This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Which password does Firefox use to encrypt my passwords/sync data?

  • 3 majibu
  • 1 ana tatizo hili
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

Jamie Kitson
Jamie Kitson
more options

This article [1] has confused me, specifically:

> if somebody were able to get your username and password, all they could get is your encrypted data records. They would then need to know your passphrase to decrypt your data.

Presumably the username/password is the Firefox Sync account username/password? But does that mean that Firefox's master password is the Weave passphrase?

I have a strong account password, but a weak master password because I assumed that the account password would be used to encrypt sync data and the master password was only there to thwart attackers with local physical access. Was I wrong?

[1] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Crypto

This article [1] has confused me, specifically: > if somebody were able to get your username and password, all they could get is your encrypted data records. They would then need to know your passphrase to decrypt your data. Presumably the username/password is the Firefox Sync account username/password? But does that mean that Firefox's master password is the Weave passphrase? I have a strong account password, but a weak master password because I assumed that the account password would be used to encrypt sync data and the master password was only there to thwart attackers with local physical access. Was I wrong? [1] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Crypto

Chosen solution

hi Jamie Kitson, this article is outdated and doesn't apply to the current sync system (the "passphrase" it was referring to was a special sync key seperate from your account pwd, which isn't used anymore).

you are right that a strong firefox account password is the most important precaution you can take to ensure that your sync data stays secure. you can read up more details on that on https://blog.mozilla.org/services/2014/02/07/a-better-firefox-sync/ & on a more technical level at https://github.com/mozilla/fxa-auth-server/wiki/onepw-protocol

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (3)

philipp
philipp
  • Moderator
more options

Suluhisho teule

hi Jamie Kitson, this article is outdated and doesn't apply to the current sync system (the "passphrase" it was referring to was a special sync key seperate from your account pwd, which isn't used anymore).

you are right that a strong firefox account password is the most important precaution you can take to ensure that your sync data stays secure. you can read up more details on that on https://blog.mozilla.org/services/2014/02/07/a-better-firefox-sync/ & on a more technical level at https://github.com/mozilla/fxa-auth-server/wiki/onepw-protocol

Jamie Kitson
Jamie Kitson Mwenye swali
more options

Thanks Philip. Do you have any idea who could update those pages to point to the updated pages?

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Data uploaded to the Sync server is encrypted locally using a Sync key that is derived from the password that you use to connect to Sync. I think that if you include passwords in syncing that they are still encrypted with the master password and that you would have to use the same MP on all connected devices.

Bug 1013064 - Enable password sync with FxA and master password