Kleopatra shows a passphrase enter attempts count, but does nothing when it's 0

Gpg4win
1

Hi, everyone,

Kleopatra (ver. Gpg4win-5.1.0) behaves somewhat strangely if I try to change the passphrase via “Certificates > Change Passphrase…” and enter incorrect passphrases in the window that pops up. This is what’s displayed (each step represents a subsequent failed attempt at entering the passphrase):

  1. “Bad Passphrase (try 2 of 3)”
  2. “Bad Passphrase (try 3 of 3)”
  3. (no warning)
  4. “Bad Passphrase (try 2 of 3)”
  5. “Bad Passphrase (try 3 of 3)”
  6. "An error occured while trying to change the passphrase for ( )

After that I can click on “Certificates > Change Passphrase…” again and repeat my attempts.

Could anyone explain to me what’s the point of showing an attempt count (in an alarming red at that!) if no punishment for the user happens when it reaches 0? And why show the count for the second time (steps 3-5)?

Maybe I’ve found a bug?

2

Hi @teapot, thank you for your contribution!

I’d say at the very least you found really bad UX which needs to be changed.
The issue is with gpg, not Kleopatra, as the latter delegates the passphrase change to gpg.

The count for the second round is for the subkey (the first was for the primary key). Not something a user would expect… I see this as more of an issue that the countdown.

3

Ticket for request to not switch to the subkey: ⚓ T8458 Do not continue with subkey when changing password fails for primary

Could be we’ll make a ticket to change the countdown later, needs some discussion.