263568 - Message are still displayed though Password is not entered for the account when opening Thunderbird version 0.8

Status: RESOLVED EXPIRED

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[Jitendra]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20040913 Firefox/0.10.1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20040913 Firefox/0.10.1

I set-up a mail account for Thunderbird. I can compose and receieve messages
without any problem, but when i first open Thunderbird, first it ask me to enter
the password for my account through the Pop-up window, which has OK and Cancel
Button. 
Though I donot enter the password, in the background i can see my inbox and the
messages. Even if i hit Cancel Button without entering the password i am allowed
to login to application and i can send and receieve message.

Ideally when the pop-up is displayed to enter the password for my mail account,
I should not be allowed to see any messages in the background and if i donot
enter the password by clicking Cancel Button I should not be allowed to LOG in
to my mail account.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Set up a mail Account on Thunderbird
2. Open Thunderbird, Enter Your Password Pop-up is displayed.
3. Click Cancle Button on the Pop-up message, 
Actual Results:  
You are still allowed to enter you e-mail account and can see and edit your
messages as you would usally do.


Expected Results:  
Thunderbird first should not have displayed your Inbox in the background when
your are prompted to enter password through Enter Your Password Pop-up.
Second if you click the Cancle Button on the Pop-up, it should NOT allow you to
get into you Inbox and see your message or send new messages from that account.

Comment 1

[Christian Eyrich]

To be sure, what passwort prompt is it you get? For the master password or for a
POP/IMAP server?
And do you think you shouldn't be able to read local, already downloaded
messages without entering any password or only unable to fetch messages from server?

Mozilla/TB is designed so one can't fetch messages from a server that requires
authentication by password. So if you didn't save your password in the password
manager it's impossible that messages are fetched from POP/IMAP server.

Comment 2

[Jitendra]

As for the password prompt is it of the POP/IMAP server. Yeah if i donot enter
the password and hit Cancel on the Password prompt then I am not allowed to
send/receieve messages. But unless the password is not entered it should not
even allow you to see the messages already downloaded from that server to you
system, this would be much better for security reasons. If it is someone other
than you who has entered you system, then though he won't be able to write or
read new messages but he would be able to read your already fetched messages,
which i believe shouldn't be allowed too. 
Though i am not 100% sure but i believe that Microsoft Outlook dosen't allow you
to see the already fetches messages unless you enter the correct password for
the account.

I am sure if the Password Manager would be any help.

Thanks

Comment 3

[Christian Eyrich]

I can't find it right now for TB but I think there was an option to lock an account.
But the passwords you're asked for fetching and sending messages are *server*
passwords and therefore they shouldn't act as account passwords. And I don't
know a client where one has to enter the server password to see already
downloaded messages.

BTW, though it needs a little more knowledge, mails can also be read by opening
the mailbox file in an editor. So locking an account with a password can give
you a wrong feeling of security.
So the protection should occur on profile basis. While in my opinion the OS
restrictions should be used to prevend access to users data and profile. But see
bug 16489 for access control to profiles.

Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 5

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.