Skip to content

Add a command to archive a browser's data files into a zip for cross-host keys import #607

Closed

Description

@moonD4rk

Context

The cross-host workflow needs the origin host's browser data copied to the analyst host before keys import. That copy step is currently manual and awkward.

Motivation

  • Full User Data is huge (caches), but only a few small files are needed to decrypt.
  • On Windows the live SQLite files (Cookies, Login Data) are locked → a naive copy fails.
  • Paths contain spaces; profile markers vary (Preferences vs Preferences_02).

Discovery already resolves exactly which files matter per category — the only missing piece is collecting them into a portable archive.

Proposal

A command (e.g. keys archive -b <browser> -o data.zip) that:

  • collects only decryption-relevant files (Login Data, Cookies, Web Data, History, … + Local State + Preferences), excluding caches → small zip;
  • reads locked files via filemanager.Session (the existing Windows locked-file bypass);
  • keeps the relative User Data layout, so the analyst can unzip and keys import -p <unzipped> directly.

Workflow

origin:   keys export -o keys.json    # keys
          keys archive -o data.zip     # data (this feature)
analyst:  unzip data.zip && keys import -i keys.json -b <browser> -p ./data

Related: #605; import-discovery bug #606.

Activity

  1. added
    featureNew feature or request
    browser: allIssues related to all supported browsers
    on Jun 1, 2026
  2. bebard80 commented on Jul 3, 2026

    @bebard80

    I would like you to explain in detail whether it is possible to decrypt passwords from Chromium-based browsers on macOS version 26.4.1 or later.

  3. moonD4rk commented on Aug 4, 2026

    @moonD4rk
    OwnerAuthor

    Implemented in #610 as the archive command (flattened out of the keys namespace by #608).

    hack-browser-data archive -b chrome -o data.zip
    hack-browser-data restore --keys keys.json --data-zip data.zip
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    browser: allIssues related to all supported browsersfeatureNew feature or request

    Projects

    No projects

      Milestone

      No milestone

      Relationships

      None yet

      Development

      No branches or pull requests

      Issue actions