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by pwg 2793 days ago
>but it can also prevent a (compromised) server from seeing your password

If the server is compromised, then there is no protection of your cleartext password at all. This is because the entity that compromised the server can replace the original JS with anything, including new JS that sends your cleartext password off to their own host as you type each character.

The only activity on your part that can save you against comprimised servers is having a unique password per server (i.e., not reusing any passwords).

2 comments

Not true in modern architectures, that situation only applies to more traditional file & api server combo's. If you statically serve your site with a service like s3 and have a backend running on lambda or ec2 - the attacker cannot modify the static assets and the client side hashing will prevent them from seeing the plaintext password.
Again, this is wrong depending on how the client is implemented, if updates are signed, if we are talking about a protocol, etc.