Bug #81473 [Nab]: hash_pbkdf2 truncate in hex
Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=81473&edit=1
ID: 81473
Updated by: requinix@php.net
Reported by: php at wfuchs dot de
Summary: hash_pbkdf2 truncate in hex
Status: Not a bug
Type: Bug
Package: hash related
Operating System: Linux
PHP Version: 8.0.11
Assigned To: cmb
Block user comment: N
Private report: N
New Comment:
> In my opinion this is a security related bug
It is always a security bug to call hashing functions without understanding how they should be used.
hash_pbkdf2 is a key derivation function. Its purpose is to generate a key that will presumably be
fed into something else of a cryptographic nature. That "something else" might want binary
bytes or it might want a hexit string. $length and $binary control hash_pbkdf2's output so a
developer doesn't have to do further work with substr/bin2hex/hex2bin to be able to use the
returned value as needed.
If you want a hexit string of length 128 (ie. 512 bits or two SHA256 hash blocks) then pass
$binary=false and $length=128. Which is what the documentation says.
Previous Comments:
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[2021-09-25 12:25:58] php at wfuchs dot de
I am addressing the part you posted:
"if binary is false this corresponds to twice the byte-length".
In my opinion this is a security related bug that weakens the cryptography and makes the
implementation incompatible to other languages:
256 different possibilities can be represented in one byte. That is 256^64 in binary form. Hexits
are only the numbers 0-9 and the letters A-F which makes a maximum of 16 possible hexits. Therefore
there are only 16^64 which is much less.
If you use 2 hexits per byte you get 16^2 which is 256 again.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2021-09-24 19:54:40] salathe@php.net
> The length in hex should be 128 and not 64 right?
No. The $length parameter dictates the length of the returned string. If you pass 64, the length of
the returned string will be 64.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2021-09-24 19:14:37] php at wfuchs dot de
The behavior the function describes
"if binary is false this corresponds to twice the byte-length of the derived key (as every byte
of the key is returned as two hexits)"
The length in hex should be 128 and not 64 right?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2021-09-24 10:15:51] cmb@php.net
This behaves as advertized[1]:
| length
|
| The length of the output string. If binary is true this
| corresponds to the byte-length of the derived key, if binary is
| false this corresponds to twice the byte-length of the derived key
| (as every byte of the key is returned as two hexits).
[1] <https://www.php.net/hash_pbkdf2>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2021-09-24 09:04:59] php at wfuchs dot de
Description:
------------
Tested Versions:
PHP 8.0.11 (cli) (built: Sep 23 2021 21:26:24)
PHP 7.4.24 (cli) (built: Sep 23 2021 21:36:11)
Compiled by OndÅej Surý for Ubuntu 20.04
In the PHP function "hash_pbkdf2" the key is truncated in hex (default). With a length of
64 bytes it should be 128 hexits and not 64 hexits.
If the key is generated binary and converted to hex the length is correct with 128 hexits.
Test script:
---------------
<?php
$algo = "sha256";
$password = "Sâ¬cur@PäÃw#rd";
$salt = random_bytes(16);
$iterations = 10000;
$binhash = hash_pbkdf2($algo, $password, $salt, $iterations, 64, TRUE);
echo ("Converted to HEX:" . PHP_EOL);
var_dump(bin2hex($binhash));
$hexhash = hash_pbkdf2($algo, $password, $salt, $iterations, 64);
echo ("HEX generated:" . PHP_EOL);
var_dump($hexhash);
?>
Expected result:
----------------
Converted to HEX:
string(128)
"b94864e32adfd58bd9324ed058ed3c40e0134f98af8abde2535576bab28ddd3e3c205381c33a705f63d75db4c340ccec288985f9ff1b917c53b419ee166083d0"
HEX generated:
string(128)
"b94864e32adfd58bd9324ed058ed3c40e0134f98af8abde2535576bab28ddd3e3c205381c33a705f63d75db4c340ccec288985f9ff1b917c53b419ee166083d0"
Actual result:
--------------
Converted to HEX:
string(128)
"b94864e32adfd58bd9324ed058ed3c40e0134f98af8abde2535576bab28ddd3e3c205381c33a705f63d75db4c340ccec288985f9ff1b917c53b419ee166083d0"
HEX generated:
string(64) "b94864e32adfd58bd9324ed058ed3c40e0134f98af8abde2535576bab28ddd3e"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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