HTPASSWD(1)                        htpasswd                        HTPASSWD(1)





NAME
       htpasswd - Manage user files for basic authentication


SYNOPSIS
       htpasswd [ -c ] [ -i ] [ -m | -B | -2 | -5 | -d | -s | -p ] [ -r rounds
       ] [ -C cost ] [ -D ] [ -v ] passwdfile username


       htpasswd -b [ -c ] [ -m | -B | -2 | -5 | -d | -s | -p ] [ -r rounds ] [
       -C cost ] [ -D ] [ -v ] passwdfile username password


       htpasswd -n [ -i ] [ -m | -B | -2 | -5 | -d | -s | -p ] [ -r rounds ] [
       -C cost ] username


       htpasswd -nb [ -m | -B | -2 | -5 | -d | -s | -p ] [ -r rounds ] [ -C
       cost ] username password



SUMMARY
       htpasswd is used to create and update the flat-files used to store
       usernames and password for basic authentication of HTTP users. If
       htpasswd cannot access a file, such as not being able to write to the
       output file or not being able to read the file in order to update it,
       it returns an error status and makes no changes.


       Resources available from the Apache HTTP server can be restricted to
       just the users listed in the files created by htpasswd. This program
       can only manage usernames and passwords stored in a flat-file. It can
       hash and display password information for use in other types of data
       stores, though. To use a DBM database see dbmmanage or htdbm.


       htpasswd hashes passwords using either bcrypt, a version of MD5
       modified for Apache, SHA-1, or the system's crypt() routine.
       SHA-2-based hashes (SHA-256 and SHA-512) are supported for crypt().
       Files managed by htpasswd may contain a mixture of different encoding
       types of passwords; some user records may have bcrypt or MD5-hashed
       passwords while others in the same file may have passwords hashed with
       crypt().


       This manual page only lists the command line arguments. For details of
       the directives necessary to configure user authentication in httpd see
       the Apache manual, which is part of the Apache distribution or can be
       found at http://httpd.apache.org/.



OPTIONS
       -b     Use batch mode; i.e., get the password from the command line
              rather than prompting for it. This option should be used with
              extreme care, since the password is clearly visible on the
              command line. For script use see the -i option. Available in
              2.4.4 and later.

       -i     Read the password from stdin without verification (for script
              usage).

       -c     Create the passwdfile. If passwdfile already exists, it is
              rewritten and truncated. This option cannot be combined with the
              -n option.

       -n     Display the results on standard output rather than updating a
              file. This is useful for generating password records acceptable
              to Apache for inclusion in non-text data stores. This option
              changes the syntax of the command line, since the passwdfile
              argument (usually the first one) is omitted. It cannot be
              combined with the -c option.

       -m     Use MD5 hashing for passwords. This is the default (since
              version 2.2.18).

       -2     Use SHA-256 crypt() based hashes for passwords. This is
              supported on most Unix platforms.

       -5     Use SHA-512 crypt() based hashes for passwords. This is
              supported on most Unix platforms.

       -B     Use bcrypt hashing for passwords. This is currently considered
              to be very secure.

       -C     This flag is only allowed in combination with -B (bcrypt
              hashing). It sets the computing time used for the bcrypt
              algorithm (higher is more secure but slower, default: 5, valid:
              4 to 17).

       -r     This flag is only allowed in combination with -2 or -5. It sets
              the number of hash rounds used for the SHA-2 algorithms (higher
              is more secure but slower; the default is 5,000).

       -d     Use crypt() hashing for passwords. This is not supported by the
              httpd server on Windows and Netware. This algorithm limits the
              password length to 8 characters. This algorithm is insecure by
              today's standards. It used to be the default algorithm until
              version 2.2.17.

       -s     Use SHA-1 (160-bit) hashing for passwords. Facilitates migration
              from/to Netscape servers using the LDAP Directory Interchange
              Format (ldif). This algorithm is insecure by today's standards.

       -p     Use plaintext passwords. Though htpasswd will support creation
              on all platforms, the httpd daemon will only accept plain text
              passwords on Windows and Netware.

       -D     Delete user. If the username exists in the specified htpasswd
              file, it will be deleted.

       -v     Verify password. Verify that the given password matches the
              password of the user stored in the specified htpasswd file.
              Available in 2.4.5 and later.

       passwdfile
              Name of the file to contain the user name and password. If -c is
              given, this file is created if it does not already exist, or
              rewritten and truncated if it does exist.

       username
              The username to create or update in passwdfile. If username does
              not exist in this file, an entry is added. If it does exist, the
              password is changed.

       password
              The plaintext password to be hashed and stored in the file. Only
              used with the -b flag.


EXIT STATUS
       htpasswd returns a zero status ("true") if the username and password
       have been successfully added or updated in the passwdfile. htpasswd
       returns 1 if it encounters some problem accessing files, 2 if there was
       a syntax problem with the command line, 3 if the password was entered
       interactively and the verification entry didn't match, 4 if its
       operation was interrupted, 5 if a value is too long (username,
       filename, password, or final computed record), 6 if the username
       contains illegal characters (see the Restrictions section), and 7 if
       the file is not a valid password file.


EXAMPLES

             htpasswd /usr/pkg/etc/httpd/.htpasswd-users jsmith



       Adds or modifies the password for user jsmith. The user is prompted for
       the password. The password will be hashed using the modified Apache MD5
       algorithm. If the file does not exist, htpasswd will do nothing except
       return an error.


             htpasswd -c /home/doe/public_html/.htpasswd jane



       Creates a new file and stores a record in it for user jane. The user is
       prompted for the password. If the file exists and cannot be read, or
       cannot be written, it is not altered and htpasswd will display a
       message and return an error status.


             htpasswd -db /usr/pkg/share/httpd/htdocs/.htpasswd-all jones Pwd4Steve



       Encrypts the password from the command line (Pwd4Steve) using the
       crypt() algorithm, and stores it in the specified file.


SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
       Web password files such as those managed by htpasswd should not be
       within the Web server's URI space -- that is, they should not be
       fetchable with a browser.


       This program is not safe as a setuid executable. Do not make it setuid.


       The use of the -b option is discouraged, since when it is used the
       plaintext password appears on the command line.


       When using the crypt() algorithm, note that only the first 8 characters
       of the password are used to form the password. If the supplied password
       is longer, the extra characters will be silently discarded.


       The SHA-1 hashing format does not use salting: for a given password,
       there is only one hashed representation. The crypt() and MD5 formats
       permute the representation by prepending a random salt string, to make
       dictionary attacks against the passwords more difficult.


       The SHA-1 and crypt() formats are insecure by today's standards.


       The SHA-2-based crypt() formats (SHA-256 and SHA-512) are supported on
       most modern Unix systems, and follow the specification at
       https://www.akkadia.org/drepper/SHA-crypt.txt.


RESTRICTIONS
       On the Windows platform, passwords hashed with htpasswd are limited to
       no more than 255 characters in length. Longer passwords will be
       truncated to 255 characters.


       The MD5 algorithm used by htpasswd is specific to the Apache software;
       passwords hashed using it will not be usable with other Web servers.


       Usernames are limited to 255 bytes and may not include the character :.


       The cost of computing a bcrypt password hash value increases with the
       number of rounds specified by the -C option. The apr-util library
       enforces a maximum number of rounds of 17 in version 1.6.0 and later.




Apache HTTP Server                2024-04-02                       HTPASSWD(1)