Account Password visible in the settings
Hello, I did just make a clean reinstallation of Thunderbird and while going through the setting I have notices that at Passwords / Save Passwords / `Show Passwords` my Account Passwords can be access with less effort.
My question now is, why is this even a feature?
In my mind, this should be by default off. Or at least informed me at the first account setup that my passwords are visible in the Settings, and if I want to set up a Master Password as well.
Is there an option to have the Button `Show Password` disable? Or if a Master Password have to be, then set it for only access `Show Password` but not for the login in to Thunderbird.
All Replies (4)
I'm assuming you use Windows OS unless you state otherwise. I'm also assuming you are using an up to date version of Thunderbird. I'm assuming you do not allow anyone else to use your computer OR if they do - they do not use your own User Account on computer.
When you logon to computer it asks you for a password to access your computer User Account and see desktop. This means there is a level of protection for all documents etc in that User Account. No one else should have your personal User Account password, so they do not get any access to your desktop environment.
When you run Thunderbird and want to access saved passwords, when you click on 'Saved Passwords' it should only display the username account data - not the actual passwords. But when you click on 'Show Passwords', it should ask for the Windows User Account password in order to display the passwords. This a another level of protection just in case someone is looking over your shoulder at this moment in time and you do not want them to see the actual passwords. So you can cancel if required.
You also have the option to completely remove that Windows password request. You will need to enter the computer User Account password in order to access and disable it. This may be ok and suit you, if you are the only person using computer and no one else has your User Account password and you do not leave computer switched on and logged on to your User Account whilst you are not present.
There is also an option to set up a 'Primary Password' which would operate instead of the Windows OS request for computer user account password. It does the same thing. The 'Primary Password' is not a mail account password, it's something you set up as a separate access level of security. This should be set up if others have access to your computer and access to your computer User Account password - unusual but possible.
The Primary Password is asked when you start up Thunderbird as it will use password to access and download emails, but it is not a login to Thunderbird. It's usually asked once per session when you first start up Thunderbird or if you specifically want to see saved passwords. You do not have to enter it. Thunderbird will still proceed to download mail.
Info on Primary Password:
Please note: The Primary Password does not prevent access to Thunderbird, so you should still be able to see emails etc.
If you are the only person using your computer then a Primary Password is not really necessary as it's only stopping you from seeing your own mail account passwords. But I would advise you ensure you have a computer User Account password as it offers protection to all your documents on your computer.
Thank you, so
I'm assuming you use Windows OS:
No, it is a Linux System
I'm also assuming you are using an up to date version of Thunderbird: yes, the Version is `thunderbird 128.7.0-1`
I'm assuming you do not allow anyone else to use your computer: No, I don't allow others on my PC. But in case that I forget to lock My System in the classroom or get distracted I would feel saver if I know, that the button `Show Passwords` is behind a password request or not even there.
But when you click on 'Show Passwords', it should ask for the Windows User Account password in order to display the passwords: This is the problem, it don't ask for my System Password or any password. It asks for a confirmation, if I click “yes” it's showing all Password freely. It would be protected if the Primary Password is set, but the Primary Password would also protect the startup from thunderbird.
If I use the Primary Password, for that, it would be great to have the option to disable it for the startup process of this application.
Also, I don't really see any use case for thunderbird to show my password. For that, I use an external Password Manager and that is behind a Primary Password.
Please note: The Primary Password does not prevent access to Thunderbird, so you should still be able to see emails etc.: This is sadly not true on my system. If I click away the prompt at start, I can not access my mails.
