E2EE files no longer accessible because "encryption information is missing"

[Nothing4You]

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Steps to reproduce

1. Try to synchronize existing e2ee files using Nextcloud Desktop (tested on Windows and macOS)

Expected behaviour

Files should be available

Actual behaviour

Client reports File path/to/file cannot be downloaded because encryption information is missing..

Server configuration

Operating system: Debian 12

Web server: Apache

Database: MySQL

PHP version: 8.2.24

Nextcloud version: Nextcloud Hub 9 (30.0.1)

Updated from an older Nextcloud/ownCloud or fresh install: updated plenty of times since the original installation, not sure when exactly this started popping up

Where did you install Nextcloud from: nextcloud.com

Signing status: No errors have been found.

Signing status

No errors have been found.

List of activated apps:

end_to_end_encryption: 1.16.1

Nextcloud configuration:

Config report

{
    "system": {
        "instanceid": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "passwordsalt": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "secret": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "trusted_domains": [
            "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***"
        ],
        "datadirectory": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbtype": "mysql",
        "version": "30.0.1.2",
        "overwrite.cli.url": "https:\/\/***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "htaccess.RewriteBase": "\/",
        "dbname": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbhost": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbport": "",
        "dbtableprefix": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mysql.utf8mb4": true,
        "dbuser": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "dbpassword": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "installed": true,
        "mail_from_address": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtpmode": "smtp",
        "mail_sendmailmode": "smtp",
        "mail_domain": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtpsecure": "ssl",
        "mail_smtpauthtype": "PLAIN",
        "mail_smtpauth": 1,
        "mail_smtphost": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtpname": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtppassword": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "mail_smtpport": "465",
        "twofactor_enforced": "true",
        "twofactor_enforced_groups": [
            "admin"
        ],
        "twofactor_enforced_excluded_groups": [],
        "trusted_proxies": "***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***",
        "overwriteprotocol": "https",
        "maintenance": false,
        "theme": "",
        "loglevel": 2,
        "updater.release.channel": "stable",
        "app_install_overwrite": [
            "twofactor_webauthn"
        ],
        "default_phone_region": "DE",
        "maintenance_window_start": 1
    }
}

Are you using external storage, if yes which one: local

Are you using encryption: yes (e2ee, not server side)

Are you using an external user-backend, if yes which one: no

Client configuration

Browser: N/A

Operating system: Windows 10, macOS 14.7

Logs

Web server error log

No errors logged

Nextcloud log (data/nextcloud.log)

