Hiding the mouse cursor does not work #2676

emdete · 2017-03-06T09:05:41Z

Qubes OS version (e.g., `R3.2`):

3.2

Affected TemplateVMs (e.g., `fedora-23`, if applicable):

Expected behavior:

if a program requests the mouse cursor is hidden (very useful for slideshows, viewing videos or even in the terminal (rxvt with pointerBlank))

Actual behavior:

mouse pointer still visible

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

use any progranm that tries to hide the pointer

General notes:

this may be a security feature but i don't know why this would increase security so i assume it's more a missing feature like #2642?

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

andrewdavidwong · 2017-03-06T11:17:58Z

this may be a security feature but i don't know why this would increase security

If this were enabled, would it allow a single compromised VM to "DoS" the whole system by hiding the cursor system-wide?

@marmarek: What do you think? Feature or bug?

marmarek · 2017-03-06T11:26:49Z

Hiding mouse cursor system-wide is no-go, exactly for the reason @andrewdavidwong said. But there may be an option to hide a cursor when mouse is inside that [requesting] VM window. Probably can be useful together with allowing fullscreen windows. Related to #1551, with similar impact security-wise. Actually #1551 could be used to implement this one - set cursor "shape" to fully transparent one.

One more thing requiring substantial knowledge of X11 protocol...

ghost · 2018-07-03T06:21:57Z

Same here on Qubes R.4.0

mfc · 2020-06-23T11:24:18Z

could there be a keyboard shortcut for hiding/unhiding cursor, coming from dom0?

apparently there is a unclutter app in Fedora repos that hides the cursor when it is not being used, last packaged for f29:
https://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/packageinfo?packageID=8139

there is also a rewrite here: https://github.com/Airblader/unclutter-xfixes

and a program called xbanish: https://github.com/jcs/xbanish

vecna13 · 2021-08-31T14:42:20Z

could there be a keyboard shortcut for hiding/unhiding cursor, coming from dom0?
That's how I handle this, and it works well for me.

install unclutter in dom0
write a toggle-unclutter script (and make it executable)

#!/bin/sh
if pgrep unclutter &> /dev/null 2>&1
then
        killall unclutter
else
        unclutter -idle 1 &
fi

(-idle 1 hides the cursor after 1 second of non-movement. Change it as desired.)

add a keyboard shortcut for toggle-unclutter in dom0 settings > Keyboard > Application Shortcuts

iacore · 2022-02-25T16:23:13Z

Is this really a security vulnerability to allow hidden cursor? X11 cursors are per-window, and if your cursor is invisible in one window, shaking your mouse will make the cursor appear.

The problem is currently how to intercept XFixes requests for hiding the cursor. Some applications want to set a transparent image as cursor, which is harder to handle.

DemiMarie · 2022-02-25T17:02:35Z

Is this really a security vulnerability to allow hidden cursor? X11 cursors are per-window, and if your cursor is invisible in one window, shaking your mouse will make the cursor appear.

Per-window, probably not.

The problem is currently how to intercept XFixes requests for hiding the cursor. Some applications want to set a transparent image as cursor, which is harder to handle.

That is indeed the hard part. It would require modifications to both the GUI agent and GUI daemon. Would you be interested in making a PR?

iacore · 2022-02-25T17:19:38Z

PR:

gui-common: Add constants for hide and show cursor qubes-gui-common#13
gui-daemon: Handle show & hide cursor iacore/qubes-gui-daemon#1
linux gui agent: no idea how to capture XFixes request

marmarek · 2022-02-25T19:32:46Z

linux gui agent: no idea how to capture XFixes request

Here is xfixes events processing: https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-gui-agent-linux/blob/master/gui-agent/vmside.c#L354-L378
I hope that helps...

iacore · 2022-02-26T22:05:57Z

Found a bit concerning stuff.
https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-gui-agent-linux/blob/e7fa68432e17387437eff4c078d51ef3d08c1d08/gui-agent/vmside.c#L375

Documentation for XFixes §7.2 says the cursor name field is for XFixes version 2 only, so maybe the field is not to be used.

