Password Hash Update via Secure Plain-Text Relay
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network authentication systems face challenges in updating password hashes after a client device upgrades its password generating component, leading to authentication failures and requiring complex server-side mechanisms to manage old and new hashes.
Innovation Solution
A system where an authentication server receives a plain-text password from a client device over a secure connection, updates the password database with a new hash, and authenticates the client using both old and new hash comparisons to ensure seamless authentication post-upgrade.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the authentication server uses a new password hashing algorithm after a client device upgrade, then authentication security is improved, but authentication compatibility deteriorates causing login failures for upgraded clients
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by establishing a secure connection and obtaining the plain-text password from the client device before the authentication failure occurs. This allows the server to proactively update the password hash in the database to the new algorithm format, ensuring that subsequent authentication attempts using the new algorithm will succeed. The preliminary update prevents the compatibility issue from manifesting as an authentication failure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses a secure connection as an intermediary mechanism to facilitate the password update process. This secure channel allows the server to safely receive the plain-text password from the client and perform the hash algorithm transition without exposing credentials. The intermediary secure connection enables the transition from old to new hashing algorithms while maintaining both security and compatibility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the server implements complex mechanisms to manage old and new password hashes, then authentication compatibility is maintained, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the plain-text password from the client device through a secure connection and uses it to regenerate the password hash on the server side. By taking out the password information and重新 hashing it with the new algorithm, the system avoids the need to store and manage multiple hash versions. This extraction approach simplifies the server-side mechanism compared to maintaining parallel old and new hash storage systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the password hash parameter from the old algorithm format to the new algorithm format by obtaining the plain-text password and re-hashing it. This parameter transformation approach allows the server to transition to a new hashing algorithm without requiring complex dual-format storage and comparison logic, thereby reducing system complexity while maintaining compatibility.
3Ease of manufacture
If the authentication server requires plain-text password transmission, then password database updates become simpler, but security during transmission is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a secure connection as an intermediary channel between the client device and authentication server for transmitting the plain-text password. This secure intermediary protects the password during transmission from eavesdropping or interception, while still allowing the server to receive the plain-text form needed for simple database updates. The secure connection eliminates the transmission security risk while preserving the simplicity of password updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs the password transmission and database update as a preliminary action before authentication failures occur. By proactively obtaining the plain-text password through a secure channel and updating the database beforehand, the system simplifies the overall process while ensuring security during the critical transmission phase. This preliminary secure transmission avoids ongoing security risks.
Data Source
AI summary
A device may include an authentication server and a server. The authentication server may receive a first form of a password from a client device in accordance with an authentication protocol, and authenticate the client device based on a comparison of the first form to a value derived from a second form of the password stored in a password database, where the comparison fails when the first form is not comparable to a value derived from the second form. The server may establish a secure connection to the client, receive a plain-text password from the client device over the secure connection, authenticate the client device by comparing a value derived from the plain-text password with a value derived from the second form, and update the password database with a third form of the password that permits the authentication server to successfully authenticate the client device when the authentication server receives the first form.