Hash sum mismatch when using vagrant up and apt-get install on MacOS

Question

I am setting up the dev environment for an open source project (Zulip) and ran into a hash sum mismatch issue when apt-get install was run inside a container that was being setup with vagrant and docker (using vagrant up --provider=docker). The hash sum mismatch occurs on seemingly random package, but tends to happen around 40s or 100s into the process consistently.

Relevant error logs:

#6 40.42 Err:32 http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports focal-updates/main arm64 libpam-runtime all 1.3.1-5ubuntu4.7
#6 40.42   Hash Sum mismatch
#6 40.42   Hashes of expected file:
#6 40.42    - SHA512:e2a7a30fc4184da181c6a5842f16eabcdef22b29815b308f39568f63e3d9386dd7d60dfdb03099c6d007e91e34744878f1f91bbf21580e9fdf8b2ac2cb6e31ee
#6 40.42    - SHA256:9e28174f564168fc1befe0ac07638a648ee472b4ecc72e3f8e7722c9802b8d29
#6 40.42    - SHA1:0aa22485903dd1a6bde45bae2186a778bfd92c0c [weak]
#6 40.42    - MD5Sum:f6e96384d3cf0495d9926539894813bc [weak]
#6 40.42    - Filesize:37288 [weak]
#6 40.42   Hashes of received file:
#6 40.42    - SHA512:72fcf491c1f0f3968c28dfdc52763698baa6019b8ae293946a2e255eccfb477b259a3c5e77a93da2eadeb7a0ccbcbbb55a2f5a5630365145936cec34b3421a67
#6 40.42    - SHA256:1e90b4fd7d1064f1cbd039f1539ab03ae3786174f4e9b98c4b9a6052211d0448
#6 40.42    - SHA1:9a839bcd004682b3eb6b84bc7dbe3a6d00100a64 [weak]
#6 40.42    - MD5Sum:12705aaf10b64d8ff4cf07b63351c2ba [weak]
#6 40.42    - Filesize:37288 [weak]
#6 40.42   Last modification reported: Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:10:37 +0000

I am not aware of any proxies or vpns running on my Mac.

I've tried 3 different mirrors and 2 different networks (different ISPs) to no avail.

Information about my setup:

• M1 Macbook Air running MacOS Sonoma 14.3.1
• Docker desktop v4.28.0 (latest, installed with homebrew)
• Vagrant v2.4.1 (latest, installed with homebrew)

Answer 1

Posted this question to document a solution and make it searchable. Here's how I solved this problem:

The crux of this problem is something sitting in between your system and the server, and modifying the files that you are supposed to receive. Most likely a proxy or vpn that you do not know is running on your system.

Each step below can be treated independently, and you can test if you get the hash sum mismatch after each step.

Reinstall docker and vagrant

Reinstall both docker and vagrant, then restart your mac.

Deactivate all network services except Wi-Fi

This can be done at System Settings > Network > Other Services > Click on a service > Make Inactive

Switch DNS if you are on a company/university network

This is an important step if you're at a university like me. Change DNS under Network > Wi-Fi > Details > DNS to something like 8.8.8.8 (Google) or 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare, may need more setup).

Disable screen time or content filtering if this is enabled

Screen time creates a process called webfilterproxyd. This likely interferes with incoming data and cannot be killed from activity monitor until you disable screen time in settings.

‼️ Try the steps below at your own risk and please double check what each step does.

Kill processes with "vpn" in the name using activity monitor

I force quit all 3 processes that came up for me when I searched for VPN in activity monitor: Activity Monitor search for vpn

Kill processes with "proxy" in the name using activity monitor

I was able to force quit 1/3 of the processes below after disabling screen time: Activity Monitor search for proxy

⚠️ At this point, your mac is likely unable to connect to the internet

Test this by running

curl -I https://registry-1.docker.io/v2/library/ubuntu/manifests/20.04

You should see an error stating that you cannot connect to the server.

Restart your mac to get some of the killed processes to start up again

Retrying your vagrant up or apt-get commands after this should work.