moonD4rk/HackBrowserData · error

dbus session: %w

Error message

dbus session: %w

What it means

DBusRetriever (Linux V11 tier) needs a D-Bus session bus to talk to GNOME Keyring / KDE Wallet via the Secret Service API. dbus.SessionBus() failed — typically DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS is unset or points at a dead socket — so no keyring query can be attempted.

Source

Thrown at masterkey/retriever_linux.go:28

	keyring "github.com/ppacher/go-dbus-keyring"
)

// https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/main:components/os_crypt/os_crypt_linux.cc
var linuxParams = pbkdf2Params{
	salt:       []byte("saltysalt"),
	iterations: 1,
	keySize:    16,
	hashFunc:   sha1.New,
}

// DBusRetriever queries GNOME Keyring / KDE Wallet via D-Bus Secret Service.
type DBusRetriever struct{}

func (r *DBusRetriever) RetrieveKey(hints Hints) ([]byte, error) {
	storage := hints.KeychainLabel
	conn, err := dbus.SessionBus()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("dbus session: %w", err)
	}

	svc, err := keyring.GetSecretService(conn)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("secret service: %w", err)
	}

	session, err := svc.OpenSession()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("open session: %w", err)
	}
	defer session.Close()

	collections, err := svc.GetAllCollections()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("get collections: %w", err)
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 0503d04d7a)

Solutions

1. Run inside the desktop session, or export the bus address first: export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/$(id -u)/bus
2. Verify the socket exists: ls /run/user/$(id -u)/bus (start systemd user session if missing)
3. Use `sudo -u <user> env DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=... ` when querying another user's keyring
4. If no keyring exists at all, accept the V10 fallback — PosixRetriever derives the key from PBKDF2("peanuts") without D-Bus

Example fix

# before
cron: 0 * * * * hack-browser-data
# after
cron: 0 * * * * DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/1000/bus hack-browser-data

if os.Getenv("DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS") == "" {
    os.Setenv("DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS", "unix:path=/run/user/"+strconv.Itoa(os.Getuid())+"/bus")
}

key, err := dbusRetriever.RetrieveKey(hints)
if err != nil {
    if strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "dbus session:") {
        key, err = posixRetriever.RetrieveKey(hints) // v10 fallback, no keyring needed
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling RetrieveKey on Linux when there is no user session bus: SSH without DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS exported, systemd user session not running, cron/systemd service, Docker container, or a stale XDG_RUNTIME_DIR.

Common situations: Running the tool from an SSH session, CI job, cron job, or container that inherited no desktop session environment; switching users with su without importing the session env.

Understand the failure class

Background: "environment variable is not set" and "Missing keys in environment" errors: what missing required env var messages mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• secret service: %w
• open session: %w
• get collections: %w
• %q: %w
• not found in credential store

AI-assisted analysis of moonD4rk/HackBrowserData@0503d04d7a (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a3bd251a22b7185b. Report an issue: GitHub.