Repository navigation
[Bug]: Chromium-based browsers (including Brave) crash with 1.16.5 #6582
Description
Activity
In my case this applies to any chromium-based browser:
chromium
ungoogled-chromium
bravealso on Arch with flatpak 1.16.5.
Behavior differs - brave shows dark page upon startup, chromium shows "Aw snap!" message and dumps core in background.
Please note that before
ptraceerrors, another one shows up at the beginning which may be closer to the source of issue:~$ com.brave.Browser [63:63:0409/073652.339457:ERROR:base/memory/shared_memory_switch.cc:289] Failed global descriptor lookup: 7 ~$ org.chromium.Chromium [48:48:0409/073503.604685:ERROR:base/memory/shared_memory_switch.cc:289] Failed global descriptor lookup: 7Reacted by oggytheman, Pamalosebi, janost, Richard Wang and Jay Ta'alaBtw, as a quick workaround for having a working browsers, downgrading flatpak (NOT SECURE as CVE's are not patched in previous versions!) worked for me. Will have to stick to that until real solution comes up.
~$ sudo pacman -U file:///var/cache/pacman/pkg/flatpak-1\:1.16.3-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst ~$ flatpak --version Flatpak 1.16.3something interesting to note that if i uninstall brave then install it again on the first launch it does work but every launch after that it crashes
something interesting to note that if i uninstall brave then install it again on the first launch it does work but every launch after that it crashes
Yes i have the same issue after the flatpak upgrade, it breaks at the 2nd execution
➜ flatpak run com.brave.Browser [75:75:0408/095317.600617:ERROR:base/memory/shared_memory_switch.cc:289] Failed global descriptor lookup: 7 [2:2:0408/095317.850892:ERROR:chrome/browser/ui/views/user_education/impl/browser_user_education_interface_impl.cc:154] Attempting to show IPH IPH_DiscardRing before browser initialization complete; IPH will not be shown. ➜ flatpak run com.brave.Browser [2 zypak-helper] Wait found events, but sd-event found none error: /proc/self/fd/18 resolves to non-absolute path anon_inode:inotify [2 preload-host-spawn-strategy] Failed to let stub process know of exit: Bad file descriptor (errno 9)Browser are broken since Flatpak 1.16.4. But they now throw different errors with 1.16.5...
Additional diagnostics
This affects all Chromium-based browsers installed via Flatpak, not just Brave — I can reproduce it with
io.github.ungoogled_software.ungoogled_chromiumas well.Key behavior: Works correctly on the very first run after a clean install. Tabs crash on every subsequent run.
--no-sandboxresolves it, which points to a sandbox bootstrap failure rather than an app-level issue.Environment:
- Flatpak: 1.16.5
- bubblewrap: 0.11.1
- Kernel: 6.12.11.arch1-1
- Arch Linux x86_64
- Runtime: org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/25.08
The specific error from verbose logging:
[48:48:0409/134429.297773:ERROR:base/memory/shared_memory_switch.cc:289] Failed global descriptor lookup: 7This appears in every failing run. The child process (PID 48) cannot find file descriptor 7 in the global descriptor table. This fd is not being correctly inherited by the sandboxed child process.
This is corroborated by the histogram output at shutdown:
Histogram: NetworkService.GrantSandboxResult recorded 3 samples, mean = 7.0Value
7inGrantSandboxResultcorresponds tokFailed_CouldNotGrantAccessToFile.What does NOT fix it:
--disable-features=NetworkServiceSandboxflatpak override --user --device=shmflatpak override --user --allow=devel- Raising
user.max_user_namespaces --disable-gpu- Clearing all app data and reinstalling
What does fix it:
--no-sandbox
Full verbose log attached.
Reacted by oggytheman, repsac, Richard Wang and Luiz Alves- changed the title
[-][Bug]: Brave crashing 1.16.5[/-][+][Bug]: Chromium-based browsers (including Brave) crash with 1.16.5[/+]on Apr 9, 2026 Additional diagnostics
Thanks, this helps!
The child process (PID 48) cannot find file descriptor 7 in the global descriptor table. This fd is not being correctly inherited by the sandboxed child process.
This points to the fd reshuffling in
flatpak-portalstill not being completely right.--no-sandbox[is a workaround]That's consistent with this being a problem with
flatpak-portal. When you run a Chromium-based browser with--no-sandbox, it doesn't need to create a Flatpak "subsandbox", so it won't be talking to the portal.This is a less harmful workaround than downgrading Flatpak.
Works correctly on the very first run after a clean install. Tabs crash on every subsequent run.
This is surprising, but might help to point to where the problem is.
To check, have the users experiencing this crash restarted Flatpak's various systemd services since applying the 1.16.5 update?
The easiest way to confirm that this has been done would be to reboot the whole system.
If this problem persists after a reboot, then we still need to investigate further. If it fixes itself after a reboot, then it's solved already.
I noticed it straight after the update without reboot, as well as after a full OS reboot.
The issue persists after a reboot. For me it affects both Chromium and Brave.
Rolling back to 1.16.4-2.1 fixes the issue.38 remaining items
- added a commit that references this issue
on Apr 10, 2026 - added 2 commits that reference this issue
on Apr 10, 2026 - added 2 commits that reference this issue
on Apr 10, 2026 - added a commit that references this issue
on Apr 10, 2026 - added 2 commits that reference this issue
on May 7, 2026
Checklist
Flatpak version
1.16.5
What Linux distribution are you using?
Arch Linux
Linux distribution version
No response
What architecture are you using?
x86_64
How to reproduce
open a brave browser and be on flatpak 1.16.5
Expected Behavior
to show the normal home screen tab
Actual Behavior
the tab crashes and every attempt of opening a new tab makes it crash as well
Additional Information
launching from a terminal i get these errors