-
Subscribe to the amnesia-news mailing list to receive the same news by email:
-
Follow us on Twitter @Tails_live.
This release is an emergency release to fix a critical security vulnerability in Tor Browser.
You should upgrade as soon as possible.
Changes and upgrades
- Update Tor Browser to 8.5.3, which fixes a critical vulnerability in Tor Browser, a sandbox escape, that we couldn't fix in time for 3.14.1.
Fixed problems
For more details, read our changelog.
Known issues
Tails fails to start a second time on some computers (#16389)
On some computers, after installing Tails to a USB stick, Tails starts a first time but fails to start a second time. In some cases, only BIOS (Legacy) was affected and the USB stick was not listed in the Boot Menu.
We partially fix this issue in 3.14.1 but are still investigating it, so if it happens to you, please report your findings by email to tails-testers@boum.org. Mention the model of the computer and the USB stick. This mailing list is archived publicly.
To fix this issue:
Reinstall your USB stick using the same installation method.
Start Tails for the first time and set up an administration password.
Choose to open a Root Terminal.
Execute the following command:
sgdisk --recompute-chs /dev/bilibop
You can also test an experimental image:
Install it using the same installation methods.
We don't provide any OpenPGP signature or other verification technique for this test image. Please only use it for testing.
See the list of long-standing issues.
Get Tails 3.14.2
To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage
Automatic upgrades are available from 3.13, 3.13.1, 3.13.2, 3.14, and 3.14.1 to 3.14.2.
If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.
To install Tails on a new USB stick
Follow our installation instructions:
All the data on this USB stick will be lost.
To download only
If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can directly download Tails 3.14.2:
What's coming up?
Tails 3.15 is scheduled for July 9.
Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.
We need your help and there are many ways to contribute to Tails (donating is only one of them). Come talk to us!
This release is an emergency release to fix a critical security vulnerability in Tor Browser.
It also fixes other security vulnerabilities. You should upgrade as soon as possible.
Critical security vulnerabilities in Tor Browser
Fixed arbitrary code execution
This vulnerability is fixed in Tails 3.14.1.
A critical vulnerability was discovered in the JavaScript engine of Firefox and Tor Browser. This vulnerability allowed a malicious website to execute arbitrary code, which means possibly taking over your browser and turning it into a malicious application.
This vulnerability has already been used to target employees of the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange.
People using the Safer or Safest security level of Tor Browser are not affected because the feature of JavaScript that is affected (the just-in-time compilation) is disabled in these security levels.
Because Tor Browser in Tails is confined using AppArmor, the impact of this vulnerability in Tails is less than in other operating systems. For example, an exploited Tor Browser in Tails could have accessed your files in the Tor Browser and Persistent/Tor Browser folders but not anywhere else.
Unfixed sandbox escape
This second vulnerability is still affecting Tails 3.14.1 and Tor Browser is unsafe to use in most cases.
We will fix it as soon as possible.
A security vulnerability was discovered in the sandboxing mechanism of Firefox and Tor Browser. This vulnerability allows a malicious website to bypass some of the confinement built in Firefox, which means possibly spying on the content of other tabs and steal the passwords of other websites.
After Tor Browser has been compromised, the only reliable solution is to restart Tails.
Because Tor Browser in Tails is confined using AppArmor, only the data accessible to Tor Browser might be compromised but not the other applications or your other files. For example, a compromised Tor Browser might access your files in the Tor Browser and Persistent/Tor Browser folders but not anywhere else.
For example, without restarting Tails:
It is unsafe to:
Log in to a website and also visit an untrusted website. Your password on the first website might be stolen by the untrusted website.
Visit an untrusted website if you have sensitive information stored in your Persistent/Tor Browser folder. The untrusted website might access these files.
It is safe to:
Visit untrusted websites, without logging in, if you have no sensitive information stored in your Tor Browser and Persistent/Tor Browser folders.
Log in to several trusted websites without visiting any untrusted websites.
We might update our analysis or announce an emergency release soon in our security advisory.
Upgrades and changes
For more details, read our changelog.
Known issues
Tails fails to start a second time on some computers (#16389)
On some computers, after installing Tails to a USB stick, Tails starts a first time but fails to start a second time. In some cases, only BIOS (Legacy) was affected and the USB stick was not listed in the Boot Menu.
