.

By the time I get off the medical and get a job, I'll hopefully have studied enough to start doing shit.

I'm thinking of going the low/old tech approach. Seems like a fun project to do. Buy a used PC, throw a linux and a few hard drives on it and set it up as a server. etc.

@ItsePerkele @oldoldcojote @protonprivacy @semitones

Self hosting is no joke, great to see that level of passion, just got into IRC myself but I'm thinking of hosting xmpp.

On a similar journey, these are books I'm reading (modern c unrelated):

Suggested I get hands on experience at this point, so I'm taking the advice, looking at openwrt, this video uses pfsense/ opensense if I remember right:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_IzyJTcnPu8

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=_IzyJTcnPu8

I want to get mail running, then deploy akkoma.

@rusty__shackleford @oldoldcojote @protonprivacy @semitones

My experience is literally 30min's of doing HTML 27 years ago and 1 hour lesson of "how to code" 30 years ago, taught by the local nerd who happened to know how to do the "hello world" lesson.

So I do have some catching up to do... lol

@ItsePerkele @oldoldcojote @protonprivacy @semitones

Good luck!

WILLIAM B PECKHAM 1d ago

@semitones @protonprivacy To be a true Google replacement, all of the vendors would have to write their drivers so that they could be incorporated into either Android or this new probably Linux-based phone operating system. We already have solutions that work for one or two or twelve different models or vendors, but all of the rest of the cell phone ecosystem is currently out of reach. I propose an alternative, a version of Android that belongs to the community, but will use the vendor's drivers and can replace Google Android with the community android. Google will, of course, attempt to make that technically impossible and illegal if they can, because that's what monopolies do.

Semitones 1d ago

@wpeckham @protonprivacy that would have to be a fork of android AOSP, right? To keep google from making breaking changes?

Tizian 「ティツィアーン」1d ago

@protonprivacy @mullvadnet Since you are saying that only Google can inspect the issue, can one correctly assume that in projects as @GrapheneOS VPNs are not affected?

Because on personal anecdote, I cannot recall an issue forcing a reboot in the last months regarding VPN use.

Okuna 1d ago

@raisondetredev @protonprivacy @mullvadnet @GrapheneOS +1

Splinux

1d ago

@raisondetredev @protonprivacy @mullvadnet @GrapheneOS happens very frequently. It's a real bug. And both reinstall and reboot are required.

https://www.kuketz-blog.de/warnung-android-leakt-beim-connectivity-check-daten-an-vpn-verbindungen-vorbei/

Okuna 1d ago

@protonprivacy You could never rely on Google network stack.

And by the way, Apple is also bypassing VPN sometimes.

"We have looked into the feature request you have reported and would like to inform you that this is working as intended. We do not think such an option would be understandable by most users, so we don’t think there is a strong case for offering this."

And the arrogance Google is showing is not new as well and gives me the feeling this is not a bug but it works as designed

Warnung: Android leakt beim Connectivity-Check Daten an VPN-Verbindungen vorbei

Aktuell prüfe ich für die Artikelserie »Custom-ROMs« gerade das Datensendeverhalten bekannter Android-ROMs. Dabei ist mir etwas aufgefallen, was ich nachfolgend…

Stu 1d ago

@protonprivacy I've had this happen to me on Mullvad, Proton, and my Wireguard link to my home router. And honestly, from the description, I think the issue may be even older, as I'm almost positive the DDG local tracker blocker used to do this.

I had no idea it was an known issue in Android itself.

Thanks for bringing it to light.

@protonprivacy @mullvadnet

funnymonkey 1d ago

Making sure I'm reading this correctly:

If you're running Android (or an Android variant) and your VPN app updates, the only way to stop this issue is to:

1. Reboot your phone after the VPN update

2. Keep the phone on, delete the VPN app, and reinstall the app

Am I correct in reading that one or the other approaches will fix this?

IE, restarting your phone after an update eliminates the need to delete and reinstall the app?

(and thank you, and Google wtaf)

Dana McFarland 🍁 🔥🐎1d ago

@funnymonkey @protonprivacy @mullvadnet can confirm that the second worked for my Samsung phone, and not the first. Yes, wtaf.

Liam

18h ago

@protonprivacy maybe contact @GrapheneOS. Don't know if they have the resources themselves to fix this (if they haven't already) however they have a good track record of fixing these things and sometimes Google merges their patches with upstream AOSP.

@liachra @GrapheneOS https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/116287454270993392

Proton 14h ago

Ojocle Olonam 1d ago

@protonprivacy @mullvadnet is this an issue in @GrapheneOS too or was it fixed there?

quixote 20h ago

@ojocle_olonam @protonprivacy @mullvadnet @GrapheneOS Strange. Yours is the third time this question was asked about GrapheneOS and the GOOG VPN bug, but nobody answers.

Consider this the fourth request for an answer!

GrapheneOS 19h ago

@quixote @ojocle_olonam @protonprivacy @mullvadnet We've already posted multiple responses to this being asked across platforms. It won't cause a leak on GrapheneOS unless you explicitly disabled leak protection which is enabled by default. GrapheneOS has leak protection enabled by default and closes numerous standard Android VPN leak bugs.

quixote 18h ago

@GrapheneOS @ojocle_olonam @protonprivacy @mullvadnet Thanks! I hadn't seen it before because I'm a hermit and this is the only platform I'm on 😆 .

Ojocle Olonam 12h ago

@GrapheneOS @quixote @protonprivacy @mullvadnet thanks for taking the time to answer again!

@protonprivacy @mullvadnet

Sneezy 1d ago

are you guys still Trump supporters?

Blue Luma 1d ago

@protonprivacy @mullvadnet thanks for stepping in and telling us 🫶

bayo 1d ago

@protonprivacy @mullvadnet
Who gets hurt most:
Not the average user streaming Netflix. The people most exposed are exactly the people VPNs exist to protect i.e. journalists in hostile environments, activists, whistleblowers, people in countries where unencrypted traffic gets people killed. Silent VPN failure in those contexts isn't inconvenient. It's dangerous.