Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Lolu chungechunge lwabekwa kunqolobane. Uyacelwa ubuze umbuzo omusha uma udinga usizo.

FIrefox occasionally asks for a master password, in a dialog-box, in middle of its window, instead of dropdown -- Do I have malware ?

more options

FIrefox occasionally asks for a master password, in a dialog-box, in middle of its window, instead of the usual drop-down from the top of its window -- Do I have malware ?

( Can't uplaod the 1.6MB screenshot ) .

FIrefox occasionally asks for a master password, in a dialog-box, in middle of its window, instead of the usual drop-down from the top of its window -- Do I have malware ? ( Can't uplaod the 1.6MB screenshot ) .

All Replies (20)

more options

I'm used to seeing it in an ugly dialog in the middle of the window, and I can't remember seeing it in a nicer one. However, I run Windows 7...

more options

On the Mac, even in "Preferences" (what, on Windows, might be called "Tools"/"Options"), it is a drop-down(from the top of the window)-menu . I just tested this .

more options

In that case, the other format is suspicious.

more options

As for why it appears, a sketchy or compromised web page, ad network, or add-on could be the source.

You can view, disable, and often remove unwanted or unknown extensions on the Add-ons page. Either:

  • Command+Shift+a (Windows: Ctrl+Shift+a)
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
  • type or paste about:addons in the address bar and press Enter/Return

In the left column of the Add-ons page, click Extensions.

Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right side. Any extensions Firefox installs for built-in features are hidden from this page, so everything listed here is your choice (and your responsibility) to manage. Anything suspicious or that you just do not remember installing or why? If in doubt, disable (or remove).

Any improvement?

more options

I wish that I could convince my European Mac anti-malware company (Intego), that it may be a legitimate concern .

more options

Does that centered window looks the same as the usual master password window?

Does it reappear if you enter the wrong master password?

more options

The centered Mac Firefox master password window, looks the same, as the MAC-admin-account's (NOT, necessarily, Firefox's) master password dialog-window .

I don't-yet recall, if it re-appears, if you enter a randomly-wrong-password -- I'll keep you posted .

more options

BTW, I JUST updated, to Firefox v62.0.2 .

more options

Hi, please give your self a Scan : https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

more options

I can't use MalwareBytes -- it appears to interfere, with the Intego Premium X9 anti-malware suite (as I found-out, to my dismay) .

Intego VBX9, finds, nothing, on a "full-scan" .

more options

Well that may reassure you, but seen it.

Should disable it and run Malwarebytes then turn it back on.

While it can detect viruses, it lacks the features modern anti-malware software requires. https://www.macworld.com/article/3268748/software/intego-mac-internet-security-x9-review.html

more options

Thanks for the review .

The free MalwareBytes version, that I had installed beside the Intego Premium X9, ran only for two minutes, so I don't know if it really did an adequate job .

more options

If you see it again, could you try raising the zoom level in the page (e.g., hold down Command and tap + several times). If the dialog resizes with the page, it likely is in the content area, generated by a page or inserted by an add-on. You can reset the zoom level by holding down Command and tapping 0 (zero).

more options

I haven't-yet tried the zoom, but the phenomena, just happened (the dialog-box in the middle-of-the-screen, just poped-up), and I entered a bad-master-password, whereupon the dialog disappeared & re-appeared, from the drop-down-from-the-top !

more options
more options

I entered the wrong master-password, on-purpose, when the "master-password-dialog-box", appeared, in the center-of-the-screen, to see if it was actually prompted by Firefox (which it seems, it was (even WITHOUT the suggested "zoom"-test), as the center-of-screen's-dialog-box disappeared, and the Mac's-"drop-down-from-top"-"Firefox's-master-password-dialog-box", re-appeared, to ask again) .

From this evidence, it seems, that it is a Firefox programming error, somehow .

more options

When the master-password-dialog-box, just came-up, in the middle of my Mac's Firefox window, it was unaffected by the "zoom"-key-combinations mentioned-above, either inside the dialog-box, or outside the dialog-box, (but within the Firefox's window) .

Therefore, it seems to be a Firefox bug .

more options

I don't know how Firefox would show a Windows-style dialog one moment and a Mac-style one the next.

Can you screenshot the one that's not in the correct platform style and indicate the circumstances that trigger it? Most likely the circumstances are that Firefox has saved a login for the site you're loading and you haven't entered the master password recently. But if it happens randomly that's troubling.

more options

Did I mention, that when I enter the wrong master-password, on the primary-screen middle-of-the-screen-dialog-box of my mid-2015-Retina-MacBook_Pro, and THAT dialog-box disappears, the drop-down re-request for the Firefox master-password, re-appears in the 2ndary-monitor, in a pre-existing 2nd-window of Firefox ?

more options

It's probably best if you file a bug report and flesh it all out for the developers if this is all about an error in rendering the dialog and not a potential security problem.

  1. 1
  2. 2