Ever since the latest Mac OS X 10.5.6 update which I installed simultaneously to the Safari 2.3.1 update, I’ve experienced an issue where cookies seem to get clobbered despite selecting the “keep me logged in” option, and I’ll find that I’ve been suddenly logged out of the site I was on. This happens on many sites (e.g. Gmail, Facebook, Sporting News, etc.), and I’ll usually see an error like “You must login to use this website.”
This Google Groups thread discusses the issue in the context of Fluid, which uses WebKit to create site specific browsers for your favorite web apps.
The problem isn’t limited to Fluid, but rather to all apps that use WebKit, like Safari, NetNewsWire, and more.
Are you experiencing this issue as well?
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
RSS
Marco Arment
31 December 2008 at 3:06 pm
One of our employees had the Fluid/Safari cookie issue while running the Campfire Fluid app, even when it was inactive and hidden. Other Fluid apps, including Hype Machine, didn’t affect Safari in this way. We all run other Webkit-based apps (NNW, Mail, etc.) and none of them have ever caused this problem with Safari.
The specifics are very strange: Safari periodically replaces a current login cookie with an old, invalid one from days or weeks ago, despite the website’s login form having assigned at least one new value to that cookie since then.
Sean S
31 December 2008 at 3:15 pm
Yes, I’m having the same issue(s)—but it didn’t start with the latest version of Safari. I’ve been noticing strange behavior for almost 6 months now, mostly with Twitter and Facebook.
Dan
31 December 2008 at 3:30 pm
It happens to me with Facebook all the time. No problems with Gmail however.
Brock
31 December 2008 at 3:30 pm
I’ve had this issue, both in Safari and any WebKit build, since 10.5.0. Still unfixed. Sometimes it’ll only lose my cookies once a month, sometimes 3 times in a day. It’s very aggravating.
Neil
31 December 2008 at 3:45 pm
Yep. Since 10.5.6, Safari can’t remember logged in states to several sites I visit.
Jay
31 December 2008 at 3:56 pm
I had the same problem with Facebook, Google Reader, etc.
I reset safari completely, re-installed Safari, then fixed permissions with Disk Utility. This has solved the problem. I had to do all three though, as one by itself wouldn’t solve it.
Michael Lake
31 December 2008 at 4:02 pm
Yeup, I’m having the exact same issue on all of my “cookied” websites. Glad to see someone else mention it. http://twitter.com/beornlake/status/1086942232
Chris
31 December 2008 at 4:19 pm
I updated right away as well and have had no issues with any logins.
Dan Kubb
31 December 2008 at 4:33 pm
I thought it was just me. It happens all the time with Facebook, and occasionally with Github, Lighthouse and Gmail too. It happened occasionally prior to the 10.5.6 release, but afterwards it seems to have increased in frequency—although part of that could just be due to my awareness of there being a problem.
Tom Carmony
31 December 2008 at 4:46 pm
I was running into this issue a lot about a week ago, especially with Facebook, but I’m noticing it much less the past few days (I haven’t done any software updates in the meantime). I’m not sure why it’s tapered off lately, but I’m certainly glad it has.
Bill Israel
31 December 2008 at 5:04 pm
Like Sean S, I’ve been seeing this problem for at least 6 months, but the problem seems mostly to affect Twitter (I don’t use Facebook). It’ll happen sporadically with other apps, but seems to happen consistently with Twitter.
John Rust
31 December 2008 at 5:26 pm
Happening to me too. I’ve been having issues with cookies since I first installed 1Password, but the 10.5.6 update is causing all my logins to expire far too quickly.
Pascal
31 December 2008 at 5:37 pm
Yep, noticed that too on quite a few sites. Fortunately 1Password makes it more bearable.
Especially phpmyadmin (although have been using this a lot lately), and joomla! site (all php? not sure that’s the cause though)
Derek P. Collins
31 December 2008 at 5:51 pm
Yes, I’ve been having this same issue with any of the Google apps (e.g. Gmail, Google Docs, Google Reader, etc.). I first noticed it about a week ago while using Fluid. I thought that perhaps it was an issue with Fluid, but it happened while using Safari as well. One day I got logged out 3 times in a row before it finally kept me logged in. I haven’t noticed it happening lately though.
Richard Careaga
31 December 2008 at 7:09 pm
I’ve been seeing this on Safari 3.2.x, mainly on the wsj.com subscription site, which I attributed to their redesign, but have also seen it on facebook and twitter. I’ve got 1password, so it’s only an inconvenience
christiaan
31 December 2008 at 9:06 pm
Fix for me: remove any web clippings in Dashboard. Once I removed mine, I’ve had no more issues…
Chris Kelly
01 January 2009 at 8:16 pm
I’ve been experiencing the same thing since the 10.5.6 update. Something changed in that upgrade for sure, and it’s probably one of the worst bugs in OS X to ever affect me personally, as I use Safari as my default browser and have 4 fluid apps, and the bulk of work that I do is web-centric. I’m hoping for a rather quick fix from Apple, but we’ll see what happens there.
Benjamin Stein
03 January 2009 at 11:02 am
This appears to have worked for me: `rm ~/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist`
Benjamin Stein
03 January 2009 at 12:18 pm
Benjamin Stein
03 January 2009 at 12:18 pm
My last post was premature. Still broken :(
Matthew Cave
05 January 2009 at 1:15 pm
I have seen this behavior often, but I always assumed that it was due to logging into the sites with an alternate tool (an iPhone Facebook or Twitter client). However today, it happened twice *mid-session* on Facebook. whatever it is, it seems as though it may be getting worse. I use daily builds of WebKit, BTW.
Jim Gardner
12 January 2009 at 2:38 am
It’s even weirder than that, Dan. 1Password has problems remembering my sites too. I think there might be a problem with Keychain Access, which wasn’t there before.
Tim Larsen
12 January 2009 at 10:07 am
This happens to me as well. Also - since the last OSX update, I’ve been having problems using the finder search field. It won’t find files on a network drive even though they’re right there. I’ve even searched for the filename, while looking at the file and it doesn’t find it. Very annoying. Regarding the Safari bug, it’s been happening with Facebook a lot.
Chris
12 January 2009 at 12:45 pm
You mean 3.2.1, right? Not 2.3.1?
Joe D'Andrea
18 January 2009 at 8:32 pm
I’m suspecting the WebCore framework at this point.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8785871
In casual observation of the cookie cache (via Safari), it appears to be restored to a prior state at inopportune times. It has nothing to do with the sites you use per se, but rather some previous state of your cookie cache being written to disk again, blowing whatever you had out of the water.