4 fork work fix browserautherror crypto nonexistent for firefox upstream issue 8391

[Christopher-C-Robinson]

Purpose

Fix BrowserAuthError: crypto_nonexistent behavior reported in #8391 for Firefox runs in proxy mode (--disable-native-automation), and add regression coverage.

Approach

• Bumped testcafe-hammerhead to include the upstream fix used by TestCafe client/proxy injection.
• Added a regression fixture for Getting a 'BrowserAuthError: crypto_nonexistent: The crypto object or function is not available' error when using testcafe with firefox #8391:
  • test/functional/fixtures/regression/gh-8391/test.js
  • test/functional/fixtures/regression/gh-8391/testcafe-fixtures/index.js
  • test/functional/fixtures/regression/gh-8391/pages/index.html
• Regression intent: verify TestCafe client scripts initialize correctly in Firefox proxy mode and avoid the broken runtime path that leads to missing crypto/auth errors.

References

• Getting a 'BrowserAuthError: crypto_nonexistent: The crypto object or function is not available' error when using testcafe with firefox #8391

Validation

• gulp test-server (local): 809 passing, 1 pending, 3 failing
• Failures are local-environment related and tied to macOS Screen Recording API access:
  • Runner .src() -> Should accept source files in different forms
  • Runner Regression -> Should not have unhandled rejections in runner (GH-825)
  • Runner after all hook ...
  • error: UnableToAccessScreenRecordingAPIError: The find-window process cannot access the Screen Recording API
• Focused runner check passes:
  • npx mocha test/server/runner-test.js --timeout 120000 --grep "permission|retry|_checkRequiredPermissions"
  • result: 3 passing

Pre-Merge TODO

• Write tests for your proposed changes
• Make sure that existing tests do not fail (blocked locally by macOS Screen Recording permission/TCC behavior)

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR addresses a Firefox proxy-mode (--disable-native-automation) initialization failure (BrowserAuthError: crypto_nonexistent, #8391) by ensuring TestCafe uses a localhost hostname strategy when all target browsers are local, and adds regression coverage around the scenario.

Changes:

• Update proxy bootstrap flow to detect when all browsers are local and pass that signal into hostname calculation.
• Extend hostname calculation logic to prefer localhost for proxy mode when hostname is unset and all browsers are local.
• Add/extend server- and functional-level regression tests for GH-8391 and the new hostname strategy.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 7 out of 8 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/runner/bootstrapper.ts	Computes allBrowsersLocal and feeds it into hostname calculation during proxy setup.
src/configuration/testcafe-configuration.ts	Adds allBrowsersLocal support to hostname calculation to select localhost in proxy mode when appropriate.
test/server/configuration-test.js	Adds unit coverage for the new hostname calculation branch.
test/server/bootstrapper-test.js	Adds a unit test asserting proxy setup uses the localhost hostname strategy for local browsers in proxy mode.
test/functional/fixtures/regression/gh-8391/*	Adds a functional regression fixture + page for Firefox proxy-mode initialization.
package-lock.json	Lockfile refresh reflecting dependency updates (incl. testcafe-hammerhead).

---

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[Copilot]

_isAllBrowsersLocal calls browser.provider.isLocalBrowser(void 0, ...) for every BrowserInfoSource. When the entry is a BrowserConnection, an id is available (browser.id) and some providers rely on it to determine locality; passing undefined risks misclassifying remote connections as local, which can incorrectly force hostname to localhost in proxy mode. Pass the connection id for BrowserConnection instances (and keep undefined for plain BrowserInfo).

[Copilot]

This regression test is intended to verify Firefox behavior specifically in proxy mode (--disable-native-automation), but it doesn’t enforce that mode. Since the functional test harness can run with NATIVE_AUTOMATION=true, this test may execute in native automation and fail to cover the reported scenario. Please skip/guard this test when config.nativeAutomation is true (or explicitly run with disableNativeAutomation: true in this test).

Suggested change

	return runTests('testcafe-fixtures/index.js', 'Should run a simple assertion in Firefox proxy mode', { only: 'firefox' });
	return runTests('testcafe-fixtures/index.js', 'Should run a simple assertion in Firefox proxy mode', { only: 'firefox', disableNativeAutomation: true });

[github-actions]

Thank you for your contribution to TestCafe. When a member of the TestCafe team becomes available, they will review this PR.

[Bayheck]

Hello,
I managed to reproduce the minimal example issue you created earlier and verified it with your proposed fix.
The fix looks correct to me.

However, the gh-8391 regression test appears to pass even without the fix applied.
Additionally, the "Native automation is disabled/all browsers are local/hostname is unset" server test is failing on my machine. Is it passing on yours?
Could you please take a look?

P.S. I’ve also triggered test workflows, so we’ll see how they run.

[Christopher-C-Robinson]

Hello, I managed to reproduce the minimal example issue you created earlier and verified it with your proposed fix. The fix looks correct to me.

However, the gh-8391 regression test appears to pass even without the fix applied. Additionally, the "Native automation is disabled/all browsers are local/hostname is unset" server test is failing on my machine. Is it passing on yours? Could you please take a look?

P.S. I’ve also triggered test workflows, so we’ll see how they run.

Thanks for the review. I dug into all points.

