Programmatically set browser cookie (Firefox)

Question

I know from this question that Firefox 3.0 and up stores its cookies in an SQLite database. My question is: can you access this database from other desktop programs in such a way that you could add a cookie?

I realize this has security implications. However, I do not want to read them at all. I want to be able to set one cookie if possible. I don't even want to overwrite a cookie. I just want to add it if it isn't there already. This is sort of a personal project I'm working on for fun.

This question is mostly language agnostic. I would prefer a solution in C#, but proof of concept in any language will suffice.

Extra credit: It would be cool to set the same cookie in Internet Explorer, too

Answer 1

You will need to use an SQLite connector and connect to the user's cookie db file. This is located in their default profile folder and is called cookies.sqlite. Check out sqlite-manager for Firefox. You can view all the tables that Firefox uses with that.

Edit: Here is a link to a provider: System.Data.SQLite

Answer 2

For FF3, you can access the cookies.sqlite file with any SQLite wrapper - however, check whether FF is running - it may be write-locking the file (not tested).

The database contains this:

TABLE moz_cookies (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, 
    name TEXT, 
    value TEXT, 
    host TEXT, 
    path TEXT,
    expiry INTEGER, 
    lastAccessed INTEGER, 
    isSecure INTEGER, 
    isHttpOnly INTEGER
)

Not sure about the primary key, it looks like it is a unix timestamp of when the cookie was created; expiry and lastAccessed are also unix timestamps, the rest is self-explanatory.

Try an INSERT INTO moz_cookies and see if FF becomes immediately aware of the new cookie or if it requires a restart.

Answer 3

http://sqlite.phxsoftware.com/

This is great for dealing with SQLite in .NET

Answer 4

Hi,

I have a problem with the solution above. I've tried that and successfully inserted a new row to the cookies table.

The problem is that once I load Firefox, the row is deleted...

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks, Shay.

Answer 5

Firefox 3.5 locks the cookie file exclusively so do have a solution for this. i want to get the cookies for the FF or nay browser and saving that cookies or detail and t5he seting that cookies into browser whenever the browser starts. how can i do that. i ll be very thankful Regards Monika