Question

Encrypting/decrypting passwords in plain-text files

Asked by: madscientist

Hello all,

I have a settings file for my website which contains an array with important settings, and I want to have several of the values encrypted from plain view and then decrypted when I need to use them (e.g. the passwords to access databases etc.). I've never used the Mcrypt functions in PHP, so I've been trying a small test where I encrypt a variable (entered into a form) which is then encrpyted and written to a file on my server, and then decrypt the variable written to the file. My problem is that when I decrypt the variable, it is not the same as I originally entered.

--encryption--

$fp = fopen('./file.php', 'w');

fwrite($fp, "<?php\n\n\$variable = '" . mcrypt_encrypt(MCRYPT_RIJNDAEL_256, mhash(MHASH_MD5, 'tirg412e1dw'), $_POST['variable'], MCRYPT_MODE_CBC, mcrypt_create_iv(mcrypt_get_iv_size(MCRYPT_RIJNDAEL_256, MCRYPT_MODE_CBC), MCRYPT_RAND)) . "';\n\n?>");

fclose($fp);

--decryption--

require('./file.php');

echo '<p>$variable = ' . mcrypt_decrypt(MCRYPT_RIJNDAEL_256, mhash(MHASH_MD5, 'tirg412e1dw'), $variable, MCRYPT_MODE_CBC, mcrypt_create_iv(mcrypt_get_iv_size(MCRYPT_RIJNDAEL_256, MCRYPT_MODE_CBC), MCRYPT_RAND)) . '.</p>';

--end--

I'm assuming that its a problem with the cipher, mode or IV, but I was also wondering if it was a problem that I'm writing it to a file and the character codes were somehow being lost.

Thanks for any help,  Adam.

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Asked On
2007-03-18 at 09:45:41ID22456713
Tags

mcrypt_mode_cbc

,

passwords

,

php

Topic

PHP Scripting Language

Participating Experts
2
Points
125
Comments
4

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Answers

 

by: TchukiPosted on 2007-03-18 at 14:10:10ID: 18744654

 

by: slyongPosted on 2007-03-18 at 15:11:18ID: 18744909

Try this:

//---- To Encrypt ---
<?php
$cipher = "rijndael-128";
$mode = "cbc";
$plain_text = "Hello World";
$secret_key = "01234567890abcde";
$iv = "fedcba9876543210";

$td = mcrypt_module_open($cipher, "", $mode, $iv);
mcrypt_generic_init($td, $secret_key, $iv);

$cyper_text = mcrypt_generic($td, $plain_text);
$hex_text = bin2hex($cyper_text);

$fp = fopen('./file.php', 'w');
fwrite($fp, "<?php\n\n\$variable='".$hex_text."';"."\n\n?>");
fclose($fp);

mcrypt_generic_deinit($td);
mcrypt_module_close($td);
?>

//---- To Decrypt ---
<?php
function hex2bin($hexdata) {
  $bindata="";
 
  for ($i=0;$i<strlen($hexdata);$i+=2) {
   $bindata.=chr(hexdec(substr($hexdata,$i,2)));
  }

  return $bindata;
}

require('./file.php');

$cipher = "rijndael-128";
$mode = "cbc";
$secret_key = "01234567890abcde";
$iv = "fedcba9876543210";

$td = mcrypt_module_open($cipher, "", $mode, $iv);

mcrypt_generic_init($td, $secret_key, $iv);
$decrypted_text = mdecrypt_generic($td, hex2bin($variable));
echo '<p>$variable = ' . trim($decrypted_text). '</p>';
mcrypt_generic_deinit($td);
mcrypt_module_close($td);
?>

 

by: madscientistPosted on 2007-03-18 at 15:11:38ID: 18744911

<sarcasm>I never thought of looking at the PHP manual...</sarcasm>

 

by: TchukiPosted on 2007-03-18 at 16:17:01ID: 18745149

Obviously not well enough then.

Have a nice day.  :)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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