WebDriver + AntiVirus = blocking the profile directory

[mLipok]

Have you ever encountered the problem of blocking the browser profile directory created by WebDriver?
I have such problem from about 2 weeks with some version of ESET solutions.

You can test it with "wd_demo.au3" with this modified SetupGecko()

Func SetupGecko($bHeadless)
    _WD_Option('Driver', 'geckodriver.exe')
    Local $iPort = _WD_GetFreePort(4444, 4500)
    If @error Then Return SetError(@error, @extended, 0)

    _WD_Option('Port', $iPort)
    _WD_Option('DriverParams', '--port=' & $iPort & ' --log trace --marionette-port 2828')
    _WD_CapabilitiesStartup()
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('alwaysMatch', 'firefox')
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('browserName', 'firefox')
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('acceptInsecureCerts', True)
    ; REMARKS
    ; When using 32bit geckodriver.exe, you may need to set 'binary' option.
    ; This shouldn't be needed when using 64bit geckodriver.exe,
    ;  but at the same time setting it is not affecting the script.
    Local $sPath = _WD_GetBrowserPath("firefox")
    If Not @error Then
        _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('binary', $sPath)
        ConsoleWrite("wd_demo.au3: _WD_GetBrowserPath() > " & $sPath & @CRLF)
    EndIf

    Local $s_Browser_Profile_Dir = @TempDir & '\Firefox_WD_Testing_Profile'
    DirCreate($s_Browser_Profile_Dir)
    __WD_ConsoleWrite($s_Browser_Profile_Dir)
    Sleep(3000)
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('args', '-profile')
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('args', $s_Browser_Profile_Dir) ; CHANGE TO PROPER DIRECTORY PATH

    If $bHeadless Then _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('args', '--headless')

    _WD_CapabilitiesDump(@ScriptLineNumber) ; dump current Capabilities setting to console - only for testing in this demo
    Local $sCapabilities = _WD_CapabilitiesGet()
    Return $sCapabilities
EndFunc   ;==>SetupGecko

or this modified SetupChrome()

Func SetupChrome($bHeadless)
    _WD_Option('Driver', 'chromedriver.exe')
    Local $iPort = _WD_GetFreePort(5555, 5600)
    If @error Then Return SetError(@error, @extended, 0)

    _WD_Option('Port', $iPort)
    Local $sTimeStamp = @YEAR & '-' & @MON & '-' & @MDAY & '_' & @HOUR & @MIN & @SEC
    _WD_Option('DriverParams', '--port=' & $iPort & ' --verbose --log-path="' & @ScriptDir & '\' & $sTimeStamp & '_chrome.log"')

    _WD_CapabilitiesStartup()
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('alwaysMatch', 'chrome')
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('browserName', 'chrome')
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('w3c', True)
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('acceptInsecureCerts', True)
;~      https://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches/
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('detach', False)

    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('args', 'user-agent', 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win' & StringReplace(@OSArch, 'X', '') & '; ' & @CPUArch & ') AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/' & _WD_GetBrowserVersion('chrome') & ' Safari/537.36')
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('args', 'user-data-dir', @TempDir & '\Chrome_WD_Testing_Profile4')
    _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('args', '--profile-directory', Default)
    If $bHeadless Then _
            _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('args', '--headless')
    If IsAdmin() Then _
            _WD_CapabilitiesAdd('args', '--do-not-de-elevate')


    _WD_CapabilitiesDump(@ScriptLineNumber) ; dump current Capabilities setting to console - only for testing in this demo
    Local $sCapabilities = _WD_CapabilitiesGet()
    Return $sCapabilities
EndFunc   ;==>SetupChrome

 

What are my results?
First run ALL IS OK
Each subsequent run gives:

Quote

1752656696250   webdriver::server       DEBUG   -> POST /session {
    "capabilities":{
        "alwaysMatch":{
            "browserName":"firefox",
            "acceptInsec ... "C:\\Users\\INFORM~1.DES\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\Firefox_WD_Testing_Profile"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}
1752656696251   geckodriver::capabilities       DEBUG   Trying to read firefox version from ini files
1752656696252   geckodriver::capabilities       DEBUG   Found version 126.0.1
1752656696253   webdriver::server       DEBUG   <- 500 Internal Server Error {"value":{"error":"session not created","message":"Failed to set preferences: unknown error","stacktrace":""}}

or

Quote

[1752660670.475][INFO]: Browser search. Found at  C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
[1752660670.484][INFO]: [21d3d784e05e61e3c98a5d86ac7ee816] RESPONSE InitSession ERROR session not created
from unknown error: cannot parse internal JSON template: EOF while parsing a value at line 1 column 0
[1752660670.484][DEBUG]: Log type 'driver' lost 0 entries on destruction
[1752660670.484][DEBUG]: Log type 'browser' lost 0 entries on destruction

 

[mLipok]

Just now, mLipok said:

You can test it with "wd_demo.au3" with this modified SetupGecko()

You can chceck it also with standard SetupGecko() and stanard SetupChrome() but in such case you must to search for 

c:\Users\****\AppData\Local\Temp\chrome_url_fetcher_****
c:\Users\****\AppData\Local\Temp\rust_mozprofile****
c:\Users\****\AppData\Local\Temp\edge_BITS_****

and try to delete this directories after they are created by WebDriver (of course after you finish/stop your automation script) in such case you will notice that you may be not abloe to delete such directory as ESET AV is blocking them.
Turning off HIPS module in ESET AV and restarting PC fix this issue but it is not recomended to turn of HIPS module.

I am in contact with the developer of this antivirus software, but so far there is no indication of a positive solution to the problem.