AdobeResourceSynchronizer - Macintosh - Unable to connect when behind proxy server

Report · May 08, 2017

Hello,

Macintosh users at my company are unable to navigate through our proxy server to a review server. Watching traffic with LittleSnitch shows that Adobe Reader kicks off a process called AdobeResourceSynchronizer which makes the call on port 443 to the review server. When running at the users home internet connection without a proxy server the connection works. Internally behind our corporate proxy server the connection fails.

However, it should be noted that the same user is able to navigate without issue on a Windows PC. My assumption is that the AdobeResourceSynchronizer application is not properly providing network credentials to login through the proxy server. The users are able to navigate other web resources through Safari so I know the proxy server is working and their credentials are valid.

Has anyone else seen this before and have a possible work around? One possible solution may be to whitelist the review server however I'm bound to get heavy resistance from the network and security team especially since using a Windows PC works.

Acrobat Reader DC 2017.009.2004

Macintosh OS Sierra 10.12.4

Thank you,

-Kirk

Report · May 18, 2017

Hi Kirk,

Sorry for the delay in response.

Is it possible for you to share the network logs for both Mac and windows for the same review process?

Also, provide us with the information about your environment, like the proxy server you are using. The current version of Reader/Acrobat?

You may share the file via Adobe Send: How to share a document via private message: How Do I Send Private Message

Will be waiting for your response.

-Tariq Dar.

Report · May 22, 2017

Hello Tariq,

I have not gotten approval to share the logs as of yet. I'll continue working on that.

We do run behind a proxy server with NTLM authentication required for internet access. This is where I believe the issue resides. It is as though the Acrobat application is unable to connect with a particular site. It does not use the already provided credentials stored in the system keychain and there is no prompt for credentials. This is purely speculative on my part at this point but this behavior has been seen with other applications in the past.

I switched to Acrobat Pro, specifically Adobe Acrobat XI v11.0.20. The primary users only use this version of the application. I'm part of IT and was unaware they were using Acrobat Pro over the reader. In either case the results are the same.

One key thing I'm seeing different between the Mac and PC systems. When the Review Server prompt is shown when the file is opened on the PC it shows the ending IP address of the review server. On the Mac it shows the FQDN of the review server.

I've been told the review server domain has been whitelisted in our proxy server. I have also confirmed the FQDN resolves to the appropriate IP address on the Macintosh system.

I've been waiting for some time with our proxy administrators to monitor their logs. Locally I've attempted to sniff the connections and see something perhaps with a certificate store update or download either from Adobe or Apple. Perhaps there is something in the back end that Acrobat is attempting to verify a certificate in the signed review file and fails to get through the proxy.

Any suggestions for other settings I can try changing on the Macintosh client?

-Kirk

Report · May 22, 2017

Hi Kirk,

Thank you for your response and description of your findings.

It is not easy to comment as this issue is clearly restricted to your environment. And the next thing for troubleshooting this issue would be to check the network logs.

For troubleshooting purposes only, Launch Acrobat/Reader click on Acrobat Pro or Reader menu> Preferences>Security(enhanced).

Try to uncheck "Enable enhanced Security" and try to whitelist the path in the "Privileged Locations" section below.

Let me know if that makes any difference.

-Tariq Dar.

Report · Jun 05, 2017

Tariq,

Again my apologies for the delay. I have tried disabling Enhanced security and also whitelisting the path however all combinations of those did not resolve the issue.

I'm beginning to think that a Macintosh environment variable needs to be setup. OS X Sierra handles this differently than previous versions of the OS. Currently I'm looking into adding the environment variable for HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY to the Info.plist file of the AdobeResourceSynchronizer application.

If you can think of another option or a way to single out any network logs please let me know.

thanks,

-Kirk