Crash when playing Netflix content, probably after Widevine update

[go-vegan]

Netflix add-on version

1.23.3

Operative systems used

Linux (Ubuntu / Mint / ...)

Kodi version used

Other (specify in description)

Description of the bug

A few days after updating Widevine, Kodi started to crash as soon as starting to play Netflix content. Reverting to a previous version of Widevine did not resolve it.

Therefore I'm not sure if this bug belongs here, feel free to close if not.

Kodi 21.2
Ubuntu 24.04

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Play any Netflix content

Debug log - mandatory

Unfortunately, nothing relevant shows in the log

Possible fix

No response

Additional context

No response

Screenshots

No response

[adamhotep]

I also have this issue and no workaround for it. I cannot play anything except trailers for upcoming attractions, even when downgraded to 480p (which iirc disables/downgrades encryption). I haven't used Netflix for the past few days and therefore cannot say when the issue first surfaced, but I did successfully watch something shortly after my last Widevine update on March 27.

I've tried Netflix 1.23.3+matrix1, 1.23.2+matrix.1, and 1.23.1+matrix1. I'm on a very old Kodi version (20.2, the last team-xmbc Ubuntu PPA release) on a very old Ubuntu (20.04.6 LTS, Focal, fully updated). Clearing in-memory and on-disk cache does not help, nor did a reboot.

My log (with debug enabled) also has nothing that appears relevant, though I do see some warnings about a future deprecation:

AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: Set headers to the manifest by using "inputstream.adaptive.stream_headers" property is a deprecated behaviour that will be removed in future.
To set headers to the manifest, use "inputstream.adaptive.manifest_headers" property.

The last log item before the crash is:

info : AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: Successfully parsed manifest file (Periods: 1, Streams in first period: 34, Type: VOD)

Run again with debug enabled, there's still nothing informative in the logs, though there are a few items after the above inputstream entry:

debug : AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: New period, reinitialize by using same session
debug : AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: Entering encryption section
debug : AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: Initializing stream with KID: 0000000008c478ed0000000000000000
debug : CurlFile::Open - http://127.0.0.1:60025/netflix_service/msl/get_license?videoid=81601562
debug : [plugin.video.netflix (0)] HTTP Server: received POST request /netflix_service/msl/get_license?videoid=81601562
debug : [plugin.video.netflix (0)] Requesting license
debug : [plugin.video.netflix (0)] Chunked request will be executed with auth data: {'auth_scheme': 'NETFLIXID'}
debug : [plugin.video.netflix (0)] Executing POST request to https://www.netflix.com/nq/msl_v1/cadmium/pbo_licenses/%5E1.0.0/router?reqAttempt=1&reqName=license&clienttype=akira&uiversion=vd160f403&browsername=chrome&browserversion=108.0.0.0&osname=linux&osversion=0.0.0
debug : [plugin.video.netflix (0)] Request took 0.07643438305240124s
debug : [plugin.video.netflix (0)] Request returned response with status 200
debug : [plugin.video.netflix (0)] Received encrypted chunked response
debug : [plugin.video.netflix (0)] Successfully saved MSL data to disk

############### END LOG FILE ################

############ END Kodi CRASH LOG #############

(Timing info stripped from log pastes to improve legibility.)

[CastagnaIT]

widevine 4.10.2891.0 is bugged, you need to rollback to old version

[Mambres]

Same problem here with LibreElec.
Got it back running by downloading the
previous version
I then extracted libwidevinecdm.so and copied it to /storage/.kodi/cdm/
(just this file, so that the system still thinks it has the current version and doesn't update it again).
Rebootet the box and it works again.
It's a dirty workaround, but it's working until they publish a fixed version.

[adamhotep]

Thanks, @Mambres, that was the clue I needed, though it's even easier than that. I ran locate libwidevinecdm.so and found the last several versions were backed up (note, I don't recall if that's my configuration or the default), enabling me to run this:

cp -p ~/.kodi/{userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2830.0,cdm}/libwidevinecdm.so

@CastagnaIT: It sounds wise to allow rolling back via the Netflix settings UI, though I'm not sure how hairy that would be since the backups are managed by InputStreamHelper rather than this plugin.

