Firefox continually removes LastPass extension

[ht1698]

Hmm, interesting. That's actually good news, I suppose, as if the problem is not isolated to the 32-bit Firefox, the chances of it getting fixed are better. It is indeed mysterious though, as you say, that there isn't more of an outcry.

It also stinks that Mozilla Firefox doesn't seem to monitor things very well, or they'd have noticed this problem long ago. It's been happening for over a year, at least, I think.

I have taken to hitting "Report" on the LastPass extension, and explaining the problem there, hoping someone at Firefox would pass the problem up to the tech guys. But, again, they seem to be asleep at the wheel, as nothing is happening. Maybe if more of us did this?

[cogit8r]

I too have hit the 'report' button more than once - not every time, though - in hopes that someone at Firefox might take notice and do something. Next step I guess is to look into raising formal support tickets with both LastPass and Firefox rather than just relying on 'auto report' or a community support portal like this one.

The way the problem manifests makes me suspect the browser periodically checks the digital certification of add-ons and that maybe for some reason the authentication 'chain' is sometimes broken for the LastPass cert at the time this is done. I know next to nothing about such matters, though, so this is just a hazy guess. You would think that, since Firefox seems to insist on installing only signed extensions, that this process would be a one-time thing but the issue's symptoms seem to indicate otherwise.

To add insult to injury, the LastPass extension is a Firefox 'Recommended' extension and supposedly is exemplary in the way it meets Firefox's standards of performance and behaviour. Go figure.

Footnote: the extension crapped-out on me again yesterday, reinstalling today. And so it goes . . .

[ht1698]

I haven't been able to reach any Firefox support, is there a way to do that? They seem to just point you to this forum. I don't have the premium LastPass, so I don't think there's any support options from them either.

[MHSwizzleStick]

I KNOW this doesn't help any of you but I have never seen this issue despite Firefox being my preferred browser. Below are my details. As you can see, there isn't anything noticeably different from some of you who are having the problem.

Windows 10 Pro version 21H2
64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Firefox 99.0.1 (64-bit)
LastPass 4.93.0.1
Inspiron 7391 laptop computer
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10210U CPU @ 1.60GHz 2.11 GHz
8GB installed RAM

I wonder if it has to do with the LastPass extension options? Here are the options I have checked:

General
  Security
    Log out when all browsers are closed
    Log out after this many minutes of inactivity: 10

  General
    Open sites in... New tab
    Automatically fill login information

Notifications
  Show notifications via browser toolbar icon
  Show save site notification bar
  Show change password notification bar
  Show autofill icon in fields
  Show number of matching sites in toolbar

HotKeys
  I haven't touched these so they are all the defaults

Advanced
  Log in to sites automatically within this many seconds since last login: 25
  Poll Server for account changes (mins): 15
  Clear clipboard after this many seconds: 60
  Length of list of recently used sites: 10
  Search within secure notes

Icons
  The first one in the list is selected (the red and black icons with 3 white dots)

[jamiesop]

Since posting yesterday, the extension has again failed for my relative, this time after just over 24 hours. We are both using the premium version of LastPass Personal so I have now logged a support request and will report back when there is some news.

[ht1698]

Great! If they say "talk to Firefox," tell them many of us already have, and we need a heavy-hitter like them to contact Mozilla/Firefox!

[GlennD]

Hi,

So far I have not been able to recreate this issue on any of my PCs or Macs, I leave everything as default and have never seen Firefox say there is an issue with the LastPass extension as one of you mentioned. There must be some underlying issue/cause that you all have in common, so I think we need some more details from everyone. 

• Operating system being used and if it is 32 or 64 bit?
• What version of Firefox are you using? (in case auto updates are disabled etc)
• What other browser extensions are installed? (especially anything privacy related)
• How long  is it between LastPass reinstalls? Is it the same amount of time or random?
• Do you see any error messages or not? 
• Is the the LastPass extension actually being removed or is it just disabled but still listed as installed when you look at Add Ons and Themes > Manage Extensions?

[ht1698]

Operating system: Windows 7, 32 bit.

Firefox up to date.

What other browser extensions are installed? ColorZilla, Measure-It, uBlock Origin. Disabled: Feedbro, Malwarebytes, Pulse SMS, Selenium IDE, Video Download Helper.

How long is it between LastPass reinstalls? About a week to 10 days usually.

Is it the same amount of time or random?  Seems to be regular, just not sure how long.

Do you see any error messages or not?  Just a notice saying it's been disabled.

Is the the LastPass extension actually being removed or is it just disabled?  Still installed.

Thanks for the help, I hope we can find the culprit!

[cogit8r]

OS: Windows 10 Pro version 21H2 32-bit

Firefox: was * 98.0.2 (32-bit), now 99.0.1 (32-bit)

* this was at some time into the 'currency' of the issue: when the issue first started Firefox might have been at an even earlier version.
LastPass: 4.94.0.3 as reported in the Firefox Add-ons manager page; earlier it was reported as 4.91.0.4 (my earlier post refers; don't know how to link to it)

Other extensions: EPUB READER; PocketTube: YouTube Subscription Manager; Video DownloadHelper

All are enabled

Reinstalls are needed every few days. Don't know exactly, since there doesn't seem to be any logs from Firefox to pin down the time/date history. Going forward I will keep notes, and also check the Windows Events log to see if anything interesting is recorded there.

Error messages: I don't see an error message as such, what I see is a notification that appears in it's own bar immediately below the toolbar that is just below the Firefox tabs. The notification indicates there has been a failure to validate the add-on's signature and therefore it has been disabled. I'll screenshot this next time it appears.

Status of the extension: the LastPass extension doesn't get removed. In Add-ons Manager | Extensions it shows below the list of 'okay' extensions (whether enabled or disabled) as a sort of 'quarantined' item – I cannot recall the exact terminology used; again, I'll screenshot this next time to capture fuller information. There is a  link/button that looks like it will lead to a better explanation of why the extension has been nixed but it really doesn't: it only addresses why unsigned extensions might get removed, which is not the case here (and is a bit odd considering Firefox's avowed policy of not installing unsigned extensions in the first place. . . ). It would seem more logical for the extension to simply be removed (with a polite note to record that this happened, and why) since there's nothing the user can do with the 'quarantined' extension: there's no option to re-install it, enable it, nothing. You can only choose to remove it, which btw you have to before you can re-install it anyway.

[jamiesop1]

For some reason, I have had to re-register on this site before being able to post a follow up message so I now have a slightly different user name. The technical support team accepted my request and suggested the first action should be to uninstall Firefox itself then reinstall the browser followed by the extension, both of which were done earlier today. It's too soon to say whether this has worked so I will follow up after the bank holiday weekend.