Dropbox files no longer inherit folder permissions

[rjwb]

Within my Dropbox folder, I have sub-folders with different Windows ACL permissions. Up until recently, whenever Dropbox synced a file it inherited its folder permissions perfectly.

Now it no longer does. It overrides the folder permissions and sets all file permissions to something completely different - Full Control for admins and Read/Read & Execute for users.

Is there any way to get back to the old days - when Dropbox respected the inheritance of ACL permissions to all files in each folder?

[RAR_Systems]

Yes, same problem

[dragoner]

Thanks for the feedback, will take a look at sync.com. Ive just had feedback from a site, the Windows 10 to Windows 10 also now fails, no server operating systems in play.

Way to go Dropbox support, thanks for all your assistance with this.

[CREModels !.]

i'm running into this same issue with our server setup. never had a problem until recently and frankly it was a bear to debug and finally figure out what was happening.

glad to find others with the same issue.

i'm not sure what the solution is here. if we put the client on every computer in the office, it becomes a CPU/memory hog and total PITA to maintain.

the server-based syncing combined with NTFS permissions was a perfect solution.

i know there are NAS devices that sync with dropbox, how does this update affect them? i think they tend to use the API so not sure if they would have the same problem or not.

[CREModels !.]

i'm running into this same issue with our server setup. never had a problem until recently and frankly it was a bear to debug and finally figure out what was happening.

glad to find others with the same issue.

i'm not sure what the solution is here. if we put the client on every computer in the office, it becomes a CPU/memory hog and total PITA to maintain. the server-based syncing combined with NTFS permissions was a perfect solution.

i know there are NAS devices that sync with dropbox, how does this update affect them? i think they tend to use the API so not sure if they would have the same problem or not.

QNAP and Synology have devices that sync with dropbox and allow for NTFS permissions to be applied (as well as other device-specific permissions) -- will they now be DOA with this update?

Curious if anyone has one of these and has seen a change.

[Brian1]

Just an update on the issue: Advanced Support responded to our ticket today (opened a couple weeks ago and responded to back then by what was presumably Standard Support), and this is what he said:

"I've raised a task with our engineering team in relation to this issue and as soon as I have more information I'll let you know."

[volfman]

I also received a response today asking to try the latest Beta Build 91.3.536 . I tested this version, and the issue is still there. No resolution yet. 

[pwc]

Has anyone been able to do a more complete evaluation of sync.com? It has all of the features I'd like to see, include 365-day rewind, plus granular access control within the cloud content itself (not just the top-level access control Dropbox offers), and it's half the price.

I hope to do a more thorough evaluation of sync in hte near future, will post anything useful I find. I really don't want to make the move, it'll be painful, but I need to resolve this issue. I'd stay with Dropbox, even considering the price difference, as I've otherwise had a very good experience with them, but not if this issue cannot be resolved.

As a side note, I've found that running the scheduled task in the early morning that resets the ACLs within the Dropbox folder has mostly resolved the problem, as most external changes are coming in from my users working on stuff at home in evenings or weekends. It's a total MacGyver fix, one step up from bubblegum and duct tape, but it's working for now.

[Brian1]

Steve Gibson has, on his Security Now podcast. It's discussed in the second half of the shownotes here:

https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-734-notes.pdf

Or you can watch it more fleshed out in the last hour or so here:

https://youtu.be/ogrQgb0csoU?t=2941

[pwc]

@Brian1thanks for the link! That's very useful information, and comes from a very trusted source (Gibson has been around for a long time). One consideration I had not really thought about is end-to-end encryption... while I do have confidence in Dropbox, it's no more than I would have for any other cloud-based service... in general, their fragility to hacking has been demonstrated many times. While data may be encrypted on their service, and they use secure tunnels to transport data, all of my information is just a cracked password away.

Just another aspect to consider when looking at Dropbox alternatives.

[dragoner]

Excellent information, thanks Brian1

Dropbox support have completely let us down with this one. It’s amazing what good can come from situations like this 😊

I’ve got close to 40 sites I manage with Dropbox so will be very keen to roll one over to Sync and see what I’m going up against!