Closed Bug 356097 Opened 18 years ago Closed 15 years ago

Master password prompted multiple times on start-up for proxy authentication

Categories

(Core :: Networking, defect)

Product:
Core
Component:
Networking
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED FIXED
Milestone:
mozilla1.9.2a1

People

(Reporter: patoche.smart+mozilla, Unassigned)

References

Details

(Keywords: regression, Whiteboard: [fixed by bug 475053]. Other issues with Master Password appearing multiple times are tracked in 177175)

Attachments

(1 file)

only try once
7.86 KB, patch
Details | Diff | Splinter Review 
User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.0.7) Gecko/20060911 SUSE/1.5.0.7-1.2 Firefox/1.5.0.7
Build Identifier: 

When clicking an URL to start-up Firefox, I am asked for the Master password  multiple times for proxy authentication.

Reproducible: Always
This happens with Firefox 2.0 RC2 (please discard user-agent string). I think I've seen it since the first 2.0 beta I tried (I know, I should have reported it earlier).
Version: unspecified → 2.0 Branch
(In reply to comment #2)
> Is this a dupe of bug 230190?

In its content, it might seem like it except that for me, it's a new issue with the 2.0 branch. It surely didn't happen with previous releases (except for extensions check).

To verify the above paragraph, I went back to 1.5 to test. I could not reproduce it. That is what I expected. Now, going back to 2.0RC2, I can't reproduce it either when I had it everyday!!

I now see two options: I will see it again tomorrow after I have restarted my PC or, well, this is a config issue that got solved by itself.

I'll come back to this ASAP. Normally tomorrow. Feel free to close (WFM) this bug in one week's time without news from my side.
I regularly experience this bug with nightly builds of Bon Echo and also Trunk builds (not sure if that's the same but I think it is). In particular it happens when I have multiple home pages set (that require proxy) or when the session restore opens multiple tabs.

Regression range for the Bon Echo branch:
Works: 2006072004
Does not work: 2006072103

I don't see any checkins that might have caused this in this range but there are two patches for the password manager that went in on 20060719 just after 17:00.

I was going to say that the problem was gone but it re-appeared today. It is then somehow intermittent. To be continued...
I just saw this with RC3. Just in case it would change something, I disabled all my extensions... Anybody else tried this already?
I had this issue this morning with all extensions disabled.

Having a go with the updates disabled...

(stop me if you think it's useless!)
Having the automatic updates disabled didn't help. I am not thinking of anything else to try right now...
(In reply to comment #6)
> I just saw this with RC3. Just in case it would change something, I disabled
> all my extensions... Anybody else tried this already?

I think I should have been clearer in comment #4 : I tested this with zip builds of Bon Echo nightlies by unzipping to a clean directory and testing with a clean profile created just for this testing. I always see this problem when I'm behind an authenticated proxy with a master password set for every build I've tried after 2006072103.

I am interested to know if you or anyone else is unable to reliably replicate using my method. To be clear:

Steps to reproduce:
1. Use an authenticated proxy
2. Save password for proxy using password manager
3. Set master password
4. Set multiple homepages (outside proxy)
5. Restart Firefox

I've noticed a few other things while testing this:

1. When the master password dialog is only needed for filling out forms there is only one prompt.

2. When multiple pages are loaded by session restore (e.g. after ending task) there are multiple prompts even in builds before 2006072103. I haven't narrowed that down yet, but it started after 2006051503.

3. Without a master password multiple proxy authentication requests are displayed (sometimes need to wait a few seconds before clicking OK, otherwise the second dialog won't pop up.)

4. Setting one homepage to a login form (with a saved password) and the other to a page outside the proxy also causes multiple master password prompts.

Just a +1 on this issue. It is very annoying as I get bit by it every time after Firefox crashes (and tries to load all tabs that I had open).
This is happening in Seamonkey, too. Not sure the Suite/Seamonkey suffered back when bug 230190 was reported (people then mentioned switching back to Mozilla to get fixed but maybe it was an older Mozilla vs. a newer Firefox).
Component: Password Manager → Networking
Product: Firefox → Core
QA Contact: password.manager → networking
Version: 2.0 Branch → unspecified
Depends on: 230190, 369963
Just to restore a one-tab session on Firefox 3 beta 2, I get two master password prompts and 3 proxy prompts, and they're not saved yet because I haven't put in my master password. 5 dialog boxes in total for one tab using Weave and Gmail checker.
Even when I set a master password, I'm still prompted for the proxy authentication for every tab. And still it doesn't remember my user name or my password. Sometimes I'm even prompted several times for one tab - I guess that has something to do with the ads on the page.

