SafeExamBrowser
Application error: A fatal error has occurred. Please consult the application log...
[!IMPORTANT]
- Please always consult the documentation first before creating a bug report: https://safeexambrowser.org/windows/win_usermanual_en.html.
- Please always attach the log file(s) of the affected session(s)! They can be found under
%LocalAppData%\SafeExamBrowser\Logs.
Describe the Bug Hello! We use SEB in conjunction with Moodle (version 4.1.10). Since last week we have been getting the following error message:
"A fatal error has occurred. Please consult the application log for more information. SEB will now exit..."
Various tests were carried out. The crashes occurred either immediately when starting the SEB or during an active test attempt. Our IT technician has already completely reinstalled the SEB to version 3.7.0, unfortunately without success.
We use a Safe Exam Browser configuration template stored in Moodle, which we make available in the administration and which can be selected via the test settings in Moodle.
I have attached all the logs of the successful and crashed sessions. Maybe you can read something here about why the crashes occur? I am very grateful for every hint.
Best regards, Kat
Version Information
- OS: Windows 11
- SEB-Version 3.0.7
- Moodle Version 4.1.10
Hi, we are running into the same issue. We are runnin SEB for computer lab tests with the same configuration (Moodle and SEB). I've updated seb from version 3.5 to 3.7 with no luck. The problem seems to be on every single computer of the lab (40). One odd thing is that after SEB crashes we get back loading the same seb configuration file and we are able to finish it. Only once this morning I was able to finish the test with no issue.
Attached you'll find also our logs of this morning.
OS: Windows 11 SEB-Version 3.7.0 (previously 3.5)
Thanks for the extensive reports. The crashes do all appear on or after a browser navigation, but the logs most unfortunately do not contain any specific reason or cause of the crashes.
Please search the Event Viewer (Ereignisanzeige) system application of Windows under Windows Logs > Application (Anwendung) for any warning and error messages related to Safe Exam Browser and/or .NET (Runtime). They should entail the exact reason of failure and it would be great if you could post them here.
Hi and thankyou for your reply.
I've teste on a couple of pc and the problem seems to be disappeared. I'll try on other pc later... At the beginning I thought the problem could be related to .net framework (don't remember where I saw it... sorry). There might be an update that solved?
Il giorno lun 27 mag 2024 alle ore 11:49 Damian Büchel < @.***> ha scritto:
Thanks for the extensive reports. The crashes do all appear on or after a browser navigation, but the logs most unfortunately do not contain any specific reason or cause of the crashes.
Please search the Event Viewer (Ereignisanzeige) system application of Windows under Windows Logs > Application (Anwendung) for any warning and error message. They should entail the exact reason of failure and it would be great if you could post them here.
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/SafeExamBrowser/seb-win-refactoring/issues/883#issuecomment-2133101209, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AIBH3CYQ2PCBW34XD5CETY3ZEL6TJAVCNFSM6AAAAABH4GJL4WVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDCMZTGEYDCMRQHE . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>
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Dott. Cesare Tibaldeschi
