Re: User password encryption using a stronger hashing function?

On Wed, Dec 28, 2011 at 11:13:22AM +0100, lst_hoe02(at)kwsoft(dot)de wrote:
> Zitat von Craig Ringer <ringerc(at)ringerc(dot)id(dot)au>:
>
> >On 22/12/2011 5:41 PM, lst_hoe02(at)kwsoft(dot)de wrote:
> >>Zitat von "Liu, Jianli (Jianli)" <jlliu(at)avaya(dot)com>:
> >>
> >>>No one has responded to my questions. I am wondering if anyone
> >>>can point me to where in postgresql source code I can further
> >>>look into the issue and explore the possibility of this
> >>>change? Thanks.
> >>
> >>I was already looking for the same topic but could not find
> >>anything useful. Maybe no one is using the build-in password
> >>encryption, but does it at application level with transparent
> >>data access?
> >>
> >>Maybe one of the developers can explain why the choices for
> >>build-in password encryption are that limited.
> >>
> >I'm not a Pg dev, but I won't be surprised if the v3 protocol
> >doesn't support other hash functions. I haven't looked into it. If
> >you'd like to know more I suggest you search for things like
> >"md5", "sha1", "sha256", "stronger hash" etc on the pogsql-hackers
> >mailing list archives.
> >
> >The main downside of md5 as a password hash function is that the
> >result is small and quick to compute the standard of today's
> >hashes, so rainbow tables are easier to build and can have better
> >coverage. Brute-force cracking is also faster but there's not as
> >much difference there.
> >
> >If you have a need for stronger hashing functions you might want
> >to contact one of the consultants who does contract work on
> >PostgreSQL development and find out what'd be involved in funding
> >the development of the feature. Think about why you need it first,
> >though; what threat(s) are you trying to protect from?
>
> The reasoning is that if your Database content get lost your
> passwords are in danger to be decrypted todays with md5 hash and
> most of the time passwords are reused at other places. With stronger
> hashes at least the password itself would be somewhat safe. But as
> said in many environment the application does not use database users
> anyway, but does its own user management with hopefully stronger
> encryption of the passwords.
>
> Thanks
>
> Andreas
>
Exactly. You need to use GSSAPI or something else to secure it. Then
the passwords are not available to be decrypted in the database and
you can use much more extensive encryption for them.

Regards,
Ken