[PATCH] htdbm: warn crypt-enabled users that plaintext format won't work

[Jeff Trawick <tr...@gmail.com>]

Index: support/htdbm.c
===================================================================
--- support/htdbm.c     (revision 390811)
+++ support/htdbm.c     (working copy)
@@ -308,6 +308,10 @@
         case ALG_PLAIN:
             /* XXX this len limitation is not in sync with any HTTPd len. */
             apr_cpystrn(cpw,htdbm->userpass,sizeof(cpw));
+#if APR_HAVE_CRYPT_H
+            fprintf(stderr, "Warning: Plain text passwords aren't
supported by the "
+                    "server on this platform!\n");
+#endif
         break;
 #if APR_HAVE_CRYPT_H
         case ALG_CRYPT:

FWIW, when you choose crypt() you see "CRYPT is now deprecated, use
MD5 instead!"

As I understand the plaintext password issue:

In the database file, there are special denotations for md5 and sha1

password hashes, and if there is no denotation then the server expects

(defaults to) crypt() format.  But on Windows no crypt() function is

available, so no denotation means plaintext format there.



1) design issue: file format doesn't have a delimeter for plain text, so a

server on Unix has no way to support plaintext passwords



2) usability issue: htdbm doesn't warn users on platforms with crypt() that

it is fruitless to specify plaintext format for password

Re: [PATCH] htdbm: warn crypt-enabled users that plaintext format won't work

[Jeff Trawick <tr...@gmail.com>]

On 4/3/06, William A. Rowe, Jr. <wr...@rowe-clan.net> wrote:
> Taking things one step further, sha1 is far preferred for cryptographic
> purposes these days than md5.  Suppose its time to switch?

Also, get htpasswd and htdbm defaults in sync.  htpasswd says it
defaults to CRYPT where crypt() is available.

To the extent that modern htdbm and htpasswd are provided solely for
user/pass verification with Apache 2.0 or above, there should be no
migration problems caused by changing the default hash mechanism as
long as we don't change the default TO crypt or plaintext (since those
are unsafe when moving files across platforms).

Re: [PATCH] htdbm: warn crypt-enabled users that plaintext format won't work

["William A. Rowe, Jr." <wr...@rowe-clan.net>]

Taking things one step further, sha1 is far preferred for cryptographic
purposes these days than md5.  Suppose its time to switch?

Bill


Jeff Trawick wrote:
> Index: support/htdbm.c
> ===================================================================
> --- support/htdbm.c     (revision 390811)
> +++ support/htdbm.c     (working copy)
> @@ -308,6 +308,10 @@
>          case ALG_PLAIN:
>              /* XXX this len limitation is not in sync with any HTTPd len. */
>              apr_cpystrn(cpw,htdbm->userpass,sizeof(cpw));
> +#if APR_HAVE_CRYPT_H
> +            fprintf(stderr, "Warning: Plain text passwords aren't
> supported by the "
> +                    "server on this platform!\n");
> +#endif
>          break;
>  #if APR_HAVE_CRYPT_H
>          case ALG_CRYPT:
> 
> FWIW, when you choose crypt() you see "CRYPT is now deprecated, use
> MD5 instead!"
> 
> As I understand the plaintext password issue:
> 
> In the database file, there are special denotations for md5 and sha1
> 
> password hashes, and if there is no denotation then the server expects
> 
> (defaults to) crypt() format.  But on Windows no crypt() function is
> 
> available, so no denotation means plaintext format there.
> 
> 
> 
> 1) design issue: file format doesn't have a delimeter for plain text, so a
> 
> server on Unix has no way to support plaintext passwords
> 
> 
> 
> 2) usability issue: htdbm doesn't warn users on platforms with crypt() that
> 
> it is fruitless to specify plaintext format for password
> 
>