More to my is System: ``` System:
Kernel: 6.12.12-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Nitro ANV15-51 v: V1.08 serial: <superuser required> Mobo: RPL model: Sportage_RTH v: V1.08 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: INSYDE v: 1.08 date: 10/31/2023
Battery:
ID-1: BAT1 charge: 50.5 Wh (100.0%) condition: 50.5/58.8 Wh (85.9%)
CPU:
Info: 10-core (6-mt/4-st) model: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13620H bits: 64 type: MST AMCP cache: L2: 9.5 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 860 min/max: 400/4700:4900:3600 cores: 1: 860 2: 860 3: 860 4: 860 5: 860 6: 860 7: 860 8: 860 9: 860 10: 860 11: 860 12: 860 13: 860 14: 860 15: 860 16: 860
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-P [UHD Graphics] driver: i915 v: kernel Device-2: NVIDIA AD107M [GeForce RTX 4050 Max-Q / Mobile] driver: nvidia v: 550.144.03 Device-3: Quanta ACER HD User Facing driver: uvcvideo type: USB Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.15 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.5 driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia dri: iris gpu: i915 resolution: 1920x1080~144Hz API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,kms_swrast,nvidia platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.3.4-arch1.1 renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (RPL-P) API: Vulkan v: 1.4.303 drivers: N/A surfaces: xcb,xlib Info: Tools: api: eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo de: xfce4-display-settings gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl Device-2: NVIDIA AD107 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel API: ALSA v: k6.12.12-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active
Network:
Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter> Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet driver: N/A IF-ID-1: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth driver: btusb type: USB Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2
RAID:
Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller Intel driver: vmd
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 2.75 TiB used: 829.64 GiB (29.5%) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Western Digital model: WD PC SN740 SDDQNQD-1T00-1014 size: 953.87 GiB ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB size: 1.82 TiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 850.88 GiB used: 691.64 GiB (81.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0 ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 448 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 43.4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swapfile
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 42.2 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 31.05 GiB used: 6.85 GiB (22.1%) Processes: 445 Uptime: 56m Shell: Zsh inxi: 3.3.37
```
Modified by terashy
Thank you, so
I'm assuming you use Windows OS:
No, it is a Linux System
I'm also assuming you are using an up to date version of Thunderbird: yes, the Version is `thunderbird 128.7.0-1`
I'm assuming you do not allow anyone else to use your computer: No, I don't allow others on my PC. But in case that I forget to lock My System in the classroom or get distracted I would feel saver if I know, that the button `Show Passwords` is behind a password request or not even there.
But when you click on 'Show Passwords', it should ask for the Windows User Account password in order to display the passwords: This is the problem, it don't ask for my System Password or any password. It asks for a confirmation, if I click “yes” it's showing all Password freely. It would be protected if the Primary Password is set, but the Primary Password would also protect the startup from thunderbird.
If I use the Primary Password, for that, it would be great to have the option to disable it for the startup process of this application.
Also, I don't really see any use case for thunderbird to show my password. For that, I use an external Password Manager and that is behind a Primary Password.
Please note: The Primary Password does not prevent access to Thunderbird, so you should still be able to see emails etc.: This is sadly not true on my system. If I click away the prompt at start, I can not access my mails.
More to my System: ``` System:
Kernel: 6.12.12-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Nitro ANV15-51 v: V1.08 serial: <superuser required> Mobo: RPL model: Sportage_RTH v: V1.08 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: INSYDE v: 1.08 date: 10/31/2023
Battery:
ID-1: BAT1 charge: 50.5 Wh (100.0%) condition: 50.5/58.8 Wh (85.9%)
CPU:
Info: 10-core (6-mt/4-st) model: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13620H bits: 64 type: MST AMCP cache: L2: 9.5 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 860 min/max: 400/4700:4900:3600 cores: 1: 860 2: 860 3: 860 4: 860 5: 860 6: 860 7: 860 8: 860 9: 860 10: 860 11: 860 12: 860 13: 860 14: 860 15: 860 16: 860
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-P [UHD Graphics] driver: i915 v: kernel Device-2: NVIDIA AD107M [GeForce RTX 4050 Max-Q / Mobile] driver: nvidia v: 550.144.03 Device-3: Quanta ACER HD User Facing driver: uvcvideo type: USB Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.15 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.5 driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia dri: iris gpu: i915 resolution: 1920x1080~144Hz API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,kms_swrast,nvidia platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.3.4-arch1.1 renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (RPL-P) API: Vulkan v: 1.4.303 drivers: N/A surfaces: xcb,xlib Info: Tools: api: eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo de: xfce4-display-settings gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl Device-2: NVIDIA AD107 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel API: ALSA v: k6.12.12-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active
Network:
Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter> Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet driver: N/A IF-ID-1: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth driver: btusb type: USB Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2
RAID:
Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller Intel driver: vmd
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 2.75 TiB used: 829.64 GiB (29.5%) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Western Digital model: WD PC SN740 SDDQNQD-1T00-1014 size: 953.87 GiB ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB size: 1.82 TiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 850.88 GiB used: 691.64 GiB (81.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0 ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 448 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 43.4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swapfile
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 42.2 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 31.05 GiB used: 6.85 GiB (22.1%) Processes: 445 Uptime: 56m Shell: Zsh inxi: 3.3.37
```
Modified by terashy
Thank you, so
I'm assuming you use Windows OS:
No, it is a Linux System
I'm also assuming you are using an up to date version of Thunderbird: yes, the Version is `thunderbird 128.7.0-1`
I'm assuming you do not allow anyone else to use your computer: No, I don't allow others on my PC. But in case that I forget to lock My System in the classroom or get distracted I would feel saver if I know, that the button `Show Passwords` is behind a password request or not even there.
