1PasswordAnywhere Failing - Decryption failed

pmarshwx
pmarshwx
Community Member
edited December 2015 in 1Password in the Browser

Hi, I'm not sure where to post this, so I started here since it had to do with a browser. I apologize if I'm wrong.

I'm trying to access passwords via 1Password Anywhere through the Dropbox website and I've been getting the following error:

An error occurred while processing item 'number redacted'.

Decryption failed

Being new to trying to use this feature, I'm not sure what, if anything, I can do to address this issue.

Thanks in advance!

Comments

  • littlebobbytables
    littlebobbytables
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @pmarshwx,

    You're right, there isn't an obvious place at all to post so don't worry about it :smile:

    I'd like to ask a couple of questions to gain a better idea of what we're looking at here.

    1. Which version of 1Password are you running?
    2. Is it when you select a specific item from the list (having successfully unlocked your vault) that you see this error and is it happening when trying to access any item or just certain ones?

    Hopefully the answers to those will help us understand as I confess I haven't seen that error before.

  • pmarshwx
    pmarshwx
    Community Member

    Here are my answers:

    1. > 1Password

    Version 5.4 (540046)
    Mac App Store

    1. This error happens when I click on any item. In other words, I was successfully able to unlock the vault (or at least get past the password stage!

    Oh...and to be clear "number redacted" was redacted by me. I should have been more specific in my original post.
    Thanks!

  • littlebobbytables
    littlebobbytables
    1Password Alumni

    Hello @pmarshwx,

    As you're running 1Password for Mac there's a simple trick we can try to see if it makes any difference. In 1Password for Mac your vault isn't defined by the Agile Keychain that is in Dropbox, that's merely a sync container that only exists if you set sync up. Your actual vault is an encrypted SQLite database file and as such we can remove the Agile Keychain and try again. It will mean you need to set Dropbox sync up again on any devices connected to this Agile Keychain but I'm thinking that won't be many in your case if you're trying to access 1PasswordAnywhere.

    1. In 1Password for Mac open up 1Password's preferences and switch to the Sync tab.
    2. Change the sync option from Dropbox to None.
    3. In the confirmation window that pops up tick the checkbox titled Delete data from Dropbox. Don't worry, this only removes the Agile Keychain. Click the Disable Sync button.
    4. Pause for a moment to let Dropbox synchronise this deletion with Dropbox's servers.
    5. Change the sync option back to Dropbox and have 1Password create a brand new Agile Keychain.
    6. Pause for a moment to allow all the new files to be synchronised to Dropbox's servers.

    Having done this can you now access the Agile Keychain via 1PasswordAnywhere from this Mac?

    As I said earlier, after you've followed these steps you will need to reconnect each device that needs to sync to this Agile Keychain as they will realise the Agile Keychain they were syncing to has gone, even if you create the brand new Agile Keychain in the exact same location.

    Let us know how you get along and if this helps at all :smile:

  • pmarshwx
    pmarshwx
    Community Member

    @littlebobbytables,

    Thanks for the tidbit. It fixed the issue completely!

    Any ideas what would have caused the main issue?

  • littlebobbytables
    littlebobbytables
    1Password Alumni

    Greetings @pmarshwx,

    At a guess I'd have to say something to do with the encryption keys. I won't get into the guts of it but we don't encrypt your vault with your Master Password. The explanation is long but the gist is your Master Password only encrypts a very small amount of data, specifically the insane encryption keys (plural) that are used to actually encrypt and decrypt your vault. It's all about security but it's a very long explanation and sometimes encryption can also be counter-intuitive - reason number one to always leave encryption to the experts. By that I don't mean us, I mean we use standard, well trusted libraries for the encryption algorithms as writing your own... messy!

    So my thought is if the contents of this file were damaged somehow or missing but yet the file was still encrypted properly that would mean you could successfully enter your Master Password but that the actual vault's contents couldn't be successfully decrypted because when we used the keys we got back the decrypted items weren't in the correct format suggesting it hadn't been decrypted properly. There's a lot of guesswork going on here I confess but it seems plausible in my head.

    Thankfully, in 1Password 4 and 5 the Agile Keychain is merely a container we use for syncing and you vault is really stored in an encrypted SQLite database file so all that matters is that this version of your vault works and as long as it does you can destroy and create new Agile Keychains - sometimes a very useful feature.

    Every so often we find a situation where the quickest resolution is to try this but it's not a regular occurrence that everybody should suffering from. I would expect things to run smoothly now for you :smile:

    If you have any other questions or would like more detail in some area please do say :smile:

This discussion has been closed.