Computer stuck on 'Authentication is required to update information about software' - need reboot to escape

[KW57]

Distribution

Mint 22.1

Package version

6.4.8

Graphics hardware in use

AMD Ryzen 5 5600G

Frequency

Only occasionally

Bug description

I have two user accounts: kevin (with sudo) and Jenny (non sudo). Occasionally when switching between account (kevin to jenny) as soon as I log in (to Jenny) I get an 'Authentication Required' modal box, stating 'Authentication is required to update information about software'. It asks for my password (kevin) but when I enter this (definitely correct as I can toggle view) it just hangs. The 'Authenticate' button greys out. The 'Cancel' button is active but does nothing when clicked. I can find no way out other than a reset (REISUB) or hard reset.

This has happened about three times recently, but not always.

Steps to reproduce

Probably difficult as it's intermittent. I suppose you could create a non-sudo account and switch to it (via 'Log Out -> Switch User'). Also, I have updates set to 'manual' in the Update Manager.

I would have liked to include a screen print but that didn't work as the modal window could not be removed. I could take a photo of the screen if that would help (providing I can trigger the issue again)?

Nothing is reported in 'System Reports' or 'Crash Reports'.

I've attached the last hour's journalctl is that helps (sorry, not too sure what would be useful to you). Let me know if you need anything else.

Expected behavior

To be able to log into jenny's account without getting stuck at the modal authentication window.

Additional information

[code]
System:
Kernel: 6.8.0-58-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0 clocksource: hpet
Desktop: Cinnamon v: 6.4.8 tk: GTK v: 3.24.41 wm: Muffin v: 6.4.1 vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.30.0
Distro: Linux Mint 22.1 Xia base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: B550M DS3H v: N/A serial:
Mobo: Gigabyte model: B550M DS3H serial: uuid:
UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: F14 date: 01/04/2022
Battery:
Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Keyboard PID:005e serial: N/A
charge: 70% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: discharging
Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse PID:000a serial: N/A
charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: discharging
CPU:
Info: 6-core model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP smt: enabled
arch: Zen 3 rev: 0 cache: L1: 384 KiB L2: 3 MiB L3: 16 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 3220 high: 4443 min/max: 400/4464 cores: 1: 4443 2: 3677 3: 3772 4: 3553
5: 3553 6: 400 7: 4441 8: 3553 9: 3598 10: 400 11: 3701 12: 3555 bogomips: 93420
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Cezanne [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Mobile Series] vendor: Gigabyte driver: amdgpu
v: kernel arch: GCN-5 pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: HDMI-A-1 empty: HDMI-A-2
bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:1638 class-ID: 0300 temp: 27.0 C
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22") s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-A-0 model: BenQ GL2450H serial: res: 1920x1080 hz: 60
dpi: 92 size: 531x298mm (20.91x11.73") diag: 609mm (24") modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi device: 1 drv: swrast
gbm: drv: kms_swrast surfaceless: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.2.8-1ubuntu1~24.04.1 glx-v: 1.4
direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon Graphics (radeonsi renoir LLVM 19.1.1 DRM 3.57
6.8.0-58-generic) device-ID: 1002:1638
Audio:
Device-1: AMD Renoir Radeon High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie:
speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 05:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:1637 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie:
speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 05:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.8.0-58-generic status: kernel-api
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.5 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Gigabyte
driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 04:00.0
chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp4s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac:
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 1.66 TiB used: 376.5 GiB (22.2%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Crucial model: CT500P5PSSD8 size: 465.76 GiB speed: 63.2 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: fw-rev: P7CR402 temp: 37.9 C scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: fw-rev: 1A01 scheme: MBR
ID-3: /dev/sdb vendor: Seagate model: ST3320620AS size: 298.09 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s tech: N/A
serial: fw-rev: D scheme: MBR
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 456.89 GiB used: 47.74 GiB (10.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
USB:
Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 10 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
Device-1: 1-5:2 info: Logitech LX710 Cordless Desktop Laser type: keyboard,mouse
driver: logitech-djreceiver,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 1.5 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 98mA
chip-ID: 046d:c517 class-ID: 0301
Device-2: 1-6:3 info: Logitech Mouse type: mouse driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1
rev: 2.0 speed: 1.5 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA chip-ID: 046d:c077 class-ID: 0301
Device-3: 1-10:4 info: Integrated Express RGB LED Controller type: HID
driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 power: 100mA
chip-ID: 048d:5702 class-ID: 0300
Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
class-ID: 0900
Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
Hub-4: 4-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
class-ID: 0900
Hub-5: 5-0:1 info: hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1
chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
Hub-6: 6-0:1 info: super-speed hub ports: 2 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s lanes: 1 chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 33.5 C mobo: 22.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 28.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Repos:
Packages: 2997 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2991 pm: flatpak pkgs: 6
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
1: deb https: //www.mirrorservice.org/sites/packages.linuxmint.com/packages xia main upstream import backport
2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble main restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates main restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ noble-security main restricted universe multiverse
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list
Info:
Memory: total: 16 GiB note: est. available: 14.97 GiB used: 3.02 GiB (20.2%)
Processes: 354 Power: uptime: 20m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep wakeups: 0
hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5) default: graphical
Compilers: gcc: 13.3.0 Client: Unknown python3.12 client inxi: 3.3.34
[/code]

