Using PHP to compare MySql Password() - php

Question

I have found this post helpful MySQL password() function to PHP but I am having trouble applying the solution offered there to my problem.
A password was stored in a Mysql using Password(). I want to adapt this script to compare the entered password with the one stored in the database, rather than use the 'crypt()' function.
public function authenticate($user,$pass) {
$mysqli = new mysqli(DBHOST,DBUSER,DBPASS,DB);
if ($mysqli->connect_errno) {
error_log("Cannot connect to MySQL: " . $mysqli->connect_error);
return false;
}
$safeUser = $mysqli->real_escape_string($user);
$incomingPassword = $mysqli->real_escape_string($pass);
$query = "SELECT * from users WHERE username ='{$safeUser}'";
if (!$result = $mysqli->query($query)) {
error_log("Cannot retrieve account for {$user}");
return false;
}
// Will be only one row, so no while() loop needed
$row = $result->fetch_assoc();
$dbPassword = $row['password'];
if (crypt($incomingPassword,$dbPassword) != $dbPassword) {
error_log("Passwords for {$user} don't match");
return false;
}
$this->id = $row['id'];
$this->firstName = $row['first_name'];
$this->lastName = $row['last_name'];
$this->username = $row['username'];
$this->email = $row['email'];
$this->dateJoin = $row['dateJoin'];
$this->school = $row['school'];
$this->level = $row['level'];
$this->isLoggedIn = true;
$this->_setSession();
return true;
} //end function authenticate
Is there an easy way to adapt this script? Do I just add
AND `password` = PASSWORD('{$incomingPassword}')
to my query? This seems a little clumsy.

Answer 1

Are you really sure the passwords where hashed with the MySql Password() function, because this function is not meant to be used in applications? It is not possible to store passwords safely and verify passwords in an SQL-query directly.
You really should use a slow hashing function like BCrypt, and salting is mandatory. That means, that you need a two step process, first get the stored password hash by username with an SQL-query, then extract the salt from the hash and do the verification.
The recommended way to hash passwords with PHP is the new function password_hash():
// Hash a new password for storing in the database.
// The function automatically generates a cryptographically safe salt.
$hashToStoreInDb = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);
// Check if the hash of the entered login password, matches the stored hash.
// The salt and the cost factor will be extracted from $existingHashFromDb.
$isPasswordCorrect = password_verify($password, $existingHashFromDb);
If you are interested in more in-depth information about this topic, you can have a look at my tutorial about safely storing passwords.