Captchas give random symbols instead of letters
Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Problem
When presented with a CAPTCHA during login symbols that can't be typed are presented instead of common characters that can be typed.
Cause
This looks like an issue with font mapping on the OS. CAPTCHA library uses three fonts: nyala, Bell MT and Credit valley. If Java cannot find given font, it falls to the dialog font - an abstract one, which is mapped to some default system font.
Diagnostic
check if given fonts (nyala, Bell MT, Credit valley) are present on the Crucible instance - upload them if not present. Fonts are typically stored as .ttf files and finding which fonts are installed differs depending on the OS:
1 2 3- Mac OS - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201722 - Linux - command fc-list should work ( As it depends on the distro, please consult the relevant documentation for your distro) Windows - Have a look under Control Panel -> Fonts -> View installed fontscheck what font Java uses as default - configuration should be present under
$JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/fontconfig.properties.src;lines responsible for mapping should look like:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17dialog.plain.alphabetic=Arial dialog.plain.chinese-ms950=MingLiU dialog.plain.hebrew=David dialog.plain.japanese=MS Gothic dialog.plain.korean=Gulim dialog.bold.alphabetic=Arial Bold dialog.bold.chinese-ms950=PMingLiU dialog.bold.hebrew=David Bold dialog.bold.japanese=MS Gothic dialog.bold.korean=Gulim dialog.italic.alphabetic=Arial Italic dialog.italic.chinese-ms950=PMingLiU dialog.italic.hebrew=David dialog.italic.japanese=MS Gothic dialog.italic.korean=Gulim
Resolution
Ensure that the instance's host machine has those fonts available and they can be accessed by Java.
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