It's very annoying when firefox opens several tabs at startup: for this session (5 tabs) I had to fill out the dialogue box 8 times! (Firefox 3 beta 2)
This is still happening with Firefox 3.0Beta3. While it was annoying in firefox 2.0 to be asked several times for user/passwd, at least fields were autofilled, which is no longer happening with this new version.
Also, as some other users are experiencing, loading sites like iGoogle makes firefox ask several times for this authentication.
Blocks: 95397
Bugs mentioned in comment 4 are bug 221634 and bug 343182. The patches were created by Michael Wu. Perhaps he can help?

Does anyone of you notice this behavior on another OS as Windows? I think it should also happen.
Keywords: regression
Version: unspecified → Trunk
The cause is known, it's an architectural issue with how prompts work. All these bugs about getting multiple prompts share the same root problem.
Depends on: 346658
An easy solution would be to add a flag to be anabled by user to ask always for master password before starting Firefox. 
This could be a security-enhancement also for Portable Firefox version to prevent starting without typing in password.
BTW, would be also very nice for Thunderbird.
Attached patch only try once — — Splinter Review 
this isn't terribly useful w/o another patch to another bug (instead of SDR prompts, you get HTTP(S)[Auth/Proxy] prompts, which are not any better).
Attachment #318923 - Flags: review?(kengert)
Comment on attachment 318923 [details] [diff] [review]
only try once

If this is about a race for SDR, don't we need a lock to protect the mBusy state?

What happens to the callers that will get NS_ERROR_IN_PROGRESS? Will they retry or fail?

Are multiple calls to SDR originate from multiple threads, or from event processing on a single thread?

If they originate from multiple threads, maybe we could use a condition variable, block if busy, and signal once done?

If they originated from a single thread (and spinning the event loop), it's probably more difficult to have them retry as soon as we're no longer busy.
Do we have stacks?

Any update to this? I have been plagued with multiple master passwords on start up (with previous session/tabs enabled on restart) for as long as I can remember. 

Our web software utilizes user authentication, so if I have multiple portals open in tabs when I close the software, reopening yields 2 or more "master password" prompts, PLUS the user authentications for each portal (although, at least those are saved). This gets excessively annoying when I'm closing the software with 5 tabs... 
Please, take a look at attachments to bug 348997, mainly the "Improovment to prompt service" (currently just a draft). It probably solves this problem generically.
I get multiple password manager propts when opening 3.0.1 in the morning with tabs on multiple sites requiring authentication without a proxy involved.  This occurs on linux and only began happening with 3.0 release (The RCs did not have this behavior).  Possibly related?
I also notice something : you only have to enter the master password once, the others dialogs box that ask for master password can have any wrong value (even leaving the field empty) you just have to press enter or click ok... 
(In reply to comment #32)
> I also notice something : you only have to enter the master password once, the
> others dialogs box that ask for master password can have any wrong value (even
> leaving the field empty) you just have to press enter or click ok... 
> 

Great! This saves a lot of typing as long as this bug isn't fixed.
(In reply to comment #31)
> I get multiple password manager propts when opening 3.0.1 in the morning with
> tabs on multiple sites requiring authentication without a proxy involved.  This
> occurs on linux and only began happening with 3.0 release (The RCs did not have
> this behavior).  Possibly related?
> 
I can confirm this behavior (see bug 450732)

In conjunction with BUG 448113, this is a thing that should be fixed as soon as possible, cause logins, esp. in large enterprises with intranetservices, get very long winded.
I can confirm that this behaviour is happening in a windows environment as well.
Kaie, do you have a free slot to check your review request for the attached patch?
OS: Windows XP → All
Hardware: PC → All
Isn't this fixed in bug 348997 ? (Patches waiting for review)
yes should depend on bug 348997

and yes, it's generally for anything requiring master password, and you may see an amusing screenshot in Bug 456427 ;)
Installing Tab Mix Plus seems a good workaround for this bug.
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/1122
This bug has gotten worse with 3.0.5 as it made the browser stack on Windows XP with the browser window blinking furiously as it gets and looses focus. My scenario involved multiple opened tabs.
Depends on: 348997
Honza? I seem to remember you intended to look at a related bug, but I might be wrong. Do you have thoughts about the attached patch?
Ok, I now understand that I must review bug 348997 first.
> If this is about a race for SDR, don't we need a lock to protect the mBusy
state?
> Are multiple calls to SDR originate from multiple threads, or from event
processing on a single thread?