journalctl-250425.txt

[spamegg1]

A few others also having the same issue

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?p=2622754

[muddiver]

Hi folks,

i have the same issue, i think that it has to do with flatpak programms installed.
I installed mint from scratch to get rid of this problem, i installed software step by step with long testing periods in between, and everytime i install a flatpak it appears in under 2 days. I installed Flatseal and there it was..
You can "handle" the problem by key "Control+Alt+Backspace", which closes your Cinnamon-session ans brings you to the Login-Screen. But your opened programms are closed then..

Hardware:
CPU: Ryzen 3 Pro 3200G
MB: A320M-A PRO MAX
No fancy hardware installed..

looking forward to a solution...

i read in a Linux-magazin that Mint 22.1 changed the password-control to Windowmanager Muffin, maybe this could be part of the problem? For me, the problem appeared partially in 22.0, but it got really bad in 22.1..

Thanks in advance! Greets, Tom

[muddiver]

I deactivated the "look for flatpak-updates" in the updatemanager, and so far it looks as if this solves this problem. No passworddialog for 3 days even if flatpaksoftware is installed. Try to deactivate flatpak-updates in the updatemanager for EVERY user! Greets Tom

[oyla12]

Same Problem here, it is really annoying as you have to log in again after killing the session via ctrl+alt+backspace. I need to switch regulary between two users and it happens every 2-3 times of user switch. I started using a second notebook :D

I will try the "look for flatpak-updates" hint and observe. It is a fully new installed Linux Mint Version 22.1 having some flatpack software installed...

[Shrug5668]

I am having the same problem. I moved my wife off her windows 10 machine and this keeps popping up when switching to her standard account, which is not making the transition very smooth for her and a headache for me. lol.

[muddiver]

Turning off the look for flatpak-updates did the trick for me, i haven't seen the passworddialog for over a week now..

[Shrug5668]

Turning off the look for flatpak-updates did the trick for me, i haven't seen the passworddialog for over a week now..

I was thinking the same thing, I was going to wait a few days to post a confirmation. Thanks for the info.

[Jerome-Herbinet]

Same issue on my computer with Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.1 ; thanks for the tip (I just disabled the Flatpak update option). I hope that this very annoying bug will be fixed soon.

[matthew-macgregor]

Wanted to note that I've also been seeing this issue since upgrading to 22.1. It is definitely intermittent. I will also try to disable flatpak updates in Update Manager.

[Jerome-Herbinet]

Hi @clefebvre @mtwebster,

Is anyone aware of that issue ? (IMO, it's a critical issue in multi-users context)

Thanks

[Mentate]

@Jerome-Herbinet

I'm still having it as well. If it helps, it seems to only happen when I use the "switch user" option. If I always log out of my account before switching users it's fine.

Also, I'm able to use "switch users" with standard non sudo accounts without issue.

I just tried the flatpak updates trick so hopefully that resolves it.

[matthew-macgregor]

I have disabled flatpak updates (using the workaround in this issue) since my comment on June 7th and haven't seen the issue again since. It seems likely that it's something related to flatpak auto-updates; perhaps a missing PolicyKit rule?

[HONKER24]

Also experiencing this issue on a fresh Linux Mint install. I feel like this is a big issue that isn't getting attention especially for new Linux users.

Hoping the disabling of flat-pack updates in Update Manager works.