Why YSK: Because if you are like most people, you also store your email’s password in your Bitwarden Vault and not bother remembering it, causing you to potentially get locked out (since you wouldn’t be able to log in to your email to get the verification code, because your email’s password is in the vault itself 👀)
(Imagine leaving your key in your house, lol)
Source: https://bitwarden.com/help/new-device-verification/
Excerpt:
To keep your account safe and secure, in February 2025, Bitwarden will require additional verification for users who do not use two-step login. After entering your Bitwarden master password, you will be prompted to enter a one-time verification code sent to your account email to complete the login process when logging in from a device you have not logged in to previously. For example, if you are logging in to a mobile app or a browser extension that you have used before, you will not receive this prompt.
Good thing I noticed, otherwise I might’ve had a bad time next month 😖
Edit: Updated title to clarify that people who have 2FA are not affected.
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Just use something like ente auth, then you can just login online anytime and get your 2fa codes.
Are you able to remember a strong password? If you can then you can use something like KeePass, it is an offline password manager (and authenticator) that you can use on your phone and PC and backup the file anyway you want, in storage and the cloud. It is very easy to import and export.
Use the 3-2-1 rule for storing your vault:
Maintain three copies of your data: This includes the original data and at least two copies.
Use two different types of media for storage: Store your data on two distinct forms of media to enhance redundancy.
Keep at least one copy off-site: To ensure data safety, have one backup copy stored in an off-site location, separate from your primary data and on-site backups.
I have a Bitwarden vault for passwords and a KeePass vault for TOTP. I would use at least 2 Yubikeys as well but I’m using degoogled Grapheneos. I hate email and SMS verification for MFA, and my stupid banks only support these two methods.
@OP There will be an option to turn it off, maybe add that to the post
An option to turn off new device login protection will be available in the web vault account settings
Anyways thank you so much OP for notifying me, their fuckup would’ve impacted me as well
something done by many services, sites, and games.
but yea, i get it. the problem of asking someone to login to a service that they (bw) are holding your key for, in order for you to get into where that key is held.
This is not the end of the world, some mighty overreaction on the comments. This is why diversity is the answer to security. Multi factor, multi mode, multi device. Something you know, something you have, something you are, etc.
If you have more than one device, like PCs, laptop, phone, in any combination, and you have your access config on all. Then there’s an infinitesimally small chance you’d lose access to your vault.
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They have different threat models. If they don’t have a PC, they most likely don’t and never will have bitwarden. They’ll let apple or Samsung or Google handle their security for them. In the end, we all accept some level of risks across different threat dimensions. Some people are more lax and some people are more strict. It’s not the end of the world.
Why would they ever force this?
The purpose of MFA is to:
Mitigate using the same password on multiple sites and one of them has a data breach.
Mitigate the impact of keyloggers/other kinds of malware.
Mitigate the bad security of bad passwords.
Mitigate the password manager’s own data breach.
If you have at least two braincells, you will chose a unique and secure password for your password manager. That’s the point of password managers, that you only have to remember 1 password so it can be unique and strong. Also, a password manager (specially open source) should have almost perfect security, so them being hacked should not be a concern.
The only thing MFA is doing on password managers is to mitigate malware. Which I don’t think is a good justification to force everyone the hassle of MFA.
Fine if the wanna give the option of MFA, but don’t force it on everyone.
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This is stupid… Now where would i save my mail password
I’m getting sick of all this two step verification and code confirmation bullshit. I don’t need my Instagram password stored in a bank vault with 24 hour security. Let me opt out of all this extra security and if it gets breached then blame me for opting out.
I don’t even have two step verification turned on for something and I still needed to check my email for a code and then when logging into the email I needed to check my phone for a second code just so I could access the first code for some bullshit account I hardly ever use. It’s incredibly frustrating.
If I want to go through all that shit for security purposes then I will ask you to go through all those steps. Don’t force me to. Fuck.
