Password encryption at client side

Question

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About password hashing system on client side

I have to secure the passwords of my web site users. What I did was use MD5 encryption hashing in server side. But the problem is the passwords remain in plain text until it arrives at the server, which means that the password can be captured using traffic monitoring. So what I want is to use a client side password encryption/hashing mechanism and send the encrypted/hashed password. Can anybody tell what is the way to do this?

Answer 1

This won't be secure, and it's simple to explain why:

If you hash the password on the client side and use that token instead of the password, then an attacker will be unlikely to find out what the password is.

But, the attacker doesn't need to find out what the password is, because your server isn't expecting the password any more - it's expecting the token. And the attacker does know the token because it's being sent over unencrypted HTTP!

Now, it might be possible to hack together some kind of challenge/response form of encryption which means that the same password will produce a different token each request. However, this will require that the password is stored in a decryptable format on the server, something which isn't ideal, but might be a suitable compromise.

And finally, do you really want to require users to have javascript turned on before they can log into your website?

In any case, SSL is neither an expensive or especially difficult to set up solution any more

Answer 2

You need a library that can encrypt your input on client side and transfer it to the server in encrypted form.

You can use following libs:

• jCryption. Client-Server asymmetric encryption over Javascript

Update after 3 years (2013):

• Stanford Javascript Crypto Library

Update after 4 years (2014):

• CryptoJS - Easy to use encryption
• ForgeJS - Pretty much covers it all
• OpenPGP.JS - Put the OpenPGP format everywhere - runs in JS so you can use it in your web apps, mobile apps & etc.

Answer 3

I would choose this simple solution.

Summarizing it:

• Client "I want to login"
• Server generates a random number #S and sends it to the Client
• Client
  • reads username and password typed by the user
  • calculates the hash of the password, getting h(pw) (which is what is stored in the DB)
  • generates another random number #C
  • concatenates h(pw) + #S + #C and calculates its hash, call it h(all)
  • sends to the server username, #C and h(all)
• Server
  • retrieves h(pw)' for the specified username, from the DB
  • now it has all the elements to calculate h(all'), like Client did
  • if h(all) = h(all') then h(pw) = h(pw)', almost certainly

No one can repeat the request to log in as the specified user. #S adds a variable component to the hash, each time (it's fundamental). #C adds additional noise in it.

Answer 4

This sort of protection is normally provided by using HTTPS, so that all communication between the web server and the client is encrypted.

The exact instructions on how to achieve this will depend on your web server.

The Apache documentation has a SSL Configuration HOW-TO guide that may be of some help. (thanks to user G. Qyy for the link)

Answer 5

I've listed a complete JavaScript for creating an MD5 at the bottom but it's really pointless without a secure connection for several reasons.

If you MD5 the password and store that MD5 in your database then the MD5 is the password. People can tell exactly what's in your database. You've essentially just made the password a longer string but it still isn't secure if that's what you're storing in your database.

If you say, "Well I'll MD5 the MD5" you're missing the point. By looking at the network traffic, or looking in your database, I can spoof your website and send it the MD5. Granted this is a lot harder than just reusing a plain text password but it's still a security hole.

Most of all though you can't salt the hash client side without sending the salt over the 'net unencrypted therefore making the salting pointless. Without a salt or with a known salt I can brute force attack the hash and figure out what the password is.

If you are going to do this kind of thing with unencrypted transmissions you need to use a public key/private key encryption technique. The client encrypts using your public key then you decrypt on your end with your private key then you MD5 the password (using a user unique salt) and store it in your database. Here's a JavaScript GPL public/private key library.

