Why does Vanadium connect to Google domains?

graphoux

I've noticed that Vanadium makes calls to certain Google domains, like optimizationguide-pa.googleapis.com and clients2.google.com.

Could someone explain why Vanadium is connecting to these domains? What purpose do they serve ? Are there any privacy implications ?

Thanks ! Have a great day :)

GrapheneOS

graphoux It shouldn't connect to any Google domains unless you've changed something such as changing feature flags in chrome://flags. We have optimization guide downloads disabled. We can check to make sure there are no new features we need to start disabling.

GrapheneOS

We tried replicating what you're describing and could not do it. You should reset any changes you made to flags. You can also update to the new Vanadium release in the Beta channel to test with the latest release. We made some more feature flag changes in case something was wrong but we couldn't find any indication that the existing feature flag changes weren't enough.

graphoux

GrapheneOS Thanks for your reply. Not sure what's going on since I never interacted with feature flags. Also, two friends of mine also see calls to clients2.google.com, not to optimization guide though. Nevertheless I reset flags and downloaded the latest release from the beta channel as you suggested. Do you have any ideas why that might be happening and how to prevent it?
Thanks for your help

Xtreix

graphoux If I visit a website that connects to google domains, like google-analytics or google-font, I can see it with an app like PCAPdroid running without root, this is expected behavior, it can also make connections to other domains, how do you see Vanadium connecting to its Google domains ?

graphoux

Xtreix I notice those calls, I believe, typically when I open Vanadium, but not every time. I haven't been able to reproduce the calls on demand. I'm using RethinkDNS to monitor network activity, and I've observed calls to clients2.google even when Vanadium had only one tab open on the GrapheneOS forum.

GrapheneOS

Are you still seeing a connection to the optimization guides subdomain? We disabled more of the flags in case it was possible that certain configurations still used it.

The other connection is very vague since it's just part of their overall content delivery. Do you have a reason for thinking it's from Vanadium rather than a website you visited in Vanadium?

It's worth noting that the most visited sites shown on the new tab page will have their icons refetched regularly.

graphoux

GrapheneOS After installing the latest release, I no longer see connections to the optimization guide subdomains, which seems to have resolved the issue—great news! However, regarding the other domain, I can't be completely certain that it's from Vanadium and not from the websites I visit. Today, I only accessed the GrapheneOS forum and noticed a couple of calls to clients2.google. Are there any forum assets hosted on that domain, perhaps?

GrapheneOS

graphoux

Are there any forum assets hosted on that domain, perhaps?

No, there are no forum connections made anywhere other than discuss.grapheneos.org.

We explained what it might be above:

It's worth noting that the most visited sites shown on the new tab page will have their icons refetched regularly.

GrapheneOS

graphoux We can't reproduce this issue, but please try updating to Vanadium Config 86 in the App Store Alpha channel. It has another feature flag override in order to try to prevent a potential issue which could occur in some configurations of the browser in edge cases.

graphoux

GrapheneOS Thank you for the suggestion and help; I’ve updated to Vanadium Config 86. Since yesterday, I’ve been conducting an experiment: only one tab in Vanadium, connected to the GrapheneOS forum homepage, and Vanadium used solely to refresh the page occasionally, without any other actions. From time to time, RethinkDNS will report that this action resulted in Vanadium making two simultaneous connections: one to clients2.google.com (allowed on TCP/80) and, immediately after, a second connection to discuss.grapheneos.org (allowed on TCP/443). It seems to suggest that the connections to clients2.google.com that I observe in my network activity from Vanadium are not related to the webpages I visit while browsing in Vanadium... Not sure what's going on here.

adruld70

I can also see the call to "clients2.google.com" everytime i open Vanadium. Even after deleting all browsing data, closing and then opening Vanadium again.
No Google Play Services installed and Vanadium Config on version 85.

Edit:
I've searched the logs and found the following, i have no idea but maybe it's relevant.
05-09 16:00:38.799 27127 27127 I cr_PartnerBMReader: Browser customizations loading complete. 05-09 16:00:38.799 27127 27205 I cr_PartnerBMReader: Loading partner bookmarks. 05-09 16:00:38.799 27127 27127 I cr_PartnerBMReader: Failed to mark creation complete, mFinishedReading=false, mFinishedResolvingBrowserCustomizations=true 05-09 16:00:38.801 27127 27205 E cr_PartnerBMReader: ATTENTION: not using partner bookmarks as none were provided 05-09 16:00:38.801 27127 27127 I cr_PartnerBMReader: Partner bookmarks creation complete. 05-09 16:00:39.002 27127 27205 W GooglePlayServicesUtil: app.vanadium.browser requires the Google Play Store, but it is missing. 05-09 16:00:39.002 27127 27205 E cr_AccountManager: Error fetching accounts from the delegate. 05-09 16:00:39.002 27127 27205 E cr_AccountManager: org.chromium.components.signin.AccountManagerDelegateException: Can't use Google Play Services

job_shredder69

Add me to the list. My homepage is clear of bookmarks, and frequent sites so there aren't any icons to pull.

Vanadium version 136.0.7103.87
Vanadium config 86

GrapheneOS

We're not able to replicate this so it likely has to do with having a specific kind of configuration which we don't have on our test devices.

Please update to Vanadium Config 87 in Alpha before testing further.

adruld70

GrapheneOS I can confirm that Vanadium doesn't make the call to "clients2.google.com" anymore, after updating Vanadium Config to v86. So it seems that those flags that you disabled solved it. Thank you.

graphoux

GrapheneOS Updating to Vanadium Config 87 appears to have resolved the issue for me as well. I will continue to monitor my network activity and will report back here if those unwanted calls return. Thank you!

GrapheneOS

The Chromium release changed how some stuff works and we had to disable more flags than before due to a subset of users having this happen. The main issue could only trigger rarely for a subset of users due to being randomized so it didn't happen in our testing.

We could change how we handle this to block these kinds of connections in this situation and display a warning so people report it to us and we can fix it properly. For now it should be resolved but we can make some changes to avoid it happening again.

TGOS

GrapheneOS
Just tested and no such domains are visible.
But... now I noticed that in private space the fingerprinting functionality isn't available again.
Are some changed flags the reason for this?
Kinda disappointing when a lot falls apart after a short period of working, without any warning.

SovereignCopper

TGOS the fingerprinting functionality isn't available again

Which functionality are you referring to exactly?

TGOS

SovereignCopper
To be able to unlock apps in private space via fingerprint.
It first wasn't possible, then it got fixed but now again back to before.