user authentication via /etc/passwd|/etc/shadow

[Ng Pheng Siong]

According to Marco Herrn  <herrn at gmx.net>:
> And what about the prefix $1$ for md5? When this is available just cut
> it off the hash? 

Yes, don't hash it.

> Are there any other forms of such prefixes? 

$ uname
FreeBSD

$ man 3 crypt
[...]
   Modular crypt:
     If the salt begins with the string $digit$ then the Modular Crypt Format
     is used.  The digit represents which algorithm is used in encryption.
     Following the token is the actual salt to use in the encryption.  The
     length of the salt is limited to 8 characters--because the length of the
     returned output is also limited (_PASSWORD_LEN).  The salt must be termi-
     nated with the end of the string (NULL) or a dollar sign.  Any characters
     after the dollar sign are ignored.

     Currently supported algorithms are:

           1.   MD5
           2.   Blowfish

I believe this $digit$ convention was invented by the BSDs.

Cheers.


-- 
Ng Pheng Siong <ngps at netmemetic.com> 

http://firewall.rulemaker.net -+- Firewall Change Management & Version Control
http://sandbox.rulemaker.net/ngps -+- ZServerSSL/Zope Windows Installers