Also, the documentation is for xfixes version 5, but the latest header file is on major version 6 (XFIXES_MAJOR).

iacore · 2022-02-26T22:17:37Z

From the same documentation for XFixes, there isn't a way to check if the cursor is visible or not. No event, no function call. We have to either amend XFixes or intercept traffic to X server to check cursor visibility.

Or maybe there is a way to listen to X requests? We might as well ship unclutter in dom0 by default and write a GUI tool for it.

Unrelated questions:

Is there a plan to move gui repos into a monorepo? This makes possible to have 1 pull request for one change.
X is so broken. Is there a plan to switch to wayland?

marmarek · 2022-02-27T00:16:17Z

Documentation for XFixes §7.2 says the cursor name field is for XFixes version 2 only, so maybe the field is not to be used.

Interesting, although it works in practice... (with some exceptions).

No event, no function call.

Indeed, I don't see anything either.

We have to either amend XFixes or intercept traffic to X server to check cursor visibility.

Neither of those sound good...

We might as well ship unclutter in dom0 by default and write a GUI tool for it.

I guess that's the way to go, sadly.

Is there a plan to move gui repos into a monorepo? This makes possible to have 1 pull request for one change.

I understand why it's tempting, but those parts have significantly different trust level and we'd like to keep them separate (gui-agent doesn't need to be that resistant against malicious gui-daemon than the other way around; and we'd like to avoid not-so-careful change to gui-agent compromising gui-daemon by accident). Plus, there is one gui-daemon, while a few gui-agents (linux-x11, windows, and in progress linux-wayland).

X is so broken. Is there a plan to switch to wayland?

Yes, it's in progress #3366

DemiMarie · 2022-02-27T00:31:11Z

We have to either amend XFixes or intercept traffic to X server to check cursor visibility.

Neither of those sound good...

Patch the X server?

marmarek · 2022-02-27T00:32:22Z

Neither of those sound good...

Patch the X server?

Let me repeat more clearly: no.

iacore · 2022-02-28T22:48:34Z

Patch the X server?

I still feel like this is the correct way to fix this problem. The easiest way is to patch

/lib64/libXfixes.so.3.1.0 :
0000000000002bc0 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base>:
    2bd6:	74 70                	je     2c48 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x88>
    2be0:	74 66                	je     2c48 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x88>
    2be6:	7e 60                	jle    2c48 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x88>
    2bf2:	74 05                	je     2bf9 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x39>
    2c26:	74 06                	je     2c2e <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x6e>
    2c38:	74 0e                	je     2c48 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x88>

use SendEvent to generate custom event that can be listened to in gui agent. Applications using this dynamic library will all behave correctly then.

DemiMarie · 2022-03-01T01:10:21Z

Patch the X server?
I still feel like this is the correct way to fix this problem. The easiest way is to patch
/lib64/libXfixes.so.3.1.0 :
0000000000002bc0 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base>:
    2bd6:	74 70                	je     2c48 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x88>
    2be0:	74 66                	je     2c48 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x88>
    2be6:	7e 60                	jle    2c48 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x88>
    2bf2:	74 05                	je     2bf9 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x39>
    2c26:	74 06                	je     2c2e <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x6e>
    2c38:	74 0e                	je     2c48 <XFixesHideCursor@@Base+0x88>
use SendEvent to generate custom event that can be listened to in gui agent. Applications using this dynamic library will all behave correctly then.

What about applications using XCB?

iacore · 2022-03-03T23:11:27Z

Hope for Wayland support?

lubellier · 2023-03-26T10:28:05Z

Another solution : a keyboard shortcut hides your cursor (by switching to a blank/invisible cursor).

