Strange characters in Firewall Log (Line View)

Started by myksto, March 15, 2018, 04:06:13 PM

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March 15, 2018, 04:06:13 PM Last Edit: March 16, 2018, 09:19:16 AM by myksto
This morning I turn up my pc and open my dashbord with Google Chrome and find a strange slowness in moving betweene menus. Besides I found strange characters in firewall logs (screenshot attached).
No problem with Firefox and IE.
Chrome has been updated last week, disabled all extensions, no luck.

Suggestions?
March 15, 2018, 04:29:50 PM #1
Never saw anything similar.
Reboot OPNsense? Upgrade Chrome?
OPNsense v18 | HW: Gigabyte Z370N-WIFI, i3-8100, 8GB RAM, 60GB SSD, | Controllers: 82575GB-quad, 82574, I221, I219-V | PPPoE: RDS Romania | Down: 980Mbit/s | Up: 500Mbit/s

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March 15, 2018, 04:37:47 PM #2 Last Edit: March 15, 2018, 04:54:37 PM by myksto
Rebooted several times, ,manually deleted logs.
It's not a chrome issue.
I have other 2 OPNSense installations and they work with no problem and logs are shown perfectly.
March 15, 2018, 05:11:45 PM #3
Is the "plain view" showing similar characters?
OPNsense v18 | HW: Gigabyte Z370N-WIFI, i3-8100, 8GB RAM, 60GB SSD, | Controllers: 82575GB-quad, 82574, I221, I219-V | PPPoE: RDS Romania | Down: 980Mbit/s | Up: 500Mbit/s

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March 15, 2018, 05:15:52 PM #4
No, plain view shows correct characters.
March 15, 2018, 05:16:34 PM #5 Last Edit: March 15, 2018, 05:18:12 PM by myksto
After a while logs are clearly displayed.
I guess I found the "culprit".
Everything started when I cleared the firewall logs in "Firewall -> Log Files -> Plain View -> Clear logs".
It looks like the system need some data to be filled in the logs before displaying them correctly.
I've cleared logs in another OPNSense installation and it's the same behaviour: when logs are just cleared the webgui display them with strange characters and after a while everything is ok.

It only happens with Google Chrome.

I don't know whether it's a bug or not but it's a strange case.

Maybe some developer should take a look at it.

Thanks.
March 15, 2018, 05:44:26 PM #6
Yep, by default, the logs are filled with null characters (if i'm not mistaken) up to 500kb/log. Maybe that's what you are seeing, although you're right, you shouldn't.
OPNsense v18 | HW: Gigabyte Z370N-WIFI, i3-8100, 8GB RAM, 60GB SSD, | Controllers: 82575GB-quad, 82574, I221, I219-V | PPPoE: RDS Romania | Down: 980Mbit/s | Up: 500Mbit/s

Team Rebellion Member
March 16, 2018, 08:52:07 AM #7 Last Edit: March 16, 2018, 10:36:28 AM by myksto
Yes, if you intend these "@", "@", etc. as null char you're right. The log file "filter.log" is full of those.
I noticed that system needs some time or some bytes (I don't know how many) to normally show the logs on "Firewall -> Log Files -> Line View". If you look for the logs in Line View just after you deleted them your visualization is just like the file I attached. When some logs populates the file everything turns ok.
Maybe there's a reason for that, I don't know.

Cheers.
March 20, 2018, 07:53:32 AM #8
Sounds like a problem in the new log reader code. It was rewritten in Python and may not always read the clog file correctly.
March 20, 2018, 11:35:58 AM #9
Hi Franco.
It only happens just after you've cleared the log and few bytes are in.
When more data starts filling the log everything turns ok.

Thanks, Michele.
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