We partially fix this issue in 3.14.1 but are still investigating it, so if it happens to you, please report your findings by email to tails-testers@boum.org. Mention the model of the computer and the USB stick. This mailing list is archived publicly.
To fix this issue:
Reinstall your USB stick using the same installation method.
Start Tails for the first time and set up an administration password.
Choose to open a Root Terminal.
Execute the following command:
sgdisk --recompute-chs /dev/bilibop
You can also test an experimental image:
Install it using the same installation methods.
We don't provide any OpenPGP signature or other verification technique for this test image. Please only use it for testing.
See the list of long-standing issues.
Get Tails 3.14.1
To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage
Automatic upgrades are available from 3.13, 3.13.1, 3.13.2, and 3.14 to 3.14.1.
If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.
To install Tails on a new USB stick
Follow our installation instructions:
All the data on this USB stick will be lost.
To download only
If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can directly download Tails 3.14.1:
What's coming up?
Tails 3.15 is scheduled for July 9.
Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.
We need your help and there are many ways to contribute to Tails (donating is only one of them). Come talk to us!
Releases
Tails 3.14 was released on May 21 (bugfix release).
Tails 3.15 is scheduled for July 9.
The following changes were introduced in Tails 3.14:
Enable all available mitigations for the MDS (Microarchitectural Data Sampling) attacks and disable SMT (simultaneous multithreading) on all vulnerable processors to fix the RIDL, Fallout and ZombieLoad security vulnerabilities.
Remove the following applications:
Desktop applications
- Gobby
- Pitivi
- Traverso
Command-line tools
hopenpgp-toolskeyringermonkeysignmonkeyspheremsva-perlpaperkeypwgensssspdf-redact-tools
You can install these applications again using the Additional Software feature.
Thanks to the removal of these less popular applications in 3.14 and the removal of some language packs in 3.13.2, Tails 3.14 is 39 MB smaller than 3.13.
Add back the OpenPGP Applet and Pidgin notification icons to the top navigation bar.
Fix NoScript being deactivated when restarting Tor Browser.
NoScript is removed from the set of icons displayed by default in Tor Browser. This is how Tor Browers looks in Tails 3.14.
To see the list of add-ons that are enabled, choose
▸
.
Code
We spent lots of time dealing with the Firefox add-ons fiasco, also known as "armagadd-on 2.0". #16694
Finally, most of our patches improving the security of Thunderbird's email configuration wizard were merged and will be part of Thunderbird 68, that is: they'll be shipped not just in Tails, but to all Thunderbird users on any operating system! #6156
We sent out a new call to test a fix for the issue in which 16389: Some USB sticks become unbootable in legacy BIOS mode after first boot. We received a few conclusive test results.
We tested Onionshare 2.0 in Tails and decided to ship it in 4.0. #14649
Documentation and website
We explained better what are captive portals.
We documented how to install additional language packs and dictionaries.
We replaced the PNG of the pie chart that we have on "How we spend our money" with pure SVG code, directly in the HTML. It makes it lighter to download, more accessible and much easier to update and translate.
Hot topics on our help desk
The first two weeks, before the release of Tails 3.14, we had users reporting
- #16608: Disable the topIcons GNOME Shell extension
- #16447: Regression on some Intel GPU (Braswell, Kaby Lake)
Then, after the release, the changes on Tor Browser made many users report to us
- #16746: document the disappearence of NoScript and HTTPSEverywhere icons from Tor Browser's toolbar
- #16762: Document why NoScript last update is january 2000
- #16727: Update doc to Tor Browser 8.5
Infrastructure
- We finished benchmarking the prototype node for our next-generation CI hardware. (#15501)
Funding
We completed our work to ship Tails as a USB image which simplifies the installation on macOS and Windows. This work was supported through a grant from The ISC Project.
We published an analysis of our 2018 donation campaign.
We wrote a thank you email to everybody who donated in 2018.
We added a permanent incentive to donate on the homepage of Tor Browser in Tails. It's only displayed 10% of the time.
We got sponsored by The Best VPN. Thank you for your generous donation!
We published our income statement for 2018.
Outreach
Past events
Jesús Marín García presented 2 workshops about Tails in May in the Comunidad Valenciana, Spain:
Upcoming events
Ulrike and sajolida will be at the Tor meeting on July 11-14 in Stockholm, Sweden.
intrigeri, lamby and nodens will attend DebConf19
On-going discussions
- We followed up on the conversation regarding the future of Electrum in Tails.
