01 February 2017, 2:05

Hello,

I have a problem to log in with my LDAP login credentials using Mahara Mobile App. The login credentials are for sure ok, as I'm able to log in into the system using the website directly. Using the Mahara Mobile App it is impossible to log in with the LDAP credentials. It works only with admin account, What is the reason? Should I activate something additionally?

01 February 2017, 15:43

Hello Paul,

Thank you for testing Mahara Mobile. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to log in on Mahara Mobile with a regular non-admin LDAP account when your admin LDAP account works. We'll need to see if we can replicate this.

Since you seem to be able to log in with an LDAP account that has admin permissions in Mahara, I assume that the Mahara Mobile access itself works and that you have the mobile APIs set up and configured correctly and have your site on https?

As for the second issue you reported, I removed it from your post as security issues are best reported privately to [email protected] to prevent potential immediate exploitation by people who were not yet aware of the issue. Our team will look into this ASAP an take necessary action.

Thank you

Kristina

03 February 2017, 11:19

Hello Paul,

I was not able to replicate the problem you encountered with Mahara Mobile where an LDAP admin account would allow you to log in but not an LDAP account that didn't have admin permissions in Mahara. Can you please try again?

Thanks

Kristina

24 August 2017, 12:48

Hi Kristina, 

I am not sure whether I am seeing the same issue at my institution. We are finding that some users are unable to log in using the app, whilst others are having no issues at all.

When some users log in, they receive an error stating "Unable to sync data with the server".  Clearing the error leaves you at the 'user' tab but not logged in. These users are able to log into our our test environment using the app with no issue. The users have also successfully logged into our production site using the app in the past. Deleting the app and reinstalling doesn't seem to have done anything either. 

It seems that there is something in their portfolio or on the server that is causing this issue. I am wondering if there is a known cause for the "Unable to sync data with the server" error that may point us in the right direction. We haven't been able to identify anything unusual between the portfolios that cant sync with the app and those that can.

Our Mahara Instance is 16.10.4

App version installed 1.3.0

Mobile OS Android 6.0

As this is my first time posting on the Mahara Forums, please let me know if i am not following protocol or if this post should be placed somewhere else in the forum. 

Regards

Cameron.

Edit: Spelling

24 August 2017, 20:51

Hello Cameron,

Thank you for your report. The information you provided was very useful and detailed. Unfortunately, as stated earlier, I couldn't replicate Paul's issue and you also mention that it is an intermittent problem on your site and the test site worked fine and that the same students could log in in the past. Do you remember which version of Mahara Mobile they were using and whether you were on the same minor point version of Mahara?

Also, did anything change in their authentication credentials?

I'll check with a developer if it were possible to add more logging to get more explicit information of where / why things might be failing.

Cheers

Kristina

25 August 2017, 14:04

Hi Kristina, 

Thank-you for your prompt response. I have done some testing and believe I have a possible cause. I believe our issue has been caused by the default journal in the app being locked in Mahara.

As stated in my initial post. 

Our Mahara Instance is 16.10.4

My App version installed is 1.3.0

and my Mobile OS is Android 6.0 on a HTC one X9

We have the 'Mahoodle' integration with our Moodle instance. Moodle Version 3.2.3 

The steps i followed are:

Create a journal titled 'A_Default_Journal' (the Journal needs to be first in the list alphabetically, in my experience this is the journal the app chooses to be the default). No description or tags need to be given. There is no need to add a post in the journal. Save that.

Create a page titled 'Default_Journal_Lock'. No description or tags are needed. In the page, add a journal block. (the entire journal not just an entry block). In the block set up select 'A_Default_Journal'. I didn't change any other block settings. Save that.

Open the App and log in with the same user account used to create the journal, confirm that the new journal is now the default. Log out of the app. 

In Moodle set up an Assignment that accepts Mahara submissions. Ensure that 'Lock submitted pages' is set to 'Yes, but unlock after grading'. Using the same user account you used to set up the mahara page, submit the assignment in Moodle. Confirm in Mahara that both the page and journal are now locked.

Attempt to log into the Mahara app again. You should now get the "Unable to sync data with the server" error. Releasing the lock on the page/journal will allow for successful log in. 

28 August 2017, 10:19

Hello Cameron,

Thank you very much for the extended test. That must have been like finding a needle in the haystack. Interestingly, I couldn't replicate the issue with the submitted portfolio when I submitted the portfolio with a journal to a group. I could still add a journal entry to that journal through Mahara Mobile.

I think we'll need to do some more testing. I filed a report at https://github.com/MaharaProject/mahara-mobile/issues/38

Cheers

Kristina

04 March 2019, 17:55

I have same issue, but I found one of cause. So, I will try to report.

My environment:
 Mahara 18.10
 mobile app 1.4.1

1. Authentication plugin
 The institution has  LDAP authentication plugin and Internal auth.

2. Add user from
a user is added by admin from "Adimn menu" -> Users -> Add user

The password can be anythin here, because users use LDAP password on login time.

3. Login
Though the new user can login from Web interface, hi can not login by mobile app. At this time, I found server logs below.

----
AH01071: Got error 'PHP message: [WAR] 38
(snip)
WebserviceException->__construct("passwordchangerequired", "The user needs to reset their password. They must ...", 403) at /path/to/mahara/module/mobileapi/json/token.php:121\nPHP message: \nPHP message: [WAR] 38 (module/mobileapi/json/token.php:118) passwordchangerequired : The user needs to reset their password. They must log in to the site through a web browser to do this.\nPHP message: Call stack (most recent first):\nPHP message:   * log_message("passwordchangerequired : (snip)
----

Though the mobile app does not show error messeges, Mahara server seems to be requesting user to change password.

3. change password
By admin, change authentication plugin from LDAP to Internal, and change password once. the password can be anythin.  The password has to be change once. Then return authentication plugin from Internal to LDAP.

4. Login from mobile app
We can login from mobile app.

5. Othre solution
Admin can add user by CSV "Adimn menu" -> Users -> "Add user by CSV". At that time, Turn off the option "Force password change" option. Then users do not be required to chage password at first login, so mobile app can login.

07 March 2019, 8:56

Hello Tak,

Thank you very much for your report and the work around until a solution is found.

I created a bug report at https://bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+bug/1818901

Cheers

Kristina