Password reset json endpoint reveals whether an email or username is in use

Created on 1 February 2022, almost 3 years ago
Updated 26 July 2023, over 1 year ago

Problem/Motivation

The issue: #1521996: Password reset form reveals whether an email or username is in use β†’ fixed the enumeration of email addresses and usernames via the password reset form. This issue is a follow-up to apply the same fix to the password reset json endpoint in \Drupal\user\Controller\UserAuthenticationController::resetPassword.

Steps to reproduce

Run

curl -X POST 'https://mydrupalsite.dev/user/password?_format=json' \
-d '{"mail": "myemail@example.com"}'

if myemail@example.com does not correspond to an account then the following payload will be returned:

{"message":"Unrecognized username or email address."}

if myemail@example.com does correspond to an account but the account is blocked or not activated, then the following payload is returned:

{"message":"The user has not been activated or is blocked."}

if myemail@example.com does correspond to an active not-blocked account then an empty code 200 response is returned.

Proposed resolution

Make the "Unrecognized username or email address." scenario return an empty code 200 response, as in return new Response();, but log the error in watchdog.
Discuss whether to prevent enumeration of non-active/blocked accounts in another issue.

Remaining tasks

Review the attached patch.

User interface changes

Same empty response regardless of whether the user exists with an active account or does not exist at all.

This decreases usability for users since they might be resetting their password with the wrong email address and then wonder why they never get an email. Right now you immediately know that you typed in a wrong email address. However, decreased usability vs. better privacy is probably a tradeoff we accept.

API changes

Headless clients will need to be adjusted for the new response.

Data model changes

None.

Release notes snippet

πŸ› Bug report
Status

Fixed

Version

10.1 ✨

Component
User moduleΒ  β†’

Last updated about 21 hours ago

Created by

πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦Canada shaundychko

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