Password is kept in system clipboard

[failable]

Although the password in kill ring is removed after seconds, it is kept in system clipboard.

[jvillasante]

Same issue here. It basically makes this package unusable for me :(

[doolio]

How can I confirm if this is the case? Running Debian 11.

[jvillasante]

If you run KDE then there's a Clipboard entry on the System Tray that shows the contents of the system clipboard. Not sure about Gnome, maybe a Widget?

In any case, after the timeout to clear password in Emacs, you cannot paste/yank anymore in Emacs, but you can outside of Emacs (e.g. on any other text editor, your browser, etc) because while the Emacs kill-ring has been cleared the system clipboard has not.

BTW, this issue is on password-store which pass uses, not sure how to report it there.

[doolio]

In any case, after the timeout to clear password in Emacs, you cannot paste/yank anymore in Emacs, but you can outside of Emacs (e.g. on any other text editor, your browser, etc) because while the Emacs kill-ring has been cleared the system clipboard has not.

Ok, thank you. Yes, I can confirm too that this is the case. @calancha I believe you maintain password-store.el right? This would appear to be a serious bug.

this issue is on password-store which pass uses, not sure how to report it there.

password-store.el is maintained in the password-store repository namely:

https://git.zx2c4.com/password-store/tree/contrib/emacs

and I believe they prefer to use a mailing list.

Edit: Add more information.

[doolio]

I see password-store-timeout-timer is set to nil. It's a defvar rather than a defcustom. I wonder is it just a matter of changing it to match password-store-time-before-clipboard-restore which is a defcustom and has a default value of 45s.

[jvillasante]

mmmm, don't know much elisp but I think that's a timer object of some kind and not just the time to timeout, it is set when saving to the kill-ring

(setq password-store-timeout-timer
        (run-at-time password-store-time-before-clipboard-restore nil
                     (lambda () (funcall #'password-store-clear field))))

[doolio]

Yes, I think you are right.

cc: @DamienCassou

[DamienCassou]

Hi. Sorry for the long delay. I'm not sure what we can do here if it is an upstream issue. If you believe there is anything we can do, please open a PR and make sure you ping me.

[doolio]

@jvillasante I've submitted the below patch (and others) to the mailing list. This seems to work for me. Can you confirm?

@DamienCassou I'd appreciate any suggestion you think could improve this.

From 98a2ccc4c8e3b41b8e54d84f33de318f587c5002 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Niall Dooley <dooleyn@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 18:11:34 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] emacs: Fix bug in clipboard management

Prior to this the password/secret was cleared from the kill ring but
remained in the system clipboard after the timeout expired.  This
ensures the system clipboard is cleared as well.
---
 contrib/emacs/password-store.el | 7 ++++---
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/contrib/emacs/password-store.el b/contrib/emacs/password-store.el
index 280aee5..c28bc7d 100644
--- a/contrib/emacs/password-store.el
+++ b/contrib/emacs/password-store.el
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ the stored secret to clear; if nil, then set it to 'secret.
 Note, FIELD does not affect the function logic; it is only used
 to display the message:

-\(message \"Field %s cleared.\" field)."
+\(message \"Field %s cleared from kill ring and system clipboard.\" field)."
   (interactive "i")
   (unless field (setq field 'secret))
   (when password-store-timeout-timer
@@ -270,14 +270,15 @@ to display the message:
     (setq password-store-timeout-timer nil))
   (when password-store-kill-ring-pointer
     (setcar password-store-kill-ring-pointer "")
+    (kill-new "")
     (setq password-store-kill-ring-pointer nil)
-    (message "Field %s cleared." field)))
+    (message "Field %s cleared from kill ring and system clipboard." field)))

 (defun password-store--save-field-in-kill-ring (entry secret field)
   (password-store-clear field)
   (kill-new secret)
   (setq password-store-kill-ring-pointer kill-ring-yank-pointer)
-  (message "Copied %s for %s to the kill ring. Will clear in %s seconds."
+  (message "Copied %s for %s to the kill ring and system clipboard. Will clear in %s seconds."
            field entry password-store-time-before-clipboard-restore)
   (setq password-store-timeout-timer
         (run-at-time password-store-time-before-clipboard-restore nil
-- 
2.30.2

[jvillasante]

@doolio This works perfectly for me! Thanks for taking the time to figure and fix this out!

[doolio]

Glad to hear it. Hopefully, the maintainer of password-store.el can review it and make it more robust if necessary.

[jvillasante]

@doolio Until then this is what I'm doing, the call to (kill-new "") is enough and you can advice the function from the library itself. Hopefully I remember to remove the advice when your change gets merged!

(defun my--password-store-clear-system-clipboard (&rest args)
        (kill-new ""))

(advice-add #'password-store-clear :after #'my--password-store-clear-system-clipboard)

[doolio]

Thanks. I use straight.el so I'm able to rebuild the package with my patch and then later pull in from the repository if and when the changes get merged.

[DamienCassou]

Thank you for the great discussion. The patch sent looks great to me and I hope it will get merged. I think we should close this issue. Anyone against that?

[doolio]

OK, for me. The bug is upstream as well. Hopefully, the patch is merged and/or improved upon.

[calancha]

@jvillasante I've submitted the below patch (and others) to the mailing list. This seems to work for me. Can you confirm?

@DamienCassou I'd appreciate any suggestion you think could improve this.

From 98a2ccc4c8e3b41b8e54d84f33de318f587c5002 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Niall Dooley <dooleyn@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 18:11:34 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] emacs: Fix bug in clipboard management

Prior to this the password/secret was cleared from the kill ring but
remained in the system clipboard after the timeout expired.  This
ensures the system clipboard is cleared as well.
---
 contrib/emacs/password-store.el | 7 ++++---
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/contrib/emacs/password-store.el b/contrib/emacs/password-store.el
index 280aee5..c28bc7d 100644
--- a/contrib/emacs/password-store.el
+++ b/contrib/emacs/password-store.el
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ the stored secret to clear; if nil, then set it to 'secret.
 Note, FIELD does not affect the function logic; it is only used
 to display the message:

-\(message \"Field %s cleared.\" field)."
+\(message \"Field %s cleared from kill ring and system clipboard.\" field)."
   (interactive "i")
   (unless field (setq field 'secret))
   (when password-store-timeout-timer
@@ -270,14 +270,15 @@ to display the message:
     (setq password-store-timeout-timer nil))
   (when password-store-kill-ring-pointer
     (setcar password-store-kill-ring-pointer "")
+    (kill-new "")
     (setq password-store-kill-ring-pointer nil)
-    (message "Field %s cleared." field)))
+    (message "Field %s cleared from kill ring and system clipboard." field)))

 (defun password-store--save-field-in-kill-ring (entry secret field)
   (password-store-clear field)
   (kill-new secret)
   (setq password-store-kill-ring-pointer kill-ring-yank-pointer)
-  (message "Copied %s for %s to the kill ring. Will clear in %s seconds."
+  (message "Copied %s for %s to the kill ring and system clipboard. Will clear in %s seconds."
            field entry password-store-time-before-clipboard-restore)
   (setq password-store-timeout-timer
         (run-at-time password-store-time-before-clipboard-restore nil
-- 
2.30.2

Niall, thank you so much for your patch! This patch effectively resolves a long-standing issue. I have pushed your fix upstream.

[doolio]

Happy to help.