[tbb-bugs] #24866 [Applications/Tor Browser]: Tor Browser remembering history for certain URLs even after restart

[Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki]

#24866: Tor Browser remembering history for certain URLs even after restart
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     Reporter:  dcf                       |      Owner:  tbb-team
         Type:  defect                    |     Status:  new
     Priority:  Medium                    |  Milestone:
    Component:  Applications/Tor Browser  |    Version:
     Severity:  Normal                    |   Keywords:
Actual Points:                            |  Parent ID:
       Points:                            |   Reviewer:
      Sponsor:                            |
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 My Tor Browser has two entries in the `moz_historyvisits` table in
 places.sqlite. The two URLs can come up during URL bar autocompletion, and
 also appear in the ctrl+H history window.

 I noticed it just now when I saw URL bar autocompletions for URLs that
 were not bookmarks and were not open tabs. Here is a screenshot. The first
 three matches are bookmarks, as you can tell by the star icon. The
 accounts.google.com one is not a bookmark, but is for some reason being
 remembered across restarts.

 [[Image(blog-autocomplete.png)]]

 The two URLs that are being remembered are:
  *
 !https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?continue=https://www.blogger.com
 /comment-
 iframe.g?blogID%3D2266550428847361277%26postID%3D6186454555221678264%26blogspotRpcToken%3D3273703%26bpli%3D1&followup=https://www.blogger.com
 /comment-
 iframe.g?blogID%3D2266550428847361277%26postID%3D6186454555221678264%26blogspotRpcToken%3D3273703%26bpli%3D1&passive=true&go=true#%7B%22color%22%3A%22rgb(110%2C%20110%2C%20110)%22%2C%22backgroundColor%22%3A%22rgb(204%2C%20204%2C%20204)%22%2C%22unvisitedLinkColor%22%3A%22rgb(0%2C%200%2C%200)%22%2C%22fontFamily%22%3A%22Verdana%2CGeneva
 %2Csans-serif%22%7D
  *
 !https://id.rlcdn.com/463496.gif?credir=https%3A%2F%2Fsimage4.pubmatic.com%2FAdServer%2FSPug%3Fo%3D3%26u%3D1292AC75-4860
 -4D0E-
 8AC2-F720B90009E0%26vcode%3Dbz0yJnR5cGU9MSZjb2RlPTMzMzkmdGw9MTI5NjAw%26piggybackCookie%3D&redirect=1
 The first one kind of makes sense. If I click on it, it takes me to a
 comment field for the [https://breakwa11.blogspot.com/ blog of BreakWa11],
 a circumvention developer whose blog I have visited in the past few
 months. It's not a top-level page though; seems like it belongs in an
 iframe. The other one looks like an advertising tracking pixel (hope it's
 nothing personal lol).

 I found where the URLs are being stored: they are in the
 [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Places.sqlite places.sqlite] database, in the
 `moz_places` table:
 {{{
 $ sqlite3 tor-browser_en-
 US/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Browser/profile.default/places.sqlite
 SQLite version 3.21.0 2017-10-24 18:55:49
 Enter ".help" for usage hints.
 sqlite> select * from moz_places;
 [elided other entries which are my bookmarks]
 68|https://accounts.google.com/ServiceLogin?continue=https://www.blogger.com
 /comment-
 iframe.g?blogID%3D2266550428847361277%26postID%3D6186454555221678264%26blogspotRpcToken%3D3273703%26bpli%3D1&followup=https://www.blogger.com
 /comment-
 iframe.g?blogID%3D2266550428847361277%26postID%3D6186454555221678264%26blogspotRpcToken%3D3273703%26bpli%3D1&passive=true&go=true#%7B%22color%22%3A%22rgb(110%2C%20110%2C%20110)%22%2C%22backgroundColor%22%3A%22rgb(204%2C%20204%2C%20204)%22%2C%22unvisitedLinkColor%22%3A%22rgb(0%2C%200%2C%200)%22%2C%22fontFamily%22%3A%22Verdana%2CGeneva
 %2Csans-
 serif%22%7D||moc.elgoog.stnuocca.|1|1|0||-1|1510963636686206|jljYEjVwHSTz|0|47357881751906
 [elided]
 71|https://id.rlcdn.com/463496.gif?credir=https%3A%2F%2Fsimage4.pubmatic.com%2FAdServer%2FSPug%3Fo%3D3%26u%3D1292AC75-4860
 -4D0E-
 8AC2-F720B90009E0%26vcode%3Dbz0yJnR5cGU9MSZjb2RlPTMzMzkmdGw9MTI5NjAw%26piggybackCookie%3D&redirect=1||moc.ndclr.di.|1|1|0||-1|1513646987292092|AG
 --rmyoEVB2|0|47360465205581
 [elided]
 }}}

 These two entries with `id=68` and `id=71` are referenced in the
 `moz_historyvisits` table. Here is the whole table:
 {{{
 sqlite> select * from moz_historyvisits;
 1|0|68|1510963636686206|6|0
 2|0|71|1513646987292092|6|0
 }}}
 The fourth column looks like a microsecond timestamp, and the one for
 BreakWa11's blog matches the time frame during which I would have visited
 the site.
 {{{
 $ date -u -d @1510963636.686206
 Sat Nov 18 00:07:16 UTC 2017
 $ date -u -d @1513646987.292092
 Tue Dec 19 01:29:47 UTC 2017
 }}}

 The `moz_historyvisits` table seems to underlie the ctrl+H history window.
 When I open it, there are two entries corresponding to the months of the
 timestamps. However it doesn't list any URLs: if I click the expander
 arrows, the arrows just disappear without expanding anything. But if I
 search for a string like "http", I can make the URLs appear.

 [[Image(history-default.png)]] [[Image(history-search.png)]]

 Ticket #23704 is potentially related; it's about the browser remembering
 tabs after upgrading. comment:3:ticket:23704 says "TBB 7.0.5/6 has
 `places.history.enabled` set to `true` by default. And now TBB 7.5a5 has
 it set to `false` as a non-default value for unknown reason!" For what
 it's worth, my about:config looks like this:
 ||=Preference Name =||=Status =||=Type =||=Value =||
 ||places.history.enabled ||default ||boolean ||true ||
 ||**places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages** ||**user set**
 ||**integer** ||**122334** ||

 On another computer of mine, the `moz_historyvisits` table is empty and
 `moz_places` contains only bookmarks.

 This is with Tor Browser 7.0.11 64-bit.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/24866>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
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