538253 - On startup with a saved session: Master password is requested once for every tab which contains a password form

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 499233

(Firefox :: Tabbed Browser, defect)

Description

[Bernd Wechner]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.7) Gecko/20091221 Firefox/3.5.7 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.7) Gecko/20091221 Firefox/3.5.7 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

I have lots of open tabs most of the time. If I quite firefox and open it again, I'm prompted for the master password, understandably, if it's needed to complete a form that is just being loaded. This can be the facebook login page, an email login page or any other login page that is presented because the session behind that page expired since I closed firefox (and I now need to log in again).

This is all in order. Firefox duly prompts me for the master password so it can autofill the log-in form(s).

The problem is, if I have 10 such tabs open I have to type my master password 10 times into 10 dialog boxes on on top of the other. It's quite a time consuming bother.

Clearly once I've typed my master password once, the remaining tabs ought somehow to be aware of this and not be asking me for it again.

I imagine a technical issue here with the back end engine synchronizing events and maybe communicating between threads. Each tab presu8meably displays the password prompt at roughly the same time as the tab is created on startup from the saved session information. They then all wait in parallel for my response. The first one I fill i has presumably not clean method presently of telling the others that it's all O.K. now, nor do subsequent tabs presumably have any way presently to ask "is there a master password request already pending, and if so wait for that response, don't request it again".

I searched rather extensively for this bug, and failed to find it. If it's a dupe please just flag it as such. 

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open a pile of tabs on sites that require login
2. Login and have firefox remember your passwords
3. Make sure they are secured with a master password
4. Log out from each of the sites so that they display their login page again
5. Enable the option: When firefox starts "show my windows and tabs from last time".
5. Close firefox leaving the tabs open
6. Open firefox
Actual Results:  
You will be prompted for the master password. Enter it and click OK. You'll immediately see another prompt under the one you dismissed and this will continue with one per tab.

Expected Results:  
To be prompted for the master password once and only once, and when it's entered to have all tabs respect that and autofill as expected.

Comment 2

[Greg Christopher]

Hi-
    I don't feel that bug 499233 is a dup.

    I am seeing the same problem and it is new with 3.5.7. Bug 499233 addresses forms in multiple tabs. Like Bernd, I am seeing this for the first time when restoring a session.

    Our internal wiki page is password protected. I often have multiple windows (not tabs) opened to different wiki pages. In the past, I would type the master password once and the pages would all be opened or at least have the name and password populated as a result.  Now I have to type the master password for each page- in my case this can be over 10 times.

    I suspect something changed very recently in the way password requests are brokered.  

    I have noticed that some users don't protect the password vault, keychain (whatever we call it here) with a master password. Those who are wise enough to do so are going to be affected by this bug.

Comment 3

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+1]]

There is no known patch which went into a 1.9.1 (aka Firefox 3.5.x) build lately that I'm aware of. So if this would be a regression you should test older versions of Firefox until 3.5 if something is noticeable different. Until this time bug 499233 describes the exact details from your comment 2, Greg. If you have more information please add those to bug 499233.

Comment 4

[Greg Christopher]

Hi,
     Interesting that this only started happening recently for me and my usage pattern has not changed for a long time.

    I figured out how to download an older firefox so I'll give it a shot.