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Master password prompt opens up in background

f.schollmeyer
f.schollmeyer
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Hi everyone,

Yesterday I used firefox to google some stuff. I had three tabs open, one google showing the search results, and two of the search results. The browser was running like this in the background, I was working in another application.

After some time I noticed, that the windows taskbar indicated that two windows for firefox were opened. I clicked on the taskbar, and saw that the second one was a "Please enter your main password" dialog. It was only the dialog, no additional firefox window.

This behavior seems very weird to me. Usually the password prompt only opens, when a page contains a login. Then it is a modal dialog that is displayed on top of the active window. It is not shown as a separate window in the taskbar. 

Could this be some kind of virus that is trying to steal my stored passwords?

The following additional information may be relevant: - The system was freshly installed two days ago, completely wiping the main harddisk. The latest version of firefox was installed. I copied my old profile into the %APPDATA% folder, but chose "start fresh" during installation, so bookmarks etc. were imported, but extensions were deleted. Apart from that only thunderbird and anti virus software was installed. - Only two extensions are installed: ublock origin and umatrix, both by Raymond Gorrhill. - I do not use firefox sync and do not have firefox login active - I do not use AVG or ESET as antivirus solution, but BitDefender. However BitDefender also uses some MITM stuff to inspect HTTPS traffic. - None of the opened tabs contained a login for which I have stored credentials. Upon restarting the browser and reopening the tabs it was not reproducible. Also it hasn't happened again after this. - I thoroughly scanned the system (BitDefender Virus scan, MBAM System Scan with rootkit scan activated and with a linux rescue CD containing multiple virus scanners (Sophos, Kaspersky and Open Threat Scanner). No findings at all.

Any ideas about this? Do you guys think that is a virus that is somehow using firefox software to trick me into decrypting my passwords? Or is this normal behavior that might happen?

Thanks a lot for your support, Felix

Hi everyone, Yesterday I used firefox to google some stuff. I had three tabs open, one google showing the search results, and two of the search results. The browser was running like this in the background, I was working in another application. After some time I noticed, that the windows taskbar indicated that two windows for firefox were opened. I clicked on the taskbar, and saw that the second one was a "Please enter your main password" dialog. It was only the dialog, no additional firefox window. This behavior seems very weird to me. Usually the password prompt only opens, when a page contains a login. Then it is a modal dialog that is displayed on top of the active window. It is not shown as a separate window in the taskbar. Could this be some kind of virus that is trying to steal my stored passwords? The following additional information may be relevant: - The system was freshly installed two days ago, completely wiping the main harddisk. The latest version of firefox was installed. I copied my old profile into the %APPDATA% folder, but chose "start fresh" during installation, so bookmarks etc. were imported, but extensions were deleted. Apart from that only thunderbird and anti virus software was installed. - Only two extensions are installed: ublock origin and umatrix, both by Raymond Gorrhill. - I do not use firefox sync and do not have firefox login active - I do not use AVG or ESET as antivirus solution, but BitDefender. However BitDefender also uses some MITM stuff to inspect HTTPS traffic. - None of the opened tabs contained a login for which I have stored credentials. Upon restarting the browser and reopening the tabs it was not reproducible. Also it hasn't happened again after this. - I thoroughly scanned the system (BitDefender Virus scan, MBAM System Scan with rootkit scan activated and with a linux rescue CD containing multiple virus scanners (Sophos, Kaspersky and Open Threat Scanner). No findings at all. Any ideas about this? Do you guys think that is a virus that is somehow using firefox software to trick me into decrypting my passwords? Or is this normal behavior that might happen? Thanks a lot for your support, Felix

All Replies (4)

FredMcD
FredMcD
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Are you using sync? If so, that is causing the pop-up. If you want to stop this, you will need to disable the Primary (Master) Password.

f.schollmeyer
f.schollmeyer Question owner
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Hi FredMcD, no I'm not using sync.

FredMcD
FredMcD
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Then it could be an add-on, but I don't know. You will have to keep track to see when it opens.

f.schollmeyer
f.schollmeyer Question owner
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Hi FreeMcD,

thanks for your response.

Just to clarify, it's not like it's happening all the time and is annoying or something, this just happened once.

I'm just worried about this one time, as circumstances were suspicious (prompt was non-modal, in a second window, no page with a login mask opened, etc.) I worry if this might be caused by a virus that is trying to steal my credentials or whether this is "normal" behavior that might happen for whatever weird circumstances.

Thanks, Felix