Memory issues detected by hardened malloc - libva error: vaGetDriverNameByIndex() failed with unknown libva error, driver_name = (null)

[Nurmagoz]

Steps to reproduce

1. Install element using element repository on debian (Although it seems to only say its for nightly, But i have the stable version which is element-desktop version 1.10.9)
2. Install & Run hardened malloc, If you want it from repository then add kicksecure repo:

curl --tlsv1.3 --proto =https --max-time 180 --output ~/derivative.asc https://www.kicksecure.com/derivative.asc

sudo mv ~/derivative.asc /usr/share/keyrings/derivative.asc

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/derivative.asc] https://deb.kicksecure.com bullseye main contrib non-free" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/derivative.list

sudo apt update && sudo apt install hardened-malloc

Run it against element-desktop:

LD_PRELOAD='/usr/lib/libhardened_malloc.so/libhardened_malloc.so' element-desktop

Will Show: (Multiple Errors will be shown)

user@host:~$ LD_PRELOAD='/usr/lib/libhardened_malloc.so/libhardened_malloc.so' element-desktop 
/home/user/.config/Element exists: no
/home/user/.config/Riot exists: yes
Using legacy user data path: /home/user/.config/Riot
Starting auto update with base URL: https://packages.element.io/desktop/update/
Auto update not supported on this platform
Fetching translation json for locale: en_EN
Changing application language to en-us
Fetching translation json for locale: en-us
Could not fetch translation json for locale: 'en-us' Error: Cannot find module './i18n/strings/en-us.json'
Require stack:
- /opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/language-helper.js
- /opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/tray.js
- /opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/electron-main.js
- 
    at Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:940:15)
    at Function.n._resolveFilename (node:electron/js2c/browser_init:249:1105)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:785:27)
    at Function.c._load (node:electron/js2c/asar_bundle:5:13331)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1012:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:102:18)
    at AppLocalization.fetchTranslationJson (/opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/language-helper.js:76:20)
    at /opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/language-helper.js:89:39
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at AppLocalization.setAppLocale (/opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/language-helper.js:88:17) {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: [
    '/opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/language-helper.js',
    '/opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/tray.js',
    '/opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/electron-main.js',
    undefined
  ]
}
Resetting the UI components after locale change
Resetting the UI components after locale change
libva error: vaGetDriverNameByIndex() failed with unknown libva error, driver_name = (null)
[16050:0414/205255.117966:ERROR:viz_main_impl.cc(188)] Exiting GPU process due to errors during initialization
libva error: vaGetDriverNameByIndex() failed with unknown libva error, driver_name = (null)
[16095:0414/205255.158331:ERROR:sandbox_linux.cc(377)] InitializeSandbox() called with multiple threads in process gpu-process.
Changing application language to en-us
Fetching translation json for locale: en-us
Could not fetch translation json for locale: 'en-us' Error: Cannot find module './i18n/strings/en-us.json'
Require stack:
- /opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/language-helper.js
- /opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/tray.js
- /opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/electron-main.js
- 
    at Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:940:15)
    at Function.n._resolveFilename (node:electron/js2c/browser_init:249:1105)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:785:27)
    at Function.c._load (node:electron/js2c/asar_bundle:5:13331)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1012:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:102:18)
    at AppLocalization.fetchTranslationJson (/opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/language-helper.js:76:20)
    at /opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/language-helper.js:89:39
    at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
    at AppLocalization.setAppLocale (/opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/language-helper.js:88:17) {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: [
    '/opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/language-helper.js',
    '/opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/tray.js',
    '/opt/Element/resources/app.asar/lib/electron-main.js',
    undefined
  ]
}
Resetting the UI components after locale change
Error getting the event index passphrase out of the secret store [Error: The name org.freedesktop.secrets was not provided by any .service files]
user@host:~$ 

3. Also run this command while leaving element running:

journalctl --boot | grep -i error

4. You will find the following errors:

Apr 13 18:18:18 host qubes.StartApp+element-desktop-dom0[2306]: libva error: vaGetDriverNameByIndex() failed with unknown libva error, driver_name = (null)
Apr 13 18:18:18 host qubes.StartApp+element-desktop-dom0[2306]: [2345:0413/181818.828487:ERROR:viz_main_impl.cc(188)] Exiting GPU process due to errors during initialization
Apr 13 18:18:18 host qubes.StartApp+element-desktop-dom0[2306]: libva error: vaGetDriverNameByIndex() failed with unknown libva error, driver_name = (null)
Apr 13 18:18:18 host qubes.StartApp+element-desktop-dom0[2306]: [2384:0413/181818.982061:ERROR:viz_main_impl.cc(188)] Exiting GPU process due to errors during initialization
Apr 13 18:18:19 host qubes.StartApp+element-desktop-dom0[2306]: libva error: vaGetDriverNameByIndex() failed with unknown libva error, driver_name = (null)
Apr 13 18:18:19 host qubes.StartApp+element-desktop-dom0[2306]: [2404:0413/181819.020961:ERROR:sandbox_linux.cc(377)] InitializeSandbox() called with multiple threads in process gpu-process.

I dont claim to be expert at what it means/how to fix but thought its a good idea to let you guys know.

(It would be nice if you add hardened-malloc to your testing environment/framework like what OpenSSH did, If you want to catch errors yourself)

Thx!

Outcome

What did you expect?

No errors

What happened instead?

There are Errors

Operating system

Debian Gnu/Linux

Application version

1.10.9

How did you install the app?

https://element.io/get-started#nightly

Homeserver

N/A

Will you send logs?

Yes (if required)

[SimonBrandner]

Some of the errors are duplicate of element-hq/element-desktop#871

[qua3k]

This isn’t memory corruption caught by hardened_malloc. I’ve seen the same errors when I’m building/testing Chromium and it’s something to do with libva/GPU drivers, which is likely the case if you’re in a VM. It doesn’t really make sense to file this under Element-Desktop because it isn’t an issue on their side but rather an issue with your environment.

The suggestion to test with hardened_malloc doesn’t really make sense because Chromium uses PartitionAlloc internally and doesn’t really call into libc malloc. Kicksecure has attempted to override it with with LD_PRELOAD but I don’t think it’s actually working due to the incomplete replacement of symbols, resulting in hardened_malloc throwing errors when it’s called but hasn’t actually allocated anything.

[Nurmagoz]

Ah i see, Appreciated for the clarification. Thank You

Closing the ticket.