Translations
All the website
- de: 44% (2533) strings translated, 9% strings fuzzy, 42% words translated
- es: 50% (2867) strings translated, 6% strings fuzzy, 43% words translated
- fa: 31% (1778) strings translated, 11% strings fuzzy, 33% words translated
- fr: 91% (5228) strings translated, 2% strings fuzzy, 92% words translated
- it: 32% (1872) strings translated, 7% strings fuzzy, 29% words translated
- pt: 25% (1435) strings translated, 9% strings fuzzy, 21% words translated
Total original words: 60511
Core pages of the website
- de: 68% (1225) strings translated, 13% strings fuzzy, 71% words translated
- es: 78% (1387) strings translated, 11% strings fuzzy, 79% words translated
- fa: 33% (605) strings translated, 13% strings fuzzy, 32% words translated
- fr: 97% (1735) strings translated, 2% strings fuzzy, 97% words translated
- it: 61% (1093) strings translated, 17% strings fuzzy, 63% words translated
- pt: 44% (789) strings translated, 14% strings fuzzy, 47% words translated
Metrics
- Tails has been started more than 791 323 times this month. This makes 25 527 boots a day on average.
- 9 697 downloads of the OpenPGP signature of a Tails USB image or ISO from our website.
This release fixes many security vulnerabilities. You should upgrade as soon as possible.
Changes
Upgrades and changes
Update Linux to 4.19.37 and most firmware packages. This should improve the support for newer hardware (graphics, Wi-Fi, etc.).
Enable all available mitigations for the MDS (Microarchitectural Data Sampling) attacks and disable SMT (simultaneous multithreading) on all vulnerable processors to fix the RIDL, Fallout and ZombieLoad security vulnerabilities.
Update Tor Browser to 8.5.
Remove the following applications:
Desktop applications
- Gobby
- Pitivi
- Traverso
Command-line tools
hopenpgp-toolskeyringermonkeysignmonkeyspheremsva-perlpaperkeypwgensssspdf-redact-tools
You can install these applications again using the Additional Software feature.
Thanks to the removal of these less popular applications in 3.14 and the removal of some language packs in 3.13.2, Tails 3.14 is 39 MB smaller than 3.13.
Fixed problems
Add back the OpenPGP Applet and Pidgin notification icons to the top navigation bar.
Fix NoScript being deactivated when restarting Tor Browser.
NoScript is removed from the set of icons displayed by default in Tor Browser. This is how Tor Browers looks in Tails 3.14.
To see the list of add-ons that are enabled, choose
▸
.
For more details, read our changelog.
Known issues
Tails fails to start a second time on some computers (#16389)
On some computers, after installing Tails to a USB stick, Tails starts a first time but fails to start a second time. In some cases, only BIOS (Legacy) was affected and the USB stick was not listed in the Boot Menu.
We are still investigating the issue, so if it happens to you, please report your findings by email to tails-testers@boum.org. Mention the model of the computer and the USB stick. This mailing list is archived publicly.
To fix this issue:
Reinstall your USB stick using the same installation method.
Start Tails for the first time and set up an administration password.
Choose to open a Root Terminal.
Execute the following command:
sgdisk --recompute-chs /dev/bilibop
You can also test an experimental image:
Install it using the same installation methods.
We don't provide any OpenPGP signature or other verification technique for this test image. Please only use it for testing.
See the list of long-standing issues.
Get Tails 3.14
To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage
Automatic upgrades are available from 3.12, 3.12.1, 3.13, 3.13.1, and 3.13.2 to 3.14.
If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.
To install Tails on a new USB stick
Follow our installation instructions:
All the data on this USB stick will be lost.
To download only
If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can directly download Tails 3.14:
What's coming up?
Tails 3.15 is scheduled for July 9.
Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.
We need your help and there are many ways to contribute to Tails (donating is only one of them). Come talk to us!
Releases
- Tails 3.14 is scheduled for May 21.
Code
- The Foundations Team met for a sprint focused on porting Tails to Debian 10 (Buster): report, next steps.
- We finalized our criteria for including dictionaries, fonts and language packs, which will be reflected in Tails 3.14.
