[tor-bugs] #31227 [Circumvention/Snowflake]: Firefox plugin loses broker connection

[Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki]

#31227: Firefox plugin loses broker connection
---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------
 Reporter:  cypherpunks          |          Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect               |         Status:  new
 Priority:  Medium               |      Component:  Circumvention/Snowflake
  Version:                       |       Severity:  Normal
 Keywords:  snowflake-           |  Actual Points:
  webextension                   |
Parent ID:                       |         Points:
 Reviewer:                       |        Sponsor:
---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------
 When the Firefox proxy add-on is turned on, it establishes a persistent
 tcp connection to the agent at snowflake-broker.bamsoftware.com
 (37.218.240.96). It polls for and occasionally serves clients as expected
 for many hours, up to maybe a day, and then the agent tcp connection is
 somehow dropped, after which it never seems to serve any clients again
 until the state is reset by toggling it off/on or Firefox is restarted,
 then the cycle repeats.

 My browser is normally left running 24/7 with various tabs open, so it
 seems like a perfect Snowflake proxy candidate, but this bug means it
 stops serving clients after the first day or so and doesn't resume until I
 think to toggle the add-on or happen to restart Firefox, which could be
 weeks of lost proxy time.

 The add-on should either fix the problem causing it to drop the
 connection, or perhaps check for the lost connection while polling and
 reset itself as needed.

 Using Firefox 68.0.1 64-bit on Windows 10 with add-on 0.0.5.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/31227>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online