Ufficio Gestione e Assistenza ICT - Polo di Alessandria
Divisione Innovazione, Digitalizzazione e Qualità dei Processi in ambito
PNRR
Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale
"Amedeo Avogadro"
Viale Teresa Michel, 11 - Alessandria
Ufficio 2° piano A238
tel_0131.360170 - ***@***.***
https://disit.uniupo.it
https://upobook.uniupo.it/cesare.tibaldeschi
I was wrong and probably lucky this morning. On a third machine SEB crashed and I've found this error in the event viewer (see also attachment):
15:28:58 - event id 1026: Nome registro: Application Origine: .NET Runtime Data: 27/05/2024 15:28:58 ID evento: 1026 Categoria attività:Nessuna Livello: Errore Parole chiave: Classico Utente: N/D Computer: B30521.******** Descrizione: Applicazione: SafeExamBrowser.Client.exe Versione framework: v4.0.30319 Descrizione: il processo è stato terminato a causa di un'eccezione non gestita. Informazioni sull'eccezione: System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException in System.Security.Cryptography.BCryptHashAlgorithm.HashCore(Byte[], Int32, Int32) in System.Security.Cryptography.HashAlgorithm.TransformBlock(Byte[], Int32, Int32, Byte[], Int32) in System.Security.Cryptography.SHA256Managed.HashCore(Byte[], Int32, Int32) in System.Security.Cryptography.HashAlgorithm.ComputeHash(Byte[]) in SafeExamBrowser.Configuration.Cryptography.KeyGenerator.CalculateConfigurationKeyHash(System.String, System.String) in SafeExamBrowser.Browser.Handlers.ResourceHandler.AppendCustomHeaders(CefSharp.IWebBrowser, CefSharp.IRequest) in SafeExamBrowser.Browser.Handlers.ResourceHandler.OnBeforeResourceLoad(CefSharp.IWebBrowser, CefSharp.IBrowser, CefSharp.IFrame, CefSharp.IRequest, CefSharp.IRequestCallback) in <Module>.CefSharp.Internals.CefResourceRequestHandlerAdapter.OnBeforeResourceLoad(CefSharp.Internals.CefResourceRequestHandlerAdapter*, scoped_refptr<CefBrowser>, scoped_refptr<CefFrame>, scoped_refptr<CefRequest>, scoped_refptr<CefCallback>)
XML evento: <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name=".NET Runtime" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">1026</EventID> <Version>0</Version> <Level>2</Level> <Task>0</Task> <Opcode>0</Opcode> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2024-05-27T13:28:58.9520897Z" /> <EventRecordID>159695</EventRecordID> <Correlation /> <Execution ProcessID="2940" ThreadID="0" /> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>B30521.********</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>Applicazione: SafeExamBrowser.Client.exe Versione framework: v4.0.30319 Descrizione: il processo è stato terminato a causa di un'eccezione non gestita. Informazioni sull'eccezione: System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException in System.Security.Cryptography.BCryptHashAlgorithm.HashCore(Byte[], Int32, Int32) in System.Security.Cryptography.HashAlgorithm.TransformBlock(Byte[], Int32, Int32, Byte[], Int32) in System.Security.Cryptography.SHA256Managed.HashCore(Byte[], Int32, Int32) in System.Security.Cryptography.HashAlgorithm.ComputeHash(Byte[]) in SafeExamBrowser.Configuration.Cryptography.KeyGenerator.CalculateConfigurationKeyHash(System.String, System.String) in SafeExamBrowser.Browser.Handlers.ResourceHandler.AppendCustomHeaders(CefSharp.IWebBrowser, CefSharp.IRequest) in SafeExamBrowser.Browser.Handlers.ResourceHandler.OnBeforeResourceLoad(CefSharp.IWebBrowser, CefSharp.IBrowser, CefSharp.IFrame, CefSharp.IRequest, CefSharp.IRequestCallback) in <Module>.CefSharp.Internals.CefResourceRequestHandlerAdapter.OnBeforeResourceLoad(CefSharp.Internals.CefResourceRequestHandlerAdapter*, scoped_refptr<CefBrowser>, scoped_refptr<CefFrame>, scoped_refptr<CefRequest>, scoped_refptr<CefCallback>)