Anyway, here is the JavaScript code to create an MD5 client side (not my code):

/**
*
*  MD5 (Message-Digest Algorithm)
*  http://www.webtoolkit.info/
*
**/

var MD5 = function (string) {

    function RotateLeft(lValue, iShiftBits) {
        return (lValue<<iShiftBits) | (lValue>>>(32-iShiftBits));
    }

    function AddUnsigned(lX,lY) {
        var lX4,lY4,lX8,lY8,lResult;
        lX8 = (lX & 0x80000000);
        lY8 = (lY & 0x80000000);
        lX4 = (lX & 0x40000000);
        lY4 = (lY & 0x40000000);
        lResult = (lX & 0x3FFFFFFF)+(lY & 0x3FFFFFFF);
        if (lX4 & lY4) {
            return (lResult ^ 0x80000000 ^ lX8 ^ lY8);
        }
        if (lX4 | lY4) {
            if (lResult & 0x40000000) {
                return (lResult ^ 0xC0000000 ^ lX8 ^ lY8);
            } else {
                return (lResult ^ 0x40000000 ^ lX8 ^ lY8);
            }
        } else {
            return (lResult ^ lX8 ^ lY8);
        }
    }

    function F(x,y,z) { return (x & y) | ((~x) & z); }
    function G(x,y,z) { return (x & z) | (y & (~z)); }
    function H(x,y,z) { return (x ^ y ^ z); }
    function I(x,y,z) { return (y ^ (x | (~z))); }

    function FF(a,b,c,d,x,s,ac) {
        a = AddUnsigned(a, AddUnsigned(AddUnsigned(F(b, c, d), x), ac));
        return AddUnsigned(RotateLeft(a, s), b);
    };

    function GG(a,b,c,d,x,s,ac) {
        a = AddUnsigned(a, AddUnsigned(AddUnsigned(G(b, c, d), x), ac));
        return AddUnsigned(RotateLeft(a, s), b);
    };

    function HH(a,b,c,d,x,s,ac) {
        a = AddUnsigned(a, AddUnsigned(AddUnsigned(H(b, c, d), x), ac));
        return AddUnsigned(RotateLeft(a, s), b);
    };

    function II(a,b,c,d,x,s,ac) {
        a = AddUnsigned(a, AddUnsigned(AddUnsigned(I(b, c, d), x), ac));
        return AddUnsigned(RotateLeft(a, s), b);
    };

    function ConvertToWordArray(string) {
        var lWordCount;
        var lMessageLength = string.length;
        var lNumberOfWords_temp1=lMessageLength + 8;
        var lNumberOfWords_temp2=(lNumberOfWords_temp1-(lNumberOfWords_temp1 % 64))/64;
        var lNumberOfWords = (lNumberOfWords_temp2+1)*16;
        var lWordArray=Array(lNumberOfWords-1);
        var lBytePosition = 0;
        var lByteCount = 0;
        while ( lByteCount < lMessageLength ) {
            lWordCount = (lByteCount-(lByteCount % 4))/4;
            lBytePosition = (lByteCount % 4)*8;
            lWordArray[lWordCount] = (lWordArray[lWordCount] | (string.charCodeAt(lByteCount)<<lBytePosition));
            lByteCount++;
        }
        lWordCount = (lByteCount-(lByteCount % 4))/4;
        lBytePosition = (lByteCount % 4)*8;
        lWordArray[lWordCount] = lWordArray[lWordCount] | (0x80<<lBytePosition);
        lWordArray[lNumberOfWords-2] = lMessageLength<<3;
        lWordArray[lNumberOfWords-1] = lMessageLength>>>29;
        return lWordArray;
    };

    function WordToHex(lValue) {
        var WordToHexValue="",WordToHexValue_temp="",lByte,lCount;
        for (lCount = 0;lCount<=3;lCount++) {
            lByte = (lValue>>>(lCount*8)) & 255;
            WordToHexValue_temp = "0" + lByte.toString(16);
            WordToHexValue = WordToHexValue + WordToHexValue_temp.substr(WordToHexValue_temp.length-2,2);
        }
        return WordToHexValue;
    };

    function Utf8Encode(string) {
        string = string.replace(/\r\n/g,"\n");
        var utftext = "";