- We prototyped a USB image with Secure Boot support and GRUB, in order to better understand what implementation difficulties we should expect.
- We submitted to ikiwiki upstream a branch that makes it keep PO files up-to-date for a set of languages that are not ready to be enabled and visible on the live website yet. This will allow us to merge into our main Git repository changes made via our upcoming Weblate-based translation platform, which supports languages whose work-in-progress translation is not ready for prime-time yet.
- We uploaded to Debian a few fixes for regressions in the GNOME on-screen keyboard.
Hot topics on our help desk
- Some users reported loosing the access to their persistent volume (#10976)
- A few reported the "USB stick becomes unbootable boot after first boot" issue
(#16389) - Some issues caused by partially applied incremental upgrades (#14754)
Infrastructure
- The Foundations Team started experimenting with GitLab for merge requests.
- We started looking into how GitLab could work for our issues tracking and drafted a rough plan.
Funding
- We started working on a proposal for Mozilla Open Source Support Awards.
Outreach
Past events
sajolida, moire, and emmapeel were at the Internet Freedom Festival on April 1–5 in Valencia, Spain.
There, sajolida presented a workshop on Creating usable tools from day one with paper prototyping.
carlosm2 held 2 workshops about Tails in Mexico:
There was a Tails workshop on April 27 in Vienna as part of the Anarchist Black Cross festival
Upcoming events
Jesús Marín García will present 2 workshops about Tails in May in the Comunidad Valenciana, Spain:
On-going discussions
- We studied and narrowed down our options regarding the future of Electrum in Tails. It seems there will be a way forward, although it's unclear at this point how much effort it will require from us.
Translations
All the website
- de: 46% (2619) strings translated, 8% strings fuzzy, 43% words translated
- es: 53% (3010) strings translated, 4% strings fuzzy, 44% words translated
- fa: 33% (1875) strings translated, 10% strings fuzzy, 34% words translated
- fr: 93% (5259) strings translated, 1% strings fuzzy, 93% words translated
- it: 34% (1939) strings translated, 6% strings fuzzy, 30% words translated
- pt: 27% (1513) strings translated, 8% strings fuzzy, 22% words translated
Total original words: 60175
Core pages of the website
- de: 70% (1248) strings translated, 12% strings fuzzy, 73% words translated
- es: 80% (1412) strings translated, 10% strings fuzzy, 81% words translated
- fa: 34% (615) strings translated, 13% strings fuzzy, 33% words translated
- fr: 98% (1753) strings translated, 1% strings fuzzy, 99% words translated
- it: 62% (1107) strings translated, 17% strings fuzzy, 65% words translated
- pt: 44% (794) strings translated, 14% strings fuzzy, 48% words translated
Total original words: 1650
Metrics
- Tails has been started more than 733 234 times this month. This makes 24 441 boots a day on average.
- 7 336 downloads of the OpenPGP signature of a Tails USB image or ISO from our website.
This release is an emergency release to fix a critical security vulnerability in Tor Browser.
It also fixes other security vulnerabilities. You should upgrade as soon as possible.
Changes
Fixed NoScript activation in Tor Browser
Starting from Friday May 3, a problem in Firefox and Tor Browser disabled all add-ons. This release reactivates all add-ons in Tor Browser, especially NoScript which is used to:
Strengthen Tor Browser against some JavaScript attacks that can lead to compromised accounts and credentials on websites.
Enable or disable JavaScript on some websites using the NoScript interface, if you use it.
This issue still affects Tor Browser when it is restarted.
Avoid restarting Tor Browser.
Restart Tails instead or follow our instructions to reactivate NoScript without restarting Tails. See below.
Reactivate NoScript without restarting Tails
If NoScript is activated, the NoScript icon appears in the top-right corner and Tor Browser is safe:
If NoScript is deactivated, the NoScript icon is absent from the top-right corner and Tor Browser is unsafe:
To reactivate NoScript without restarting Tails, do the following:
Open the address about:config in Tor Browser.
Click the I accept the risk! button.
At the top of the page, search for xpinstall.signatures.required.
Double-click on the xpinstall.signatures.required line in the results to set its value to false.
Verify that NoScript is activated again.
Other upgrades and changes
Remove the OpenPGP Applet and Pidgin notification icons from the top navigation bar.
