302238 - When incorrect master password is entered, password manager should say so in master password dialog

Status: NEW

(Core :: Security: PSM, defect, P3)

Description

[Rishi Maharaj]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b4) Gecko/20050726 Firefox/1.0+
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b4) Gecko/20050726 Firefox/1.0+

When an incorrect master password is entered, the master password dialog just
pops up again, without giving feedback that the previously entered password was
incorrect. It should say something like:

+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Incorrect master password.                                         |
|                                                                   |
|Please enter the master password for the Software Security Device. |
|      _________________________________________________            |
|     |_________________________________________________|           |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Go to a form where Firefox has remembered the password.
2. On the master password prompt, enter an incorrect password.
3.

Actual Results:  
Master password dialog pops up again without feedback.

Expected Results:  
Password manager should give feedback re. incorrect password.

Comment 1

[Adam Guthrie]

For what it's worth. We (and IE?) do the same thing with when a website prompts
you to enter a password.

Comment 2

[Julian]

I was able to reproduce this bug.

Mac OsX 10.4.1

Comment 3

[Chad Van Pelt]

I can also reproduce this bug. I noticed the same issue if I try to view saved passwords and hit the 'Cancel' button instead of actually entering a password. The dialog reappears and you can hit cancel a few more times before it opens the password manager with no content. 'Cancel' should revert back to the previous screen without prompting again for the master password. 

Comment 4

[Justin Dolske [:Dolske]]

This prompt is in NSS.

The fact that the dialog box stays technically lets you know that the entered password is invalid, so I think adding a note saying so could be a usability win without creating a security risk.

Comment 5

[Nelson Bolyard (seldom reads bugmail)]

This is a request for a UI change.  NSS does not do UI.  No UI whatsoever.  

Comment 7

[Stephen Kraemer]

Hi, I would like to work on this bug. Would anyone be able to help me figure out what needs to be done to do this?

Comment 8

[Scott Pierskalla]

Firefox version 51.

Similarly, Firefox will open with multiple tabs.  If I happen to click on a tab which needs a username and password previously saved by the "Master Password" function, the "Master Password" request window will pop up.  Unfortunately, cancelling it only produces another pop-up window, thus preventing me from doing anything with Firefox until the master password is entered.  So in order to close Firefox I have to either enter the master password and then proceed to exit or use the Task Manager to close Firefox.  

I believe that a good browser would allow a person to cancel the request for a particular web page and not request the master password again until it's needed for a different URL or until you either click on a different tab and then return to the original tab or navigate away from the original URL and then return to it. 


Repeatable:  Yes

Behavior:    "Master Password" request pop-up prevents use of Firefox until you correctly enter the master password.

Expected behavior:  If I cancel the request, no more pop-ups should appear while URL session is open.

Comment 9

[Albert Scheiner [:alberts]]

(In reply to Scott Pierskalla from comment #8)
> Expected behavior:  If I cancel the request, no more pop-ups should appear while URL session is open.

Scott, what you are describing might be bug 177175 I think.

Comment 10

[Matthew Davis]

This issue is particularly frustrating because when I mistype my master password, the prompt normally reappears on a different monitor. So I don't notice that the password was incorrect.

Comment 11

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The severity field for this bug is relatively low, S4. However, the bug has 11 votes.
:keeler, could you consider increasing the bug severity?

For more information, please visit auto_nag documentation.

Comment 12

[BugBot (nomail) [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The last needinfo from me was triggered in error by recent activity on the bug. I'm clearing the needinfo since this is a very old bug and I don't know if it's still relevant.