15:29:00 - event id 1000 Nome registro: Application Origine: Application Error Data: 27/05/2024 15:29:00 ID evento: 1000 Categoria attività:Eventi di arresto anomalo dell'applicazione Livello: Errore Parole chiave: Utente: NET******** Computer: B30521.******** Descrizione: Nome dell'applicazione che ha generato l'errore: SafeExamBrowser.Client.exe, versione: 3.7.0.682, timestamp: 0x660d03c4 Nome del modulo che ha generato l'errore: KERNELBASE.dll, versione: 10.0.22621.3527, timestamp: 0x83efbeab Codice eccezione: 0xe0434352 Offset errore 0x000000000006543c ID processo che ha generato l'errore: 0x0xB7C Ora di avvio dell'applicazione che ha generato l'errore: 0x0x1DAB03982B18E27 Percorso dell'applicazione che ha generato l'errore: C:\Program Files\SafeExamBrowser\Application\SafeExamBrowser.Client.exe Percorso del modulo che ha generato l'errore: C:\WINDOWS\System32\KERNELBASE.dll ID segnalazione: f56e66b9-c872-4162-92fb-eb68bf70db89 Nome completo pacchetto che ha generato l'errore: ID applicazione relativo al pacchetto che ha generato l'errore: XML evento: <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="Application Error" Guid="{a0e9b465-b939-57d7-b27d-95d8e925ff57}" /> <EventID>1000</EventID> <Version>0</Version> <Level>2</Level> <Task>100</Task> <Opcode>0</Opcode> <Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2024-05-27T13:29:00.2232659Z" /> <EventRecordID>159696</EventRecordID> <Correlation /> <Execution ProcessID="8888" ThreadID="12032" /> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>B30521.********</Computer> <Security UserID="S-1-5-21-3566234421-4247608715-2402273958-51259" /> </System> <EventData> <Data Name="AppName">SafeExamBrowser.Client.exe</Data> <Data Name="AppVersion">3.7.0.682</Data> <Data Name="AppTimeStamp">660d03c4</Data> <Data Name="ModuleName">KERNELBASE.dll</Data> <Data Name="ModuleVersion">10.0.22621.3527</Data> <Data Name="ModuleTimeStamp">83efbeab</Data> <Data Name="ExceptionCode">e0434352</Data> <Data Name="FaultingOffset">000000000006543c</Data> <Data Name="ProcessId">0xb7c</Data> <Data Name="ProcessCreationTime">0x1dab03982b18e27</Data> <Data Name="AppPath">C:\Program Files\SafeExamBrowser\Application\SafeExamBrowser.Client.exe</Data> <Data Name="ModulePath">C:\WINDOWS\System32\KERNELBASE.dll</Data> <Data Name="IntegratorReportId">f56e66b9-c872-4162-92fb-eb68bf70db89</Data> <Data Name="PackageFullName"> </Data> <Data Name="PackageRelativeAppId"> </Data> </EventData> </Event>
Il giorno lun 27 mag 2024 alle ore 13:13 Cesare Tibaldeschi < @.***> ha scritto:
Hi and thankyou for your reply.
I've teste on a couple of pc and the problem seems to be disappeared. I'll try on other pc later... At the beginning I thought the problem could be related to .net framework (don't remember where I saw it... sorry). There might be an update that solved?
Il giorno lun 27 mag 2024 alle ore 11:49 Damian Büchel < @.***> ha scritto:
Thanks for the extensive reports. The crashes do all appear on or after a browser navigation, but the logs most unfortunately do not contain any specific reason or cause of the crashes.
Please search the Event Viewer (Ereignisanzeige) system application of Windows under Windows Logs > Application (Anwendung) for any warning and error message. They should entail the exact reason of failure and it would be great if you could post them here.
