Disable back button when hCaptcha is loading on mobile source editor
Closed, ResolvedPublic2 Estimated Story PointsBUG REPORT
Actions

Description

What is the problem?

On the preview page of the mobile source editor, while hCaptcha is loading after you click Publish, you can go back to the editor. hCaptcha continues to be loaded in the background leading to the challenge either showing (hidden until you go back to the preview page) or the edit being submitted unexpectedly.

The back button should be disabled while hCaptcha is loading. This is what we do in the mobile VisualEditor.

Steps to reproduce problem

https://test.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Switch to mobile view
Open the edit form
Switch to Source Editor (if not already there)
Type something and click the next button
On the preview page, click "Publish" (or "Save")
While the hCaptcha blue spinner is showing click back

Environment

Browser: Chromium 147
Wiki(s): https://test.wikipedia.org MediaWiki 1.46.0-wmf.24 (rMW73b5a57ccafc) 07:05, 27 April 2026. ConfirmEdit 1.6.0 (rECOEd005a6e3305a) 12:08, 23 April 2026.
Editor: MobileFrontend 2.4.1 (d6e518e) 10:37, 13 April 2026.

Details

Related Changes in Gerrit:

	Subject	Repo	Branch	Lines +/-
	hcaptcha: Disable the back button while MobileFrontend loads a captcha	mediawiki/extensions/ConfirmEdit	master	+66 -29

Customize query in gerrit

Related Objects

Mentioned Here: T424651: MobileFrontend's source editor allows to click on the back button while the edit is being saved
rEMFRd6e518e4a194: MobileContext: Simplify private methods by removing by-ref param
rECOEd005a6e3305a: hCaptcha: Retry SiteVerify up to two times
rMW73b5a57ccafc: Update git submodules

Event Timeline

dom_walden created this task.Apr 27 2026, 10:25 AM

Restricted Application added a subscriber: Aklapper. · View Herald TranscriptApr 27 2026, 10:25 AM

dom_walden edited projects, added: Product Safety and Integrity (Sprint Tulip (Apr 13 - May 1)); removed: Product Safety and Integrity.Apr 27 2026, 10:26 AM

• hector.arroyo changed the task status from Open to In Progress.Apr 27 2026, 11:05 AM

• hector.arroyo claimed this task.

• hector.arroyo moved this task from Backlog to Bugs on the ConfirmEdit (CAPTCHA extension) board.

• hector.arroyo moved this task from Untriaged to MobileFrontend (Editor) on the MobileFrontend board.

• hector.arroyo edited projects, added: MobileFrontend (MobileFrontend (Editor)); removed: MobileFrontend.

• hector.arroyo moved this task from Backlog to In progress on the Product Safety and Integrity (Sprint Tulip (Apr 13 - May 1)) board.

• hector.arroyo moved this task from Backlog to In progress on the Bot detection and mitigation (WE4.10 hCaptcha) board.

Change #1277487 had a related patch set uploaded (by Harroyo-wmf; author: Harroyo-wmf):

[mediawiki/extensions/ConfirmEdit@master] hcaptcha: Disable the back button in the MobileFrontend SourceEditor while a captcha is loading

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/1277487

gerritbot added a project: Patch-For-Review.Apr 27 2026, 11:15 AM

• hector.arroyo moved this task from In progress to Needs review on the Product Safety and Integrity (Sprint Tulip (Apr 13 - May 1)) board.Apr 27 2026, 4:13 PM

• hector.arroyo moved this task from Bugs to Awaiting Code Review on the ConfirmEdit (CAPTCHA extension) board.

• hector.arroyo moved this task from Backlog to Triaged on the MobileFrontend (MobileFrontend (Editor)) board.

The back button should be disabled while hCaptcha is loading. This is what we do in the mobile VisualEditor.

I would note that while the close button is disabled, you can still press "Esc" to exit the dialog.

I wonder if it would be better in case there is an error with hCaptcha to allow the user to exit the dialog even if they pressed save changes?

Blocked on T424651: MobileFrontend's source editor allows to click on the back button while the edit is being saved, which in turn is blocked waiting for input from Editing-team

• hector.arroyo changed the task status from In Progress to Stalled.Apr 29 2026, 2:33 PM

• hector.arroyo set the point value for this task to 2.

OKryva-WMF edited projects, added: Product Safety and Integrity (Sprint lily-of-the-valley (May 4 - May 22)); removed: Product Safety and Integrity (Sprint Tulip (Apr 13 - May 1)).May 1 2026, 7:43 AM

OKryva-WMF moved this task from Backlog to Needs review on the Product Safety and Integrity (Sprint lily-of-the-valley (May 4 - May 22)) board.May 1 2026, 7:44 AM

The patch fixing the defect found in the MobileFrontend (T424651: MobileFrontend's source editor allows to click on the back button while the edit is being saved) during the code review for this task has been merged, and is now awaiting QA, but this should not block code review for this task.

Therefore, code review for this task can continue now: unblocking it.