David,
Either the documentation is wrong or I am simply being daft, but in one part of
the doc (very beginning of the section), it describes the very feature you are
talking about where the user name and password at login time, is in fact, used
to connect with the AD. I am assuming in that configuration, you must remove
the keywords connectionName and connectionPassword from server.xml. However,
when you read the documentation for these two keywords it mentions that if you
don't use these keywords, an anonymous bind is used.
So how does one configure tomcat to use the current user's login and password
to connect to the AD?
If I remove connectionName and connectionPassword I get the following error:
SEVERE: Exception performing authentication
javax.naming.NamingException: [LDAP: error code 1 - 00000000: LdapErr:
DSID-0C090627, comment: In or
der to perform this operation a successful bind must be completed on the
connection., data 0, vece ]
; remaining name 'OU=BedfordRecipients,DC=company,DC=com'
at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtx.mapErrorCode(LdapCtx.java:3025)
at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtx.processReturnCode(LdapCtx.java:2931)
at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtx.processReturnCode(LdapCtx.java:2737)
...
So I was left with the impression that I "had" to provide a login and password
within server.xml since AD by default does not support anonymous logins.
-Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: David Delbecq [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 4:56 AM
To: Tomcat Users List
Subject: Re: can JNDIRealm connectionPassword be encrypted?
Klotz Jr, Dennis a écrit :
>David,
>
>Thanks for the reply.
>
>Maybe this will help. The user name and password are stored as plain text
>within the server.xml file. That is how it is today. The documentation
>recommends that AD be setup with a very limited Read Only user account that
>has privileges for scanning just AD.
>
>To me and my co-workers that login still represents a large security risk if
>someone can gain access to the file server.xml. There is a lot of personal
>information stored within the LDAP directory itself.
>
>
If the tomcat were to be able to send the md5 string and have AD accept
the md5 to compare it with it's own md5 copy, you would have a major
security issue in AD (not in tomcat!). Why? Because Hash storing in any
password authentification system is made to prevent people who have
access to database (either by accident or non lawfull administrator) to
impersonate any of the user.
Imagine somone put a hand on your AD backup, they get the md5 of
sysadmin and then just ask AD system to accept authentification using
the md5? That's why am pretty sure AD would never accept auth by
accepting the password md5.
>My thoughts / request for having the plain text password being replaced by an
>MD5 hash has nothing to do with the interaction / what is passed back to AD
>itself. In our case, our AD is setup with Kerberos v5 which I assume is some
>complex key passing encryption protocol that I doubt even uses MD5.
>
>Now, if someone could gain access to the MD5 version of the password what
>could they do with it, really?
>
>After talking with a few people here at work and brainstorming on this issue,
>the current theory is that since I am binding with AD, instead of using
>'Comparison Mode' there is no way for the local MD5 hash (from server.xml) to
>be compared to a MD5 hash from AD (the users real password). It isn't ever
>passed back to the client (for obvious security reasons).
>
>
It is quite clear in a security point of view. To access the AD, tomcat
need to be recognized by AD, to do so it needs a password and an id.
Now, one configuration you might try is to not give Tomcat a user
account. The JNDI Realm has another configuration possibility. In this
configuration, it takes the username / password send by web client and
try to use them to log in AD. If login is successful, it concludes the
users is allowed on system. In this scheme, no need for a tomcat user
account as it is the client account which is used.
>http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-5.5-doc/realm-howto.html#JNDIRealm
>
>So now I think I better understand why it hasn't been done in the first place.
>
>My reasoning for having the MD5 hash was simply to make it harder for someone
>to use the same username and password on other systems within the same company.
>
>
Again, if tomcat is able to log in using the md5, any user could on any
other system. This would provide zero security enhancement.
Regards.
>
>-Dennis Klotz
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: David Delbecq [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 1:13 PM
>To: Tomcat Users List
>Subject: Re: can JNDIRealm connectionPassword be encrypted?
>
>First i don't know active directory.
>
>However, in a global security point of view, your request
>is surprising, specially if the intend was to prevent publicity
>of password to people accessing the context.xml. If the
>AD protocol would accept that client send an md5 hash
>of password instead of plain password, i can't see the interest of
>it, as then the md5 hash becomes the password. Anyone who can get
>access to the md5 could connect to active directory and request
>md5 authentification, no need to to reverse md5, so md5 does in that
>case provide 0 security improvement.
>
>So am curious to know the interest of storing md5 pass in connectionPassword.
>
>Regards,
>David Delbecq
>Le Vendredi 14 Octobre 2005 17:12, Klotz Jr, Dennis a écrit :
>
>
>>Greetings,
>>
>>
>>
>>I have a working JNDIRealm setup that connects with our local Active
>>Directory using the following Realm statement:
>>
>>
>>
>> <Realm className="org.apache.catalina.realm.JNDIRealm"
>>
>> debug="99"
>>
>> connectionName="CN=Last\,
>>First,OU=BedfordRecipients,DC=company,DC=com"
>>
>> connectionPassword="myPlainTextPassword"
>>
>> connectionURL="ldap://23.82.0.101:389";
>>
>> alternateURL="ldap://23.82.0.100:389";
>>
>> referrals="follow"
>>
>> userBase="OU=BedfordRecipients,DC=company,DC=com"
>>
>> userSearch="(sAMAccountName={0})"
>>
>> userSubtree="true"
>>
>> userRoleName="anAtribute"
>>
>> />
>>
>>
>>
>>After the usual searching and investigation it appears there isn't a way
>>to use an MD5 (or something similar) version of connectionPassword. In
>>other words, I wish to replace the clear text password stored in the
>>server.xml with the MD5 equivalent.
>>
>>
>>
>>Is it indeed the case that you cannot use and encrypted version of the
>>password and if so are there any plans of enhancing it? Is there some
>>aspect of the problem I'm overlooking?
>>
>>
>>
>>Dennis Klotz, Senior Software Engineer
>>EMPIRIX | Communications Infrastructure Group | 20 Crosby Drive |
>>Bedford, MA. USA | 01730
>>
>>
>
>
>
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