        for (var n = 0; n < string.length; n++) {

            var c = string.charCodeAt(n);

            if (c < 128) {
                utftext += String.fromCharCode(c);
            }
            else if((c > 127) && (c < 2048)) {
                utftext += String.fromCharCode((c >> 6) | 192);
                utftext += String.fromCharCode((c & 63) | 128);
            }
            else {
                utftext += String.fromCharCode((c >> 12) | 224);
                utftext += String.fromCharCode(((c >> 6) & 63) | 128);
                utftext += String.fromCharCode((c & 63) | 128);
            }

        }

        return utftext;
    };

    var x=Array();
    var k,AA,BB,CC,DD,a,b,c,d;
    var S11=7, S12=12, S13=17, S14=22;
    var S21=5, S22=9 , S23=14, S24=20;
    var S31=4, S32=11, S33=16, S34=23;
    var S41=6, S42=10, S43=15, S44=21;

    string = Utf8Encode(string);

    x = ConvertToWordArray(string);

    a = 0x67452301; b = 0xEFCDAB89; c = 0x98BADCFE; d = 0x10325476;

    for (k=0;k<x.length;k+=16) {
        AA=a; BB=b; CC=c; DD=d;
        a=FF(a,b,c,d,x[k+0], S11,0xD76AA478);
        d=FF(d,a,b,c,x[k+1], S12,0xE8C7B756);
        c=FF(c,d,a,b,x[k+2], S13,0x242070DB);
        b=FF(b,c,d,a,x[k+3], S14,0xC1BDCEEE);
        a=FF(a,b,c,d,x[k+4], S11,0xF57C0FAF);
        d=FF(d,a,b,c,x[k+5], S12,0x4787C62A);
        c=FF(c,d,a,b,x[k+6], S13,0xA8304613);
        b=FF(b,c,d,a,x[k+7], S14,0xFD469501);
        a=FF(a,b,c,d,x[k+8], S11,0x698098D8);
        d=FF(d,a,b,c,x[k+9], S12,0x8B44F7AF);
        c=FF(c,d,a,b,x[k+10],S13,0xFFFF5BB1);
        b=FF(b,c,d,a,x[k+11],S14,0x895CD7BE);
        a=FF(a,b,c,d,x[k+12],S11,0x6B901122);
        d=FF(d,a,b,c,x[k+13],S12,0xFD987193);
        c=FF(c,d,a,b,x[k+14],S13,0xA679438E);
        b=FF(b,c,d,a,x[k+15],S14,0x49B40821);
        a=GG(a,b,c,d,x[k+1], S21,0xF61E2562);
        d=GG(d,a,b,c,x[k+6], S22,0xC040B340);
        c=GG(c,d,a,b,x[k+11],S23,0x265E5A51);
        b=GG(b,c,d,a,x[k+0], S24,0xE9B6C7AA);
        a=GG(a,b,c,d,x[k+5], S21,0xD62F105D);
        d=GG(d,a,b,c,x[k+10],S22,0x2441453);
        c=GG(c,d,a,b,x[k+15],S23,0xD8A1E681);
        b=GG(b,c,d,a,x[k+4], S24,0xE7D3FBC8);
        a=GG(a,b,c,d,x[k+9], S21,0x21E1CDE6);
        d=GG(d,a,b,c,x[k+14],S22,0xC33707D6);
        c=GG(c,d,a,b,x[k+3], S23,0xF4D50D87);
        b=GG(b,c,d,a,x[k+8], S24,0x455A14ED);
        a=GG(a,b,c,d,x[k+13],S21,0xA9E3E905);
        d=GG(d,a,b,c,x[k+2], S22,0xFCEFA3F8);
        c=GG(c,d,a,b,x[k+7], S23,0x676F02D9);
        b=GG(b,c,d,a,x[k+12],S24,0x8D2A4C8A);
        a=HH(a,b,c,d,x[k+5], S31,0xFFFA3942);
        d=HH(d,a,b,c,x[k+8], S32,0x8771F681);
        c=HH(c,d,a,b,x[k+11],S33,0x6D9D6122);
