Qubes screen saver does NOT activate, if you leave the Qubes Domains drop-down window open.
I left my laptop running at home, and went to the store. When I got back, I was surprised the screensaver hadn’t kicked in.
Same thing if you leave the main menu open:
adw
February 18, 2022, 8:16am
3
I think I found a bug, but I’m not set up to send an encrypted email to some mailing list
That’s now how normal bugs are reported. This is how.
In any case, the bug you’re describing was already reported here:
opened 01:25AM - 14 May 18 UTC
closed 12:04AM - 06 Aug 23 UTC
T: bug
P: critical
C: desktop-linux-xfce4
security
R: upstream issue
fixed-by-wayland
### Qubes OS version:
<!-- (e.g., `R3.2`)
You can get it from the dom0 te… rminal with the command
`cat /etc/qubes-release`
Type below this line. -->
R3.2
### Affected component(s):
Xfce4 4.12 + XScreenSaver 5.36
---
### Steps to reproduce the behavior:
<!-- Use single backticks (`) for in-line code snippets and
triple backticks (```) for code blocks.
Type below this line. -->
1. Set the Xfce4 power settings to suspend (S3 sleep) when the laptop lid is closed.
2. Set XScreenSaver to lock the screen when the laptop lid is closed.
3. Set XScreenSaver to lock the screen on suspended (S3 sleep).
4. Verify that it works by closing the laptop lid, waiting for suspend, and opening the lid again.
5. XScreenSaver prompts you to enter your passphrase, as expected. Enter your passphrase to unlock the screen.
6. Now, click on the Xfce4 Applications Menu (aka "Start Menu").
7. Leaving the menu open, close the laptop lid.
8. Wait for the laptop to suspend.
9. Open the lid again.
10. The screen is completely unlocked, and you have full access to the system without having to enter the screen locker passphrase.
### Expected behavior:
The screen should lock properly regardless of which menus are open in dom0.
### Actual behavior:
Having the Applications Menu open prevents the screen from locking. Similarly, having a "Launcher" menu open (a type of task bar widget for holding shortcut buttons) prevents screen locking in the same way.
On my machine, this is reliably reproducible every time.
### General notes:
In Qubes, one of the main purposes of the screen locker is to protect the system from physical threats. For example, a user may need to quickly shut her laptop lid when confronted by an adversary, or a thief may close the laptop while snatching it from a user in a coffee shop. In both cases, if the user had the Applications Menu or a Launcher menu open when the lid was shut, an attacker with no technical skill would be able to gain full access to the system simply by opening the lid.
---
### Related issues:
#1917
1 Like
Is this a 4.1 feat… erm bug? Or exists this since version 3.2 ?
It’s an ancient limitation of X screensavers, way older than Qubes R1 even
3 Likes
tripleh
February 18, 2022, 4:27pm
6
Yes, well…
Never trust your screensaver to kick in unless you see it. There’s tons of bad code out there. IIRC the lock-in mechanism involves two or three programs alone.
Even if it kicks in, there’s still some chance that it may unlock (X crash etc., much discussed on qubes-issues) or show something below.
physlock and vlock help a bit with the second issue by being more reliable, but sadly they are both not maintained anymore. They still appear to work though.
Sven
February 19, 2022, 5:00am
7
The moment my legs get ready to stand up, my fingers do Ctrl+Alt+L. It’s so much a habit that I don’t think my brain is even involved anymore.
1 Like
Thanks!
I am used to pressing the windows key + L to lock windows. Is there a way to make Qubes use the same keys as windows? That would be useful to anyone used to windows.
Upper left Q menu → System Tools → Keyboard → Application Shortcuts
There you can change the xflock4
combo or add an additional one.
2 Likes
Thanks, that works!
Now I can lock qubes by pressing the windows key + L
Appreciate it!
1 Like