Google apologized after a bug prevented almost 15 million Windows users from finding or saving their passwords, causing an 18-hour issue for its consumers.
The tech giant stated that the issue was due to "a change in product behavior without proper feature guard," similar to CrowdStrike's massive outage.
Google Bug Prevents Users From Saving, Finding Passwords
The bug caused problems for several Chrome web users who saved their passwords on the browser. The affected customers experienced a difficult time finding the passwords that were stored in the Chrome password managers.
Moreover, newly saved passwords became invisible once the affected users attempted to input them. The bug was found to be a common issue on the M127 version of Chrome Browser on the Windows platform.
"We apologize for the inconvenience this service disruption/outage may have caused," the company stated.
As of writing, all issues concerning the bug must now be resolved. Any users who are still experiencing issues beyond the bug's effect are advised to contact Google Workspace Support.
Google Issues Fix on Password Manager Bug
Google announced that an interim solution is now in place with the help of a technical process of launching the browser with a command line of "-enable-features=SkipUndecryptablePasswords."
Fortunately, affected users will automatically receive the fix on their browsers. Customers are required to restart their Chrome browser so that the update will be in effect.
Forbes estimated that around 15 million Chrome users were affected by the bug and Google confirmed that about 2% experienced some problems. There are three billion users of the Chrome web browser and about 25% of its user base received the configuration update.
