Obsidian Outbound Connections Despite Disabling Updates?

[BillJensen]

Can anyone tell me why Obsidian is trying to connect to redirector.gvt1.com, obsidian.md, and raw.githubusercontent.com despite having automatic updates turned off? Is there another setting I may have missed? The same behavior is observed in the sandbox vault. Thanks.

Time,Action,Destination,Protocol,Process,Cmdline
2024-06-13 22:03:27.253043,deny,raw.githubusercontent.com  ->  53,udp,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian
2024-06-13 22:03:26.533955,deny,redirector.gvt1.com  ->  53,udp,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian
2024-06-13 22:03:15.251867,deny,raw.githubusercontent.com  ->  53,udp,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian
2024-06-13 22:03:14.533845,deny,redirector.gvt1.com  ->  53,udp,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian
2024-06-13 22:03:14.256336,deny,raw.githubusercontent.com  ->  53,udp,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian
2024-06-13 22:03:13.538061,deny,redirector.gvt1.com  ->  53,udp,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian
Time,Action,Destination,Protocol,Process,Cmdline
2024-06-13 22:15:48.341208,deny,obsidian.md  ->  53,udp,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian
2024-06-13 22:15:46.318711,deny,obsidian.md  ->  53,udp,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian,"/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian --type=utility --utility-sub-type=network.mojom.NetworkService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=none --enable-crash-reporter=d91bb32b-61c2-4718-b5d0-85576884ead1
2024-06-13 22:15:46.318580,deny,obsidian.md  ->  53,udp,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian,"/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian --type=utility --utility-sub-type=network.mojom.NetworkService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=none --enable-crash-reporter=d91bb32b-61c2-4718-b5d0-85576884ead1
2024-06-13 22:15:45.321013,deny,obsidian.md  ->  53,udp,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian,"/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian --type=utility --utility-sub-type=network.mojom.NetworkService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=none --enable-crash-reporter=d91bb32b-61c2-4718-b5d0-85576884ead1
2024-06-13 22:15:45.320571,deny,obsidian.md  ->  53,udp,/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian,"/tmp/.mount_obsidiS65NjF/obsidian --type=utility --utility-sub-type=network.mojom.NetworkService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=none --enable-crash-reporter=d91bb32b-61c2-4718-b5d0-85576884ead1

[joethei]

redirector.gvt1.com is a domain owned by Google, they use it for all sorts of stuff, in this case it’s dictionary files for the spellchecker.

For raw.githubusercontent.com, do you have community plugins enabled?
If so, the app regularly checks: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/obsidianmd/obsidian-releases/master/community-plugin-deprecation.json for plugin deprecations.
We add plugins to that list if they are malfunctioning or if they become malicious.
If a plugin is found on that list, it will be disabled and a notice will be shown.

For obsidian.md, how have you installed Obsidian?
I am not aware of any calls network traffic that should go to that domain, requests should go to specific subdomains.

[WhiteNoise]

Network Connections (Network Traffic)

All the instances where obsidian generates network traffic When you open one of your notes that embeds online content. For example, an image  Periodically check for updates (can be disabled in the settings) When you access your Obsidian account in Settings When you use Obsidian Sync When you use Obsidian Publish When you browse/download third-party themes When you browse/download third-party plugins If you have third p…

[BillJensen]

@joethei

redirector.gvt1.com is a domain owned by Google, they use it for all sorts of stuff, in this case it’s dictionary files for the spellchecker.

Well, that likely explains my previous thread, Spellcheck Does Not Work Despite Enabling It. I didn’t realize Obsidian was calling home to Google for a spellcheck dictionary when there’s a perfectly fine spellcheck dictionary available locally. Turns out redirector.gvt1.com is blocked on the network perimeter.

@joethei

do you have community plugins enabled? If so, the app regularly checks: …

I do, but the behavior was also observed in the sandbox. Is there a way to turn this regular check off?

@joethei

how have you installed Obsidian?

At first I tried using the .deb, but the spellcheck didn’t work so I tried the Appimage, and the spellcheck still didn’t work. I’ve since moved away from a Debian based distro and have continued using the Appimage.

@WhiteNoise

All the instances where obsidian generates network traffic

Thanks for sharing that link. Is there an option to make Obsidian completely network silent? I don’t want regular or periodic checks and prefer to perform this type of activity manually.

[WhiteNoise]

Set up a firewall rule to block obsidian.

The dictionary file is downloaded on first use.