nanog mailing list archives

Re: Google uploading your plain text passwords


From: Tom Beecher <beecher () beecher cc>
Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2021 13:12:27 -0400


There's a problem with your theory. The browser I viewed the passwords
from Google in wasn't Chrome. And it didn't have a local copy of any
Google passwords or keys. The only place they could have come from was
Google's server.


Yes. The *encrypted* blob of login/password data was retrieved from
Google's servers over a TLS protected session. When you click on any
password to view it, the Javascript that it also downloaded presents you
with another password challenge, which when successful, the JS will then to
decrypt and display the data.

- Nothing is ever transmitted in the clear.
- The decryption as far I can see is only ever done locally. ( Using the OS
hooks if in Chrome, or Javascript via passwords.google.com. )

On Sat, Jun 12, 2021 at 10:36 PM William Herrin <bill () herrin us> wrote:

On Sat, Jun 12, 2021 at 3:55 PM K. Scott Helms <kscott.helms () gmail com>
wrote:
I don't think you're lying, but you are mistaken.

"I'm not lying. Google's server at passwords.google.com
composed an html web page containing my plaintext passwords and sent
it to me. Not decrypted by my browser after combining it with a
locally stored key. "

So, you're not describing all of the possible ways to decrypt data.
What's happening is that the keys to decrypt the passwords are handed to
your client (with some checks like a local admin password or pin) when you
attempt to decrypt a given password.  The passwords _are_ decrypted on your
device and you did not get a HTML page with your passwords.  Please, go
look at the source yourself.  What you got was a page that's almost
entirely javascript and that includes the functions that handle the
decryption.

Don't take my word for it, "When you log in to a website while signed in
to Chrome, Chrome encrypts your username and password with a secret key
known only to your device. Then it sends an obscured copy of your data to
Google. Because the encryption happens before Google’s servers get the
information, nobody, including Google, learns your username or password."

There's a problem with your theory. The browser I viewed the passwords
from Google in wasn't Chrome. And it didn't have a local copy of any
Google passwords or keys. The only place they could have come from was
Google's server.

Regards,
Bill Herrin



--
William Herrin
bill () herrin us
https://bill.herrin.us/


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