Install a blank cursor to your cursor theme (here Adwaita):

[user@dom0 ~]$ cat blank
#define blank_width 1
#define blank_height 1
#define blank_x_hot 0
#define blank_y_hot 0
static unsigned char blank_bits[] = {
    0x00 };
[user@dom0 ~]$ sudo cp blank /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/cursors/

Test switching to the blank cursor and go back to the default cursor:

[user@dom0 ~]$ xsetroot -cursor blank blank
[user@dom0 ~]$ xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr

Add the keyboard shortcuts: XFCE setting > Keyboard > shortcuts

Alt-F12 : xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr
Alt-Shift-F12 : xsetroot -cursor blank blank

Usage:

run your application in fullscreen (video player, web browser, ...)
press Alt-Shift-F12 to hide the cursor
when application finished, press Alt-F12 to show the cursor

I daily use this solution.

Related forum topic : https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/how-to-get-the-mouse-cursor-disappear-when-playing-a-video/17578/2

andrewdavidwong added the C: gui-virtualization label Mar 6, 2017

andrewdavidwong added this to the Release 4.0 milestone Mar 6, 2017

andrewdavidwong added the ux User experience label Mar 6, 2017

marmarek modified the milestones: Release 4.1, Release 4.0 Jul 31, 2017

marmarek modified the milestones: Release 4.1, Release TBD Oct 10, 2021

andrewdavidwong added the pr submitted A pull request has been submitted for this issue. label Feb 25, 2022

iacore mentioned this issue Mar 5, 2022

Add constants for hide and show cursor QubesOS/qubes-gui-common#13

Closed

andrewdavidwong removed this from the Release TBD milestone Aug 13, 2023

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Hiding the mouse cursor does not work #2676

Hiding the mouse cursor does not work #2676

emdete commented Mar 6, 2017

andrewdavidwong commented Mar 6, 2017

marmarek commented Mar 6, 2017

ghost commented Jul 3, 2018

mfc commented Jun 23, 2020 •

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vecna13 commented Aug 31, 2021

iacore commented Feb 25, 2022 •

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DemiMarie commented Feb 25, 2022

iacore commented Feb 25, 2022 •

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marmarek commented Feb 25, 2022

iacore commented Feb 26, 2022 •

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iacore commented Feb 26, 2022 •

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marmarek commented Feb 27, 2022

DemiMarie commented Feb 27, 2022

marmarek commented Feb 27, 2022

iacore commented Feb 28, 2022 •

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DemiMarie commented Mar 1, 2022

iacore commented Mar 3, 2022

lubellier commented Mar 26, 2023

Hiding the mouse cursor does not work #2676

Hiding the mouse cursor does not work #2676

Comments

emdete commented Mar 6, 2017

Qubes OS version (e.g., R3.2):

Affected TemplateVMs (e.g., fedora-23, if applicable):

Expected behavior:

Actual behavior:

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

General notes:

andrewdavidwong commented Mar 6, 2017

marmarek commented Mar 6, 2017

ghost commented Jul 3, 2018

mfc commented Jun 23, 2020 • edited Loading

vecna13 commented Aug 31, 2021

iacore commented Feb 25, 2022 • edited Loading

DemiMarie commented Feb 25, 2022

iacore commented Feb 25, 2022 • edited Loading

marmarek commented Feb 25, 2022

iacore commented Feb 26, 2022 • edited Loading

iacore commented Feb 26, 2022 • edited Loading

marmarek commented Feb 27, 2022

DemiMarie commented Feb 27, 2022

marmarek commented Feb 27, 2022

iacore commented Feb 28, 2022 • edited Loading

DemiMarie commented Mar 1, 2022

iacore commented Mar 3, 2022

lubellier commented Mar 26, 2023

Qubes OS version (e.g., `R3.2`):

Affected TemplateVMs (e.g., `fedora-23`, if applicable):

mfc commented Jun 23, 2020 •

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iacore commented Feb 25, 2022 •

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iacore commented Feb 25, 2022 •

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iacore commented Feb 26, 2022 •

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iacore commented Feb 26, 2022 •

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iacore commented Feb 28, 2022 •

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