You can still access the OpenPGP Applet and Pidgin notification icons from the system tray in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
To display the system tray, move your mouse to the thin gray line in the bottom-left of the screen, above the window list:
To move these icons back to the top navigation bar, execute the following command in a Terminal:
gnome-shell-extension-tool --enable-extension=TopIcons@phocean.net
Until now, these icons were displayed in the top navigation bar by the TopIcons GNOME extension. This extension is unmaintained, causes GNOME to crash (#11188), and will not work in Tails 5.0 based on Debian 11 (Bullseye).
Install localization packages only for the following languages:
- Arabic
- English
- Farsi
- French
- German
- Hindi
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Simplified Chinese
- Spanish
- Turkish
You can install localization packages for other languages using the Additional Software feature.
Localization packages include:
- Thunderbird localization: packages thunderbird-l10n-lang
- LibreOffice localization: packages libreoffice-l10n-lang
- Spell-checking dictionaries: packages hunspell-lang
Where lang is the code for your language. For example, es for Spanish.
Add a suspend button to the system menu.
Add suspend, restart, and shutdown buttons to the system menu when the screen is locked.
Replace all non-Latin fonts with the Noto fonts family.
Update Debian to 9.9.
Update Thunderbird to 60.6.1.
Fixed problems
Fix the automatic configuration of new email accounts in Thunderbird. (#16573)
Prevent Tails from shutting down when waking up from suspend on some computers. (#11729)
Fix the import of the Tails signing key in the Passwords and Keys utility. (##15213)
Don't show notifications about TailsData when configuring a persistent volume. (#16632)
For more details, read our changelog.
Known issues
NoScript is deactivated when restarting Tor Browser
See how to reactivate NoScript without restarting Tails above.
Tails fails to start a second time on some computers (#16389)
On some computers, after installing Tails to a USB stick, Tails starts a first time but fails to start a second time. In some cases, only BIOS (Legacy) was affected and the USB stick was not listed in the Boot Menu.
We are still investigating the issue, so if it happens to you, please report your findings by email to tails-testers@boum.org. Mention the model of the computer and the USB stick. This mailing list is archived publicly.
To fix this issue:
Reinstall your USB stick using the same installation method.
Start Tails for the first time and set up an administration password.
Choose to open a Root Terminal.
Execute the following command:
sgdisk --recompute-chs /dev/bilibop
You can also test an experimental image:
Install it using the same installation methods.
We don't provide any OpenPGP signature or other verification technique for this test image. Please only use it for testing.
See the list of long-standing issues.
Get Tails 3.13.2
To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage
Automatic upgrades are available from 3.12, 3.12.1, 3.13, and 3.13.1 to 3.13.2.
If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.
To install Tails on a new USB stick
Follow our installation instructions:
All the data on this USB stick will be lost.
To download only
If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can directly download Tails 3.13.2:
What's coming up?
Tails 3.14 is scheduled for May 14.
Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.
We need your help and there are many ways to contribute to Tails (donating is only one of them). Come talk to us!
Releases
Tails 3.14 is scheduled for May 14.
The following changes were introduced in Tails 3.13:
Add support for the Bopomofo input method for Chinese using the Chewing library and improve support for the Pinyin input method. (#11292)
Save a backup of the configuration of the persistent storage every time it is modified. (#16461)
This will help us understand and solve why sometimes all the settings of the persistent storage disappear. (#10976)
Prevent Additional Software from downloading packages that are already saved in the persistent storage. (#15957)
Fix the localization of Tor Launcher, the application to configure a Tor bridge or a local proxy. (#16338)
Fix accessibility when opening Tor Browser from a desktop notification. (#16475)
Fix WhisperBack crashing when additional APT repositories is configured. (#16563)
Code
We agreed on a list of languages that we want to support out-of-the-box in Tails and started implementing it. The Additional Software feature will make it possible for other users to add their favorite dictionaries and language packs while making our USB image a bit smaller for everybody. (#15807, #16095, #9956)
We identified another possible cause for partially applied automatic upgrades. (#16603)
We coordinated with the Tor Browser team regarding their upcoming 8.5 major release and its implications for Tails.
We continued deprecating Tails Installer from Debian and Ubuntu.
Documentation and website
We improved how installation and upgrade instructions are linked from our release notes and download pages. (#16470)
We documented how to run Tails from a USB image in
virt-manager, which is the only virtualization solution that allows to use a persistent volume in a virtual machine.