> NS_IMPL_ISUPPORTS1(nsSDRContext, nsIInterfaceRequestor)

since the code isn't threadsafe, no lock is required. the only issue is reentrancy. so yes, this is from a single thread.
Still happening for me with 3.0.5 and seems to be caused by my gmail add-in which authenticates immediately on start-up.  For me, typing the password in the first couple of times results in a failure (I assume) and then field then partially clears itself, only partially mind you.
Just an idea: How about you only show these dialogs if the current visible tab needs it?

For all hidden/inactive tabs, suppress the dialog and set a flag in the tab to display the dialog only when the tab becomes active. At that time, you should check again whether the password has been set.
(In reply to comment #43)
> and yes, it's generally for anything requiring master password, and you may see
> an amusing screenshot in Bug 456427 ;)

To tell the truth, I don't think the screenshot at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=339825 is amusing. This bug is open since 2006, there are 46 votes, 50 comments, 60 cc, and its status is still NEW.

This bug is more than annoying. Having dozens of password prompts makes Firefox near unusable.
Depends on: 475053
This looks to be a dupe of bug 177175. Can this be confirmed and marked as needed please. Thanks
Yes, it seems to be a dupe, since "proxy authentication" depends on "master password prompt" when you decide to save passwords.
Shouldn't this bug be marked as a duplicate of the more general and older bug 177175?
This seems to have more info on it that the older bug.
Thanks for marking as duplicate
For those being annoyed, there is a workaround in the now duped 177175. Not pretty but it does make life easier. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=177175#c36 which is in general an interesting read with several user experiences.

In some cases this plugin does not protect me against the extension updater displaying as many master passwords as there are plugins. Those show as empty dialogs, no text.
(In reply to comment #58)
I linked to the wrong extension, so here is an even better workaround https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=177175#c27 which is the one I am using now.
I wonder if bug 453326 might be a duplicate of this as well, they seem to describe the same problem.

Either way, the priority of this should be moved from "normal" to "major" or even "damned showstopper".  I dread having to open Firefox anymore because of the number of password dialog boxes I'm inundated with when I used to just see a single one.
(In reply to comment #62)
> I wonder if bug 453326 might be a duplicate of this as well, they seem to
> describe the same problem.
> 

It looks like.

> Either way, the priority of this should be moved from "normal" to "major" or
> even "damned showstopper".  I dread having to open Firefox anymore because of
> the number of password dialog boxes I'm inundated with when I used to just see
> a single one.

I'm stuck on remaining reviews for bug 475053 to move forward with this. It's really a pity that fix won't get to 1.9.1.
Honza: I'm trying to ensure we get reviews for that bug presently. How much more work is the patch here? And is this really blocked on all of the bugs listed above (bug 230190, bug 348997, bug 475053)?
This is a real annoyance, and bug 453326 only reports the tip of the iceberg for pages requiring login -- you get the same repeated requests for master password if you have multiple login-dependent tabs to open on restart, just as the other users have reported for multiple proxy-dependent tabs.  I think I've noticed this ever since 3.0.

I routinely have to type in my master password anywhere from 4 to 8 times to open my saved tabs every morning.

There should be a way for the first triggering of a request for master password to set a flag in the program so that any other triggerings simply wait.  That would mean just one master password even if the tabs being loaded included a mix of login pages and proxy pages.  Looks like bug 475053 is on the path to fixing this, but make sure that the fix is applied to pages with login fields as well as proxy-dependent pages.
Here's another piece of info about this problem.

While I experience the master password issue at home as described above, there's another (related?) issue with the proxy login dialog.

