Google issues apology for Chrome flaw that broke its password manager

Google has apologized for a Chrome problem that resulted in millions of users being unable to use the browser's password manger.

The issue meant that affected users were not able to access saved passwords for the majority of a day. In issuing its apology, Google explains that a faulty update for the M127 version of Chrome for Windows was to blame, noting that the problem hit users globally.

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Google described the problem as "an issue with Chrome Browser where impacted users may be unable to find or save passwords in Chrome's Password Manager". Despite the global impact, and the massive inconvenience for those who were affected, the company has tried to downplay the issue.

In a statement in which the cause is identified as "a change in product behavior without proper feature guard", Google said:

Impacted users were unable to find passwords in Chrome's password manager. Users can save passwords, however it was not visible to them. The impact was limited to the M127 version of Chrome Browser on the Windows platform.

Approximately 2 percent of users out of the 25 percent of the entire user base where the configuration change was rolled out, experienced this issue.

No precise figures have been provided, but an undeniably large number of people were left with restricted password management options for 17 hours and 52 minutes.

A fix has now been rolled out, and if you find that you're still affected by the problem, a quick browser restart should remedy things.

Image credit: Juan Roballo / Dreamstime.com