unable to read otp from extension connection page after chrome update to 136

[TestUser77771]

After updating Chrome to version 136+, my Selenium automation is no longer able to read or interact with an internal extension page used for browser authentication (chrome-extension://...). This breaks my OTP-based extension login workflow which was working fine before Chrome v136.

public void unlockEnpass() throws Exception {
    if (!isWebsiteelementpresent.isWebsiteElementPresent(browserRedirection.getUsernameBy())) {
        GenericMethods.scrollToElementBrowser(browserDriver, browserRedirection.getUsernameBy());
    }

    GenericMethods.switchFocusToInlinemenu(browserDriver, browserRedirection.getUsernameBy(), 3, 1000);

    if (inlineMenuScreen.isInlineMenuLocked()) {
        System.out.println("Unlock inline menu");
        inlineMenuScreen.clickInlineMenuLockScreen();
        Thread.sleep(1000);
        GenericMethods.switchFocusToExtension(driver);

        if (iwindowsLoginScreen.unlockButtonVisible()) {
            iwindowsLoginScreen.unlockEnpass(password);
            commonElementsScreen.waitForLoading();
        }
    }

    setupBrowserConnectionSteps.setupMainHelperWindow();
}

public void setupMainHelperWindow() throws Exception {
    if (!extensionMainScreen.isExtensionAuthenticated()) {
        int attemptCount = 0;
        int maxAttempts = 3;

        while (authenticateBrowser.isAuthenticateBrowserVisible() && attemptCount < maxAttempts) {
            System.out.println("Authentication required - Attempt " + (attemptCount + 1));

            GenericMethods.hitEnter(driver);

            try {
                authenticateBrowser.enterOTPToAutenticatBrowser();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                System.out.println("An error occurred while entering the OTP: " + e.getMessage());
                e.printStackTrace();
            }

            GenericMethods.openExtension(driver);

            attemptCount++;
        }

        if (authenticateBrowser.isAuthenticateBrowserVisible()) {
            System.out.println("Authentication failed after " + maxAttempts + " attempts.");
        } else {
            System.out.println("Extension successfully authenticated!");
        }
    }
}

public void enterOTPToAutenticatBrowser() throws InterruptedException, AWTException {
    otp = getOTPToAutenticatBrowser(); // reads OTP from extension page
    System.out.println(otp);
    GenericMethods.switchFocusToExtension(driver);
    sendKeys(driver, otpFieldBy(), otp);
    hitEsc(driver);
}

After upgrading to Chrome v136 or v137:

Extension is loaded via --load-extension=, but Selenium cannot access chrome-extension:// pages.

getOTPToAutenticatBrowser() fails silently or returns nothing.

Even if downgraded, Chrome auto-updates again and breaks the setup.

Likely a security change or policy enforcement in Chrome v136+ (related to extension isolation or restricting programmatic access to chrome-extension:// pages).

Is there a workaround, setting, or browser flag needed now?

Would appreciate any insight or guidance

[bonigarcia]

As explained in #1477, the problem is due to that --load-extension has been removed in Chrome 137+:

https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/chromium-extensions/c/1-g8EFx2BBY/m/S0ET5wPjCAAJ

There is a workaround, which consists on using the following

options.addArguments("--disable-features=DisableLoadExtensionCommandLineSwitch");