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/SafeExamBrowser/seb-win-refactoring/issues/883#issuecomment-2133101209, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AIBH3CYQ2PCBW34XD5CETY3ZEL6TJAVCNFSM6AAAAABH4GJL4WVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDCMZTGEYDCMRQHE . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>
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Dott. Cesare Tibaldeschi Ufficio Gestione e Assistenza ICT - Polo di Alessandria Divisione Innovazione, Digitalizzazione e Qualità dei Processi in ambito PNRR Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale "Amedeo Avogadro" Viale Teresa Michel, 11 - Alessandria Ufficio 2° piano A238 tel_0131.360170 - ***@***.*** https://disit.uniupo.it https://upobook.uniupo.it/cesare.tibaldeschi
--
Dott. Cesare Tibaldeschi
Ufficio Gestione e Assistenza ICT - Polo di Alessandria
Divisione Innovazione, Digitalizzazione e Qualità dei Processi in ambito
PNRR
Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale
"Amedeo Avogadro"
Viale Teresa Michel, 11 - Alessandria
Ufficio 2° piano A238
tel_0131.360170 - ***@***.***
https://disit.uniupo.it
https://upobook.uniupo.it/cesare.tibaldeschi
Thanks a lot for the update @CesareTiba! In your case, the calculation of the Configuration Key appears to cause a crash:
System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException
in System.Security.Cryptography.BCryptHashAlgorithm.HashCore(Byte[], Int32, Int32)
in System.Security.Cryptography.HashAlgorithm.TransformBlock(Byte[], Int32, Int32, Byte[], Int32)
in System.Security.Cryptography.SHA256Managed.HashCore(Byte[], Int32, Int32)
in System.Security.Cryptography.HashAlgorithm.ComputeHash(Byte[])
in SafeExamBrowser.Configuration.Cryptography.KeyGenerator.CalculateConfigurationKeyHash(System.String, System.String)
in SafeExamBrowser.Browser.Handlers.ResourceHandler.AppendCustomHeaders(CefSharp.IWebBrowser, CefSharp.IRequest)
in SafeExamBrowser.Browser.Handlers.ResourceHandler.OnBeforeResourceLoad(CefSharp.IWebBrowser, CefSharp.IBrowser, CefSharp.IFrame, CefSharp.IRequest, CefSharp.IRequestCallback)
Now the question is: Why? Do you happen to have an extensive configuration with e.g. URL filters and third-party applications (potentially including command-line arguments)? And could you either way please test whether you're running into the same issue when using a most basic as possible configuration with ideally only default values.
Hello! Thank you both for the feedback and input. My colleague and I have now installed the Safe Exam Browser on our private devices. We wanted to know whether this was a problem only in the IT rooms or not. While many tests ran without problems, we were still able to recreate the same error message. It is strange that many tests on the same device run without problems and the crashes do not appear consistently on one device. I am sending attached the error messages from the Event Viewer.
The first file comes from our IT technician, who sent me the error log from a PC in our IT rooms. One zip file is from my private device, the second zip file is from my colleague's private device.
Thank you!
1. IT Rooms.txt 3. Private PC 2.zip 2. Private PC 1.zip
We've also been seeing this happen regularly in the last few weeks, with about 10-20% of Win users affected. Luckily it only crashes once and then works fine until the end of the exam once SEB has been restarted with the same config (using the quit password to get past the red lock screen).
- We're also running Moodle 4.1.10 (might be coincidence, but we didn't witness this issue on previous versions)
- Our configs are fairly simple. We use Moodle to generate a config file, download it, open it in SEB edit mode (using mac SEB 3.3.2), disable the Mac menu bar (which could be used to use text replacements, presumably fixed in macSEB 3.3.3), block all external links and that's it, nothing complicated. This config then gets reuploaded in Moodle ("use own config").
- We've seen it happen on 3.7.0 and 3.6.0.
And could you either way please test whether you're running into the same issue when using a most basic as possible configuration with ideally only default values.
I think our configuration is not so complicated, but I'll ask to whom manage Moodle installation to produce a simpliest version of the configuration file. I can share our config.seb file with you. I've changed the domain name we use. config.seb.txt
Thanks for the additional information. I shall further investigate the issue once time permits, presumably in the upcoming 1-2 weeks.
This also started happening to some of our students in the last 2-3 weeks. Most of the time it crashes, when the students want to start or exit an exam. In most cases they just need to re-start SEB and log in again, no quit passwords needed.
- We're running OLAT 5.6.0 (based on OpenOLAT17.2)
- We have quite a few URLs on the whitelist but no third-party applications
- We've seen it mostly with Windows11 (SEB-Version 3.6.0.40)
@micimh If you'd have any SEB or system logs with further details, then that'd be of great help (especially crash logs from the application log in the event viewer system application).
