ui: add proper error reporting for password changes
Neither the VNC or SPICE code for password changes provides error reporting at source, leading the callers to report a largely useless generic error message. Fixing this removes one of the two remaining needs for the undesirable error_printf_unless_qmp() method. While fixing this the error message hint is improved to recommend the 'password-secret' option which allows securely passing a password at startup. Reported-by: Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com> Reviewed-by: Markus Armbruster <armbru@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com>
Daniel P. Berrangé committed
Jan 14, 2026 at 11:49 UTC
912f969e35d07c4619272fa3dcbdbbc9e3785eae
8 files changed
+43
-33
include/ui/console.h
+1
-1
@@ -457,7 +457,7 @@ void qemu_display_help(void);
457
void vnc_display_init(const char *id, Error **errp);
458
void vnc_display_open(const char *id, Error **errp);
459
void vnc_display_add_client(const char *id, int csock, bool skipauth);
460
-int vnc_display_password(const char *id, const char *password);
460
+int vnc_display_password(const char *id, const char *password, Error **errp);
461
int vnc_display_pw_expire(const char *id, time_t expires);
462
void vnc_parse(const char *str);
463
int vnc_init_func(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp);
include/ui/qemu-spice-module.h
+2
-1
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ struct QemuSpiceOps {
29
void (*display_init)(void);
30
int (*migrate_info)(const char *h, int p, int t, const char *s);
31
int (*set_passwd)(const char *passwd,
32
- bool fail_if_connected, bool disconnect_if_connected);
32
+ bool fail_if_connected, bool disconnect_if_connected,
33
+ Error **errp);
34
int (*set_pw_expire)(time_t expires);
35
int (*display_add_client)(int csock, int skipauth, int tls);
36
#ifdef CONFIG_SPICE
tests/functional/generic/test_vnc.py
+2
-2
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class Vnc(QemuSystemTest):
48
self.assertEqual(set_password_response['error']['class'],
49
'GenericError')
50
self.assertEqual(set_password_response['error']['desc'],
51
- 'Could not set password')
51
+ 'No VNC display is present');
52
53
def launch_guarded(self):
54
try:
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ class Vnc(QemuSystemTest):
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self.assertEqual(set_password_response['error']['class'],
74
'GenericError')
75
self.assertEqual(set_password_response['error']['desc'],
76
- 'Could not set password')
76
+ 'VNC password authentication is disabled')
77
78
def test_change_password(self):
79
self.set_machine('none')
ui/spice-core.c
+18
-7
@@ -757,7 +757,7 @@ static void qemu_spice_init(void)
757
tls_ciphers);
758
}
759
if (password) {
760
- qemu_spice.set_passwd(password, false, false);
760
+ qemu_spice.set_passwd(password, false, false, NULL);
761
}
762
if (qemu_opt_get_bool(opts, "sasl", 0)) {
763
if (spice_server_set_sasl(spice_server, 1) == -1) {
@@ -920,8 +920,10 @@ int qemu_spice_add_display_interface(QXLInstance *qxlin, QemuConsole *con)
920
return qemu_spice_add_interface(&qxlin->base);
921
}
922
923
-static int qemu_spice_set_ticket(bool fail_if_conn, bool disconnect_if_conn)
923
+static int qemu_spice_set_ticket(bool fail_if_conn, bool disconnect_if_conn,
924
+ Error **errp)
925
{
926
+ int ret;
927
time_t lifetime, now = time(NULL);
928
char *passwd;
929
@@ -935,26 +937,35 @@ static int qemu_spice_set_ticket(bool fail_if_conn, bool disconnect_if_conn)
937
passwd = NULL;
938
lifetime = 1;
939
}
938
- return spice_server_set_ticket(spice_server, passwd, lifetime,
939
- fail_if_conn, disconnect_if_conn);
940
+ ret = spice_server_set_ticket(spice_server, passwd, lifetime,
941
+ fail_if_conn, disconnect_if_conn);
942
+ if (ret < 0) {
943
+ error_setg(errp, "Unable to set SPICE server ticket");
944
+ return -1;
945
+ }
946
+ return 0;
947
}
948
949
static int qemu_spice_set_passwd(const char *passwd,
943
- bool fail_if_conn, bool disconnect_if_conn)
950
+ bool fail_if_conn, bool disconnect_if_conn,
