PHP How to encrypt AND decrypt passwords?

[JosiahMaybe]

Okay so I use openssl_encrypt and openssl_decrypt but that just sounds like it depends on SSL certificates and since they only last a year, how am I supposed to encrypt and decrypt passwords? I know password_hash won't work because I need to get origin again. Also, unsure what happens if I use 256 bit based things on a 256+ size password, do I need to limit origin size? Obviously yes to an extent but what would be possible? X E.

 

[cbreemer]

These are just SSL utility functions that require no certificates.
Not sure why you think the encryption bit size is related to the byte size of the data encrypted ? It isn't. And anyway, are you honestly thinking of using passwords of that size ?

 

[Antero360]

Okay so I use openssl_encrypt and openssl_decrypt but that just sounds like it depends on SSL certificates and since they only last a year, how am I supposed to encrypt and decrypt passwords? I know password_hash won't work because I need to get origin again. Also, unsure what happens if I use 256 bit based things on a 256+ size password, do I need to limit origin size? Obviously yes to an extent but what would be possible? X E.

Love the idea, however, that may not be feasible if you're gonna store those credentials.

 

[JosiahMaybe]

Yes I have to store these passwords. It would be for user defined passwords and AES-256-CBC I think is what I would be using. Just to be sure, encryption and decryption work same regardless of which certificate I have, right? Also, for that encryption I would like to know what is a sane upper bound for a password. It would be stored as a hash in paddle.com's API stuff, custom_data. I legitimately can set almost any size other than infinity and obviously I should not have excessive storage for that. X E.

 

[JosiahMaybe]

Anyway, I guess I will limit origin to 100 characters and use openssl functions, thanks. X E.

 

[joeworkman]

I am not sure of your whole implementation. Why can you not just use the password hashing that is built into PHP?

https://www.php.net/manual/en/book.password.php

 

[JosiahMaybe]

Because I need to get those passwords back unencrypted eventually and password_hash seems to not have support for that. I would be doing like on recovery attempt email out unencrypted password. Seems like a bad idea but it reduces space needed. X E.

 

[joeworkman]

Sorry for the delay. This seems like a horrible idea to me. The entire point of the password hashing is that it's a one way street.

Also in my opinion, you should never email passwords in plain text. You are opening up a big security hole.

 

[cbreemer]

Sorry for the delay. This seems like a horrible idea to me. The entire point of the password hashing is that it's a one way street.

Also in my opinion, you should never email passwords in plain text. You are opening up a big security hole.

I agree. Implementing "password recovery" by mailing back the original unencrypted password is a Seriously Bad Idea. Which is why nobody ever does that. Send back a link that the user can use to set a new password.

 

[JosiahMaybe]

Okay, got it, thanks. X E.