topic Re: Using MD5 or bigcrypt encryption for passwords in Operating System - HP-UX

Using MD5 or bigcrypt encryption for passwords

alec pringle — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 06:19:59 GMT

Hi,

Is it possible to get HP-UX11i to use MD5/bigcrypt for password encryption, rather than the standard crypt utility? I need to do this to support long password encryption for integration with a third party product and to meet security standards. I realise that HP-UX will simply truncate and encrypt passwords that are longer than 8 characters, but this isn't sufficient for my requirements. I can see how to do this for Solaris, but I'm struggling to find a way for HP-UX - any ideas?

Re: Using MD5 or bigcrypt encryption for passwords

Zygmunt Krawczyk — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 07:07:18 GMT

to enable long passwords, you need to set trusted mode of HP-UX. Read the doc:
http://www.hp.com/products1/unix/operating/infolibrary/whitepapers/hpux11isecuritywp.pdf

pages 11-14

Regards,
Zygmunt

Re: Using MD5 or bigcrypt encryption for passwords

Zygmunt Krawczyk — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 07:21:21 GMT

the following doc describes how to set up trusted system:

http://www.docs.hp.com/hpux/pdf/5990-8172.pdf

pages 682-683

Regards,
Zygmunt

Re: Using MD5 or bigcrypt encryption for passwords

alec pringle — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 07:39:19 GMT

Thanks for that - I can't seem to get to the links, but from what I've read about trusted systems it seems to imply that it supports long passwords (up to 80 characters) but I can't see what encryption algorithm it is using - any ideas?

Re: Using MD5 or bigcrypt encryption for passwords

Zygmunt Krawczyk — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 07:48:43 GMT

the doc:
"HP-UX 11i system security White paper"
is available from this link:

http://www.hp.com/products1/unix/operating/infolibrary/index.html

Regards,
Zygmunt

Re: Using MD5 or bigcrypt encryption for passwords

alec pringle — Thu, 18 Nov 2004 04:14:35 GMT

Thanks for your help, I have found buried deep in the documentation that HP-UX11i is using bigcrypt when it is trusted mode, so that answers my question - thanks!

Re: Using MD5 or bigcrypt encryption for passwords

alec pringle — Thu, 18 Nov 2004 04:16:33 GMT

Thanks for your help, I have assigned points to your original answer