"Key exchange was not successful" for Brave/Chrome browsers.

[HugoRebelo99]

Expected Behavior

Connect to database successfuly.

Current Behavior

Both on Chrome and Brave browser, whenever I try to connect to the database, this message is displayed: "Key exchange was not successful." Somehow the connection to the database doesn't seem to be working. I followed the troubleshooting guide provided, but also seems that it didn't got fixed. It's important to freeze, that I've installed Firefox to test the same behaviour, but was not reproducible. With Firefox I was able to connect to the database with no problems.

Possible Solution

Steps to Reproduce (for bugs)

1. Click the KeePassXC extension on Brave/Chrome
2. Press the "Reload" button
3. The message "Key exchange was not successful." is displayed.

Debug info

KeePassXC - unknown KeePassXC-Browser - 1.7.10.1 Operating system: Win64 Browser: Chrome/Chromium 96.0.4664.45

[varjolintu]

Enable support for Chrome and/or Chromium too in KeePassXC. For some reason Brave doesn't always use its own configuration paths.

[HugoRebelo99]

Don't know why you closed the issue already... The support for all browsers are enable, and still the issue persists...

[varjolintu]

1) Go through the https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc-browser/wiki/Troubleshooting-guide 2) Check for other Brave related issues: https://github.com/keepassxreboot/keepassxc-browser/issues?q=is%3Aissue+brave+is%3Aclosed

[HugoRebelo99]

Already followed the troubleshoot guide, but didn't work. :/

[varjolintu]

Other things to check:

• Is keepassxc-proxy.exe running?
• Is some anti-virus or anti-malware software causing this?

[HugoRebelo99]

Yes keepassxc-proxy.exe is running. Otherwise Firefox would not be able to connect,

[varjolintu]

Yes. But is it running without Firefox with only Brave launched?

[HugoRebelo99]

Ok, after all keepassxc-proxy.exe is not running. My bad... Although, even if I launch it from the installation folder, I'm not being able to connect from Brave/Chrome. What should I do?

[varjolintu]

The proxy should be launched when you browser is started, or when you press the Reload button from the extension popup. See the JavaScript Log/Console and see if there's any error messages related to this.

[HugoRebelo99]

When I open Firefox the keepassxc-proxy.exe is running, although the same is not happening for Brave and Chrome. Also checked the Console and no errors were reported in there.

[varjolintu]

Even after Reload button? Try looking at the background script console. Go to brave://extensions/, enable the Developer mode from the upper right and then choose Inspect views from the KeePassXC-Browser extension card. Find the Console tab there.

[HugoRebelo99]

Here is what I found:

[varjolintu]

And everything is correct when you checked to registry locations and JSON script file contents when going through the Troubleshooting Guide?

[varjolintu]

Another thing you could check is that does Brave actually use now their own registry settings instead, meaning NativeMessagingHosts is found under Software/Brave etc.

Of course, that doesn't explain why you are also having problems with Chrome.

[HugoRebelo99]

What is the value that should be set to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Google\\Chrome\\NativeMessagingHosts\\? And what is the registry path for Brave? At this moment, the value of the above registry is pointing to org.keepassxc.keepassxc_browser_chrome.json.

[varjolintu]

Like said in the Troubleshooting Guide, you should find that file in AppData\Local\keepassxc. Brave should point to the same location. I have no idea for the Brave's registry path because AFAIK they still use Chrome's registry paths for some reason.

[HugoRebelo99]

I'll try to find Brave's registry path. Although the same console output is being displayed by Chrome even with all the paths being correct.

[varjolintu]

Double check that the JSON file actually exists that is mentioned in the registry. Compare the settings with Firefox.

[HugoRebelo99]

The JSON files are all in the mentioned place:

Content of org.keepassxc.keepassxc_browser_brave.json:

Content of org.keepassxc.keepassxc_browser_chrome.json:

Content of org.keepassxc.keepassxc_browser_firefox.json:

[HugoRebelo99]

So the JSON files are correct, and the path on the registry is also correct so I'm not sure why the connection cannot be done.

[varjolintu]

Where did you install the extension to your browsers? The hard way to see if Brave is trying to load the registry or script from correct location is to use: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon

[HugoRebelo99]

The registry location that is being loaded has the right location both for Brave and Chrome.

[varjolintu]

Just to make sure because you didn't include this in the issue template: what KeePassXC version are you using?

[HugoRebelo99]

You're right, sorry about that. The KeePassXC version that I'm using is 2.6.6.

[varjolintu]

If the registry entries are correct, path are correct, files are loaded from correct paths (confirmed by Process Monitor), that only leaves the possibility of anti-virus or anti-malware software that prevents the launching of keepassxc-proxy.exe. Or if you are using a work computer, it has some restrictions. Otherwise I have no idea.

[HugoRebelo99]

But even that shouldn't be the case since I'm able to make the connection using Firefox.

[varjolintu]

Does the process monitor show any errors related to keepassxc-proxy.exe? If it cannot be started for some reason, at least something should be shown there.

[HugoRebelo99]

Can't find keepassxc-proxy.exeon the process monitor. :/

[varjolintu]

That probably means your browsers don't have some kind of permission to launch external applications.

Have you tried to search similar issues from elsewhere? I found for example this one: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42552699/failed-to-start-native-messaging-host-on-windows-comspec-is-not-set

[HugoRebelo99]

It worked! :D What I did was create insert that environment variable, restarted my system and now everything is working fine! Thank you very much for the support! <3

[varjolintu]

Phew!

[HugoRebelo99]

Ahahah, this was a tough one.

[varjolintu]

That environment variable thing was totally new information for me. Glad I found it. I hope everyone else finds this issue if they have similar problem with their system.

[ghost]

Hello, Can I reopen this issue. I am using Linux - Pop_os. Whenever I try to connect to the Keepass database, I also get the following message: Cannot connect to KeePassXC. Check that browser integration is enabled in KeePassXC settings. The browser I'm using is Brave browser. the keepass extension works fine on Firefox.

Somehow the connection to the database doesn't seem to be working. I have also followed the troubleshooting guide provided, but that doesn't seem to fix it.

I'm not completely sure what @HugoRebelo99 done to fix it. Not sure what the environment variable is.

Debug info

KeePassXC - unknown KeePassXC-Browser - 1.7.11 Operating system: Linux x86_64 Browser: Chrome/Chromium 98.0.4758.102

[varjolintu]

@TyrionGit Check that you are not running Brave as Snap or Flatpak.

[ghost]

@varjolintu I didn't download the Snap or Flatpak version. I downloaded from the website.

[varjolintu]

@TyrionGit Then report here where the script files are installed and where's your Brave config. Use strace if possible to detect and confirm it.

[ghost]

@varjolintu Do you mean the Json file? - org.keepassxc.keepassxc_browser.json That is stored here: /.var/app/org.keepassxc.KeePassXC/config/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/NativeMessagingHosts

I'm afraid I'm new to using Terminal so I'm not sure how to use the strace command to find where the script files are.

[varjolintu]

@TyrionGit That's not the default path. Those are described in the Troubleshooting Guide. Create a symbolink link or copy the file to the correct location which is probably under .config. Or then just try to enable Chrome & Chromium support in KeePassXC. Sometimes (don't know why) Brave uses those settings instead.

[ghost]

Thanks @varjolintu . This has worked.

I copied the Json file from that previous location to .config/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/NativeMessagingHosts. I then refreshed the browser window, at which point the extension asked me to name the connection. I've now got a connection.

Thanks so much for your help!