Evaluating the Efficiency of Password Managers Against Real-World Phishing Pages

Abstract: This study checks how password managers behave when visiting on realistic phishing pages. Testing was done in a virtual machine using Caniphish templates and XAMPP with host file trick. both browser managers including Chrome, Brave, Edge and Firefox and Standalone password managers including Bitwarden, Lastpass, Keepassxc, Proton Pass were manually tested. Findings indicate that the majority of password managers detected domain inconsistencies and prevented automatic credential filling, while certain cases necessitated manual input, and several browsers restricted access to websites because of certificate validation issues. This shows managers give safety in many cases but not always the same way. This research helps users know the limits of password managers. And also help the password manager developers make better systems. Keywords — password managers, phishing, autofill, browser security, authentication, cybersecurity.