Title: HTTP Digest Authentication Author: Jesin A Published: October 16, 2013 Last modified: November 25, 2017 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/http-digest-auth/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=1057424) This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress. ![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/http-digest-auth_c9d5dc.svg) # HTTP Digest Authentication By [Jesin A](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jesin/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/http-digest-auth.1.2.1.zip) * [Details](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/http-digest-auth/#description) * [Reviews](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/http-digest-auth/#reviews) * [Installation](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/http-digest-auth/#installation) * [Development](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/http-digest-auth/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/http-digest-auth/) ## Description This plugin adds an additional layer of protection for the **wp-login.php** page using [HTTP Digest Authentication](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digest_access_authentication) with the PHP [header()](http://php.net/header) function. So it doesn’t require configuring web server files like _.htaccess_ or [_.htdigest_](https://websistent.com/tools/htdigest-generator-tool/) and works on all web hosting environments. **Important:** If you already have a plugin which does HTTP Authentication please deactivate it before activating this plugin. Similarly if you have configured your web server to do HTTP authentication on the wp-login.php file please remove it before using this plugin. If you are using FastCGI PHP this plugin may keep prompting for the credentials even if you enter the right pair, in this case use the following in your **`.htaccess`** file ``` SetEnvIfNoCase ^Authorization$ "(.+)" PHP_AUTH_DIGEST=$1 ``` #### Advantages of HTTP Digest Authentication * Digest Authentication is very much safer than HTTP Basic Authentication whose credentials can be easily decoded with a [base64 decoder](http://www.base64decode.org/). * From Wikipedia on [HTTP Basic Authentication](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_access_authentication): > _The BA (Basic Authentication) mechanism provides no confidentiality protection > for the transmitted credentials. They are merely encoded with BASE64 in transit, > but not encrypted or hashed in any way._ * Digest Authentication on the other hand uses [MD5](https://websistent.com/tools/md5-encryption-tool/) on the credentials making it “one way” * Uses server and client [nonce](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptographic_nonce) s to prevent replay attacks #### Features of the HTTP Digest Auth plugin * Works using PHP header() function and doesn’t require modification of service config files (like .htaccess, nginx.conf etc) * Supports HTTP credentials for each WordPress user * Clears the HTTP Digest credentials when the user logs out of WordPress (more on this in the FAQ) * Verifies if both the HTTP and WordPress credentials are of the same user (this is the default behavior and can be changed) * Works on all major Web Servers (Tested on Apache, Nginx and Lighttpd) #### Plugin Behavior * When this plugin is activated for the first time all WordPress users will have the following Digest credentials Username: Password: password This can be changed from **Users > Your Profile**. * After activating this plugin for the first time you’ll be prompted for HTTP credentials when you logout * Similarly if you change your HTTP username or password you’ll be prompted for this when you logout #### Available languages * English * Serbo-Croatian by [Borisa Djuraskovic](http://www.webhostinghub.com/) The [HTTP Digest Authentication Plugin](https://websistent.com/wordpress-plugins/http-digest-authentication/) official homepage. ## Screenshots * [[ * Logging in using HTTP digest credentials * [[ * The WordPress login page with the HTTP username * [[ * Setting a HTTP Digest username and password via Users > Your Profile * [[ * Logged out of WordPress * [[ * Trying to login with someone else’s WordPress username ## Installation 1. Unzip and upload the `http-digest-auth` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory. 2. Activate the **HTTP Digest Authentication** plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress. 3. Configure a HTTP username/password by going to `Users > Your Profile` page. 4. You’ll be prompted for these credentials when you logout after activating the plugin for the first time. ## FAQ Installation Instructions 1. Unzip and upload the `http-digest-auth` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory. 2. Activate the **HTTP Digest Authentication** plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress. 3. Configure a HTTP username/password by going to `Users > Your Profile` page. 4. You’ll be prompted for these credentials when you logout after activating the plugin for the first time. How does HTTP logout work? When you access the _wp-login.php_ page a portion of the realm is generated and stored in a session variable so the realm looks like “HTTP Auth Session MTM4MTc0NzU3OQ ==” When you logout of WordPress this session variable is deleted and a new realm is generated, hence the browser prompts you for credentials. How are the HTTP Digest credentials stored? The username is stored in the `wp_usermeta` table in plain-text. The password is stored in a two-way encryption format in the same table. It is encrypted and decrypted with the [mcrypt_encrypt()](http://php.net/mcrypt_encrypt) and [mcrypt_decrypt()](http://php.net/mcrypt_decrypt) functions. But I saw the plain-text password in my database That means your PHP installation doesn’t have the mcrypt extension. To check if this is the case go to your `` and check if there is a section called mcrypt. If there isn’t one in your VPS/Dedicated server install it on Debian/Ubuntu ``` apt-get install php5-mcrypt ``` on Centos/Fedora ``` yum install php5-mcrypt ``` After installation change the password (or enter the same password in Your Profile) to encrypt it. Shared hosting users needn’t worry about this as any decent host should already have this installed. Help! I forgot my HTTP Digest credentials You can find your username by executing the following MySQL query. > `SELECT meta_value FROM \`wp_usermeta\` WHERE meta_key = 'http-digest-auth_username' > and user_id = (SELECT ID from wp_users where user_login = 'WordPress_Username');` Remember to replace `wp_` with your actual database prefix and `WordPress_Username` with your login name. The password can be reset with the following query > `UPDATE \`wp_usermeta\` SET meta_value = 'password' WHERE meta_key = 'http-digest- > auth_password' and user_id = (SELECT ID from wp_users where user_login = 'admin');` This will set the HTTP password to `password`. Login and change it immediately. What does the “Anyone can use these credentials” option do? By default if you access the **wp-login.php** page using your HTTP credentials, only YOUR WordPress username can login. This security measure can be disabled by ticking this option. Are the HTTP credentials stored in the database even after this plugin is deactivated/ deleted? Deactivating this plugin doesn’t affect the credentials but deleting the plugin erases all HTTP user credentials leaving no trace of it in the database. ## Reviews ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/6c51ddcc6eb0baeaaa7d20b5340d3b495a15c50c73cdf2c3881ed26b500462bc? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Don't Work](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/dont-work-191/)󠁿 [CA Plugins](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ca-plugins/) September 3, 2016 2 replies I installed this plugin and changed password and tried to log but it’s not working for correct username/password. [ Read all 5 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/http-digest-auth/reviews/) ## Contributors & Developers “HTTP Digest Authentication” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ Jesin A ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jesin/) [Translate “HTTP Digest Authentication” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/http-digest-auth) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/http-digest-auth/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/http-digest-auth/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/http-digest-auth/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/http-digest-auth/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 1.2.1 * 3rd September 2014 * Removed `line-height` styling on input boxes #### 1.2 * 26th May 2014 * Fixed bug that allowed logging in with empty credentials * Added Serbo-Croatian language, props [Borisa Djuraskovic](http://www.webhostinghub.com/) #### 1.1 * 22nd March 2014 * Reduced repetitive code with inheritance * `.htaccess` rules for FastCGI PHP #### 1.0 * 16th October 2013 * Initial version ## Meta * Version **1.2.1** * Last updated **8 years ago** * Active installations **10+** * WordPress version ** 3.1.0 or higher ** * Tested up to **4.9.29** * Language * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/http-digest-auth/) * Tags * [auth](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/auth/)[authenticate](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/authenticate/) [hacking](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/hacking/)[login](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/login/) * [Advanced View](https://srd.wordpress.org/plugins/http-digest-auth/advanced/) ## Ratings 4 out of 5 stars. * [ 3 5-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/http-digest-auth/reviews/?filter=5) * [ 1 4-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/http-digest-auth/reviews/?filter=4) * [ 0 3-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/http-digest-auth/reviews/?filter=3) * [ 0 2-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/http-digest-auth/reviews/?filter=2) * [ 1 1-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/http-digest-auth/reviews/?filter=1) [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/http-digest-auth/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/http-digest-auth/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ Jesin A ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jesin/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/http-digest-auth/)