Fixed XenForo tries to send push notifications to invalid URLs

[Kirby]

Affected version

2.3.7

I havn't found a definitive reference for this yet, but it seems that Chrome / Chromium sometimes generates placeholder URLs starting with https://permanently-removed.invalid/fcm/send for invalid / expired push subscriptions, see https://xenforo.com/community/threads/push-notification-failure-curl-error-6.234166

XenForo currently accepts those URLs and tries to send notifications there which obviously fails and kinda floods the error log if those endpoints are utilized frequently (which happened to us yesterday).

Suggested Fix
Ignore endpoint URLs starting with https://permanently-removed.invalid/ in first place, eg. don't even store them in DB by returning false for such URLs in UserPushRepository::validateSubscriptionDetails

 

[webbouk]

Yeap, got the same, random threads, and varying amounts of errors daily...

example:

 

[XF Bug Bot]

Thank you for reporting this issue, it has now been resolved. We are aiming to include any changes that have been made in a future XF release (2.3.8).

Change log:

Inhibit sending push notifications to permanently removed Chrome subscriptions

There may be a delay before changes are rolled out to the XenForo Community.

 

[webbouk]

Any chance of a quick-fix whilst waiting for the 2.3.8 release?

 

[Kirby]

* Untested *

 

[webbouk]

@Kirby ^^^ This appears to fix the issue. No errors received since making the changes

 

[webbouk]

@Kirby, unfortunately I have to report that it didn't last long and numerous error messages have still been generated....

 

[Kirby]

Did you delete invalid entries from the DB when you applied the patch?
The patch does not affect existing entries, it should only prevent new ones from being accepted.

 

[webbouk]

Did you delete invalid entries from the DB when you applied the patch?
The patch does not affect existing entries, it should only prevent new ones from being accepted.

Apologies for the delay in getting back to this @Kirby

Please can you explain how to delete invalid entries from the DB

Thanks

 

[Kirby]

K

XF 2.3 Post in thread 'Push notification failure: cURL error 6'

Nov 11, 2025

SELECT * FROM xf_user_push_subscription WHERE endpoint LIKE 'https://permanently-removed.invalid%'

Does that return results?
If so, delete the records - those are invalid / removed push subscriptions.

• Kirby

• 

 

[webbouk]

Thanks @Kirby , two records returned and deleted

 

[Kirby]

Great

So if the patch works no new invalid entries should be created.

 

[webbouk]

No new ones overnight, ie past twelve hours, so it looks to be working

 

[AndreaMarucci]

* Untested *

Can you please indicate how to apply this patch waiting for 2.3.8?

 

[Kirby]

There are many tools that can apply patches in unified diff format (that's basically the standard).

Ask your favourite search engine or AI assistant how to do that.

Or as the patch is really simple you can even open the diff in your favourite editor and apply the change manually.

 

[Charlie G]

There are many tools that can apply patches in unified diff format (that's basically the standard).

Ask your favourite search engine or AI assistant how to do that.

Or as the patch is really simple you can even open the diff in your favourite editor and apply the change manually.

I seem to have failed at both of those

 

[AndreaMarucci]

I'll wait for the official patch since I'm not a coder and I'm not able to apply such a patch...

 

[webbouk]

Have you got access to your forum files?

 

[Charlie G]

Have you got access to your forum files?

If you are asking me, yes.

 

[AndreaMarucci]

Me too...