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fix(files_external/SMB): Use 'null' explicitly for no workgroup#61622

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fix(files_external/SMB): Use 'null' explicitly for no workgroup#61622
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oblivioncth:bugfix/external-files-smb-auth

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@oblivioncth oblivioncth commented Jun 27, 2026

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Summary

Robin Appleman's SMB library is designed so that 'null' is to be used when no explicit workgroup is set:

final class BasicAuth implements IAuth {
    /** @var string */
    private $username;
    /** @var string|null */ <--------------------------
    private $workgroup;
    /** @var string */
    private $password;
//...

However, it previously was loose with its checks and would still treat any falsy value (e.g. an empty string) as "not specified" when forming arguments for the various underlying utilities, such as smbclient.

icewind/SMB@4a93467905 updated it's handling to be more strict and as such will now treat empty strings as distinct from null values for workgroups. An empty value for workgroup often doesn't make sense, unless the backend tool happens to convert it to "WORKGROUP". In the case of the smbclient utility, passing an empty string for the $workgroup paramters results in -W '' being used which is invalid syntax and so the invocation fails resulting in no connection being made and the user seeing an inaccurate [Icewind\SMB\Exception\ConnectionRefusedException] error. Therefore, it is important to always pass 'null' to this constructor for $workgroup when there isn't one.

Most paths in the 'files_external' app already handle this correctly, but this now altered path originally just took the raw value from the app backend and passed it as-is. Assuming the user left the "Domain" box empty in the frontend, this would be an empty string. Now the the SMB library's interface is correctly honored in that case.

It's arguable that the SMB library should simply be updated to formally accept '' as a valid input meaning "no workgroup", restoring the old behavior in a canonical fashion, as there is almost no situation where one would want to pass an empty string and have it mean anything else; but regardless, there is no harm in being more explicit on the nextcloud/server side as well.

Details

Just to cover all bases, this should be all of the uses of BasicAuth().

Corrected Path:

$smbAuth = new BasicAuth(
$storage->getBackendOption('user'),
$storage->getBackendOption('domain'),
$storage->getBackendOption('password')

Kerberos fallback path:

try {
$credentials = $credentialsStore->getLoginCredentials();
$loginName = $credentials->getLoginName();
$pass = $credentials->getPassword();
preg_match('/(.*)@(.*)/', $loginName, $matches);
$realm = $storage->getBackendOption('default_realm');
if (empty($realm)) {
$realm = 'WORKGROUP';
}
if (count($matches) === 0) {
$username = $loginName;
$workgroup = $realm;
} else {
[, $username, $workgroup] = $matches;
}
$smbAuth = new BasicAuth(
$username,
$workgroup,
$pass
);

Seems to never result in an empty workgroup.

Primary connection path:

} elseif (isset($parameters['user']) && isset($parameters['password']) && isset($parameters['share'])) {
[$workgroup, $user] = $this->splitUser($parameters['user']);
$auth = new BasicAuth($user, $workgroup, $parameters['password']);

This is the only one possibly worth making further changes to. It's mostly fine as splitUser() will correctly return null for the result that goes into $workgroup if there is no workgroup separator; however if a separator exists but with no value after it (e.g. \\user or /user) it will return an array with an empty string, which will get placed into $workgroup. Since that is an invalid string for specifying workgroup/user it's possible that such strings are rejected at some point earlier before they even reach this function, and if not, I'm not sure this is the correct place to handle invalid input like that. Though, it may not hurt to handle that case here anyway just to be safe (i.e. inspect the exploded array and swap '' for null.

private function splitUser(string $user): array {
if (str_contains($user, '/')) {
return explode('/', $user, 2);
} elseif (str_contains($user, '\\')) {
return explode('\\', $user);
}
return [null, $user];
}

Thoughts?

Otherwise, the SMB library should probably be updated to throw some other kind of error when "smbclient" exits with an error, instead of "Connection Refused". Separately it could be made more robust against questionable arguments like a blank WORKGROUP (e.g. also defaulting '' to "WORKGROUP" or emitting a warning).

Checklist

AI (if applicable)

  • The content of this PR was partly or fully generated using AI

@oblivioncth oblivioncth requested a review from a team as a code owner June 27, 2026 00:32
@oblivioncth oblivioncth requested review from Altahrim, ArtificialOwl, icewind1991 and provokateurin and removed request for a team June 27, 2026 00:32
@oblivioncth oblivioncth force-pushed the bugfix/external-files-smb-auth branch from d107097 to b919544 Compare June 27, 2026 00:35
@susnux susnux added the community pull requests from community label Jun 27, 2026
Robin Appleman's SMB library is designed so that 'null' is to be used
when no explicit workgroup is set:

    final class BasicAuth implements IAuth {
        /** @var string */
        private $username;
        /** @var string|null */
        private $workgroup;
        /** @var string */
        private $password;
    //...

However, it previously was loose with its checks and would still treat
any falsy value (e.g. an empty string) as "not specified" when forming
arguments for the various underlying utilities, such as `smbclient`.

icewind/SMB@4a93467905 updated it's handling to be more strict and as
such will now treat empty strings as distinct from null values for
workgroups. An empty value for workgroup often doesn't make sense,
unless the backend tool happens to convert it to "WORKGROUP". In the
case of the `smbclient` utility, passing an empty string for the
$workgroup paramters results in `-W ''` being used which is invalid
syntax and so the invocation fails resulting in the user seeing an
`[Icewind\SMB\Exception\ConnectionRefusedException]` error. Therefore,
it is important to always pass 'null' to this constructor for $workgroup
when there isn't one.

Most paths in the 'files_external' app already handle this correctly,
but this now altered path originally just took the raw value from the
app backend and passed it as-is. Assuming the user left the "Domain"
box empty in the frontend, this would be an empty string. Now the
the SMB library's interface is correctly honored in that case.

It's arguable that the SMB library should simply be updated to
formally accept '' as a valid input meaning "no workgroup", restoring
the old behavior in a canonical fashion, as there is almost no
situation where one would want to pass an empty string and have it
mean anything else; but regardless, there is no harm in being more
explicit on the nextcloud/server side as well.

Fixes nextcloud#58445.

Signed-off-by: Christian Heimlich <chris@pcserenity.com>
@oblivioncth oblivioncth force-pushed the bugfix/external-files-smb-auth branch from b919544 to 9d16cbb Compare June 27, 2026 17:58
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[Bug]: occ files_external:notify gives Icewind\SMB\Exception\ConnectionRefusedException on 33

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