@dbuechel referring to the message of @micimh i can provide SEB-Logs, hopefully we can provide logs from the event veiwer next week 2024-05-29_17h49m42s_Runtime.log 2024-05-29_17h49m42s_Client.log 2024-05-29_17h49m42s_Browser.log
@dbuechel, we have a few more questions:
- Is there any news surrounding this issue? Are we right to assume that it might be related to a Windows11-Update, either from 14. or 29. may?
- Do you assume, this issue only happens by using the Configuration Key or also the Browser Exam Key?
- Do you need any additional SEB-Logfiles or event viewer logfiles?
Thanks for the additional information, I also have received the event viewer data. I shall have a look at it once time permits, hopefully already by the end of this week.
I have located a possible concurrency issue with the key hash calculation, but am uncertain whether it really is the cause of the crashes (especially since they only appear to happen when calculating the configuration key hash, whereas I would expect to also see crashes due to the browser exam key hash calculation).
Either way, I have implemented an improvement which can be tested in the latest beta build for version 3.8.0: https://sebdev.ethz.ch/api/buildjobs/60e5ojn5btt2kj3t/artifacts/SEB_3.8.0.693_SetupBundle.exe. It would be of great help if as many of you which can (reliably) reproduce the issue could test the latest build to see whether it indeed fixes the problem or not.
Thanks, I'll check it out tomorrow morning right away! Cesare
Il giorno gio 6 giu 2024 alle ore 19:04 Damian Büchel < @.***> ha scritto:
I have located a possible concurrency issue with the key hash calculation, but am uncertain whether it really is the cause of the crashes (especially since they only appear to happen when calculating the configuration key hash, whereas I would expect to also see crashes due to the browser exam key calculation).
Either way, I have implemented an improvement which can be tested in the latest beta build for version 3.8.0: https://sebdev.ethz.ch/api/buildjobs/60e5ojn5btt2kj3t/artifacts/SEB_3.8.0.693_SetupBundle.exe. It would be of great help if as many of you which can (reliably) reproduce the issue could test the latest build to see whether it indeed fixes the problem or not.
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/SafeExamBrowser/seb-win-refactoring/issues/883#issuecomment-2153002173, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AIBH3C26EBHQ7HNESMXSAWTZGCJAPAVCNFSM6AAAAABH4GJL4WVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDCNJTGAYDEMJXGM . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.***>
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Dott. Cesare Tibaldeschi
Ufficio Gestione e Assistenza ICT - Polo di Alessandria
Divisione Innovazione, Digitalizzazione e Qualità dei Processi in ambito
PNRR
Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale
"Amedeo Avogadro"
Viale Teresa Michel, 11 - Alessandria
Ufficio 2° piano A238
tel_0131.360170 - ***@***.***
https://disit.uniupo.it
https://upobook.uniupo.it/cesare.tibaldeschi
Good news. This morning we installed the beta on our 40 seats lab and right away we had two exams (Moodle+SEB). None of the pc experienced the problem. Thank you!
Hello! Thanks for the beta - I'll pass it on to our IT technician and ask him to install it in one of our computer rooms. However, we can't carry out tests until next week - I'll let you know then whether the problem persists.
The good news from Cesare makes me feel positive though :)
Thanks and see you soon!
@dbuechel thank you for the update. Does this issue have something to do with QTI-tests? We are using OLAT and the other commenters all use Moodle, so QTI seems to be where we intersect. In our exams it seems to only be happening when starting a QTI-test. Also, do you think this issue wouldn't occur if we used the Browser Exam Key? As we are in the midst of the exam session and only have BYOD-exams it isn't possible for us to distribute a new SEB-version.
A quick update - unfortunately our IT technician is on vacation until June 19th. We will have to test the beta on our private devices for as long as possible and schedule the tests in the computer rooms for the end of June. I'll report back then :)
@CesareTiba That's excellent, thanks for the quick testing and feedback! Let's hope that this then indeed was the issue, otherwise we'd be back to square one. You were (with the official versions) able to reliably reproduce the problem in your lab?
