[tor-talk] tbb (disable network is set)

[0xdog]

Hello.
I don't know if this is the correct mailing list to post this
question, so in that case my apologies in advance.

Last year I was using TBB (on windows server 2003 32bits PC) for a
while and it was working perfect, suddenly it stopped working and the
logs said "DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept
non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing
connections...". At that time I just stopped using TBB and I checked
TBB frequently, one day, suddenly again, apparently with no change on
my computer or my network it started working again for a while but
right now I have the same problem as before, it stopped working again
and the logs said "DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or
accept...".

Now I have a strong decision to find where is the problem:

1. I have spent a lot of hours surfing the web looking for a solution.
Many many people has the same problem, but only a few have found a
solution.

2. The rules and firewall of my antivirus are fine, even with the
antivirus totally deactivated it does not work.

3. I have normal access to torproject.org throught firefox browser so
I don´t think my ISP is blocking the tor network or doing DPI.

4. I have checked my timezone against an internet service and the time
of my system seems to be incorrect but since I am behind a proxy
server that is far from my hands my timezone is that of the proxy
server and I can not fix it. Do you think this is the cause of the
problem? In this case is there a workarround for this?

5. I have been viewing the tor source code trying to figure out under
which conditions the DisableNetwork flag is set to 1, no much advance.
Can someone point out which source file is the one I´m looking for?

I can post the whole logs if someone is interested.

Thanks. Best regards.

[Yuri]

Post by 0xdog
I don't know if this is the correct mailing list to post this
question, so in that case my apologies in advance.
Last year I was using TBB (on windows server 2003 32bits PC) for a
while and it was working perfect, suddenly it stopped working and the
logs said "DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept
non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing
connections...". At that time I just stopped using TBB and I checked
TBB frequently, one day, suddenly again, apparently with no change on
my computer or my network it started working again for a while but
right now I have the same problem as before, it stopped working again
and the logs said "DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or
accept...".

Please consider using Whonix https://www.whonix.org/ instead of TBB.

It runs tor in one virtual machine, and your browser in another virtual
machine.

Whonix is a much safer way to use Tor, since it isolates your OS from
the clearnet better. It cleanly redirects all internet requests to Tor
at one single point. TBB just can't do it quite the same way, and is
more likely to leak requests into the clearnet.

All you need to do is to install and start VirtualBox, and add 2 Whonix
virtual machines into it.


Yuri

[0xdog]

Post by Yuri
Please consider using Whonix https://www.whonix.org/ instead of TBB.

Ok, I will try whonix. Thank for your answer.
Anyway I would like to know exactly where is my problem.
Regards.

[Mirimir]

Post by 0xdog
Hello.
I don't know if this is the correct mailing list to post this
question, so in that case my apologies in advance.
Last year I was using TBB (on windows server 2003 32bits PC) for a
while and it was working perfect, suddenly it stopped working and the
logs said "DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or accept
non-control network connections. Shutting down all existing
connections...". At that time I just stopped using TBB and I checked
TBB frequently, one day, suddenly again, apparently with no change on
my computer or my network it started working again for a while but
right now I have the same problem as before, it stopped working again
and the logs said "DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not make or
accept...".

Tor browser may do this if your uplink gets interrupted at a particular
stage in getting the network consensus. I believe that it's a defense
against attempts to force use of malicious relays. The simplest fix is
to delete and reinstall Tor browser, after saving bookmarks if desired.
Or you could manually reset the flag.

Post by 0xdog
1. I have spent a lot of hours surfing the web looking for a solution.
Many many people has the same problem, but only a few have found a
solution.
2. The rules and firewall of my antivirus are fine, even with the
antivirus totally deactivated it does not work.
3. I have normal access to torproject.org throught firefox browser so
I don´t think my ISP is blocking the tor network or doing DPI.
4. I have checked my timezone against an internet service and the time
of my system seems to be incorrect but since I am behind a proxy
server that is far from my hands my timezone is that of the proxy
server and I can not fix it. Do you think this is the cause of the
problem? In this case is there a workarround for this?
5. I have been viewing the tor source code trying to figure out under
which conditions the DisableNetwork flag is set to 1, no much advance.
Can someone point out which source file is the one I´m looking for?
I can post the whole logs if someone is interested.
Thanks. Best regards.

