Latest Update (1.73.89) broke the keyring password workaround

I’m using Linux Mint 21.1. I have my computer set to start without a password. To avoid having to enter a password the first time I open Brave after a fresh boot, I installed Seahorse, then, in Passwords and Keys, I set the keyring password to no password. That had been working fine until the last update. I now have to enter a password when I open up Brave for the first time after a fresh boot. I have tried resetting the password in Passwords and Keys to no password but I’m still stuck with having to enter a password.

I was able to temporarily fix it by restoring an image from five days ago but when I ran the last update, I had to start inputting a password again.

What happened and how can I fix it?

Can you run the following command (on the user account that has problems) using the version of Brave that works and the version of Brave that triggers a password prompt?

brave-browser-stable --enable-logging=stderr --vmodule=key_storage_linux=1

You should see something like:

[98785:98785:1114/120537.609487:VERBOSE1:key_storage_linux.cc(117)] Selected backend for OSCrypt: BASIC_TEXT
[98785:98785:1114/120537.609511:VERBOSE1:key_storage_linux.cc(128)] Trying to find a working backend manually.
[98785:98785:1114/120537.636016:VERBOSE1:key_storage_linux.cc(165)] OSCrypt using Libsecret as backend.
[98785:98785:1114/120537.636034:VERBOSE1:key_storage_linux.cc(128)] Successfully found a working backend: GNOME_LIBSECRET

I’m sorry to take so long to respond. By the time I saw your post, I had looked up that last update and found it wasn’t a security update and only fixed issues that I wasn’t having so I just did another Timeshift snapshot restore back to before this update and blocked just this one update (not future ones). For now, my problem is solved.

Thanks!

If a future Brave update causes this problem again, I’ll revisit this.

Well, the latest update did it again. Here are the results you asked for.

jeannie@dt1:~$ brave-browser-stable --enable-logging=stderr --vmodule=key_storage_linux=1
[3644:3644:1120/161032.740946:WARNING:chrome_main_delegate.cc(672)] This is Chrome version 131.1.73.91 (not a warning)
Opening in existing browser session.
jeannie@dt1:~$

Now what?

Anyone?

(text to fulfill silly minimum character requirement)

@LadyFitzgerald Just replying to your own topic doesn’t send notifications to anyone. It’s best to tag someone, like I’ve done here, to ensure your reply gets noticed. Also, it’s worth mentioning that it’s only been a day since your last reply, and you previously mentioned that your issue was resolved.

I wanted to share this article, as it may contain information related to your issue: Sensitive Data Storage.

Regarding your current problem, I recall seeing a similar issue before where the solution involved ensuring the keyring or secure storage was unlocked before launching Brave or your desktop environment. If the keyring isn’t initialized and unlocked first, you’ll receive a prompt to input your password so Brave can access the keychain. This is necessary for encrypting/decrypting passwords and enabling features like sync.

Tagging @Mattches and @fmarier for additional insights, as this is outside my expertise.

I hope the above details are helpful, but I’m not certain if they apply directly to your situation. At the very least, it’s something to consider while waiting for support to respond.

Actually, I said I had temporarily fixed the problem before by restoring a Timeshift snapshot to a state before the first “offending” update. Since the next update repeated the problem, something else needed to be done.

I had this problem in the distant pass and the solution was to use Seahorse to bypass a password. I tried it again this time with no results so Brave has changed something else and something else will need to be done at my end to fix this.

I looked at the article you linked but it pretty much went over my head.

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Opening in existing browser session.

You’ll have to close all Brave windows before you run that command because the above just says that it found a Brave process already running and switched to that instead of starting up from scratch.

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