1Password doesn't work correctly with Snap Firefox

mhalano

I'm running Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish and I got an update for Firefox package where I'm obligated to change to Snap version. The problem is, I can't invoke 1Password from Snap Firefox when 1Password is locked. The button "Open 1Password" doesn't appear, so I can't unlock the native web (which I use with keyring).

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1Password Version: 8.6.0~43.BETA
Extension Version: 2.2.3
OS Version: Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish

PeterG_1P

Hi @mhalano, thanks for raising this issue. I'm sorry to learn of it!

Unfortunately, there may not be much we can do to help in this situation. Snap-installed apps are sandboxed, which means that the normal communication between the browser extension (inside the sandbox) and the 1Password for Linux desktop app (outside) aren't able to connect. In this case, if you're not able to switch to a non-Snap installation of Firefox, I'd recommend disabling the Settings > General > Integrate with 1Password App setting to smooth out the use of 1Password within your browser.

Our developers are looking at ways that we can deal with this going forward, but I think in the short term our ability as support staff to assist is a bit limited, since sandboxes are meant to block interprocess communication, and in this case that's exactly what it's doing. I hope that makes sense.

mhalano

Couldn't you use a specially made plug/slot (like "onepassword") to integrate specifically with 1Password app? Or use a content type plug to access a socket file, or even use the already existent password-manager-service to implement what you need inside that and make a slot available in the system?

Savanni

The browser integration feature is not as simple to support as it may seem, because we have to take extra steps to protect against unauthorized access from programs running as you. Some of our past strategies for doing this completely ruled out the possibility of using sandboxed applications. I'm conducting some experiments right now that might make it possible for Flatpaks to work with this feature, and in those experiments I may discover how to make Snaps work with the feature.

The unfortunate part about sandboxed applications on Linux is that the sandbox prevents the application from reaching out. It doesn't protect the application from interference by other applications running under the same user ID, and thus we have to take extra measures to ensure that a rogue program doesn't begin masquerading as the browser extension.

Goldgamer

@Savanni Thank you so much! Flatpak's support would be so great!
An option could be to contact freedesktop or flatpak SDK maintainer and make an integration for some kind of permission that 1password can request for communicating with Firefox.

Please keep me updated on any progress or step back you made!

Have a great week
Max

PeterG_1P

Thanks for the suggestion here, @goldgamer!

mhalano

@PeterG_1P Do you use NativeMessaging Protocol to do the communication? If yes, this bug report can be informative: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/+bug/1741074

PeterG_1P

Thank you @mahalano. I can't speak to how relevant this might be to our current work, but I have passed the URL on to our developers so they have a chance to check it out. Thank you for sharing this with us!