Password managers have become foundational to enterprise identity hygiene: they enforce strong, unique secrets; reduce credential reuse; support privileged workflows; and create audit trails. But 2024–2025 showed—again—that password managers are high-value targets. Recent work demonstrated DOM-based clickjacking paths in multiple browser-extension password managers (allowing deceptive overlays to coax autofill of passwords, credit-cards, and even 2FA codes), and an authentication-bypass flaw hit an enterprise vault used widely in government and regulated sectors. Together with research on plaintext secrets in memory, this reframes password managers from “solve-it-and-forget-it” utilities to mission-critical infrastructure requiring full life-cycle risk management.

The Risk Picture

• Browser & UI as an attack surface
  At DEF CON 33, researchers showed extension-level clickjacking across several popular managers (e.g., 1Password, Bitwarden, Enpass, iCloud/Apple Passwords, LastPass, LogMeOnce). The attack abuses invisible/overlayed DOM elements to trigger autofill, stealing credentials and 2FA codes—no “server breach” required. Vendors rushed mitigations; some shipped quicker than others. CISOs must treat autofill and extension UI as privileged workflows, not mere convenience.
• Enterprise vaults still face classic web vulns
  In August 2025, Click Studios patched Passwordstate 9.9 (Build 9972) for a confirmed auth-bypass reachable via a crafted URL on the Emergency Access page and strengthened anti-clickjacking in its extension. Even hardened, on-prem products need emergency patch pathways and compensating controls when zero-days land.
• Runtime exposure is real
  A 2024 academic study across 24 products found many password managers expose plaintext secrets in RAM during use. “Encrypted at rest” is not enough; a host-level compromise or memory dump can still harvest credentials. Endpoint hardening—and reducing secret dwell time in memory—matters.
• LastPass lessons endure
  Threat actors exfiltrated encrypted customer vaults in 2022, then selectively cracked weak master passwords over time; some users later saw crypto theft tied to compromised keys. Takeaway: vault compromise ≠ instant plaintext, but weak master passwords (and poor KDF parameters) collapse that protection. Your enterprise baselines must eliminate that class of risk.

Architecture Priorities for CISOs

1. Treat the vault as Tier-0 identity infrastructure
   Put password managers in scope for your crown-jewel tiering (admins, CI/CD, cloud consoles, IdP break-glass). Apply the same standards you use for domain controllers/PIM.
2. Prefer SSO + strong, phishing-resistant MFA for vault access
   Enforce WebAuthn/FIDO2 for admins and high-risk groups. If the vendor supports per-action re-auth (view/copy/export), enable it for sensitive records.
3. Separate roles and secrets by blast radius
   Use multiple vaults/collections: workforce vs. privileged; production vs. non-prod; corporate vs. vendor access. Deny export for privileged secrets. Require ticket/approval for viewing high-risk items.
4. Minimize browser-extension trust
   Browser extensions increase attack surface. Where possible, require manual “fill” from the desktop app (not passive autofill), restrict extension permissions, and disable autofill entirely on high-risk domains (IdP, cloud admin, finance, CI/CD).
5. Harden endpoints for memory safety
   EDR with memory-dump detection, LSASS/credential guard equivalents, kernel-level tamper protection, and rapid isolation. Shorten vault “unlock” timeouts; wipe clipboard on timers; disable persistent unlock.
6. Require modern KDF parameters and strong master passphrases
   Enforce vendor-max KDFs (Argon2id/scrypt with high memory and iterations). Minimum 14–16 char passphrases or passphrases from SSO+FIDO only. Periodically re-benchmark KDF settings.
7. Lock down export and sharing
   Disable CSV/JSON exports by default. Force sharing via named collections with approval and immutable audit. Alert on bulk access, mass copy, and export attempts.
8. Back-glass (“break glass”) with care
   Keep break-glass credentials outside the day-to-day vault (sealed envelope/HSM/smartcard in a guarded process). Test quarterly. Log every access.
9. Fully integrate with PAM/PIM
   For true privileged workflows, integrate with PAM/PIM to broker ephemeral credentials/just-in-time access—so secrets don’t persist at rest. Use secrets-management for apps (not human vaults) to rotate automatically.
10. Vendor transparency as a hard requirement
    Demand public security advisories, bug bounty, SBOM, signed updates, and time-to-patch SLAs. Assess clickjacking stance, extension permissions, anti-exfiltration UX (e.g., re-auth prompts), and memory-handling claims.

