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What exactly is encrypted by Primary Password?

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  • Last reply by cor-el

cherryseemstolikeme
cherryseemstolikeme
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Good afternoon,

I have read in an article a statement that Primary Password encrypts all saved logins, therefore it is safer and recommended to use it. Well, I observed that it does not really matter if the password is set for the contents of logins.json, it does not change. What exactly is encrypted by Primary Password and how does it improve security?

I also tried to set the same password for different websites (I used a different mail tho) and the output in logins.json is different, which is even more confusing to me.

The output itself is kind of strange, the first part of it seems to be the same for almost all entries and looks like that: MEoEEPgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEwFAYIKoZIhvcNAwc.

Good afternoon, I have read in an article a statement that Primary Password encrypts all saved logins, therefore it is safer and recommended to use it. Well, I observed that it does not really matter if the password is set for the contents of ''logins.json'', it does not change. What exactly is encrypted by Primary Password and how does it improve security? I also tried to set the same password for different websites (I used a different mail tho) and the output in ''logins.json'' is different, which is even more confusing to me. The output itself is kind of strange, the first part of it seems to be the same for almost all entries and looks like that: '''MEoEEPgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEwFAYIKoZIhvcNAwc'''.

Chosen solution

That is correct, the Primary Password doesn't change the content of logins.json. The PP encrypts the encryption key (seed) that is stored key4.db and logins.json stays the same. This means that replacing this key4.db with an older copy of key4.db that doesn't have the PP applied is able to access the logins in case you forget the PP.

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cor-el
cor-el
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Chosen Solution

That is correct, the Primary Password doesn't change the content of logins.json. The PP encrypts the encryption key (seed) that is stored key4.db and logins.json stays the same. This means that replacing this key4.db with an older copy of key4.db that doesn't have the PP applied is able to access the logins in case you forget the PP.

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