I reproduced and investigated them locally:

1. gh-8391 regression test validity
   I A/B tested with testcafe-hammerhead:

• 31.7.5: Firefox proxy-mode regression test fails (browser disconnect during init)
• 31.7.7: same test passes

So the regression test is meaningful for the hammerhead bump/fix path.

2. Failing server test (Native automation is disabled/all browsers are local/hostname is unset)
   I reproduced this and found the root cause: on Windows, cleanup in configuration-test could leave stale .testcaferc* files due path format, so hostname leaked from prior test state.
   I fixed cleanup to reliably remove default config files in that suite.

3. Local Firefox workflow failures (iframe-switching)
   I reproduced both failures:

• cross-domain iframe redirect assertion
• unavailable iframe action assertion flake

I stabilized those tests by:

• adding short waits at redirect/removal race points
• replacing fragile redirected-page counter checks with direct DOM-visible click assertions

I reran the previously failing Firefox cases multiple times locally; they are now stable.

Commits:

• 4bf975ec test: stabilize configuration default-path cleanup on Windows
• 8cce2461 test: stabilize Firefox iframe-switching redirect/unavailable cases

[Christopher-C-Robinson]

I’m going to attempt a testing matrix of with both hammerhead versions and both with and without my changes to see if the hammerhead upgrade just fixes the issue and this PR may not be needed..

[Christopher-C-Robinson]

Thanks for the review notes. I dug into this and re-ran the validation on February 26, 2026 with a corrected baseline comparison:

• upstream/master (cd8b2c6b)
• PR head (8cce2461)
• testcafe-hammerhead 31.7.5 and 31.7.7
• External repro flow: C:\Code\FP\Test-Automation -> FormsPro/test-sites (Firefox) against https://formspro.omnibyte.com/automation/nightly

Matrix results:

Baseline	Hammerhead	Result
master (cd8b2c6b)	31.7.5	pass
master (cd8b2c6b)	31.7.7	pass
PR head (8cce2461)	31.7.5	pass
PR head (8cce2461)	31.7.7	pass

No BrowserAuthError / crypto_nonexistent appeared in any of these runs.

So for this repro path, I can’t currently show:

1. a failure on master, or
2. a behavioral difference introduced by this PR.

Also confirming your other point: the gh-8391 regression test can pass without the fix, so it does not currently isolate the issue strongly enough.

[Christopher-C-Robinson]

Reopening with a minimal, public URL repro that does not rely on any private test suite.

Verified: February 27, 2026

---

Environment

• OS: Windows 11

• Browser: Firefox 148.0

• Node: v24.14.0

• TestCafe: 3.7.4

• Hammerhead: 31.7.5 and 31.7.7

• Target URL: https://formspro.omnibyte.com/automation/nightly

---

Minimal Repro (crypto-probe.js)

import { ClientFunction } from 'testcafe';
fixturecrypto-check

.pagehttps://formspro.omnibyte.com/automation/nightly;
const probe = ClientFunction(() => ({

isSecureContext: window.isSecureContext,

hasCrypto: typeof window.crypto !== 'undefined',

hasSubtle: !!(window.crypto && window.crypto.subtle),

}));
test('webcrypto availability', async t => {

const v = await probe();

console.log('CRYPTO_PROBE:' + JSON.stringify(v));

await t.expect(v.hasCrypto).ok();

});

---

Commands and Results

Default hostname

npx testcafe firefox crypto-probe.js

Output includes:

CRYPTO_PROBE:{"isSecureContext":false,"hasCrypto":true,"hasSubtle":false}

Forced localhost

npx testcafe firefox crypto-probe.js --hostname localhost

Output includes:

CRYPTO_PROBE:{"isSecureContext":true,"hasCrypto":true,"hasSubtle":true}

---

Hammerhead Versions Tested

Version	Default Host (hasSubtle)	--hostname localhost (hasSubtle)
31.7.5	false	true
31.7.7	false	true

Behavior is identical across both versions.

---

Relation to Reported Issue

In failing runs, proxied scripts are served from non-localhost hosts (e.g., http://192.168.x.x:<port>/...). In this context, the application throws:

BrowserAuthError: crypto_nonexistent: The crypto object or function is not available.

Forcing --hostname localhost restores a secure context and enables WebCrypto (window.crypto.subtle).

---

Conclusion

• Issue remains reproducible.

• Behavior is hostname/proxy-context dependent in Firefox.

• Updating Hammerhead alone does not resolve it in this repro.

• Current workaround: run with --hostname localhost.

[Christopher-C-Robinson]

Marked as draft, doing more digging.

[Christopher-C-Robinson]

Rechecked this end-to-end (Feb 27, 2026) using a real Firefox run against https://formspro.omnibyte.com/automation/nightly and without the --hostname localhost workaround.

Findings:

• testcafe master (v3.7.4, hammerhead 31.7.7): fails (Test timeout 120000ms).
• this branch (with localhost-for-local-browsers proxy-mode fix): passes in ~6s.
• So hammerhead bump alone does not resolve this case; the hostname calculation fix is required.

I also updated gh-8391 regression coverage so it now validates the actual failure mode:

• hostname intentionally unset
• native automation disabled (proxy mode)
• asserts window.isSecureContext and window.crypto.subtle are available

This new regression fails on unpatched code and passes with the fix.

I also reran the server test:
“Native automation is disabled/all browsers are local/hostname is unset”
and it passes on my machine.