[tor-bugs] #24864 [Core Tor/Tor]: directory authorities take a while to update relays' Tor versions

Thu Jan 11 00:23:01 UTC 2018

#24864: directory authorities take a while to update  relays' Tor versions
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     Reporter:  cypherpunks   |      Owner:  (none)
         Type:  defect        |     Status:  new
     Priority:  Medium        |  Milestone:
    Component:  Core Tor/Tor  |    Version:
     Severity:  Normal        |   Keywords:
Actual Points:                |  Parent ID:
       Points:                |   Reviewer:
      Sponsor:                |
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 copy from
 https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2018-January/012786.html

 Hi,

 the goal of this email is to avoid a false positive warning for relay
 operators
 on atlas but the root cause might be in core tor.

 background:
 I really liked when irl added the big red warning to atlas when a tor
 relay
 runs an outdated (aka not running a "recommended") tor version
 because it actually triggered operators to upgrade, an important step
 toward a more healthy network.
 The problem is: This big red banner on atlas has false-positives which
 confuses operators [0].

 Originally this has been an onionoo bug which
 has been fixed in v1.8.0, but it happens again and Karsten had the feeling
 that tor dir auths do not update  the version information of a relay after
 it
 upgraded (and uploaded a new descriptor). I looked into one example and
 can confirm what Karsten suggested [1].

 Let me show you that example of FP
 1283EBDEEC2B9D745F1E7FBE83407655B984FD66.
 Data has been provided by Karsten and is available here: [2].

 That relay was running 0.3.0.10 and upgraded to 0.3.0.13 and uploaded his
 first
 descriptor with 0.3.0.13 on:

 2018-01-09 10:14:00,server,,0.3.0.13

 except for bastet dir auths did not care and still said this relay runs
 0.3.0.10:

 2018-01-09 11:00:00,consensus,,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 11:00:00,vote,bastet,0.3.0.13  <<<< note
 2018-01-09 11:00:00,vote,dannenberg,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 11:00:00,vote,dizum,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 11:00:00,vote,Faravahar,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 11:00:00,vote,gabelmoo,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 11:00:00,vote,longclaw,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 11:00:00,vote,maatuska,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 11:00:00,vote,moria1,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 11:00:00,vote,tor26,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 12:00:00,consensus,,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 12:00:00,vote,bastet,0.3.0.13 <<<<<<
 2018-01-09 12:00:00,vote,dannenberg,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 12:00:00,vote,dizum,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 12:00:00,vote,Faravahar,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 12:00:00,vote,gabelmoo,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 12:00:00,vote,longclaw,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 12:00:00,vote,maatuska,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 12:00:00,vote,moria1,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 12:00:00,vote,tor26,0.3.0.10

 even 6 hours later this is unchanged.

 Then the operator upgraded from 0.3.0.13 to 0.3.1.9
 and uploaded his first descriptor:

 2018-01-09 16:39:01,server,,0.3.1.9

 this remained "unnoticed" by all dir auths until
 longclaw voted for the new version:

 2018-01-09 23:00:00,consensus,,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 23:00:00,vote,bastet,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 23:00:00,vote,dannenberg,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 23:00:00,vote,dizum,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 23:00:00,vote,Faravahar,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 23:00:00,vote,gabelmoo,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 23:00:00,vote,longclaw,0.3.1.9 <<<<<
 2018-01-09 23:00:00,vote,maatuska,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 23:00:00,vote,moria1,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-09 23:00:00,vote,tor26,0.3.0.10

 On 2018-01-10 02:38:07 the relay uploaded a second descriptor with
 v0.3.1.9 and almost all dir auths agreed immediately:

 2018-01-10 02:38:07,server,,0.3.1.9
 2018-01-10 03:00:00,consensus,,0.3.1.9
 2018-01-10 03:00:00,vote,bastet,0.3.0.10
 2018-01-10 03:00:00,vote,dannenberg,0.3.1.9
 2018-01-10 03:00:00,vote,dizum,0.3.1.9
 2018-01-10 03:00:00,vote,Faravahar,0.3.1.9
 2018-01-10 03:00:00,vote,gabelmoo,0.3.1.9
 2018-01-10 03:00:00,vote,longclaw,0.3.1.9
 2018-01-10 03:00:00,vote,maatuska,0.3.1.9
 2018-01-10 03:00:00,vote,moria1,0.3.1.9
 2018-01-10 03:00:00,vote,tor26,0.3.1.9

 So it took the operator 17 hours to convince enough
 dir auths that he upgraded.
 I can see multiple reasons why this can make sense (as the tor version
 is actually not that relevant consensus data) but maybe it was
 not clear what the side effects of not updating that field are.

 While I believe there is still another onionoo issue,
 this should also be improved.

 Thoughts?

 [0] http://lists.nycbug.org/pipermail/tor-bsd/2018-January/000620.html
 [1] https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/22488#comment:11
 [2]
 https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/attachment/ticket/22488/task-22488
 -relay-versions.csv.gz

 #24862 aims to help track and debug this.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/24864>
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