<-
Apache > HTTP Server > Documentation > Version 2.2 > Miscellaneous Documentation

Please note

This document refers to the 2.2 version of Apache httpd, which is no longer maintained. The active release is documented here. If you have not already upgraded, please follow this link for more information.

You may follow this link to go to the current version of this document.

Password Formats

Available Languages:  en 

Notes about the password encryption formats generated and understood by Apache.

top

Basic Authentication

There are four formats that Apache recognizes for basic-authentication passwords. Note that not all formats work on every platform:

PLAIN TEXT (i.e. unencrypted)
Windows, BEOS, & Netware only.
CRYPT
Unix only. Uses the traditional Unix crypt(3) function with a randomly-generated 32-bit salt (only 12 bits used) and the first 8 characters of the password.
SHA1
"{SHA}" + Base64-encoded SHA-1 digest of the password.
MD5
"$apr1$" + the result of an Apache-specific algorithm using an iterated (1,000 times) MD5 digest of various combinations of a random 32-bit salt and the password. See the APR source file apr_md5.c for the details of the algorithm.

Generating values with htpasswd

MD5

$ htpasswd -nbm myName myPassword
myName:$apr1$r31.....$HqJZimcKQFAMYayBlzkrA/

SHA1

$ htpasswd -nbs myName myPassword
myName:{SHA}VBPuJHI7uixaa6LQGWx4s+5GKNE=

CRYPT

$ htpasswd -nbd myName myPassword
myName:rqXexS6ZhobKA

Generating CRYPT and MD5 values with the OpenSSL command-line program

OpenSSL knows the Apache-specific MD5 algorithm.

MD5

$ openssl passwd -apr1 myPassword
$apr1$qHDFfhPC$nITSVHgYbDAK1Y0acGRnY0

CRYPT

openssl passwd -crypt myPassword
qQ5vTYO3c8dsU

Validating CRYPT or MD5 passwords with the OpenSSL command line program

The salt for a CRYPT password is the first two characters (converted to a binary value). To validate myPassword against rqXexS6ZhobKA

CRYPT

$ openssl passwd -crypt -salt rq myPassword
Warning: truncating password to 8 characters
rqXexS6ZhobKA

Note that using myPasswo instead of myPassword will produce the same result because only the first 8 characters of CRYPT passwords are considered.

The salt for an MD5 password is between $apr1$ and the following $ (as a Base64-encoded binary value - max 8 chars). To validate myPassword against $apr1$r31.....$HqJZimcKQFAMYayBlzkrA/

MD5

$ openssl passwd -apr1 -salt r31..... myPassword
$apr1$r31.....$HqJZimcKQFAMYayBlzkrA/

Database password fields for mod_dbd

The SHA1 variant is probably the most useful format for DBD authentication. Since the SHA1 and Base64 functions are commonly available, other software can populate a database with encrypted passwords that are usable by Apache basic authentication.

To create Apache SHA1-variant basic-authentication passwords in various languages:

PHP

'{SHA}' . base64_encode(sha1($password, TRUE))

Java

"{SHA}" + new sun.misc.BASE64Encoder().encode(java.security.MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA1").digest(password.getBytes()))

ColdFusion

"{SHA}" & ToBase64(BinaryDecode(Hash(password, "SHA1"), "Hex"))

Ruby

require 'digest/sha1'
require 'base64'
'{SHA}' + Base64.encode64(Digest::SHA1.digest(password))

C or C++

Use the APR function: apr_sha1_base64

PostgreSQL (with the contrib/pgcrypto functions installed)

'{SHA}'||encode(digest(password,'sha1'),'base64')

top

Digest Authentication

Apache recognizes one format for digest-authentication passwords - the MD5 hash of the string user:realm:password as a 32-character string of hexadecimal digits. realm is the Authorization Realm argument to the AuthName directive in httpd.conf.

Database password fields for mod_dbd

Since the MD5 function is commonly available, other software can populate a database with encrypted passwords that are usable by Apache digest authentication.

To create Apache digest-authentication passwords in various languages:

PHP

md5($user . ':' . $realm . ':' .$password)

Java

byte b[] = java.security.MessageDigest.getInstance("MD5").digest( (user + ":" + realm + ":" + password ).getBytes());
java.math.BigInteger bi = new java.math.BigInteger(1, b);
String s = bi.toString(16);
while (s.length() < 32)
s = "0" + s; // String s is the encrypted password

ColdFusion

LCase(Hash( (user & ":" & realm & ":" & password) , "MD5"))

Ruby

require 'digest/md5'
Digest::MD5.hexdigest(user + ':' + realm + ':' + password)

PostgreSQL (with the contrib/pgcrypto functions installed)

encode(digest( user || ':' || realm || ':' || password , 'md5'), 'hex')

Available Languages:  en 

top

Comments

Notice:
This is not a Q&A section. Comments placed here should be pointed towards suggestions on improving the documentation or server, and may be removed again by our moderators if they are either implemented or considered invalid/off-topic. Questions on how to manage the Apache HTTP Server should be directed at either our IRC channel, #httpd, on Libera.chat, or sent to our mailing lists.