Signal crashes with exit code 11 on network changes

[christianmahnke]

• I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates

This one ist the most similar one: #6166

• I am using Signal-Desktop as provided by the Signal team, not a 3rd-party package.

---

Bug Description

MacOS App isn't resiliant to network changes, like switching to a VPN connection.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Start Signal
2. Connect to a VPN using Cisco AnyConnect
3. Crash

Actual Result:

Render process is gone

Error: Reason: crashed, Exit Code: 11
at App. ([REDACTED]/app/global_errors.js:88:7)
at App.emit (node:events:525:35)
at EventEmitter. (node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:82487)
at EventEmitter.emit (node:events:513:28)

Expected Result:

It should just work.

Screenshots

Platform Info

Signal Version:

6.22.0 (1)

Operating System:

13.3 (22E252)

Linked Device Version:
Not applicabale

Link to Debug Log

https://debuglogs.org/desktop/6.22.0/222dad9ac1d791830c538d12ecf65f486c9d3e9840323726547c7ec241de7288.gz

Notes

If this is an upstream issue, just restart the Render process.

[trevor-signal]

Hi @christianmahnke , thanks for the report. Does this happen every time you connect to the VPN? Does Signal Desktop work fine if you start it while the VPN is active?

[naspert]

I have the same issue here. Connecting to vpn crashes signal. If started when the VPN is active it is fine.
Here is my error trace (with 6.23.0)

Render process is gone

Error: Reason: crashed, Exit Code: 11
    at App.<anonymous> ([REDACTED]/app/global_errors.js:88:7)
    at App.emit (node:events:525:35)
    at EventEmitter.<anonymous> (node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:89977)
    at EventEmitter.emit (node:events:513:28)

[trevor-signal]

@naspert do you mind sharing a debug log?

Is this just when connecting to one VPN in particular? Is there anything you can share about your VPN setup?

Does it happen when you (for example) switch wifi networks, or only with a VPN?

[naspert]

do you mind sharing a debug log?

I can do that (are there instructions about how to do this somewhere ?)

Is this just when connecting to one VPN in particular? Is there anything you can share about your VPN setup?

VPN is my employer's (EPFL), Cisco AnyConnect v5.0.00556 and an update v5.0.02075 tested

Does it happen when you (for example) switch wifi networks, or only with a VPN?

Switching wifi does not cause any issue (just a brief message saying the connection is unavailable but then back to normal)

[trevor-signal]

I can do that (are there instructions about how to do this somewhere ?)

https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007318591-Debug-Logs-and-Crash-Reports, thanks!

Thanks for this info -- do you know about when this behavior started for you?

[naspert]

Here is the debuglog (I peeked briefly at it and it does not seem to contain anything when the crash happens...)

signal-debuglog.txt.zip

do you know about when this behavior started for you?

I do not remember precisely but I would say ca. 1-2 weeks (maybe more ?)

[scottnonnenberg-signal]

What do you see on the latest production (6.24) and beta (6.25) builds? We've heard from some users that network/vpn changes no longer cause crashes.

[naspert]

just tried it with 6.24.0 and the same crash occurs when connecting the vpn

[scottnonnenberg-signal]

Would you consider installing the beta to see if the crashes still happen with that newer version?

https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007318471-Signal-Beta

[naspert]

So far still occurs with the new 6.25.0 release

[petarbeck]

I also have the same crashes when connecting to Cisco Anyconnect => 6.26.0 production (Apple silicon)
Is more debug info/logs necessary or do you have enough to identify the issue?
Thanks

[josh-signal]

@petarbeck yes please debug logs would maybe help, also more information on your OS, network, and any special software/setup you might be running.

[petarbeck]

The "submit" feature seems to not be working for me, but I attached the debug log here.
It's a MacBook Pro with 32GB RAM, M1 Pro Chip and MacOS Ventura 13.4.1 (c)

In the debug log it says that it doesn't find a window. At the time of the crash my window is indeed closed - Not minimized, but closed. The app is still running, but the window is closed. Maybe this is the issue at hand here.

Yes actually. The app does not crash, when I keep the window open.

debuglog.txt

[josh-signal]

@petarbeck if you're willing to install the beta version you could get us a crash dump, this also may be fixed in the latest 6.27.0-beta.3

[sbecuwe]

After restarting the app (6.28.0-beta.1), I could upload a crash report.
It crashed after setting up a VPN connection with Cisco AnyConnect 4.10.07061.

[scottnonnenberg-signal]

@sbecuwe Can you try it again, and this time send us the URL for your uploaded crash dump? Those crash dump uploads don't include any personal information, so we can't relate it back to you.

[sbecuwe]

https://debuglogs.org/desktop/6.28.0/d497ef88a0f72a8b5036746f147fc96f2897570a7eb8f5f44a78c468d0487a49.gz
https://debuglogs.org/desktop/6.29.0-beta.1/desktop-crash-6ec086559029767cc54cc7f59a87e10af848d9ae64f91fe1b5d3aab7bebf1a23.dmp

[naspert]

Crash still happening with signal 6.29.1 (for apple chips)

[guger]

Still crashing on M1 MacBook with Signal 6.29.1. VPN is Cisco AnyConnect.

[trevor-signal]

@naspert , @guger are you seeing the same behavior as @petarbeck , where the app does not crash if the Signal window is open?

[guger]

@trevor-signal Yes, I just tried it. Seems like the issue does only occur when the full-screen window is hidden (in a macOS "space"). If it's just minimized in Stage Manager, everything's fine.

[naspert]

@trevor-signal same for me: if the window is opened before connecting to the vpn the crash does not occur

[guger]

@trevor-signal In my case, it only crashes when disconnecting from the vpn but never when establishing a connection..

[trevor-signal]

Thanks! That's great info for us as we continue to investigate.

[untitaker]

This is trivially reproducible with Mullvad for Mac as well.

[indutny-signal]

Hello! We identified it as a macOS Kernel bug that so far seems to affect only M1/M2 architectures. At least with Mullvad it can be resolved by enabling IPv6 support in Mullvad configuration, but with other VPN providers the workaround should be similar - make sure that IPv6 is enabled in the configuration.

For the context: the kernel error happens when you turn on IPv4-only VPN while Signal has an IPv6 connection open. Instead of returning errors when sending data over this existing connection - the kernel starts to return complete nonsense. We filed the bug with Apple: FB13192958

[naspert]

, but with other VPN providers the workaround should be similar - make sure that IPv6 is enabled in the configuration.

This is unfortunately not possible (not in my control...). The only "workaround" accessible would be to disable ipv6 completely

[Fil]

Same issue with NordVPN, macbook air M1.

[guger]

Any chance there is a workaround to realize in Signal since this is really annoying? Other (messaging) apps do not crash, too, what is the difference between Signal and e.g. WhatsApp here?

[vishalvibes]

Getting this while using PIA VPN.
I use Signal Beta on MacOS Sonoma 14.5

M1, 16GB Ram, MacBook Air

[neunzehnachtneun]

Seems to be solved since Sequoia 15.2. Can anyone else confirm?

[sbecuwe]

Not for me (Sequoia 15.2). I'm using Cisco Secure Client 5.1.6.103.