        b=HH(b,c,d,a,x[k+14],S34,0xFDE5380C);
        a=HH(a,b,c,d,x[k+1], S31,0xA4BEEA44);
        d=HH(d,a,b,c,x[k+4], S32,0x4BDECFA9);
        c=HH(c,d,a,b,x[k+7], S33,0xF6BB4B60);
        b=HH(b,c,d,a,x[k+10],S34,0xBEBFBC70);
        a=HH(a,b,c,d,x[k+13],S31,0x289B7EC6);
        d=HH(d,a,b,c,x[k+0], S32,0xEAA127FA);
        c=HH(c,d,a,b,x[k+3], S33,0xD4EF3085);
        b=HH(b,c,d,a,x[k+6], S34,0x4881D05);
        a=HH(a,b,c,d,x[k+9], S31,0xD9D4D039);
        d=HH(d,a,b,c,x[k+12],S32,0xE6DB99E5);
        c=HH(c,d,a,b,x[k+15],S33,0x1FA27CF8);
        b=HH(b,c,d,a,x[k+2], S34,0xC4AC5665);
        a=II(a,b,c,d,x[k+0], S41,0xF4292244);
        d=II(d,a,b,c,x[k+7], S42,0x432AFF97);
        c=II(c,d,a,b,x[k+14],S43,0xAB9423A7);
        b=II(b,c,d,a,x[k+5], S44,0xFC93A039);
        a=II(a,b,c,d,x[k+12],S41,0x655B59C3);
        d=II(d,a,b,c,x[k+3], S42,0x8F0CCC92);
        c=II(c,d,a,b,x[k+10],S43,0xFFEFF47D);
        b=II(b,c,d,a,x[k+1], S44,0x85845DD1);
        a=II(a,b,c,d,x[k+8], S41,0x6FA87E4F);
        d=II(d,a,b,c,x[k+15],S42,0xFE2CE6E0);
        c=II(c,d,a,b,x[k+6], S43,0xA3014314);
        b=II(b,c,d,a,x[k+13],S44,0x4E0811A1);
        a=II(a,b,c,d,x[k+4], S41,0xF7537E82);
        d=II(d,a,b,c,x[k+11],S42,0xBD3AF235);
        c=II(c,d,a,b,x[k+2], S43,0x2AD7D2BB);
        b=II(b,c,d,a,x[k+9], S44,0xEB86D391);
        a=AddUnsigned(a,AA);
        b=AddUnsigned(b,BB);
        c=AddUnsigned(c,CC);
        d=AddUnsigned(d,DD);
    }

    var temp = WordToHex(a)+WordToHex(b)+WordToHex(c)+WordToHex(d);

    return temp.toLowerCase();
}

Answer 6

You've tagged this question with the ssl tag, and SSL is the answer. Curious.

Answer 7

You can also simply use http authentication with Digest (Here some infos if you use Apache httpd, Apache Tomcat, and here an explanation of digest).

With Java, for interesting informations, take a look at :

• Understanding Login Authentication
• HTTP Digest Authentication Request & Response Examples
• HTTP Authentication Woes
• Basic Authentication For JSP Page (it's not digest, but I think it's an interesting source)

Answer 8

There are MD5 libraries available for javascript. Keep in mind that this solution will not work if you need to support users who do not have javascript available.

The more common solution is to use HTTPS. With HTTPS, SSL encryption is negotiated between your web server and the client, transparently encrypting all traffic.

Answer 9

For a similar situation I used this PKCS #5: Password-Based Cryptography Standard from RSA laboratories. You can avoid storing password, by substituting it with something that can be generated only from the password (in one sentence). There are some JavaScript implementations.