View Source Argon2 (argon2_elixir v3.1.0)

Elixir wrapper for the Argon2 password hashing function.

For a lower-level API, see Argon2.Base.

configuration

Configuration

See the documentation for Argon2.Stats for information about configuration.

argon2

Argon2

Argon2 is the winner of the Password Hashing Competition (PHC).

Argon2 is a memory-hard password hashing function which can be used to hash passwords for credential storage, key derivation, or other applications.

Argon2 has the following three variants (Argon2id is the default):

  • Argon2d - suitable for applications with no threats from side-channel timing attacks (eg. cryptocurrencies)
  • Argon2i - suitable for password hashing and password-based key derivation
  • Argon2id - a hybrid of Argon2d and Argon2i

Argon2i, Argon2d, and Argon2id are parametrized by:

  • A time cost, which defines the amount of computation realized and therefore the execution time, given in number of iterations
  • A memory cost, which defines the memory usage, given in kibibytes
  • A parallelism degree, which defines the number of parallel threads

More information can be found in the documentation for the Argon2.Stats module and at the Argon2 reference C implementation repository.

comparison-with-bcrypt-pbkdf2

Comparison with Bcrypt / Pbkdf2

Argon2 has better password cracking resistance than Bcrypt and Pbkdf2. Its main advantage is that, as it is a memory-hard function, it is designed to withstand parallel attacks that use GPUs or other dedicated hardware.

Link to this section Summary

Functions

Hashes a password, using hash_pwd_salt/2, and returns the password hash in a map.

Checks the password, using verify_pass/2, by comparing the hash with the password hash found in a user struct, or map.

Hashes a password with a randomly generated salt.

Runs the password hash function, but always returns false.

Verifies a password by hashing the password and comparing the hashed value with a stored hash.

Link to this section Functions

Link to this function

add_hash(password, opts \\ [])

View Source

Hashes a password, using hash_pwd_salt/2, and returns the password hash in a map.

This is a convenience function that is especially useful when used with Ecto changesets.

options

Options

In addition to the :hash_key option show below, this function also takes options that are then passed on to the hash_pwd_salt/2 function in this module.

See the documentation for hash_pwd_salt/2 for further details.

  • :hash_key - the password hash identifier
    • the default is :password_hash

example-with-ecto

Example with Ecto

The put_pass_hash function below is an example of how you can use add_hash to add the password hash to the Ecto changeset.

defp put_pass_hash(%Ecto.Changeset{valid?: true, changes:
    %{password: password}} = changeset) do
  change(changeset, add_hash(password))
end

defp put_pass_hash(changeset), do: changeset

This function will return a changeset with %{password_hash: password_hash} added to the changes map.

Link to this function

check_pass(user, password, opts \\ [])

View Source

Checks the password, using verify_pass/2, by comparing the hash with the password hash found in a user struct, or map.

This is a convenience function that takes a user struct, or map, as input and seamlessly handles the cases where no user is found.

options

Options

  • :hash_key - the password hash identifier
    • this does not need to be set if the key is :password_hash or :encrypted_password
  • :hide_user - run the no_user_verify/1 function if no user is found
    • the default is true

example

Example

The following is an example of using this function to verify a user's password:

def verify_user(%{"password" => password} = params) do
  params
  |> Accounts.get_by()
  |> check_pass(password)
end

The Accounts.get_by function in this example takes the user parameters (for example, email and password) as input and returns a user struct or nil.

Link to this function

hash_pwd_salt(password, opts \\ [])

View Source

Hashes a password with a randomly generated salt.

options

Options

In addition to the :salt_len option shown below, this function also takes options that are then passed on to the hash_password function in the Argon2.Base module.

See the documentation for Argon2.Base.hash_password/3 for further details.

  • :salt_len - the length of the random salt
    • the default is 16 (the minimum is 8) bytes

examples

Examples

The following examples show how to hash a password with a randomly-generated salt and then verify a password:

iex> hash = Argon2.hash_pwd_salt("password")
...> Argon2.verify_pass("password", hash)
true

iex> hash = Argon2.hash_pwd_salt("password")
...> Argon2.verify_pass("incorrect", hash)
false
Link to this function

no_user_verify(opts \\ [])

View Source

Runs the password hash function, but always returns false.

This function is intended to make it more difficult for any potential attacker to find valid usernames by using timing attacks. This function is only useful if it is used as part of a policy of hiding usernames.

options

Options

This function should be called with the same options as those used by hash_pwd_salt/2.

hiding-usernames

Hiding usernames

In addition to keeping passwords secret, hiding the precise username can help make online attacks more difficult. An attacker would then have to guess a username / password combination, rather than just a password, to gain access.

This does not mean that the username should be kept completely secret. Adding a short numerical suffix to a user's name, for example, would be sufficient to increase the attacker's work considerably.

If you are implementing a policy of hiding usernames, it is important to make sure that the username is not revealed by any other part of your application.

Link to this function

verify_pass(password, stored_hash)

View Source

Verifies a password by hashing the password and comparing the hashed value with a stored hash.

See the documentation for hash_pwd_salt/2 for examples of using this function.