[neunzehnachtneun]

Since yesterday I get these errors. Are they a result of the same new widevine or is it something different? Thanks!

error <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: NAL Unit definition incomplete (nls: 4) 0 -> 1
error <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: Decrypt Sample returns failure!
error <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: DecryptSampleData: NAL Unit exceeds subsample definition (nls: 4) 2816 -> 2309
error <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: Decrypt Sample returns failure!
error <general>: AddOnLog: inputstream.adaptive: DecryptSampleData: NAL Unit exceeds subsample definition (nls: 4) 1533 -> 1265

[proedie]

Annoyingly, this work around does not work for me.

Edit: Reinstalling Widevine via the plugin’s Expert settings did the trick.

[sdbbs]

Same here, I guess: I use flatpak Kodi on Ubuntu 22.04, and today I got a message to update Widevine, which I did - then I watched Netflix without problems for several more hours; then suddenly I notice my projector image is upside down (which should have nothing to do with Ubuntu!!), so had to exit Kodi to make sure also the desktop is upside down (it was), then I corrected the projector display using the display remote, started Kodi again - and now Kodi exits as soon as I try to play a Netflix video.

My system shows that I have these:

./.kodi/userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2710.0/libwidevinecdm.so
./.kodi/userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2830.0/libwidevinecdm.so
./.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/cdm/libwidevinecdm.so
./.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2891.0/libwidevinecdm.so
./.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2710.0/libwidevinecdm.so
./.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2830.0/libwidevinecdm.so

... and I've noted:

widevine 4.10.2891.0 is bugged, you need to rollback to old version

... and so I ran @adamhotep command:

user@computer:~$  cp -pv ~/.kodi/{userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2830.0,cdm}/libwidevinecdm.so
cp: '/home/user/.kodi/userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2830.0/libwidevinecdm.so' and '/home/user/.kodi/cdm/libwidevinecdm.so' are the same file

Ok, so its 4.10.2830.0 making the problem for me? Cannot tell ...

Or, maybe these files in $HOME do not apply to the flatpak Kodi version?

Enabled debug login, strangely there is absolutely nothing of a useful error message in the logs (attached)

kodi_crashlog-20250412_195851.log
kodi.log

EDIT: apparently for the flatpak kodi version, the widevine .so is used from ~/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/:

user@computer:~$ ls -la ~/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/{userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/*,cdm}/libwidevinecdm.so
-rwxr--r-- 2 user user 18744096 Apr 12 16:29 /home/user/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/cdm/libwidevinecdm.so
-rwxr--r-- 1 user user 17616424 Dec 23  2023 /home/user/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2710.0/libwidevinecdm.so
-rwxr--r-- 1 user user 18733688 Sep 12  2024 /home/user/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2830.0/libwidevinecdm.so
-rwxr--r-- 2 user user 18744096 Apr 12 16:29 /home/user/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2891.0/libwidevinecdm.so

... since by file size I could see 4.10.2891.0/libwidevinecdm.so was being used in cdm/; so the copy command for me was instead:

user@computer:~$ cp -av ~/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/{userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2830.0,cdm}/libwidevinecdm.so
removed '/home/user/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/cdm/libwidevinecdm.so'
'/home/user/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/userdata/addon_data/script.module.inputstreamhelper/backup/4.10.2830.0/libwidevinecdm.so' -> '/home/user/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/cdm/libwidevinecdm.so'

... and now Netflix works again.

[neunzehnachtneun]

Same problem here with LibreElec. Got it back running by downloading the previous version I then extracted libwidevinecdm.so and copied it to /storage/.kodi/cdm/ (just this file, so that the system still thinks it has the current version and doesn't update it again). Rebootet the box and it works again. It's a dirty workaround, but it's working until they publish a fixed version.

Unfortunately I have no working backup, so I tried to download an install this version. But it fails. As I am on a RPi5, I guess I need a arm64 version. Do you know, if theres also one? :)

Edit: Found 4.10.2662.3 here, which works fine for disney and amazon, but netflix still doesnt.

