Access codes are stored as plain text

Created on 2 April 2025, 4 days ago

Problem/Motivation

Access codes are basically passwords and it is a bad practice to store passwords as plain text.
If someone can somehow get a copy of the content of the access_code table, they gain access to every account in it.
A better practice would be to store a hash of the access code and compare this hash when the user is trying to login.

Steps to reproduce

Proposed resolution

The password service can be used to generate a hash:

\Drupal::service('password')->hash($accessCode);

But this would prevent some features like displaying the login link on the user form.

Remaining tasks

User interface changes

API changes

Data model changes

📌 Task

Status

Active

Version

2.0

Component

Code

Created by

🇫🇷France prudloff Lille

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Security improvements
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Comments & Activities

Issue created by @prudloff
Comment 4 days ago →
🇫🇷France prudloff Lille
Comment 4 days ago →
glekli
Thank you for reporting. Using an access code is inherently less secure than a username/password. It is a compromise in security in favor of convenience, and there is a warning about this on the module page.

I certainly agree that storing passwords in plain text is inappropriate. However, access codes are typically 4-6 digits. If they were hashed, they could be cracked in under a second, given someone has access to the database. Therefore, in relation to this module, I don't perceive hashing as a major security enhancement.

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