Nextcloud log

{"reqId":"Fh3a8NHUqgPdyQD61Fg7","level":3,"time":"2024-10-21T01:15:26+00:00","remoteAddr":"***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***","user":"myusername","app":"no app in context","method":"GET","url":"/ocs/v2.php/apps/end_to_end_encryption/api/v2/meta-data/23373?format=json","message":"/appdata_randomstring/end_to_end_encryption/meta-data/23373/meta.data.signature","userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh) mirall/3.14.1daily (Nextcloud, macos-23.6.0 ClientArchitecture: arm64 OsArchitecture: arm64)","version":"30.0.1.2","exception":{"Exception":"OCP\\Files\\NotFoundException","Message":"/appdata_randomstring/end_to_end_encryption/meta-data/23373/meta.data.signature","Code":0,"Trace":[{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/Files/Node/Folder.php","line":114,"function":"get","class":"OC\\Files\\Node\\Root","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/Files/SimpleFS/SimpleFolder.php","line":56,"function":"get","class":"OC\\Files\\Node\\Folder","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/apps/end_to_end_encryption/lib/MetaDataStorage.php","line":239,"function":"getFile","class":"OC\\Files\\SimpleFS\\SimpleFolder","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/apps/end_to_end_encryption/lib/Controller/MetaDataController.php","line":103,"function":"readSignature","class":"OCA\\EndToEndEncryption\\MetaDataStorage","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php","line":208,"function":"getMetaData","class":"OCA\\EndToEndEncryption\\Controller\\MetaDataController","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php","line":114,"function":"executeController","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\Http\\Dispatcher","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/AppFramework/App.php","line":161,"function":"dispatch","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\Http\\Dispatcher","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/Route/Router.php","line":302,"function":"main","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\App","type":"::"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/ocs/v1.php","line":43,"function":"match","class":"OC\\Route\\Router","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/ocs/v2.php","line":7,"args":["/path/to/nextcloud-install/ocs/v1.php"],"function":"require_once"}],"File":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/Files/Node/Root.php","Line":187,"message":"/appdata_randomstring/end_to_end_encryption/meta-data/23373/meta.data.signature","exception":{},"CustomMessage":"/appdata_randomstring/end_to_end_encryption/meta-data/23373/meta.data.signature"}}
{"reqId":"RbbGrGicIgKTz92DDqGj","level":3,"time":"2024-10-21T01:15:26+00:00","remoteAddr":"***REMOVED SENSITIVE VALUE***","user":"myusername","app":"no app in context","method":"GET","url":"/ocs/v2.php/apps/end_to_end_encryption/api/v2/meta-data/23399?format=json","message":"/appdata_randomstring/end_to_end_encryption/meta-data/23399/meta.data.signature","userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh) mirall/3.14.1daily (Nextcloud, macos-23.6.0 ClientArchitecture: arm64 OsArchitecture: arm64)","version":"30.0.1.2","exception":{"Exception":"OCP\\Files\\NotFoundException","Message":"/appdata_randomstring/end_to_end_encryption/meta-data/23399/meta.data.signature","Code":0,"Trace":[{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/Files/Node/Folder.php","line":114,"function":"get","class":"OC\\Files\\Node\\Root","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/Files/SimpleFS/SimpleFolder.php","line":56,"function":"get","class":"OC\\Files\\Node\\Folder","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/apps/end_to_end_encryption/lib/MetaDataStorage.php","line":239,"function":"getFile","class":"OC\\Files\\SimpleFS\\SimpleFolder","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/apps/end_to_end_encryption/lib/Controller/MetaDataController.php","line":103,"function":"readSignature","class":"OCA\\EndToEndEncryption\\MetaDataStorage","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php","line":208,"function":"getMetaData","class":"OCA\\EndToEndEncryption\\Controller\\MetaDataController","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/AppFramework/Http/Dispatcher.php","line":114,"function":"executeController","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\Http\\Dispatcher","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/AppFramework/App.php","line":161,"function":"dispatch","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\Http\\Dispatcher","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/Route/Router.php","line":302,"function":"main","class":"OC\\AppFramework\\App","type":"::"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/ocs/v1.php","line":43,"function":"match","class":"OC\\Route\\Router","type":"->"},{"file":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/ocs/v2.php","line":7,"args":["/path/to/nextcloud-install/ocs/v1.php"],"function":"require_once"}],"File":"/path/to/nextcloud-install/lib/private/Files/Node/Root.php","Line":187,"message":"/appdata_randomstring/end_to_end_encryption/meta-data/23399/meta.data.signature","exception":{},"CustomMessage":"/appdata_randomstring/end_to_end_encryption/meta-data/23399/meta.data.signature"}}

Browser log

N/A

More information

Both folders only contain a meta.data file, no meta.data.signature file.

Both meta.data files look like this:

{
    "files": {
        // ...
    },
    "metadata": {
        "checksum": "...",
        "metadataKey": "...",
        "version": 1.1
    }
}

[joshtrichards]

    "version": 1.1

This looks weird. I think only 1 / 1.2 / 2.0 are valid values.

Are these particularly old files?

Any idea what client and client version last successfully modified/accessed these files?

[Nothing4You]

Unfortunately I don't know what time they were last successfully accessed or which client version it was on.
These files have mostly been sitting there for archival purposes and I recently attempted to upload new files to the folders.

Last modified on the filesystem for both meta.data files shows 19th of August, 2023.

[joshtrichards]

You can try adjusting (adding a check for 1.1 here like the other versions) to see if they open since they won't have a signature file anyway (that's what this bit of code is for handling):

end_to_end_encryption/lib/MetaDataStorage.php

Lines 224 to 238 in b887f3c

	} catch (NotFoundException $ex) {
	$metadata = $dir->getFile($this->metaDataFileName)->getContent();
	$decodedMetadata = json_decode($metadata, true);
	if ($decodedMetadata['metadata']['version'] === '1.2') {
	return '';
	}
	if ($decodedMetadata['metadata']['version'] === 1.2) {
	return '';
	}
	if ($decodedMetadata['metadata']['version'] === 1) {
	return '';
	}