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Old 21 Jul 2017, 05:07 PM   #1
DumbGuy
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 212
Sudden Weirdness - My 2FA Code Requested by FM Every 2nd Login

I've been suddenly experiencing weird behavior with my 2FA login at FastMail. Maybe someone can help. Here's the scoop:

I regularly/daily login to FM via the web UI on both my laptop & my mobile. Both FireFox. I rarely clear my browser's cookies (intentionally or automatically). I never click "Keep me logged in" on the login page (except rare exception for testing), and I always click "Don't require two-step verification again on this device" when entering my 2FA code, which I get from Google Authenticator or my TOTP key fob (they seem to work interchangeably). I also POP my mail down to my local client occasionally, but that has no 2FA of course, and hasn't been affected by this problem I'm about to describe.

For many months now, I would login to FM in Firefox on both laptop and/or mobile and never have to enter a 2FA code, because of course a cookie remembers my preference from months ago. Cool, just as it should work.

But ever since a few days ago when I cleared my cookies on my laptop browser, I've been required to enter my 2FA code on every other/2nd login. Very strange. The first request was expected, but after that, not.

Even stranger, this same effect happens on my mobile, even though I never cleared my mobile browser's cookies.

So, the following seems to be repeatable ad nauseum (tested fully on my laptop, partially on my mobile):

I login to FM & enter my 2FA code (always selecting "Don't require again...") & arrive at my Inbox. I go to Settings/Password&Security and scroll down to Trusted Computers and see "This computer is currently trusted...". Ok, that makes sense. I logout. (I don't close my browser.) I login in again & am not asked for 2FA, as it should be of course. So far so good. BUT, over in the Password&Security section, I now see "This computer is not currently trusted...". That's weird/unexpected! And when I logout at that point, then log back in again, I'm asked for my 2FA code. Rinse and repeat.

So again, I'm asked for my 2FA code on every other login. I've never had this happen before.

Ideas, anyone? (Thanks.)

Sidenote: on my laptop browser (maybe also mobile), I reject 3P cookies. But I've done this for years without a problem, so I doubt it's relevant, but thought I'd mention anyway. I assume FM only uses 1P cookies.

Also: a minor change for me recently was that sometimes I enable a VPN connection on my laptop. That changes the IP address FM sees, but I of course never get logged out of FM as a result, as it should be. (And my repeatable tests above I do without any VPN/IP connection changes.) But again, I'm just mentioning this as another recent change to my FM use habits, in case it helps anyone debug this issue or if a changing IP plays into things somehow.
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Old 21 Jul 2017, 07:10 PM   #2
edu
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Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 194
I think that FM could add the IP change (VPN) in the settings to trust or not trust 2FA, as many other services do. Try without using the VPN and what happens.
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Old 21 Jul 2017, 09:15 PM   #3
Cox
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 34
The same happens on my two computers since a few days. I didn't change anything recently.
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Old 22 Jul 2017, 02:04 AM   #4
FredOnline
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Manchester UK
Posts: 2,616
This also happened to me twice today.

Slightly irritating, but my 2FA is close to hand so not too big a deal . . . at present, anyway.
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Old 22 Jul 2017, 02:26 AM   #5
BritTim
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: mostly in Thailand
Posts: 3,084
If you run out of other ideas, try force terminating all your logged in FastMail sessions (from Passwords & Security) and clear cookies again.

An issue I have seen in the past is FastMail being confused about which session it is currently using with all kinds of strange symptoms resulting.
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Old 22 Jul 2017, 02:55 PM   #6
DumbGuy
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Join Date: Oct 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BritTim View Post
If you run out of other ideas, try force terminating all your logged in FastMail sessions (from Passwords & Security) and clear cookies again.

An issue I have seen in the past is FastMail being confused about which session it is currently using with all kinds of strange symptoms resulting.
BritTim: Thank you! I tried this today, and it seems to have worked.
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