It’s because PCI requirements, they offer to store credit card information and PCI compliance now requires that be under a 2FA. Also honestly, you should be using 2FA regardless, make it less annoying by using a proper token Authenticator. Authy is a decent one, avoid Google Authenticator bit Warden also offers a separate program for token Authentication that you can use on your phone.
Tokens are still an extra step but less annoying than having to go check your email for a code. Or you can go the extra mile and purchase something like a yubikey, all you have to do is have it plugged into a computer USB port and it will handle the two-factor for you automatically
This is a good thing. Any account you care about and don’t want to be accessed by anyone without your consent should have multifactor authentication enabled. Use an app like Google Authenticator or a hardware token like a Yubikey. 2FA through text or email is insecure and easily bypassed.
Friends don’t let friends raw dog the internet. Don’t be dumb and get your shit stolen. Use MFA everywhere.
Cant wait for someone to use bitwarden to store their bitwarden 2FA codes and recovery codes, thus locking themselves out of their account.
This is just a dumb move by bitwarden.
Multi device. If you have more than one device with your vault configured and protected with MFA then the risk of locking yourself out of the account drops logarithmically with each additional device.
When they turn this on, all your devices will have to reauthenticate simultaneously. There are absolutely going to be some people who get locked out when this goes live, which could be just as bad as an attacker gaining your credentials.
Oh dear lord, no. That’s absolutely wrong. Stop panicking and read.
if you are logging in to a mobile app or a browser extension that you have used before, you will not receive this prompt
I’m fine, I use Aegis to store my bitwarden 2FA code. I just need my Aegis password to access it that is stored in … Bitwarden …
I might not be the sharpest egg in the basket, thanks OP to have made me realize my mistake and I’ll change that.
To be fair your post title does not match their own text
To keep your account safe and secure, in February 2025, Bitwarden will require additional verification for users who do not use two-step login.
So it’s not all accounts, just the ones that don’t already have 2FA. Personally I wouldn’t have noticed any changes since I already use 2FA enabled with an authenticator app. But I can see how this might bite you in the ass if you weren’t already using 2FA.
Interestingly I used to run into a similar issue when using Lastpass. When logging in from other IP addresses they would often do mandatory email 2FA, and of course I couldn’t get into the email account without Lastpass. But it sort of resolved itself since I also have email on my phone so I just had to make sure those Lastpass emails didn’t end up in spam or wherever.
I don’t use bit warden but, that sounds like a flaw that can very easily fuck your system up.
I find it stupid as a mandatory requirement, if you don’t want to use 2fa then you should be allowed not to, it’s still a multitude better than just using the same password for everything of having it on a text document on your computer.
I don’t see anyone mentioning it, but what if you do forget (or don’t know) your email password? Is there absolutely no way to recover your account? I’m sure there might be some services that are that restrictive, but I’d think that most are recoverable with some extra steps, no? Unless I’m missing something?
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I just got a pop-up about this today… It would have been nice to get this at the beginning of the month…
Thanks for the heads up, though this would be less of an issue if you have the email app on your phone or the tab pinned in Firefox.
The real issue is i gotta use another authentication app for my email now, have been using Bitwarden itself for 2fa codes for proton. Definitely can’t use proton pass to 2fa for my proton account.
I don’t even know. Gonna have to find another reputable authenticator app.
Guess I should also check if Bitwarden or proton support physical security keys. Would be pretty bomb proof since my keys are always in my pocket anyway.
Bitwarden supports phys. keys but you have to pay for the premium subscription to use them, which is 10$/year
Aegis is a good Authenticator app you could consider
Generally, it’s not recommended to keep TOTP and passwords at the same place
Two apps on the same device is still the same place. Same app but on different devices is different places.
Thank-you. Made me check my shit.
Just a reminder that most of us have backups of the vault. It’s not like the apocalypse.
For what it’s worth, as of a minute ago the form that’s for sending the email code asks if you have reliable access to the email before sending the code.
But otherwise seems to be a non-issue with any of the software/hardware mfa options it supports. Good to let others know about this though!
