306955 - Digital signing of identities does not work

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 252250

(Thunderbird :: Security, defect)

Description

[yifx8uh9]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win 9x 4.90; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win 9x 4.90; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6

1.) I use Mozilla Thunderbird version 1.0.6 (20050716). 

2.) I have a Class 1 Client-certifikate (X.509) from TC TrustCenter AG
(http://www.trustcenter.de). 

The certificate is issued to CN=Peter John, E=[e-mail]. 

3.) I created an account: 

Account Name: Freemail-for-me 
Your Name: freemailuser 
Email Address: [e-mail] 

4.) Under Security I selected the above mentioned certificate to digitally sign
messages I send: 

Peter John's TC TrustCenter for Security in Data Networks GmbH ID [....] 

5.) I created an Identity for 'Freemailuser' using the Multiple Identities Support. 

Your Name: Family John 
Email Address: [e-mail] 

6.) Now, if I write an email 

From: Family John <[e-mail]> - Freemail-for-me 

and select 'Security - Digitally sign this message' the following Mozilla
Thunderbird window pops up: 

You need to set up one or more personal certificates before you can use this
security feature. Would you like to do so now? 

If I choose 'Yes' the Account Settings of my account 'Freemail-for-me' opens,
showing the Security items, where I can see my choosen 'Peter John's TC
TrustCenter for Security in Data Networks GmbH ID [....]'. 

If I click 'OK' I return to my email but 'Security - Digitally sign this
message' is not selected and digitally signing does not work. 

The same procedure applied with Microsoft Outlook digitally signing works just fine.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
see Details
Actual Results:  
The CA Certificate 'TC TrustCenter Class 1 CA - TC TrustCenter for Security in
Data Networks GmbH' is installed under Authorities in my certificate store. 

My Class 1 Client-certifikate (X.509) from TC TrustCenter AG is installed and
trusted. 

Microsoft Outlook treats all identities to someones main email address as
separate accounts. 

This is what I did in Microsoft Outlook: 

The main email address has the following data: 

Account Name: Freemail-for-me 
Your Name: freemailuser 
Email Address: freemailuser<@>freemail.com 

Server Settings: 

Server Type: Pop Mail Server 
Server Name: mx.freemail.com 
User Name: freemailuser (needed to log in at the internet provider) 

The identity has the following data: 

Your Name: Family John 
Email Address: family_john<@>freemail.com 

Server Settings: 

Server Type: Pop Mail Server 
Server Name: mx.freemail.com 
User Name: freemailuser (same as for the main email address, needed to log in at
the internet provider) 

In Microsoft Outlook it is possible to assign the same user name to different
accounts. The main email address and all of its identities are treated as accounts. 

This is not possible in Thunderbird. If you add a new account for the identity
of your main email address which needs of course the same user name to log in
you get the following error message: 

An account with that user name and server name already exists. Please enter a
different user name and/or server name. 

In Thunderbird the identity to someones main email address has to be stored
under 'Manage Identities'. But if you choose a certificate for digital signing
this certificate is assigned to the main email address and not to the identity. 

It is not possible to assign a certificate to the identity. 

That is why digital signing does not work when using an identity. The
certificate must match the main email address but this makes it only possible to
digitally sign the main email address.

Expected Results:  
The software should also digitally sign identities.

Comment 1

[u63580]

See the same in a recent nightly: version 1.6a1 (20050830).  My primary ID will
sign, but a second one created will not select any of my IDs.

Comment 2

[zug_treno]

Duplicate of bug 252250?

Comment 3

[u63580]

Agreed

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 252250 ***