User experience
We drafted how to explain Tails in a new homepage and about page and tested it with 5 people with the help from Simply Secure. (#16536)
We analyzed the success metrics of Additional Software and the integration of VeraCrypt:
- Both features probably participated in getting our boot stats to increase again (20% more since September 2019).
- Both features didn't change much the tech-savviness of our user base.
- The number of people who use VeraCrypt in Tails almost doubled.
Results are good but we expected more. We need to improve how we let the world know about new features.
We analyzed the success metrics for USB images:
- The percentage of people using Tails from macOS at least doubled since 3.12.
- USB images account for 76% of our downloads and our download buttons are hit 3970 times a day on average.
We created a new version of our logo that can be used with or without tagline. (#14835)
We documented Kazam instead of recordMyDesktop to record screencasts when doing usability testing because it is more reliable.
Hot topics on our help desk
Partially applied incremental upgrades cause all kinds of trouble (#14754)
persistence.conf lost, recoverable by reconfiguring (#10976)
Infrastructure
We started making plans to migrate to GitLab.
We interviewed 2 candidates for our open sysadmin position.
We made good progress on switching to better maintained Puppet modules. (#15510)
We worked on the software configuration of the prototype node for our next-generation CI hardware. (#15501)
We fixed our LimeSurvey security updates monitoring system. (#15466)
We stopped having public monthly meetings in favor of internal stand-up meetings.
Funding
We documented how to donate in cash.
We explained on our donation page why we don't accept donations in more cryptocurrencies.
We updated the statistics on how we spend our money.
Outreach
Past events
- 2 of us attended a Debian Bug Squashing Party in Paris on March 30–31.
On-going discussions
Translations
All the website
- de: 45% (2832) strings translated, 7% strings fuzzy, 41% words translated
- es: 50% (3138) strings translated, 4% strings fuzzy, 42% words translated
- fa: 32% (1982) strings translated, 10% strings fuzzy, 33% words translated
- fr: 88% (5478) strings translated, 1% strings fuzzy, 87% words translated
- it: 31% (1970) strings translated, 5% strings fuzzy, 28% words translated
- pt: 25% (1553) strings translated, 7% strings fuzzy, 21% words translated
Total original words: 65408
Core pages of the website
- de: 71% (1252) strings translated, 12% strings fuzzy, 74% words translated
- es: 80% (1417) strings translated, 9% strings fuzzy, 82% words translated
- fa: 34% (615) strings translated, 13% strings fuzzy, 33% words translated
- fr: 96% (1712) strings translated, 1% strings fuzzy, 97% words translated
- it: 63% (1112) strings translated, 17% strings fuzzy, 65% words translated
- pt: 45% (798) strings translated, 13% strings fuzzy, 48% words translated
Total original words: 16439
Metrics
- Tails has been started more than 809 770 times in March. This makes 26 121 boots a day on average.
- 9 970 downloads of the OpenPGP signature of a Tails USB image or ISO from our website.
- 73 bug reports were received through WhisperBack.
This release is an emergency release to fix a critical security vulnerability in Tor Browser.
It also fixes other security vulnerabilities. You should upgrade as soon as possible.
Changes
New features
Upgrades and changes
- Update Tor Browser to 8.0.8.
For more details, read our changelog.
Known issues
Electrum is outdated and cannot connect to servers
Electrum in Tails cannot connect anymore to Electrum servers.
The version of Electrum in Tails is vulnerable to a phishing attack that tricks people in updating to a malicious version of Electrum which is not distributed from the official Electrum website.
You are safe unless you try to do the malicious update manually.
To prevent this phishing attack, all trustworthy Electrum servers now prevent older versions from connecting to them.
Unfortunately, newer versions of Electrum are not available in Debian and cannot be integrated easily in Tails. Given the lack of maintenance of Electrum in Debian, we are still assessing what is best to do in Tails.
Until then, your wallet is not lost and you can restore it from its seed using an up-to-date version of Electrum outside of Tails.
Tails fails to start a second time on some computers (#16389)
On some computers, after installing Tails to a USB stick, Tails starts a first time but fails to start a second time. In some cases, only BIOS (Legacy) was affected and the USB stick was not listed in the Boot Menu.
