Proton Drive: error 422 due to authenticating using an empty access token?

[Dzieni]

Proton Drive: error 422 due to authenticating using an empty access token?

[prankstr]

Feels like Proton might be blocking rclone based on the app version. I'm running daily backups with pure rclone as well as my own implementation done with https://github.com/henrybear327/Proton-API-Bridge, both has been failing for the past 3 days.

If I keep the original app version of [email protected]+rclone I get blocked with We are detecting potentially abusive traffic coming from your network and have temporarily blocked logins. etc

If I remove +rclone in the app version I can immediately login from both rclone and my own implementation.

[thawthorn]

If I remove +proton in the app version I can immediately login from both rclone and my own implementation.

I think you mean removing +rclone from the app version maybe? This worked for me:

rclone lsd protondrive: --protondrive-app-version "[email protected]"

Thanks for figuring this out!

[Dzieni]

I've contacted Proton using URL received in the error and that's their response:

Hello,

Thank you for your message.

Please note that this error message shows when we detect suspicious or abusive behavior from a specific network. This is part of our anti-abuse measures meant to protect the service and our users' accounts from abusers.

If you are using Rclone, please refrain from using it, this should help solve the issue. If you are using a VPN service, we suggest connecting to a different server or disabling the connection temporarily.

Please refer to the following article for a more technical explanation of the issue and for further troubleshooting steps:
https://proton.me/support/log-in-temporarily-blocked

Kind regards,

Riley
Customer Support
Proton Abuse Team

Does that mean that Proton offically bans rclone? 😞

Here is my response, hopefully we can fix it:

Hello,

Do I understand correctly that you officially ban the usage of Proton Drive with rclone? That is really worrying, as that tool fills multiple functionality gaps of cloud services, including yours. Please look at the positive feedback of Proton Drive support in rclone: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonDrive/comments/16g53i5/protondrive_with_rclone/.

Is there anything that rclone maintainers can do better to be accepted by your servers? If not, I have to reconsider my subscription.

Kind regards,
Michał Dzienisiewicz

[prankstr]

@thawthorn Yeah! I thought that's what I said, sorry if I worded it badly :P Glad it worked for you as well

Edit: Ohhhh, now I see what you mean. Updated my original answer, thanks for pointing it out!

[bestlinuxgamers]

I got the same problem at basically the same time. I could imagine that it is Proton blocking rclone. I would be interested to know if anyone has managed to log in with rclone in the last time.

Additionally I am able to log into the Proton webapp and the security log contains a blocked "Sign in attempt" from "macos-drive 1.0.0-alpha.1+rclone".

[EnneGiKVis96]

I solved the problem by using this: --protondrive-app-version "[email protected]"
as suggested.

The second problem now, at least for me, is that i can't upload files. Rclone says that the proton client is outdated in the logs. Anyone else?

[Dzieni]

OK, I've tested my hypothesis by adding extra checks for emptiness and unfortunately that's not it. The fixed code immediately tries to log in using username & password, but it does not help with error 422.

michal@dzieni rclone % ./rclone lsd proton: -vv
2024/05/23 20:24:33 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.67.0-DEV" starting with parameters ["./rclone" "lsd" "proton:" "-vv"]
2024/05/23 20:24:33 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "proton:"
2024/05/23 20:24:33 DEBUG : Using config file from "/Users/michal/.config/rclone/rclone.conf"
2024/05/23 20:24:33 DEBUG : proton drive root link ID '': Using username and password to log in
2024/05/23 20:24:35.517899 WARN RESTY 422 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/auth/v4: We are detecting potentially abusive traffic coming from your network and have temporarily blocked logins. If you believe this is in error, please contact us here: https://proton.me/support/appeal-abuse (Code=2028, Status=422), Attempt 1
2024/05/23 20:24:35.517965 ERROR RESTY 422 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/auth/v4: We are detecting potentially abusive traffic coming from your network and have temporarily blocked logins. If you believe this is in error, please contact us here: https://proton.me/support/appeal-abuse (Code=2028, Status=422)
2024/05/23 20:24:35 Failed to create file system for "proton:": couldn't initialize a new proton drive instance: 422 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/auth/v4: We are detecting potentially abusive traffic coming from your network and have temporarily blocked logins. If you believe this is in error, please contact us here: https://proton.me/support/appeal-abuse (Code=2028, Status=422)

Not sure what Proton means by "traffic coming from your network", but I tried changing my IP address using Proton VPN and it didn't help.

[henrybear327]

I think your account has been temporarily jailed / rate limited. Just need to try again tomorrow! :(

[Dzieni]

@EnneGiKVis96 yes, I confirm.

michal@dzieni rclone % rclone copy README.md proton:/ --protondrive-app-version "[email protected]"
2024/05/29 10:36:31.621072 WARN RESTY 400 POST https://mail.proton.me/api/drive/blocks: You are using an outdated version of the app. Please update to upload this file’ (Code=2000, Status=400), Attempt 1

Most likely [email protected] sounds outdated indeed. The solution is probably to log in using a new version of the app, figure out the app version string in the security logs, and use that value as a --protondrive-app-version parameter.

In meanwhile, I've received a reponse from Proton:

Hello Michał,

Thank you for your response.

Please note that Rclone is incompatible with our service, so using it will generate multiple unsuccessful logs, which triggers our security system.

Due to the reason stated above, please refrain from using Rclone to prevent such login alerts.

Kind regards,

Riley
Customer Support
Proton Abuse Team

So it looks like the only way to work with Proton is to emulate their official client, which means being always one step behind. Not sure what is the point of sharing an official SDK if you cannot use it without hacks. Deeply disappointing, especially considering the customer base of Proton - a tech-savvy community eagerly willing to help make the product more useful.

I think that's enough for me to change my mind about keeping the subscription.

[prankstr]

Just changing the app version won't do much in this case unfortunately. The API bridge used by rclone to interact with proton most likely have to be updated to accommodate changes to the Proton backend.

I'm reconsidering my subscription as well :/

[EnneGiKVis96]

i think this already happened before, because i have this exact problem i think 1 month ago, and rclone resolve it.
It's a shame that Proton don't like open source solutions that cover their lack of support for the linux community tho.