Username is false and color is white after upgrading to 2.7.3

[tpokorra]

Describe the bug

When I open an existing or a new pad, my username is called "false", and the preselected color is white.

To Reproduce
Update to 2.7.3
Open a new pad, or an existing pad.

On the server, there is this output:

[2026-05-07T06:30:18.562] [ERROR] socket.io - Error handling pad message from u-k8z9M_Q-1oQpRfAAAB: Error: COLLABROOM: USERINFO_UPDATE: malformed color: false
at Object.exports.handleMessage (/home/.../etherpad-lite/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.ts:545:11)
at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:103:5)
at async (/home/.../etherpad-lite/src/node/handler/SocketIORouter.ts:85:14)

Expected behavior
The color and the name should not be "false".

Server (please complete the following information):

• Etherpad version: 2.7.3
• OS: Debian Bookworm
• Node.js version (node --version): v24.15.0
• npm version (npm --version): 11.12.1
• Is the server free of plugins: yes

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: Debian Trixie
• Browser: Firefox

Additional context
I just upgraded to 2.7.3

[JohnMcLear]

Thanks for the bug report, I'll get to this ASAP :)

[tpokorra]

Thanks @JohnMcLear for the super quick reaction!

so for a workaround, I just have to adjust my old settings.json:

"padOptions": {
"userName": null,
"userColor": null,

instead of false

[JohnMcLear]

You're welcome, thanks for supporting Etherpad :)