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#1 2023-03-04 21:17:27
- millus
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- Registered: 2019-07-21
- Posts: 244
Gimp just randomly asked for root password?
Lol wtf? I just started GIMP as so often, and it asked for admin access during the loading process. I ESC'd and it finished loading fine. On a subsequent start it didn't ask anymore.
Just what the hell was that and should I be concerned? I installed it just normally from the official repos, a long time ago, and have been using it on and off.
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#2 2023-03-04 21:55:11
- WorMzy
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Re: Gimp just randomly asked for root password?
Check the journal for around the time you opened it.
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#3 2023-03-04 21:58:18
- mpan
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- Registered: 2012-08-01
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Re: Gimp just randomly asked for root password?
The prompt should indicate, what the authentication is needed for.
A blind guess: starting some system-wide service, which is not socket-activated.
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#4 2023-03-04 22:43:09
- millus
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- Registered: 2019-07-21
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Re: Gimp just randomly asked for root password?
Hm..
Mar 04 21:13:32 archlinux dbus-daemon[3765]: [session uid=1000 pid=3765] Activating service name='org.xfce.Xfconf' requested by ':1.31' (uid=1000 pid=3908 comm="xfce4-panel --display :0.0 --sm-client-id 2e7e8b8d")
Mar 04 21:13:32 archlinux dbus-daemon[3765]: [session uid=1000 pid=3765] Successfully activated service 'org.xfce.Xfconf'No idea what that means or if this is related. Only thing in journal at around that time though.
Last edited by millus (2023-03-04 22:43:54)
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#5 2023-03-04 23:31:31
- mpan
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Re: Gimp just randomly asked for root password?
Xfconf is a dbus service (“/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.xfce.Xfconf.service”), which is activated for your own user (requires no root authentication) and is being started alongside Xfce. WorMzy was asking about journal around the time you opened it (it = GIMP).
You also did not respond to my note, that the authentication request should indicate, what is the operation to be executed as root.
Last edited by mpan (2023-03-04 23:33:01)
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#6 2023-03-04 23:46:03
- millus
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- Registered: 2019-07-21
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Re: Gimp just randomly asked for root password?
There was no other thing in the output of journalctl -b around that time except for a lot of "ACPI group/action undefined: button" spam, I checked a range of +/- 10 minutes around the GIMP startup.
And as I didn't screenshot the root request window and it didn't show up on subsequent calls I cannot tell you if it really contained any other information.
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#7 2023-03-05 03:11:15
- mpan
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Re: Gimp just randomly asked for root password?
It may be reproducible after a reboot. Without being able to repeat the situation and nothing in the log,⁽¹⁾ it will be hard to explain.
I can only say, that this does not imply nefarious activity happening on your computer: there is a bunch of things, that some plugin could invoke. It’s also possible it was coincidental correlation and something else invoked that dialog.
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⁽¹⁾ And it would be within seconds of the message appearing or being closed.
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