We are still investigating the issue, so if it happens to you, please report your findings by email to tails-testers@boum.org. Mention the model of the computer and the USB stick. This mailing list is archived publicly.
To fix this issue:
Reinstall your USB stick using the same installation method.
Start Tails for the first time and set up an administration password.
Choose to open a Root Terminal.
Execute the following command:
sgdisk --recompute-chs /dev/bilibop
You can also test an experimental image:
Install it using the same installation methods.
We don't provide any OpenPGP signature or other verification technique for this test image. Please only use it for testing.
See the list of long-standing issues.
Get Tails 3.13.1
To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage
Automatic upgrades are available from 3.12, 3.12.1, and 3.13 to 3.13.1.
If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.
To install Tails on a new USB stick
Follow our installation instructions:
All the data on this USB stick will be lost.
To download only
If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can directly download Tails 3.13.1:
What's coming up?
Tails 3.14 is scheduled for May 14.
Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.
We need your help and there are many ways to contribute to Tails (donating is only one of them). Come talk to us!
This release fixes many security vulnerabilities. You should upgrade as soon as possible.
Changes
Upgrades and changes
Add support for the Bopomofo input method for Chinese using the Chewing library and improve support for the Pinyin input method. (#11292)
If you still have problems typing in Bopomofo or Pinyin, please let us know on tails-testers@boum.org (public mailing list) or tails-bugs@boum.org (private email).
Save a backup of the configuration of the persistent storage every time it is modified. (#16461)
This will help us understand and solve why sometimes all the settings of the persistent storage disappear. (#10976)
Update Tor Browser to 8.0.7.
Update Tor to 0.3.5.8.
Update Thunderbird to 65.1.0.
Update Linux to 4.19.28.
Update the Intel microcode to 3.20180807a.2, which fixes more variants of the Spectre, Meltdown, and Level 1 Terminal Fault (L1TF) vulnerabilities.
Fixed problems
Prevent Additional Software from downloading packages that are already saved in the persistent storage. (#15957)
Fix the localization of Tor Launcher, the application to configure a Tor bridge or a local proxy. (#16338)
Fix accessibility when opening Tor Browser from a desktop notification. (#16475)
Fix WhisperBack crashing when additional APT repositories is configured. (#16563)
For more details, read our changelog.
Known issues
Electrum is outdated and cannot connect to servers
Electrum in Tails cannot connect anymore to Electrum servers.
The version of Electrum in Tails is vulnerable to a phishing attack that tricks people in updating to a malicious version of Electrum which is not distributed from the official Electrum website.
You are safe unless you try to do the malicious update manually.
To prevent this phishing attack, all trustworthy Electrum servers now prevent older versions from connecting to them.
Unfortunately, newer versions of Electrum are not available in Debian and cannot be integrated easily in Tails. Given the lack of maintenance of Electrum in Debian, we are still assessing what is best to do in Tails.
Until then, your wallet is not lost and you can restore it from its seed using an up-to-date version of Electrum outside of Tails.
Tails fails to start a second time on some computers (#16389)
On some computers, after installing Tails to a USB stick, Tails starts a first time but fails to start a second time. In some cases, only BIOS (Legacy) was affected and the USB stick was not listed in the Boot Menu.
We are still investigating the issue, so if it happens to you, please report your findings by email to tails-testers@boum.org. Mention the model of the computer and the USB stick. This mailing list is archived publicly.
To fix this issue:
Reinstall your USB stick using the same installation method.
Start Tails for the first time and set up an administration password.
Choose to open a Root Terminal.
Execute the following command:
sgdisk --recompute-chs /dev/bilibop
You can also test an experimental image:
Install it using the same installation methods.
We don't provide any OpenPGP signature or other verification technique for this test image. Please only use it for testing.
See the list of long-standing issues.
Get Tails 3.13
To upgrade your Tails USB stick and keep your persistent storage
Automatic upgrades are available from 3.11, 3.12~rc1, 3.12, and 3.12.1 to 3.13.
If you cannot do an automatic upgrade or if Tails fails to start after an automatic upgrade, please try to do a manual upgrade.
To install Tails on a new USB stick
Follow our installation instructions:
All the data on this USB stick will be lost.
To download only
If you don't need installation or upgrade instructions, you can directly download Tails 3.13:
What's coming up?