At University when I start Firefox, I am prompted multiple times for the proxy login details because:

* Plugin Update wants to check for updates
* Multiple tabs are loading
I can confirm this behavior of Firefox since I use a master password - on all platforms I use (Win XP SP0,1,2,3; openSuSE 11.0,11.0,11.2(Factory)) with Firefox 3.x and 3.5 (all versions i ever used of it).

This bug is absolutely annoying and sometimes stops firefox from working (eg 60 tabs open wich all ask for the master password (proxy auth) -> typing into a password field becomes impossible and closing them is also sometimes impossible(FF locks down?!)

implementing the master password prompt seems to be a good solution for this because a user can only have 1 master password so no need to ask multiple times.

As I see it this should be fixed to all applicable versions and distributed as recommended update.

best regards
cobexer
(In reply to comment #66)
> * Plugin Update wants to check for updates

Yes, I have the feeling this part has gotten worse with one of the last 3.5 beta.

I am nominating "wanted" flags for this very long lasting bug in an attempt to call for attention. I hope not to bother too much with this.

Patrick
Flags: wanted1.9.2?
Flags: wanted1.9.1?
This also affects Thunderbird (here 2.0.0.21):
If you set a short time for mail checking (e.g. 3 minutes) and get distracted by a phone call for 15 minutes, then you have to enter the master password several times.
Very annoying. Voted.
Fixed today on m-c (1.9.1a1) in bug 475053.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 15 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
(In reply to comment #70)
> Fixed today on m-c (1.9.1a1) in bug 475053.

Err, on 1.9._2_a1!
Nice, will this be backported to firefox 3.5?
I had a long discussion about this with Boris. They are considering it but maybe it won't be possible to implement until October (when 3.6 comes out which contains the fix).
(In reply to comment #73)
> I had a long discussion about this with Boris. They are considering it but
> maybe it won't be possible to implement until October (when 3.6 comes out which
> contains the fix).

Taking into account that I reported this bug back in October 2006, I am just happy this has been tackled and will be implemented in a few months.

This has clearly been the most annoying bug in FF for me.

Thank you!

Patrick
Note there is an add-on you can use to work around this problem in the mean time by asking once for the master password at startup: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9808
(In reply to comment #75)
> Note there is an add-on you can use to work around this problem in the mean
> time by asking once for the master password at startup:
> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9808

Let it be known that even though the add-on makes sure that the proxy password prompts have my name and password filled in I still have to click OK (or press enter) on multiple dialog boxes. Restoring a saved session with many tabs is still annoying.
Try this extension it will auto submit
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4949
(In reply to comment #77)
> Try this extension it will auto submit
> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4949

Patrick, .... (looking for the right words and not finding any)... thank you.
(In reply to comment #77)
> Try this extension it will auto submit
> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4949

it's not a bit solving it, still asks for as many master password as tabs it wants to open (or even more)
No longer depends on: 348997
No longer depends on: 346658, 369963
Flags: wanted1.9.2?
Flags: wanted1.9.1?
Whiteboard: [fixed by bug 475053]
Target Milestone: --- → mozilla1.9.2a1
(In reply to comment #80)
> (In reply to comment #77)
> > Try this extension it will auto submit
> > https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4949
> 
> it's not a bit solving it, still asks for as many master password as tabs it
> wants to open (or even more)

Me too with trunk/Linux.
It's not fixed.

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.9.2a1pre) Gecko/20090807 Minefield/3.6a1pre
(In reply to comment #82)
> > it's not a bit solving it, still asks for as many master password as tabs it
> > wants to open (or even more)
> 
> Me too with trunk/Linux.
> It's not fixed.

And you are sure those prompts are for HTTP/Proxy authentications? Or are those normal login fields on the web page itself? If it is the latter please stop commenting on this bug.
(In reply to comment #83)
> (In reply to comment #82)
> > > it's not a bit solving it, still asks for as many master password as tabs it
> > > wants to open (or even more)
> > 
> > Me too with trunk/Linux.
> > It's not fixed.
> 
> And you are sure those prompts are for HTTP/Proxy authentications? Or are those
> normal login fields on the web page itself? If it is the latter please stop
> commenting on this bug.

They were normal login fields.
I am sorry, I misunderstood it.
Comment on attachment 318923 [details] [diff] [review]
only try once

removing obsolete review request in fixed bug
Attachment #318923 - Flags: review?(kaie)
(In reply to comment #73)
> I had a long discussion about this with Boris. They are considering it but
> maybe it won't be possible to implement until October (when 3.6 comes out which
> contains the fix).