951
+ Error **errp)
952
{
953
if (strcmp(auth, "spice") != 0) {
954
+ error_setg(errp, "SPICE authentication is disabled");
955
+ error_append_hint(errp,
956
+ "To enable it use '-spice ...,password-secret=ID'");
957
return -1;
958
}
959
960
g_free(auth_passwd);
961
auth_passwd = g_strdup(passwd);
951
- return qemu_spice_set_ticket(fail_if_conn, disconnect_if_conn);
962
+ return qemu_spice_set_ticket(fail_if_conn, disconnect_if_conn, errp);
963
}
964
965
static int qemu_spice_set_pw_expire(time_t expires)
966
{
967
auth_expires = expires;
957
- return qemu_spice_set_ticket(false, false);
968
+ return qemu_spice_set_ticket(false, false, NULL);
969
}
970
971
static int qemu_spice_display_add_client(int csock, int skipauth, int tls)
ui/spice-module.c
+4
-3
@@ -45,14 +45,15 @@ static int qemu_spice_migrate_info_stub(const char *h, int p, int t,
45
46
static int qemu_spice_set_passwd_stub(const char *passwd,
47
bool fail_if_connected,
48
- bool disconnect_if_connected)
48
+ bool disconnect_if_connected,
49
+ Error **errp)
50
{
50
- return -1;
51
+ g_assert_not_reached();
52
}
53
54
static int qemu_spice_set_pw_expire_stub(time_t expires)
55
{
55
- return -1;
56
+ g_assert_not_reached();
57
}
58
59
static int qemu_spice_display_add_client_stub(int csock, int skipauth,
ui/ui-qmp-cmds.c
+6
-13
@@ -31,15 +31,14 @@
31
32
void qmp_set_password(SetPasswordOptions *opts, Error **errp)
33
{
34
- int rc;
35
-
34
if (opts->protocol == DISPLAY_PROTOCOL_SPICE) {
35
if (!qemu_using_spice(errp)) {
36
return;
37
}
40
- rc = qemu_spice.set_passwd(opts->password,
41
- opts->connected == SET_PASSWORD_ACTION_FAIL,
42
- opts->connected == SET_PASSWORD_ACTION_DISCONNECT);
38
+ qemu_spice.set_passwd(opts->password,
39
+ opts->connected == SET_PASSWORD_ACTION_FAIL,
40
+ opts->connected == SET_PASSWORD_ACTION_DISCONNECT,
41
+ errp);
42
} else {
43
assert(opts->protocol == DISPLAY_PROTOCOL_VNC);
44
if (opts->connected != SET_PASSWORD_ACTION_KEEP) {
@@ -52,11 +51,7 @@ void qmp_set_password(SetPasswordOptions *opts, Error **errp)
51
* Note that setting an empty password will not disable login
52
* through this interface.
53
*/
55
- rc = vnc_display_password(opts->u.vnc.display, opts->password);
56
- }
57
-
58
- if (rc != 0) {
59
- error_setg(errp, "Could not set password");
54
+ vnc_display_password(opts->u.vnc.display, opts->password, errp);
55
}
56
}
57
@@ -107,9 +102,7 @@ void qmp_expire_password(ExpirePasswordOptions *opts, Error **errp)
102
#ifdef CONFIG_VNC
103
void qmp_change_vnc_password(const char *password, Error **errp)
104
{
110
- if (vnc_display_password(NULL, password) < 0) {
111
- error_setg(errp, "Could not set password");
112
- }
105
+ vnc_display_password(NULL, password, errp);
106
}
107
#endif
108
ui/vnc-stubs.c
+3
-3
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
2
#include "ui/console.h"
3
#include "qapi/error.h"
4
5
-int vnc_display_password(const char *id, const char *password)
5
+int vnc_display_password(const char *id, const char *password, Error **errp)
6
{
7
- return -ENODEV;
7
+ g_assert_not_reached();
8
}
9
int vnc_display_pw_expire(const char *id, time_t expires)
10
{
11
- return -ENODEV;
11
+ g_assert_not_reached();
12
};
ui/vnc.c
+7
-3
@@ -3526,16 +3526,20 @@ static void vnc_display_close(VncDisplay *vd)
3526
#endif
3527
}
3528
3529
-int vnc_display_password(const char *id, const char *password)
3529
+int vnc_display_password(const char *id, const char *password, Error **errp)
3530
{
3531
VncDisplay *vd = vnc_display_find(id);
3532
3533
if (!vd) {
3534
+ error_setg(errp, "No VNC display is present");
3535
+ error_append_hint(errp,
3536
+ "To enable it, use '-vnc ...'");
3537
return -EINVAL;
3538
}
3539
if (vd->auth == VNC_AUTH_NONE) {
3537
- error_printf_unless_qmp("If you want use passwords please enable "
3538
- "password auth using '-vnc ${dpy},password'.\n");
3540
+ error_setg(errp, "VNC password authentication is disabled");
3541
+ error_append_hint(errp,
3542
+ "To enable it, use '-vnc ...,password-secret=ID'");
3543
return -EINVAL;
3544
}
3545