Tails 3.14 is scheduled for May 14.
Have a look at our roadmap to see where we are heading to.
We need your help and there are many ways to contribute to Tails (donating is only one of them). Come talk to us!
Here is a summary of what happened in Tails land in February, 2019.
This month has seen the highest number of Tails boots per day ever: 27% more than a year ago! This is motivating: it confirms that Tails is useful and relevant.
Releases
Tails 3.12.1 was released on February 13. A critical vulnerability in the Skia library, used by Firefox and Chrome to render graphics, prompted this emergency release.
Tails 3.13 is scheduled for March 19.
Code
We have coordinated with the Tor Browser team wrt. the scope and timeline of upcoming big changes that will impact our work.
We have implemented a potential fix and a mitigation measure for a longstanding bug:
persistence.confsometimes becomes empty. #10976, #16461We have prepared a number of updates for Tails 3.13:
We released new versions of the verification extension to fix usability and security issues:
Documentation and website
- We improved the known issue about clock going backwards (#15599).
User experience
We published 3 personas that describe the target audience of Tails. Discover:
We contracted visual artists to work on a video to explain how to start Tails (and use the boot menu key). (#10649)
We analyzed why some people are wiping their persistence while upgrading with USB images. (#16470)
We investigated outgoing network connections initiated by Etcher and researched how to solve the privacy concerns we have with them. #16381
Hot topics on our help desk
Electrum users are complaining about the fact that it may need to be upgraded. (#16421)
Some people are affected by a regression with some Intel graphics cards (Braswell, Kaby Lake). #16447
Partially applied automatic upgrades still cause trouble to some users. #14754
Infrastructure
- We took one more step towards making our CI feedback loop shorter: we've ordered sample candidate hardware. Next step is to benchmark it. #15501
- The sysadmin team met a few times to update our plans for next year.
- We've helped upstream a solution to the dreaded ikiwiki PO vs. inlines bug. #6907
- As part of our effort to migrate to better maintained Puppet modules, we've switched to the puppetlabs/mysql module. #15513
- We fixed the remaining known regressions that were introduced where we migrated our website from Apache to nginx: #16220, #16259.
- We started discussing our strategy and timeline towards migrating to GitLab. #15878
Funding
- The 2 applications that we submitted to the NLnet NGI Zero PET project got rejected.
Outreach
Past events
- emmapeel and sajolida attended FOSDEM in Brussels.
Upcoming events
Estrella Soria will organize a Tails workshop at the Cyborgrrrls technofeminist gathering on Thursday March 14 in MedialabMX, Ciudad de México.
sajolida and emmapeel will be at the Internet Freedom Festival on April 1–5 in Valencia, Spain.
sajolida will hold there a workshop on Creating usable tools from day one with paper prototyping.
Press and testimonials
- schabenstolz explains how to hide a Tails USB stick inside a ThinkPad X230 and connect it to an invisible switch to start on either the hard disk or the internal Tails USB stick.
Translations
All the website
- de: 47% (2634) strings translated, 8% strings fuzzy, 43% words translated
- es: 54% (3015) strings translated, 4% strings fuzzy, 45% words translated
- fa: 34% (1876) strings translated, 11% strings fuzzy, 35% words translated
- fr: 93% (5176) strings translated, 1% strings fuzzy, 93% words translated
- it: 35% (1939) strings translated, 6% strings fuzzy, 30% words translated
- pt: 27% (1516) strings translated, 8% strings fuzzy, 23% words translated
Total original words: 59517
Core pages of the website
- de: 71% (1248) strings translated, 12% strings fuzzy, 73% words translated
- es: 80% (1412) strings translated, 9% strings fuzzy, 81% words translated
- fa: 34% (615) strings translated, 13% strings fuzzy, 33% words translated
- fr: 98% (1745) strings translated, 1% strings fuzzy, 99% words translated
- it: 63% (1107) strings translated, 17% strings fuzzy, 65% words translated
- pt: 45% (794) strings translated, 14% strings fuzzy, 48% words translated
Total original words: 16467
Metrics
- Tails has been started more than 725 034 times this month. This makes 25 894 boots a day on average, which is an all time record :)
- 10 065 downloads of the OpenPGP signature of a Tails USB image or ISO from our website.
- 71 bug reports were received through WhisperBack.