In FF 3.6b5 this bug is not fixed. This is the most unbearable bug in Firefox.
I do not understand how it is posibble it is still not resolved after so many years.

How is it that this bug is marked as resolved?
Maxime, can you please describe how you reproduce this bug, provide a steps to reproduce? W/o further information your comment is a bit useless and we cannot figure out what's wrong. Thanks for more info.

This bug has been marked as fixed because a test according to steps-to-reproduce from description of this bug showed the problem had really been fixed.

Just let you know that there still are bugs in this area, we fixed so far only the most annoying and common cases.
I confirm, it is *fixed* but only for proxy authentication.

It is not fixed for form password logins.

There is even a race condition between the two. If proxy auth comes first, the forms don't trigger multiple prompts.
If forms come first there's a bonus master password prompt for the proxy auth.

Problem is that Bug 369963 talks about forms based passwords. That bug is marked duplicate of Bug 177175 which in turn is duplicate of THIS bug.

So in end, the form password bug is marked fixed through the bug dependencies but in reality it's *not* fixed.

So what now? Shall I open a new bug which will be immediately marked as duplicate of the wrongly fixed bugs?

On what bug should we comment if we have multiple passwords for forms based authentication?
Isn't it Bug 348997 that you're talking about?
Details are also explained in Bug 533086
georgeskesseler@yahoo.com: multiple master passwords for forms in different tabs is bug 499233, but please don't add unnecessary comments to that bug.

What you can do if you care about this issue is to make sure all the cases, that lead to master password appearing several times, are already reported and are linked from some central place.

You can see the list of open bugs mentioning master password here:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=:Core,Firefox,Toolkit%20master%20password
A good place for listing other cases that can lead to extra dialogs is at:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/Eradicate_Startup_Dialogs#Related_Bugs
(right now there's only bug 499233 on this issue).
In comment 92, Gunstick wrote:
> Problem is that Bug 369963 talks about forms based passwords. That bug is
> marked duplicate of Bug 177175 which in turn is duplicate of THIS bug.
> So in end, the form password bug is marked fixed through the bug 
> dependencies but in reality it's *not* fixed.

I'd reopen it (unmark it as duplicate), but comments 93 and 94 suggest that
there is disagreement about which bugs are the proper ones to reopen.  
If you all can reach consensus on which bugs are still unfixed, they can be
unmarked as duplicates and reopened.
I didn't mean 93 and 94 to suggest a disagreement, I think those two are the same bugs, just giving different explanations on how to replicate the issue.
This is still open on 3.5.7.

Not only that but the dialogs must be addressed in reverse order. Can we at least prevent these from being modal. This always comes up whenever I want to CHANGE my proxy settings. Why isn't there an option to do so? - "USE DIRECT CONNECTION INSTEAD," "SHUT UP AND LET ME BROWSE," or something.
Another bug marked as a duplicate, even though the status of this bug is marked as resolved fixed.  It is still an ongoing problem so it is not fixed.
The FIXED resolution of this bug means exactly one thing: proxy authentication on startup does not cause multiple master password prompts in Firefox 3.6 and later.

The master password prompt can still appear multiple times in other cases -- the causes are tracked in bug 177175, recently reopened. There is one such case known at this moment, and it's being worked on for the next version of Firefox.

Some reports of MP appearing multiple times were marked as duplicates of this bug, even though they were not specifically about the proxy authentication. Sorry about the confusion. If there are specific bugs about other causes (i.e. not master password caused by form fill), please mark them as blocking bug 177175.
Blocks: 177175
Whiteboard: [fixed by bug 475053] → [fixed by bug 475053]. Other issues with Master Password appearing multiple times are tracked in 95397
> Some reports of MP appearing multiple times were marked as duplicates of this
> bug, even though they were not specifically about the proxy authentication.
> Sorry about the confusion. If there are specific bugs about other causes (i.e.
> not master password caused by form fill), please mark them as blocking bug
> 177175.
Thank you for that clarification
Whiteboard: [fixed by bug 475053]. Other issues with Master Password appearing multiple times are tracked in 95397 → [fixed by bug 475053]. Other issues with Master Password appearing multiple times are tracked in 177175
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