But when you click on 'Show Passwords', it should ask for the Windows User Account password in order to display the passwords: This is the problem, it don't ask for my System Password or any password. It asks for a confirmation, if I click “yes” it's showing all Password freely. It would be protected if the Primary Password is set, but the Primary Password would also protect the startup from thunderbird.
If I use the Primary Password, for that, it would be great to have the option to disable it for the startup process of this application.
Also, I don't really see any use case for thunderbird to show my password. For that, I use an external Password Manager and that is behind a Primary Password.
Please note: The Primary Password does not prevent access to Thunderbird, so you should still be able to see emails etc.: This is sadly not true on my system. If I click away the prompt at start, I can not access my mails.
More to my System: ``` System:
Kernel: 6.12.12-2-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Nitro ANV15-51 v: V1.08 serial: <superuser required> Mobo: RPL model: Sportage_RTH v: V1.08 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: INSYDE v: 1.08 date: 10/31/2023
Battery:
ID-1: BAT1 charge: 50.5 Wh (100.0%) condition: 50.5/58.8 Wh (85.9%)
CPU:
Info: 10-core (6-mt/4-st) model: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13620H bits: 64 type: MST AMCP cache: L2: 9.5 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 860 min/max: 400/4700:4900:3600 cores: 1: 860 2: 860 3: 860 4: 860 5: 860 6: 860 7: 860 8: 860 9: 860 10: 860 11: 860 12: 860 13: 860 14: 860 15: 860 16: 860
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-P [UHD Graphics] driver: i915 v: kernel Device-2: NVIDIA AD107M [GeForce RTX 4050 Max-Q / Mobile] driver: nvidia v: 550.144.03 Device-3: Quanta ACER HD User Facing driver: uvcvideo type: USB Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.15 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.5 driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia dri: iris gpu: i915 resolution: 1920x1080~144Hz API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,kms_swrast,nvidia platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.3.4-arch1.1 renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (RPL-P) API: Vulkan v: 1.4.303 drivers: N/A surfaces: xcb,xlib Info: Tools: api: eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo de: xfce4-display-settings gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-P/U/H cAVS driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl Device-2: NVIDIA AD107 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel API: ALSA v: k6.12.12-2-MANJARO status: kernel-api Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active
Network:
Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter> Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet driver: N/A IF-ID-1: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth driver: btusb type: USB Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2
RAID:
Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller Intel driver: vmd
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 2.75 TiB used: 829.64 GiB (29.5%) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Western Digital model: WD PC SN740 SDDQNQD-1T00-1014 size: 953.87 GiB ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB size: 1.82 TiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 850.88 GiB used: 691.64 GiB (81.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0 ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 448 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p6
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 43.4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) file: /swapfile
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 42.2 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 31.05 GiB used: 6.85 GiB (22.1%) Processes: 445 Uptime: 56m Shell: Zsh inxi: 3.3.37
```
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