Graphical Issue with Ettercap on Ubuntu

[eric56379]

Hi there,

I am running into an issue with two different Ubuntu systems. Whenever I search for hosts, it glitches out and the whole menu bar becomes invisible, but keeps its functionality. This graphical error that I'm running into also doesn't update the log in the bottom half of the screen. The second image below shows what happens after I finish searching for hosts.

I tried doing some other stuff in Ettercap, which still leads me to other visual issues with the program (in the last image). I'm currently on the newest version of Ettercap. I don't seem to have this issue with v0.8.0, only on v0.8.3.1.

Any suggestions?

[LocutusOfBorg]

what is the ubuntu version?

[eric56379]

what is the ubuntu version?

Hi, I'm running this on Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS.

[LocutusOfBorg]

and which desktop manager? I'm using 22.04.1 with no issues.

[eric56379]

So for the two computers that are running into this issue, I'm unable to figure out the desktop manager since it's running on JupyterLab, but I hope this helps:

Additionally, I ran into this issue with Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish): https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/jammy/daily-live/20230806/

[LocutusOfBorg]

echo $DESKTOP_SESSION
echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

[koeppea]

I can confirm the observed behavior. I’m already digging into it.

[eric56379]

echo $DESKTOP_SESSION echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

Hi there. Unfortunately, running those two commands didn't return any output.

--

I can confirm the observed behavior. I’m already digging into it.

That's great! Thank you so much! I'll keep following this thread for updates.

[koeppea]

I'll keep following this thread for updates.

Sure. I'll link the proposed fix as soon as I have identified the issue, so you'll get notice of it.

[koeppea]

@LocutusOfBorg @eaescob I could use some help here. I have trouble getting a older reference version compiled due to all the new dependencies.
Also looking at the order of the ncurses function calls in the current version, everything seem to be right. But still it's not working as expected.

The first trace that this easiest to be reproduced is, to start Ettercap in Curses mode, then set the Netmask. This should show a new smaller window in the center of the screen. But it doesn't even though all ncurses calls should lead to the expected result.

And it's also not related to the terminal, since the mis-behaviour is consistent even in xterm.

[LocutusOfBorg]

@koeppea I don't undertand what is the issue your are getting, can you please be more explicit? I can put on ppa whatever is needed for ubuntu 22.04.
I also have a working ppa with ettercap built from git
https://code.launchpad.net/~costamagnagianfranco/+recipe/ettercap-daily
https://code.launchpad.net/~costamagnagianfranco/+archive/ubuntu/ettercap-stable-backports

[eaescob]

Yeah, I think we're going to need desktop manager and version numbers. Otherwise we may be comparing apples to oranges.I can try to get a fresh Ubuntu 22.04 install and try it with out of the box dependencies. I have some time this week.

[eaescob]

I'm noticing the same behavior running Ubuntu 22.04 server (ARM). The dialog border shows up but the text does not appear

[koeppea]

The dialog border shows up but the text does not appear

and when you select unified sniff or set netmask in the setup phase, it's the other way round. The content is visible full-screen w/o any borders and top/left aligned.

[koeppea]

I build myself a vanilla ncurses application that uses Ettercap's ncurses widget library.
In this vanilla the behaviour is identical. So that means the issue lies somewhere in the ncurses widgets. Probably some ncurses related API has changed. Messing now with the widgets library...

[eric56379]

Hi again,

Are there any updates regarding a fix yet?

Thanks!

[koeppea]

I'm still trying to find the cause of the issue. It appears to be very tricky.
Ncurses API is called in correct order. Even the window box appears for a blink of a moment, but as soon as wgetch() is called to wait for user input, the form that is supposed to be drawn inside the window box (which for some reason is not at this moment but should be), seem to be drawn on stdscr and flushed out the previously drawn window box.

This also flushes the menubar too.

The issue with the error window box, I've not yet dug into since I assume all issues have the same root cause, however still not yet found.

I'm still on it but I'd honestly hoped to be detected more easily.

[eric56379]

Okay, thank you for the update!

[koeppea]

I decided to re-build the curses widget library, also to adapt the curses design to the updated GTK based UI layout.
I think I can eliminate the issue this way most effectively, except anybody else has another idea.

[eric56379]

Thanks for the update! Still looking forward to the solution.