@micimh I am not familiar with QTI, but if it causes an extended amount of network traffic, then that might indeed apply (as it appears to have been a concurrency issue when rendering a web page).
@katlee890 No worries, the release of version 3.8.0 is currently scheduled for the end of August.
@micimh I am not familiar with QTI, but if it causes an extended amount of network traffic, then that might indeed apply (as it appears to have been a concurrency issue when rendering a web page).
@dbuechel QTI is a global standard for questions and tests (Wikipedia) - I would not assume that this causes a lot of network traffic. But we came to this idea since the crash of SEB seem to happen as soon as we click on the start-button of a QTI-Test. And as far as I know Moodle and OLAT both are set up according to the QTI standard. Might be a random idea, but we thougt it could be a trace to follow...
@CesareTiba That's excellent, thanks for the quick testing and feedback! Let's hope that this then indeed was the issue, otherwise we'd be back to square one. You were (with the official versions) able to reliably reproduce the problem in your lab?
We have experienced the problem at first at the beginning of may (I think was the 3rd of may) with SEB 3.5 on windows 11 machines on our 40 seats lab. Few days later I've updated SEB at 3.7 and tested the same config file and experienced the problem still there. I kept testing until we found this open ticket (thanks @katlee890 !) so finally found the issue wasn't only ours. It took a while also because the issue wasn't displaying in other two labs (16 an 20 seats) with win 11 too, but different pcs (and actually thery are not really compatible with win 11... this might be a good reason, maybe it's an hw problem with win11 compatible machines).
finally this morning I've updated the 40 seats lab with the beta and right away we had an exam, actually two. Both exams didn't have any problem (we used only 23 pcs, not all of them).
Cesare
@CesareTiba That's excellent, thanks for the quick testing and feedback! Let's hope that this then indeed was the issue, otherwise we'd be back to square one. You were (with the official versions) able to reliably reproduce the problem in your lab?
We have experienced the problem at first at the beginning of may (I think was the 3rd of may) with SEB 3.5 on windows 11 machines on our 40 seats lab. Few days later I've updated SEB at 3.7 and tested the same config file and experienced the problem still there. I kept testing until we found this open ticket (thanks @katlee890 !) so finally found the issue wasn't only ours. It took a while also because the issue wasn't displaying in other two labs (16 an 20 seats) with win 11 too, but different pcs (and actually thery are not really compatible with win 11... this might be a good reason, maybe it's an hw problem with win11 compatible machines).
finally this morning I've updated the 40 seats lab with the beta and right away we had an exam, actually two. Both exams didn't have any problem (we used only 23 pcs, not all of them).
Cesare
@dbuechel & @CesareTiba we are working in a bring your own device scenario. I cannot confirm 100%, but it seems to only appear on devices with WIN11 and only from mid May on... Might be some Update of WIN11? No confirmed cases with WIN10 and Mac. We use the same SEB-Version as in winter when the issue did not appear at all.
@CesareTiba Thanks for the clarification. Then we can be cautiously optimistic that this might indeed have been the issue resp. its fix. But we'll definitely need more testing on a variety of systems.
@marcgei We just this week most likely also experienced this issue internally, but I am still waiting for the event logs from our system administrators in order to confirm that. In our case, the issue appeared on Windows 10 machines.
Hello, we just had the same issue on moodle 4.1.10 with SEB 3.5, 3.6, 3.7 no errors on SEB 3.4.1 or 3.3.1
Since all the exams are BYOD we will ask the students that had a crash to install 3.8 beta
thanks a lot for your support @dbuechel
christian
@steveorulez That on the one hand would be good in order to know whether the fix indeed resolves the problem, but on the other hand please do note that SEB 3.8.0 is still in development and we do not recommend using beta versions in a production environment.
We were able to verify with a unit test that the concurrency issue mentioned above indeed is the cause of the crashes and that the already implemented fix (see 04dce13) resolves the issue. We shall thus release a patch version 3.7.1 by no later than the end of this week.