The Best-Possible CISO Checklist (Deploy in 90 Days and Sustain)

Governance & Policy

• ☑ Define the password manager as Tier-0 in your security model with an executive owner and risk register entry.
• ☑ Mandate SSO + FIDO2 for admins; require phishing-resistant MFA for all vault users.
• ☑ Set KDF baselines (e.g., Argon2id with memory ≥256MB, parallelism ≥2, iterations tuned to ≥500ms on fleet).
• ☑ Prohibit CSV/JSON export without CISO waiver; enable immutable audit logs and tamper-evident logging to a SIEM.

Identity & Segmentation

• ☑ Create separate collections/vaults by sensitivity (workforce, finance, prod-ops, break-glass).
• ☑ Deny sharing to personal emails; enforce least privilege and periodic review/certification of access.

Browser & Extension Hardening

• ☑ Disable passive autofill and form auto-submit globally; require explicit user action to fill.
• ☑ Maintain an extension allow-list (by exact ID and version). Lock updates to managed channels.
• ☑ Block autofill on IdP, cloud admin, CI/CD, banking, and payment domains using enterprise policies/URL-match rules.
• ☑ Enable anti-clickjacking headers (site-wide X-Frame-Options / CSP frame-ancestors) for your own apps; test your internal apps to prevent overlay attacks.

Endpoint & Runtime Protections

• ☑ Enforce short unlock timers (e.g., 1–5 minutes) and lock-on-screen-lock; disable “keep me logged in.”
• ☑ Turn on clipboard auto-clear and block 3rd-party clipboard readers with EDR policies.
• ☑ Detect and block memory dumping tools; flag Vault process anomalies and unusual API access.

Secrets Hygiene

• ☑ Disallow secrets for federated/SAML accounts (no saved password when SSO exists).
• ☑ Enforce unique, long passwords; rotate stale/duplicated entries quarterly.
• ☑ For service/app secrets, use a secrets manager with rotation and app identity—not the human vault.

Monitoring & Analytics

• ☑ Stream vault audit logs (logins, unlocks, copies, reveals, exports) to SIEM; create detections for:
  • Unusual country/ASN or impossible travel
  • Bulk reveal/copy/export within a short window
  • New device + high-risk action within 24h
• ☑ Alert on policy violations (autofill on blocked domains; extension deviations; downgraded KDF).

Incident Readiness (Runbooks You Actually Test)

• ☑ Clickjacking/extension compromise playbook: steps to revoke extension access, push managed policy, and invalidate sessions.
• ☑ Vault compromise playbook: emergency communication, master credential rotation plan, staged rotation of all high-risk entries (cloud, CI/CD, finance), and 30-day heightened monitoring.
• ☑ Passwordstate-style vendor advisory response: patch SLAs (<24–48h), compensating controls (IP allow-lists, disable Emergency Access page) until updates land.

Supply Chain & Vendor Assurance

• ☑ Require signed updates, SBOM, coordinated disclosure.
• ☑ Review vendor’s response to 2025 clickjacking: what shipped, when, and what remains. Demand a post-mortem and roadmap.

Training & UX

• ☑ Short, focused training:
  • Never use autofill on admin/financial sites.
  • Use manual fill or copy-paste (cleared clipboard).
  • Verify URL and page context before revealing secrets.
  • Report suspicious overlays/UI glitches immediately