https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=169867
Bug ID: 169867
Summary: LibreOffice Prompts for Administrator Credentials
Every Time it Opens when Auto Update is Enabled
Product: LibreOffice
Version: 25.8.2.2 release
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64)
OS: Windows (All)
Status: UNCONFIRMED
Severity: normal
Priority: medium
Component: LibreOffice
Assignee: [email protected]
Reporter: [email protected]
Description:
I am an occasional user of LibreOffice. Our RMM uses Chocolatey to keep
LibreOffice updated. I noticed while trying to open documents today with
LibreOffice that it caused Windows to prompt for Administrator credentials
every time I opened LibreOffice and the requestor was and updater.exe that
lived in my appdata Libre Office folder.
Upon cancelling this and checking manually to see if my LibreOffice was
updated, I noticed the software was up-to-date.
I replicated this behavior several time. Finally, I looked into the settings
in LibreOffice and unchecked Options-->Online Update-->Automatic Update to
resolve this.
I was consistently able to stop this behavior by unchecking "Automatic Update"
and consistently able to replicate this behavior by checking "Automatic
Update."
This is very annoying behavior by this application on what seems to be a
default install since our users (and our customers that we push LibreOffice out
to) usually do not run as Administrators.
In addition, the actual prompt seemed sketchy because the Windows Admin Prompt
does not mention "LibreOffice." To someone who is not an IT person, this seems
like it could be some sort of malware, etc. Even to me, someone who owns and
IT company, the initial prompt seemed sketchy as I was working to open a
LibreOffice document a cloud connected storage location.
Please fix the overall behavior. I suggest the following two items.
1. Add a sanity check that won't run the automatic updater executable if the
Windows user does not have local administrator privileges.
Or
2. Move the Automatic Update process out of the user space and run it as a
system service, which is typically how automatic updating software is handled
in the Windows world.
In addition, please rename the executable so that it is obvious that it is a
legitimate Libre Office process when it prompts for Administrator privileges on
a Windows system.
The computer I experienced this issue on is running Windows 11 Pro.
Here is the LibreOffice information:
Version: 25.8.2.2 (X86_64)
Build ID: d401f2107ccab8f924a8e2df40f573aab7605b6f
CPU threads: 12; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 26200); UI render: Skia/Raster;
VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Make sure you are using Windows as a non-administrator users (which is
recommended best practice for users on a Windows Os computer)
2. Enable Automatic Updates (seems to be the default installer behavior
3. Try to Open LibreOffice either directly or by trying to open a LibreOffice
document
4. You will be greeted with a Windows Administrator Prompt by the Updater.exe
Process
Actual Results:
When trying to open either a LibreOffice document or one of the LibreOffice
applications, I was prompted for admin credentials by an "Updater.exe" process
that appears to be part of the LibreOffice Automatic Update system.
Expected Results:
I expected to open LibreOffice without receiving a prompt for Administrator
credentials.
Reproducible: Always
User Profile Reset: No
Additional Info:
I think I have provide all of the information that is relevant. I have a
couple of screenshots that I will upload separately.
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