pass open fails unless swapoff -a is run

[thewaywest]

MEta

Ubuntu 16.04.01 / elementary os loki, encrypted volume, swap shared w multiple OS (?)
pass-tomb (latest)
Tomb 2.4

Latest version of tomb fails when pass-tomb tries to open the store when a swap file is present and in use:

~$ pass open
[x] Error : Unable to open the password tomb.
~$ tomb open .password.tomb -k .password.tomb.key

tomb . Commanded to open tomb .password.tomb
tomb . An active swap partition is detected...
tomb [W] This poses a security risk.
tomb [W] You can deactivate all swap partitions using the command:
tomb [W] swapoff -a
tomb [W] [#163] I may not detect plain swaps on an encrypted volume.
tomb [W] But if you want to proceed like this, use the -f (force) flag.
tomb [E] Operation aborted.

~$
~$ sudo swapoff -a
~$ pass open

You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for
user: "XXXXXXXXXX xxxxx@xxxxxxx.com"
2048-bit RSA key, ID 5FCC6403, created 2017-11-10 (main key ID DA795D2A)

(*) Your password tomb has been opened in /home/mark/.password-store/.
. You can now use pass as usual.
. When finished, close the password tomb using 'pass close'.

~$

I don't remember if I encrypted my swap, but as this dev machine has Windows and Linux running in parallel, I probably tried to share it, and left it unencrypted.

Could you add a -F option to `pass open --force (or -F)' that turns swap off prior to opening, and back on at the end of the bash script? Running with swap off is deadly...

[roddhjav]

This is actually a feature not a bug (TM). If your swap is not encrypted, Tomb (and therefore pass-tomb) won't open/create the tomb for security reason. The solutions are:

• Encrypt your swap and you'll never have an issue.
• Disable the swap (with swapoff).
• Force Tomb to ignore the swap stage.

The first two solutions do not depend of pass-tomb. I don't think pass-tomb should take itself the right to disable the swap for the whole system. It could lead to unexpected side effects.

However, I can add a -f/--force option to force the operations even if the swap is active.

[roddhjav]

Should be fixed in pass-tomb 1.1

[thewaywest]

Thank you. Note that the swap needs to be disabled only while the tomb is being opened. I created a bash script that runs a sudo swapoff -a, then pass open, then sudo swapon -a, reducing any performance hit due to lack of an active swap.