Basic-Auth Login Prompt on Popup Open
Known issue: the browser may show its built-in HTTP basic authentication login prompt when opening the SN Utils popup on some basic-auth instances. We're actively investigating — here's what we know so far and how you can help us pin it down.
Last updated: May 9, 2026
If your ServiceNow instance is fronted by HTTP basic authentication (the browser's native username/password dialog, not the ServiceNow login form), you may see that prompt the moment you open the SN Utils popup, even though you appear to be signed in elsewhere. Cancelling it closes the popup; on older versions of SN Utils some on-page features could also remain inactive afterwards.
What we know so far
HTTP basic authentication is enforced by the upstream proxy or load balancer, before ServiceNow itself responds — it returns a 401 WWW-Authenticate: Basic header on any request that doesn't already carry credentials, and the browser handles that header by showing its own modal dialog. No browser extension can suppress that dialog without elevated permissions we don't ship with.
In SN Utils 10.0.6.5 we narrowed one reproducible cause: popup-driven requests now reuse the active ServiceNow tab's session instead of opening fresh credential-less requests from the extension context. That removed the most common trigger we could identify — but we're still seeing reports, so there is at least one cause we haven't fully diagnosed yet.
What has helped
A few users have reported that a full browser restart stops the popup from prompting. We don't yet have a reliable explanation for why the restart works, so we're treating it as a workaround rather than a fix.
If you're on SN Utils before 10.0.6.5 and the popup leaves on-page features broken after a cancelled basic-auth dialog, updating to 10.0.6.5 or newer is recommended — that specific stuck state is definitively fixed.
Help us pin it down
If you hit this prompt, we want to hear about it — the more concrete reports we collect, the faster we can isolate the remaining trigger. Please email support@snutils.com (or open a case from your account on snutils.com if you have one) with as much of the following as you can share:
- SN Utils version (popup About tab, or
chrome://extensions) - Browser + version (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari)
- Extension variant — standard, OnPrem, Edge, Safari
- Instance setup — basic-auth in front of ServiceNow, SSO via the proxy, mutual-TLS, anything custom about the auth chain
- When the prompt fires — first popup open after a browser restart, every popup open, only after idle, only on certain instances
- Reproduction steps — what you click in what order; ideally a sequence that triggers it more than half the time
- What clears it — closing the popup, restarting the browser, switching tabs, re-authenticating in the instance tab
- Whether on-page features are affected afterwards (slash commands, Technical Names, etc.)
Screenshots of the prompt and a short screen recording of the click sequence are very helpful if you can share them.