I was told this is not current, but; There is a preference that sets how long the Primary(Master) Password is unlocked:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_Entries

Search for; security. ask_for_password and; security.password_lifetime

Thanks for your response. According to the website you referenced those settings appear to refer to Mozilla Mail, not the browser in general. I made a couple of changes anyway and will see what happens :)

Those two prefs aren't used (if ever) in Firefox and won't have effect.

Are you canceling these requests ?

Firefox asks for the Primary Password when it needs to access logins stored in the Password Manager. This can be when you visit a website with a saved login or if you are using Sync (Sync stores the credentials to login to the Sync server in logins.json).

Previously Firefox only asked for the primary only when i first loaded a site that req'd a password. Now it seems to pop up once or twice a day. I have been providing the password. Should i try just cancelling? Still curious why it's happening. Could i be compromised?

You can check the current login state in the security device manager for the "Software Security Device", but remember that you logout if you cancel a PP prompt and thus need to enter the PP once again. There is no timeout for the PP as far as I know unless you close Firefox although there is a 5 minute timeout for showing a password in Lockwise.

See:

• Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
  Certificates: Security Devices

In the left panel select "Software Security Device". You can find "Log In" and "Log Out" and "Change Password" in the very right panel. You may have to Zoom out the page to make this right panel visible.

I don't see this setting in about:preferences#privacy I'm using FF 90.0 on Linux Mint.

It is at the bottom under security, you can paste "Security Devices" in the search bar on the settings page.

Thanks, I see it now. Not sure what to do with it. I guess i'll have to see if the issue arises again. I will marked this solved in the meantime. I appreciate all the help.

See also:

• 1721084 - Firefox Lockwise repeatedly prompts for primary password

(please do not comment in bug reports
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html)

Note there is this timeout pref meant for revealing a password in Lockwise, but I don't know whether it has effect on this issue.

• signon.masterPasswordReprompt.timeout_ms = 900000 (15min)