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Temporary files not deleted upon exit

Amir | Last updated: Apr 02, 2015 04:09AM UTC

I've been waiting since 5 versions ago for this to be fixed. We're now at 1.6.14 and the issue is still there: Burp does not delete its temporary files/folders upon exit and thus, on subsequent launch, it asks for temporary folders to be deleted. It's been reported since 1.6.09 and you guys are also aware about this issue since 1.6.08: http://forum.portswigger.net/thread/1668/burp-creates-temp-folders-wrong Don't you guys yourselves find it annoying? Or, you don't really use your product that much anyway? I don't really understand.

PortSwigger Agent | Last updated: Apr 02, 2015 07:54AM UTC

The cause of this problem is that on certain OS's, Java does not allow the deletion of the memory-mapped files that Burp now uses for temporary storage, because the OS won't release the lock on the file until after the process has exited. We can't do anything about the OS behavior. Release 1.6.13 added a workaround for this problem, and Burp should now remember which files it has previously tried and failed to delete, and will silently delete them on the next startup without prompting the user. If any other unexpected old files are encountered, you will still see the dialog. See the release notes for this feature: http://releases.portswigger.net/2015/03/v1613.html So if you only use current versions and have cleaned out any old files from earlier versions, you shouldn't be prompted on each startup. If you think this isn't working for you, please let us have more details.

Burp User | Last updated: Apr 02, 2015 09:46AM UTC

First of all, thanks for the very prompt reply! I did skip the 1.6.13 to go directly to 1.6.14 and didn't notice the details in the release notes. And it indeed ends up quite a false alarm, I got the behavior just after I did the upgrade from 1.16.12 to 1.6.14. I tried again several times and it now behaves well as expected. Pardon the fire drill and thanks to tackle this one. Cheers!

PortSwigger Agent | Last updated: Apr 02, 2015 10:24AM UTC

No problem. Glad to hear things are now working.

Burp User | Last updated: Jun 12, 2015 04:32PM UTC

I'm still seeing the error message saying that the tmp folder cannot be deleted. Any way this message could be printed to stderr instead of stdout? I'm writing an extension that executes some functions in Burp Suite and then exits, and it'd be great to be able to read in the extension's output on stdout without having to filter out this tmp deletion error message.

PortSwigger Agent | Last updated: Jun 15, 2015 01:42PM UTC

The reason not to always click yes if if you have another instance of Burp running. You should normally only see this method if you have another instance running or if you exited Burp abnormally. For what it's worth, we're working on a feature that should see the end of temp files being used in the current way altogether.

Burp User | Last updated: Oct 21, 2015 08:54AM UTC

I just started 1.6.27 Pro (burpsuite_pro_v1.6.27.jar) on Windows 10 with no "Delete temporary files" message, got a prompt that a new version was available, installed it (burpsuite_pro_v1.6.30.jar) and checked "Run new version" (or whatever it said). The first thing that happened was that I got the "Delete temporary files" message. Something seems still to be a little buggy there. I'm not a pro (even though I use the Pro version :) ), but to me this message is meaningless. I always answer yes, and I have no idea what possible benefit there would be for me to answer no. How about adding an "Always do this" check box to this dialog and a setting where you can reenable the question?

Burp User | Last updated: Oct 27, 2015 11:28AM UTC

Sounds good, thanks.

PortSwigger Agent | Last updated: Oct 27, 2015 11:59AM UTC

@King - Does the user context in which you are running Burp have permissions to write to your temp folder (which you might have reconfigured in user options)? Do you have sufficient free disk space?

Burp User | Last updated: Feb 01, 2017 07:27AM UTC

Getting error (Failed to create temp directory ) in alerts while repeating the request in the repeater how can we resolve this issue

Burp User | Last updated: Jan 29, 2019 09:56PM UTC

still not fixed in latest 2.0.15beta

Liam, PortSwigger Agent | Last updated: Jan 30, 2019 10:25AM UTC

Ax, thanks for this report. We haven't been able to reproduce this in our testing so far. Could you send us a screenshot of the issue and your Burp diagnostics? You can email support@portswigger.net.

Liam, PortSwigger Agent | Last updated: Feb 01, 2019 02:05PM UTC

Just to follow up, we've now reproduced this behavior and will get it fixed.

Liam, PortSwigger Agent | Last updated: Mar 14, 2019 02:03PM UTC

This issue should be fixed in the latest release of Burp (v2.0.18beta). Please let us know if you need any further assistance.

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