Firefox ate my saved logins :-(

[bonedome]

Hello
avij

Code: Select all

firefox-60.4.0-1.el7.centos.x86_64

which is probably the same as anyone who's updated lately.
I'm still confused as to what file holds what information.
I tried renaming key3.db which deleted the new saved logins (no master password) I made yesterday and firefox created a new (empty) key3.db, I deleted the new key3.db and renamed the original back to key3.db and they returned.
Am I correct in believing key3.db is a legacy file and has been superseded by key4.db from firefox 58 onwards, if this is so, why is firefox still saving my logins in key3.db.
I'm going to write all my new username/passwords down, delete/rename key3.db with firefox still running, create a master password with at least one login, close firefox and see what happens, I'll report back.
One benefit to all this is I've changed my passwords to all my accounts (that I can access via cookies) yet again.
Anyone know of an addon that can encrypt my saved logins, have a master password, not be stored in the cloud and not delete my logins every f**king update.
I still have one gmail account I can't access that is linked to several accounts I can't log into, one of which owes me money.

[taylorkh]

I am not sure about key3.db being superseded by key4.db. At least not when and how. I just rolled back FF to 60.2.0esr - the offending version and launched it to create a new profile. I observed a key3.db file appear. (It does not save credentials with a master password set.) I upgraded back to 60.4.0ser - the latest version, deleted the profile and launched FF. I again see the key3.db file being created.

On the other hand... on an Ubuntu 18.04 machine, FF 64.0, I find the key4.db file.

It is my understanding that the esr package is tweaked by the "upstream vendor" and is not necessarily in sync with the application maintainer (Mozilla). I have key3.db files in FF profiles on several CentOS 7.6 machines which are running FF 60.4.0esr without issue. Perhaps when the upstream provider bumps up the FF version to 64 or something closer to the Mozilla current version there may be an upgrade to the key4.db format. Or more adventures such as this one Backup, backup and BACKUP !!!

Ken

[taylorkh]

For my latest trick I copied my key3.db containing profile from my CentOS 7.6 FF 60.4.0esr to the Ubuntu Mate 18.04 FF 64 machine. I launched FF and my stored credentials were available upon entering my master password. I am in fact logged onto this site from Ubuntu. I observed that the key3.db file has disappeared and key4.db has been created. I guess FF can make the conversion automagically which is a good thing.

Ken

[bonedome]

I just renamed key3.db, unable to auto login but passwords still present in about:preferences, created master password, closed firefox, restarted and master password and logins gone, key3.db not created.
Restarted firefox, key3.db created, created master password and some logins, all working fine.
Closed firefox, before restart checked .mozilla/firefox/*****default and key3.db gone, open firefox, key3.db created and master password and logins gone.
It seems that if I create a master password, key3.db is deleted on closing firefox, maybe I could create a symbolic link to a working key3.db or would that just get ignored/overwritten on startup ?

Ok tried something else, downloaded the esr binary from mozilla, renamed original key3.db back and started binary, no passwords, closed binary, opened centos firefox rpm, key3.db gone, master password and logins back!
Strangely don't require master password to login any more, only to view the actual passwords.
Didn't work, restart firefox key3.db recreated, passwords all gone.

In summary, if you set a master password it is stored in key3.db along with any saved passwords/logins which is deleted when firefox is closed, same behaviour with addons disabled.
I've decided it's safer to just write my passwords down with good ole pen and paper and fill in each login every time.

[taylorkh]

If I may ask, do you have multiple repos enabled on your system? and if so, are you using yum-priorities? Perhaps there is a dependency fubar with a dependency of the wrong version being installed from a different repo. Let me know if you wish to explore down this road.

Ken

[bonedome]

Hello
and thanks Ken for your input and nothing unusual on the repo front.
I am keeping my fingers crossed as I may have found the cure, from my web searching it seems that pre firefox 58
key3.db and signons.sqlite were used to store passwords, from 58 onward key4.db and logins.json are used, all solutions suggested removing key3.db once key4.db is created, which didn't work for me.
logins.json contains all my saved username/password pairs in encrypted/hash form and signons.sqlite is empty so I deleted it and key4.db, after several restarts the master password and logins are all still there.
So I now have key3.db and logins.json which according to mozilla is not correct, but still works.
I have a copy of key3.db for when it goes walkies again.

[TrevorH]

The Redhat firefox has those password file changes omitted. And they keep mucking up the code that added that was meant to stop the new file format from being used...