Brave crashes after linking desktop with existing VPN credentials and also fails with Failed to write the VPN config error

[MadhaviSeelam]

Description

This issue specifically relates to clicking the link Already purchased VPN in onboarding/Buy modal after logging into desktop 2 with existing prod VPN credentials. In this case, after successfully logging, I didn't click Refresh Brave VPN button, instead clicked VPN button => Already purchased VPN link in the Buy modal. When I toggle On from Disconnected to Connected, it failed with Failed to write the VPN config error. Tried to toggle On again, Brave Crashed.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install 1.49.118
2. launch Brave
3. enable brave://flags/#brave-vpn
4. login to desktop 2 with already purchased Brave prod VPN credentials
5. click on VPN button next to hamburger menu
6. click Already purchased VPN link
7. toggle On from Disconnected to Connected in the VPN panel
8. Got Failed to write the VPN config error
9. toggle On again

Actual result:

Brave crashed
Crash ID: fbe80600-5aad-b509-0000-000000000000

[ 0 ] RasEntryToPhonebookEntry
[ 1 ] RasSetEntryPropertiesW
[ 2 ] brave_vpn::internal::CreateEntry(std::Cr::basic_string<wchar_t,std::Cr::char_traits<wchar_t>,std::Cr::allocator<wchar_t> > const &,std::Cr::basic_string<wchar_t,std::Cr::char_traits<wchar_t>,std::Cr::allocator<wchar_t> > const &,std::Cr::basic_string<wchar_t,std::Cr::char_traits<wchar_t>,std::Cr::allocator<wchar_t> > const &,std::Cr::basic_string<wchar_t,std::Cr::char_traits<wchar_t>,std::Cr::allocator<wchar_t> > const &) ( utils.cc:368 )

2023-03-07_09h45_25.mp4

Expected result:

Brave VPN should connect successfully without any crashes

Reproduces how often:

Easily

Brave version (brave://version info)

Brave | 1.49.118 Chromium: 111.0.5563.50 (Official Build) (64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | 39f3dfc5023fe60997adc4f6cf5439cfa3e6968a-refs/branch-heads/5563@{#903}
OS | Windows 11 Version 22H2 (Build 22621.1265)

Version/Channel Information:

• Can you reproduce this issue with the current release? Yes
• Can you reproduce this issue with the beta channel? N/A
• Can you reproduce this issue with the nightly channel? N/A

Other Additional Information:

• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Shields?
• Does the issue resolve itself when disabling Brave Rewards?
• Is the issue reproducible on the latest version of Chrome?

Miscellaneous Information:

@bsclifton @mattmcalister

[kjozwiak]

Basically ran into the same crash that @MadhaviSeelam mentioned above using the following build(s):

Brave | 1.49.120 Chromium: 111.0.5563.64 (Official Build) (64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | c710e93d5b63b7095afe8c2c17df34408078439d-refs/branch-heads/5563@{#995}
OS | Windows 11 Version 22H2 (Build 22621.1344)

• Purchased VPN on iOS with a brand new Apple ID that was created during the release call to make sure linking as working
• once we were live, I ensured that I was added into CrossPlatformVPNStudy:Enabled using CrossPlatformVPNStudy:Enabled
• clicked on the VPN icon and selected/clicked on Already purchased VPN?
• used the same email that I used to register on the iOS and successfully linked the subscription from iOS -> Desktop
• clicked on Germany and switched the toggle to enable the VPN (received permission error)
• attempted to enable it again once more and the browser crashes with the same crash stack as the above

Crashes:

• ab520600-c5e7-be09-0000-000000000000
• a9520600-c5e7-be09-0000-000000000000

Crash Stack:

[ 0 ] RasEntryToPhonebookEntry
[ 1 ] RasSetEntryPropertiesW
[ 2 ] brave_vpn::internal::CreateEntry(std::Cr::basic_string<wchar_t,std::Cr::char_traits<wchar_t>,std::Cr::allocator<wchar_t> > const &,std::Cr::basic_string<wchar_t,std::Cr::char_traits<wchar_t>,std::Cr::allocator<wchar_t> > const &,std::Cr::basic_string<wchar_t,std::Cr::char_traits<wchar_t>,std::Cr::allocator<wchar_t> > const &,std::Cr::basic_string<wchar_t,std::Cr::char_traits<wchar_t>,std::Cr::allocator<wchar_t> > const &) ( utils.cc:368 )

[bsclifton]

Can be found in backtrace here:
https://brave.sp.backtrace.io/p/brave/triage?filters=((callstack%2Ccontains%2CRasEntryToPhonebookEntry))&aggregations=((guid%2Cunique)%2C(classifiers%2Chead))&similarity=false

[MadhaviSeelam]

Reproduced the issue as few users seeing the support can't connect to any server without an error. Encountered Failed to write the VPN config error when switching between servers.

https://bravesoftware.slack.com/archives/C0141L60REG/p1679076522144569?thread_ts=1679074949.315209&cid=C0141L60REG

Brave | 1.49.120 Chromium: 111.0.5563.64 (Official Build) (64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | c710e93d5b63b7095afe8c2c17df34408078439d-refs/branch-heads/5563@{#995}
OS | Windows 11 Version 22H2 (Build 22621.1413)

• New profile
• Logged in to Brave VPN with prod VPN credentials
• clicked Refresh VPN button
• Enabled VPN
• Switched the region from default US(West) to Candada
• Failed to write the VPN config` error is shown
• Tried to connect again and connected successfully

ex	ex

@bsclifton @mattmcalister
cc: @stephendonner

[bsclifton]

Related:

• Brave crashed when VPN was enabled with existing Prod credentials  #29477
• Brave crashed when VPN was enabled with newly purchased VPN Prod credentials  #29502

[kjozwiak]

Going to add the release-notes/include label as we might have had some users experience the crash. I believe @bsclifton mentioned there was ~16 or so that appeared via BackTrace. It's possible that these all could have been from internally within Brave. @bsclifton @rebron @LaurenWags thoughts re: adding this into the notes? Either way works for me.

[kjozwiak]

The above requires 1.50.114 or higher for 1.50.x verification 👍

[LaurenWags]

Changed to release-notes/exclude per discussion with @kjozwiak @rebron

[MadhaviSeelam]

Verification PASSED using

Brave | 1.50.114 Chromium: 112.0.5615.49 (Official Build) (64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | bd2a7bcb881c11e8cfe3078709382934e3916914-refs/branch-heads/5615@{#936}
OS | Windows 11 Version 22H2 (Build 22621.1413)

Verified using original STR #28940 (comment)

Confirmed Brave didn't crash after linking desktop with existing VPN credentials and no Failed to write the vpn config error shown when VPN enabled.