[0xdog]

Post by Mirimir
Tor browser may do this if your uplink gets interrupted at a particular
stage in getting the network consensus. I believe that it's a defense
against attempts to force use of malicious relays. The simplest fix is
to delete and reinstall Tor browser, after saving bookmarks if desired.
Or you could manually reset the flag.

I have deleted/reinstalled TBB many times and even updated TBB version
any time there is a new one. I have edited torrc file but when I
start TBB again the DisableNetwork 0 line is deleted. Could you please
explain me the correct way to do this? I have the same results using
Custom Bridges for obfs4. Here are the whole logs:

04/04/2017 11:53:44.300 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not
make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all
existing connections.
04/04/2017 11:53:44.300 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not
make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all
existing connections.
04/04/2017 11:53:44.300 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not
make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all
existing connections.
04/04/2017 11:53:44.300 [NOTICE] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
04/04/2017 11:53:54.200 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 5%: Connecting to
directory server
04/04/2017 11:53:54.300 [NOTICE] Bootstrapped 10%: Finishing handshake
with directory server
04/04/2017 11:53:56.500 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to
109.74.198.252:37771 ("general SOCKS server failure")
04/04/2017 11:53:56.700 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to
139.162.181.34:9443 ("general SOCKS server failure")
04/04/2017 11:53:56.700 [WARN] Proxy Client: unable to connect to
107.170.197.223:9443 ("general SOCKS server failure")
04/04/2017 11:58:08.700 [NOTICE] Closing no-longer-configured Socks
listener on 127.0.0.1:9150
04/04/2017 11:58:08.700 [NOTICE] DisableNetwork is set. Tor will not
make or accept non-control network connections. Shutting down all
existing connections.
04/04/2017 11:58:08.700 [NOTICE] Closing old Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9150

Thanks for your interest.

[Mirimir]

Post by 0xdog

Post by Mirimir
Tor browser may do this if your uplink gets interrupted at a particular
stage in getting the network consensus. I believe that it's a defense
against attempts to force use of malicious relays. The simplest fix is
to delete and reinstall Tor browser, after saving bookmarks if desired.
Or you could manually reset the flag.

I have deleted/reinstalled TBB many times and even updated TBB version
any time there is a new one. I have edited torrc file but when I
start TBB again the DisableNetwork 0 line is deleted. Could you please
explain me the correct way to do this? I have the same results using

Yes, adding "DisableNetwork 0" to torrc doesn't seem to work. I just
nuked the state file. But if the problem reoccurs after reinstalling Tor
browser, there must be something else causing it. If obfs4 bridges don't
help, I'm rather at a loss.

Is there another uplink that you could test on? Alternatively, you could
try connecting through a VPN. If either eliminates the problem, you know
that your normal uplink is at fault.

<SNIP>

[0xdog]

Post by Mirimir
Is there another uplink that you could test on? Alternatively, you could
try connecting through a VPN. If either eliminates the problem, you know
that your normal uplink is at fault.

I do not have another uplink to test. I can try using a VPN, yes. Can
you point out which is the best way to configue TBB using a VPN if you
have used before.
Thanks in advance.

[Mirimir]

Post by 0xdog

Post by Mirimir
Is there another uplink that you could test on? Alternatively, you could
try connecting through a VPN. If either eliminates the problem, you know
that your normal uplink is at fault.

I do not have another uplink to test. I can try using a VPN, yes. Can
you point out which is the best way to configue TBB using a VPN if you
have used before.
Thanks in advance.

What OS?

https://securitykiss.com/ has a free tier, and is reputable.

Are you comfortable using command line?

[0xdog]

Post by Mirimir
What OS?
https://securitykiss.com/ has a free tier, and is reputable.
Are you comfortable using command line?

I am on Windows Server 2003 and yes, I feel comfortable using command
line on both Windows and Linux. I can access this uplink only on
windows. I am checking https://securitykiss.com/.
Thanks for your interest.