[CastagnaIT]

ISAdaptive has been fixed for last widevine version, on Kodi 21 and 22

Kodi <= v20 are EOL, means no support

But for Kodi 20, if you are able, you can build by yourself ISAdaptive with fixes from GH sources

So what you need is:
ISA 21.5.13 or ISA 22.2.3 (depend on what kodi version you use)
and OFC last widevine installed, that you can update by using ISHelper addon settings, without doing nothing manually

[atirage21]

Logs from plugin.video.netflix v1.23.5+matrix.1

2026-08-08 05:18:40.907 T:2292 info : [script.module.inputstreamhelper] Choosing a version to install is only implemented if the lib is found in googles repo.
2026-08-08 05:18:43.388 T:2292 warning : [script.module.inputstreamhelper] Downloading ChromeOS image for Widevine: jacuzzi (16700.46.0)
2026-08-08 05:18:43.558 T:1568 info : Loading skin file: DialogConfirm.xml, load type: KEEP_IN_MEMORY
2026-08-08 05:20:16.989 T:2292 warning : [script.module.inputstreamhelper] InputStreamHelper version 0.8.5 is running for the first time
2026-08-08 05:20:17.305 T:1695 info : CActiveAESink::OpenSink - initialize sink
2026-08-08 05:20:17.305 T:1695 info : CAESinkALSA::Initialize - Attempting to open device "sysdefault:CARD=hdmi0"
2026-08-08 05:20:17.324 T:1695 info : CAESinkALSA::Initialize - Opened device "sysdefault:CARD=hdmi0"
2026-08-08 05:20:17.324 T:1695 info : CAESinkALSA::InitializeHW - Your hardware does not support AE_FMT_FLOAT, trying other formats
2026-08-08 05:20:17.325 T:1695 info : CAESinkALSA::InitializeHW - Using data format AE_FMT_S24NE4
2026-08-08 05:20:21.187 T:2294 warning : [script.module.inputstreamhelper]
Kodi version 22.0-BETA1 is running on a Linux system with arm64 architecture.

                                           InputStream Helper is at version 0.8.5 
                                           InputStream Adaptive is at version 22.3.19.1 
                                           
                                           Widevine CDM is at version 4.10.2662.3 and was installed on 2026-07-26 18:03
                                           It was extracted from Chrome OS image DAMU.* with version 16700.46.0
                                           It was last checked for updates on 2026-07-26 18:03
                                           It is installed at /storage/.kodi/cdm/

2026-08-08 05:05:56.977 T:1913 error : [plugin.video.netflix (0)] IPC callback raised exception: Unable to extract reactContext
2026-08-08 05:05:56.990 T:1913 error : [plugin.video.netflix (0)] Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/utils/website.py", line 288, in extract_json
json_str = json_array[0]

IndexError: list index out of range

                                               The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:
                                               
                                               Traceback (most recent call last):
                                                 File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/services/http_server.py", line 105, in handle_request
                                                   ret_data = _call_func(func, pickle.loads(data))
                                                 File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/services/http_server.py", line 161, in _call_func
                                                   return func(**data)
                                                 File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/utils/logging.py", line 139, in timing_wrapper
                                                   return func(*args, **kwargs)
                                                 File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/services/nfsession/session/access.py", line 112, in login_auth_data
                                                   website.extract_session_data(self.get('browse'), validate=True, update_profiles=True)
                                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                                 File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/utils/logging.py", line 139, in timing_wrapper
                                                   return func(*args, **kwargs)
                                                 File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/utils/website.py", line 72, in extract_session_data
                                                   react_context = extract_json(content, 'reactContext')
                                                 File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/utils/logging.py", line 139, in timing_wrapper
                                                   return func(*args, **kwargs)
                                                 File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/utils/website.py", line 304, in extract_json
                                                   raise WebsiteParsingError(f'Unable to extract {name}') from exc
                                               resources.lib.common.exceptions.WebsiteParsingError: Unable to extract reactContext

2026-08-08 05:05:56.995 T:1903 error : [plugin.video.netflix (1)] Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/run_addon.py", line 29, in wrapper
func(*args, **kwargs)
~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/run_addon.py", line 265, in run
success = route(pathitems)
File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/run_addon.py", line 88, in lazy_login_wrapper
if G.REQUEST_PARAMS.get('ignore_login') or _check_valid_credentials():
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/run_addon.py", line 73, in _check_valid_credentials
if not login():
~~~~~^^
File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/utils/api_requests.py", line 58, in login
if password and common.make_call('login_auth_data', {'data': data, 'password': password}):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/utils/logging.py", line 139, in timing_wrapper
return func(*args, **kwargs)
File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/common/ipc.py", line 94, in make_call
return make_http_call(endpoint, func_name, data)
File "/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.video.netflix/resources/lib/common/ipc.py", line 117, in make_http_call
raise _data
resources.lib.common.exceptions.WebsiteParsingError: Unable to extract reactContext