Cursor 3.16.17 Linux .deb hangs on startup and crashes with SIGSEGV on GNOME Wayland Intel; 3.15 works

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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

After installing Cursor 3.16.17, Cursor hangs shortly after startup. The main window becomes unresponsive and eventually crashes with SIGSEGV/core dump. Downgrading to Cursor 3.15 works around the issue.

Steps to Reproduce

. Install cursor_3.16.17_amd64.deb
2. Launch Cursor from GNOME or terminal:
/usr/share/cursor/cursor
3. Cursor starts, scans LocalAgentStorage, then the CodeWindow becomes unresponsive.
4. In some attempts it ends with segmentation fault/core dump.

Expected Behavior

Cursor should open normally.

Operating System

Linux

Version Information

3.16.17 Linux

For AI issues: which model did you use?

none

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

_usr_share_cursor_cursor.1000.part1.zip (16.2 MB)

_usr_share_cursor_cursor.1000.part2.zip (15.3 MB)

3

additional information

Title:
Cursor 3.16.17 Linux .deb hangs on startup and crashes with SIGSEGV on GNOME Wayland Intel; 3.15 works

Environment:

  • Cursor version affected: 3.16.17 amd64 .deb
  • Previous working version: 3.15.x
  • OS: Linux, GNOME, Wayland
  • GPU: Intel iGPU / i915
  • Install method: .deb, installed with dpkg
  • Binary path: /usr/share/cursor/cursor

Summary:
After installing Cursor 3.16.17, Cursor hangs shortly after startup. The main window becomes unresponsive and eventually crashes with SIGSEGV/core dump. Downgrading to Cursor 3.15 works around the issue.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Install cursor_3.16.17_amd64.deb
  2. Launch Cursor from GNOME or terminal:
    /usr/share/cursor/cursor
  3. Cursor starts, scans LocalAgentStorage, then the CodeWindow becomes unresponsive.
  4. In some attempts it ends with segmentation fault/core dump.

Expected behavior:
Cursor should open normally.

Actual behavior:
Cursor freezes/unresponsive on startup and sometimes crashes with SIGSEGV.

Workaround:
Downgrading to Cursor 3.15.x resolves the issue.

Relevant logs:

[main] [RendererPing] enabled
[main] [LocalAgentStorage] Scanned 4 recent databases (skipped 83 old), found 104 agent headers, deduped to 104
[main] CodeWindow: detected unresponsive

/usr/share/cursor/cursor: Segmentation fault (core dumped)

coredumpctl:
Sun 2026-08-16 18:31:42 -05 3958484 1000 1000 SIGSEGV present /usr/share/cursor/cursor 26.9M

Chromium shared memory error:
ERROR:base/memory/platform_shared_memory_region_posix.cc:214
Creating shared memory in /dev/shm/.org.chromium.Chromium.yS103b failed: Too many open files (24)

Wayland/Vulkan warning:
ERROR:ui/ozone/platform/wayland/gpu/wayland_surface_factory.cc:251
‘–ozone-platform=wayland’ is not compatible with Vulkan. Consider switching to ‘–ozone-platform=x11’ or disabling Vulkan

AppArmor/sandbox denials:
apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“capable” profile=“unprivileged_userns” comm=“cursor” capability=21 capname=“sys_admin”
apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“capable” profile=“cursor_sandbox” comm=“newuidmap” capability=1 capname=“dac_override”

Other related log:
Error occurred in handler for ‘GUEST_VIEW_MANAGER_CALL’:
Error: ERR_ABORTED (-3) loading ‘http://localhost:3000/?x=asdf’

Flags tested without fixing the crash:

  • --ozone-platform=wayland --disable-vulkan
  • ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT=x11 --ozone-platform=x11 --disable-vulkan
  • --disable-gpu
  • --disable-extensions
  • --user-data-dir=/tmp/cursor-clean-profile
  • --extensions-dir=/tmp/cursor-clean-extensions
  • LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1
  • --use-gl=swiftshader
  • --no-sandbox

Additional note:
There were duplicated apt source warnings involving:

  • /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cursor-apparmor.sources
  • /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cursor.sources

Please investigate Cursor 3.16.17 Linux .deb startup crash/regression on GNOME Wayland Intel/i915, especially around Chromium shared memory FD exhaustion and AppArmor sandbox behavior.

6

Hey, thanks for the detailed report. The logs, flags, and core dumps are super helpful.

This looks like the same issue as in this thread: Version 3.16.17 crashing on startup in Ubuntu 24.04? Version 3.16.17 crashing on startup in Ubuntu 24.04?. It seems like a regression in the 3.16 line on Ubuntu and Linux, and it’s not related to your setup. We’re already tracking it, and I shared your case with the team as another data point. GNOME Wayland plus SIGSEGV, and the Too many open files (24) line is also useful. I can’t share an ETA yet, but I’ll reply in the thread when we have an update.

For now, the best workaround is to stay on 3.15.x, which you already did.

A couple questions to narrow it down:

  1. Does it crash on a completely clean new empty folder, without opening your main project?
  2. If you have to force-kill the process, please back up ~/.config/Cursor/User/globalStorage/state.vscdb first. Repeated pkill -9 for another user corrupted that file, so it’s better to be safe.

Let me know about item 1, it’ll help the team.

8

Hi Dean

  1. I ran in open project with files. But following the cursor AI guide, I ran without any project but the result was the same
  2. I stopped the process but not backup that file.
9

Thanks for testing with an empty folder, that’s an important detail. The fact that the crash happens even with no project open helps narrow it down, so it’s not tied to a specific workspace. I’ll pass this to the team as another signal for what we’re already tracking.

On the second point, no worries. Since you’re stable on 3.15.19, state.vscdb should be fine. The backup was just in case of a force-quit on 3.16.17, so the file wouldn’t get corrupted like it did for another user. For now, please stay on 3.15.x.

I can’t share an ETA yet, but I’ll update this thread as soon as I have news.

11

Hey @Carlos_Arce, circling back on this thread with an update.

The startup freeze and crash in 3.16.17 is fixed in Cursor 3.19, and the current release already includes the fix. Updating to the latest version should get everything back to normal.

One note: 3.16, 3.17, and 3.18 have the same issue, so it’s important to be on 3.19 or newer. If your package source is still serving an older build, you can grab the latest .deb from Cursor · Download

Thanks again for the logs and core dumps, they really helped. Let me know if the issue still happens after the update.