bitwarden / bitwarden/clients

Firefox ext writes to disk every 10 seconds, connects to Native Messaging

Open
#22,192 5 comments 3 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
browser bug
Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
13.8k
Forks
2k
Avg merge
3d 9h
Merged PRs (30d)
397

Description

### Steps To Reproduce

1. Install Bitwarden Firefox extension

### Expected Result

Extension does not try to connect to Bitwarden Desktop app over Native Messaging IPC

### Actual Result

Extension tries to connect to Bitwarden Desktop app over Native Messaging IPC every 10 seconds, which results in writing data (≈4 KB) to its database every 10 seconds.

Given the write amplification on such small writes of the modern file systems, this results in 500 KB - 1 MB writes to disk every 10 seconds.

### Screenshots or Videos

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/ce615bc9-8ee3-47d7-b4ca-ec60d0b988eb

### Additional Context

I did not find a way to disable this integration with Desktop app. I don't use desktop app.
This also happens when Bitwarden is locked.

### Operating System

Linux

### Operating System Version

Fedora

### Web Browser

Firefox

### Browser Version

153

### Environment Versions

Version: 2026.7.0

SDK: 'main (3e060f8)'

Server version (Third-party): 2026.6.0

Connected to third-party server implementation, Vaultwarden. Please verify bugs using the official server, or report them to the third-party server.

### Issue Tracking Info

- [x] I understand that work is tracked outside of Github. A PR will be linked to this issue should one be opened to address it, but Bitwarden doesn't use fields like "assigned", "milestone", or "project" to track progress.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by tracing the Firefox extension's Native Messaging connection and its 10-second polling path. Reproduce on Linux with Firefox while the desktop app is absent or locked, then verify that the extension no longer makes the periodic connection or causes the reported database writes.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
52/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.