Users getting Internal Server Error when trying to change email address

[Richie (Richie Rich)]

Discourse 3.4.0.beta4-dev (5bc7371192).

Users are unable to change their email address to a previously used email address.

Steps to replicate:

1. Change your account email address to something with a + sign in it, eg. your+name@example.com

(The plus sign may be the significant key here, or it may be a red herring)

2. Follow the email prompts to confirm the change

3. Change your email address back to what it was previously, eg. yourname@example.com

4. Follow the email prompts to confirm the change

5. Error is thrown in the front end:

User is then stuck with:

---

Error from /logs page:

lib/email_updater.rb:136:in `update_user_email'

lib/email_updater.rb:126:in `block in confirm'

activerecord (7.2.2.1) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/transaction.rb:616:in `block in within_new_transaction'

activesupport (7.2.2.1) lib/active_support/concurrency/null_lock.rb:9:in `synchronize'

activerecord (7.2.2.1) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/transaction.rb:613:in `within_new_transaction'

activerecord (7.2.2.1) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/database_statements.rb:361:in `transaction'

activerecord (7.2.2.1) lib/active_record/transactions.rb:234:in `block in transaction'

activerecord (7.2.2.1) lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:421:in `with_connection'

activerecord (7.2.2.1) lib/active_record/connection_handling.rb:296:in `with_connection'

activerecord (7.2.2.1) lib/active_record/transactions.rb:233:in `transaction'

lib/email_updater.rb:87:in `confirm'

app/controllers/users_email_controller.rb:64:in `confirm_new_email'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_controller/metal/basic_implicit_render.rb:8:in `send_action'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/abstract_controller/base.rb:226:in `process_action'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_controller/metal/rendering.rb:193:in `process_action'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/abstract_controller/callbacks.rb:261:in `block in process_action'

activesupport (7.2.2.1) lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:121:in `block in run_callbacks'

app/controllers/application_controller.rb:424:in `block in with_resolved_locale'

i18n (1.14.7) lib/i18n.rb:353:in `with_locale'

app/controllers/application_controller.rb:424:in `with_resolved_locale'

activesupport (7.2.2.1) lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:130:in `block in run_callbacks'

activesupport (7.2.2.1) lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:141:in `run_callbacks'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/abstract_controller/callbacks.rb:260:in `process_action'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_controller/metal/rescue.rb:27:in `process_action'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_controller/metal/instrumentation.rb:77:in `block in process_action'

activesupport (7.2.2.1) lib/active_support/notifications.rb:210:in `block in instrument'

activesupport (7.2.2.1) lib/active_support/notifications/instrumenter.rb:58:in `instrument'

activesupport (7.2.2.1) lib/active_support/notifications.rb:210:in `instrument'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_controller/metal/instrumentation.rb:76:in `process_action'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_controller/metal/params_wrapper.rb:259:in `process_action'

activerecord (7.2.2.1) lib/active_record/railties/controller_runtime.rb:39:in `process_action'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/abstract_controller/base.rb:163:in `process'

actionview (7.2.2.1) lib/action_view/rendering.rb:40:in `process'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_controller/metal.rb:252:in `dispatch'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_controller/metal.rb:335:in `dispatch'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/routing/route_set.rb:67:in `dispatch'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/routing/route_set.rb:50:in `serve'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/journey/router.rb:53:in `block in serve'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/journey/router.rb:133:in `block in find_routes'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/journey/router.rb:126:in `each'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/journey/router.rb:126:in `find_routes'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/journey/router.rb:34:in `serve'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/routing/route_set.rb:896:in `call'

lib/middleware/omniauth_bypass_middleware.rb:64:in `call'

rack (2.2.10) lib/rack/tempfile_reaper.rb:15:in `call'

rack (2.2.10) lib/rack/conditional_get.rb:40:in `call'

rack (2.2.10) lib/rack/head.rb:12:in `call'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/http/permissions_policy.rb:38:in `call'

lib/content_security_policy/middleware.rb:12:in `call'

lib/middleware/anonymous_cache.rb:403:in `call'

lib/middleware/csp_script_nonce_injector.rb:12:in `call'

config/initializers/008-rack-cors.rb:14:in `call'

rack (2.2.10) lib/rack/session/abstract/id.rb:266:in `context'

rack (2.2.10) lib/rack/session/abstract/id.rb:260:in `call'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/cookies.rb:704:in `call'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/callbacks.rb:31:in `block in call'

activesupport (7.2.2.1) lib/active_support/callbacks.rb:101:in `run_callbacks'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/callbacks.rb:30:in `call'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/debug_exceptions.rb:31:in `call'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/show_exceptions.rb:32:in `call'

logster (2.20.0) lib/logster/middleware/reporter.rb:40:in `call'

railties (7.2.2.1) lib/rails/rack/logger.rb:41:in `call_app'

railties (7.2.2.1) lib/rails/rack/logger.rb:29:in `call'

config/initializers/100-quiet_logger.rb:20:in `call'

config/initializers/100-silence_logger.rb:29:in `call'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/request_id.rb:33:in `call'

lib/middleware/enforce_hostname.rb:24:in `call'

rack (2.2.10) lib/rack/method_override.rb:24:in `call'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/executor.rb:16:in `call'

rack (2.2.10) lib/rack/sendfile.rb:110:in `call'

lib/middleware/processing_request.rb:12:in `call'

message_bus (4.3.8) lib/message_bus/rack/middleware.rb:60:in `call'

lib/middleware/request_tracker.rb:385:in `call'

actionpack (7.2.2.1) lib/action_dispatch/middleware/remote_ip.rb:96:in `call'

railties (7.2.2.1) lib/rails/engine.rb:535:in `call'

railties (7.2.2.1) lib/rails/railtie.rb:226:in `public_send'

railties (7.2.2.1) lib/rails/railtie.rb:226:in `method_missing'

rack (2.2.10) lib/rack/urlmap.rb:74:in `block in call'

rack (2.2.10) lib/rack/urlmap.rb:58:in `each'

rack (2.2.10) lib/rack/urlmap.rb:58:in `call'

unicorn (6.1.0) lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:634:in `process_client'

unicorn (6.1.0) lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:739:in `worker_loop'

unicorn (6.1.0) lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:547:in `spawn_missing_workers'

unicorn (6.1.0) lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:143:in `start'

unicorn (6.1.0) bin/unicorn:128:in `<top (required)>'

vendor/bundle/ruby/3.3.0/bin/unicorn:25:in `load'

vendor/bundle/ruby/3.3.0/bin/unicorn:25:in `<main>'

[Canapin (Coin-coin le Canapin)]

@Richie

(The plus sign may be the significant key here, or it may be a red herring)

Enabling e-mail normalization by default

Background In the past, Discourse has shipped with e-mail normalization off. As a result of this, users can create multiple accounts using the same canonical e-mail, through the use of plus addressing. For example, a user with an account tied to bob@discourse.org is able to create another account tied to bob+again@discourse.org. Discourse comes with the normalize_emails site setting which can be flipped to either allow or disallow this. When turned on, it considers both e-mails above to be the …

Did you check the normalize_emails settings? Not saying there’s not a bug here

[Richie (Richie Rich)]

No, I hadn’t checked that setting, I did not know it existed, thanks @Canapin

If this is the cause of the issue then the Internal Server Error bug needs catching and handling to tell the user why they can’t use this email address.