mod_auth_digest
User authentication using MD5 Digest Authentication.
Experimental
mod_auth_digest.c
auth_digest_module

This module implements HTTP Digest Authentication. However, it has not been extensively tested and is therefore marked experimental.

AuthName
AuthType
Require
Satisfy

# Using Digest Authentication

Using MD5 Digest authentication is very simple. Simply set up authentication normally, using "AuthType Digest" and "AuthDigestFile" instead of the normal "AuthType Basic" and "AuthUserFile"; also, replace any "AuthGroupFile" with "AuthDigestGroupFile". Then add a "AuthDigestDomain" directive containing at least the root URI(s) for this protection space. Example:

<Location /private/>
AuthType Digest
AuthName "private area"
AuthDigestDomain /private/ http://mirror.my.dom/private2/
AuthDigestFile /web/auth/.digest_pw
Require valid-user
</Location>

## Note

Digest authentication provides a more secure password system than Basic authentication, but only works with supporting browsers. As of July 2002, the major browsers that support digest authentication are Opera, MS Internet Explorer (fails when used with a query string), Amaya and Mozilla. Since digest authentication is not as widely implemented as basic authentication, you should use it only in controlled settings.

AuthDigestFile
Location of the text file containing the list of users and encoded passwords for digest authentication
AuthDigestFile file-path
directory
.htaccess
AuthConfig

The AuthDigestFile directive sets the name of a textual file containing the list of users and encoded passwords for digest authentication. File-path is the absolute path to the user file.

The digest file uses a special format. Files in this format can be created using the htdigest utility found in the support/ subdirectory of the Apache distribution.

AuthDigestGroupFile
Name of the text file containing the list of groups for digest authentication
AuthDigestGroupFile file-path
directory
.htaccess
AuthConfig

The AuthDigestGroupFile directive sets the name of a textual file containing the list of groups and their members (user names). File-path is the absolute path to the group file.

Each line of the group file contains a groupname followed by a colon, followed by the member usernames separated by spaces. Example:

mygroup: bob joe anne

Note that searching large text files is very inefficient.

Security: make sure that the AuthGroupFile is stored outside the document tree of the web-server; do not put it in the directory that it protects. Otherwise, clients will be able to download the AuthGroupFile.

AuthDigestQop
Determines the quality-of-protection to use in digest authentication
AuthDigestQop none|auth|auth-int [auth|auth-int]
AuthDigestQop auth
directory
.htaccess
AuthConfig

The AuthDigestQop directive determines the quality-of-protection to use. auth will only do authentication (username/password); auth-int is authentication plus integrity checking (an MD5 hash of the entity is also computed and checked); none will cause the module to use the old RFC-2069 digest algorithm (which does not include integrity checking). Both auth and auth-int may be specified, in which the case the browser will choose which of these to use. none should only be used if the browser for some reason does not like the challenge it receives otherwise.

auth-int is not implemented yet.

AuthDigestNonceLifetime
How long the server nonce is valid
AuthDigestNonceLifetime seconds
AuthDigestNonceLifetime 300
directory
.htaccess
AuthConfig

The AuthDigestNonceLifetime directive controls how long the server nonce is valid. When the client contacts the server using an expired nonce the server will send back a 401 with `stale=true`. If seconds is greater than 0 then it specifies the amount of time for which the nonce is valid; this should probably never be set to less than 10 seconds. If seconds is less than 0 then the nonce never expires.

AuthDigestNonceFormat
Determines how the nonce is generated
AuthDigestNonceFormat format
directory
.htaccess
AuthConfig

Not implemented yet.

AuthDigestNcCheck
Enables or disables checking of the nonce-count sent by the server
AuthDigestNcCheck On|Off
AuthDigestNcCheck Off
server config

Not implemented yet.

AuthDigestAlgorithm
Selects the algorithm used to calculate the challenge and response hases in digest authentication
AuthDigestAlgorithm MD5|MD5-sess
AuthDigestAlgorithm MD5
directory
.htaccess
AuthConfig

The AuthDigestAlgorithm directive selects the algorithm used to calculate the challenge and response hashes.

MD5-sess is not correctly implemented yet.

AuthDigestDomain
URIs that are in the same protection space for digest authentication
AuthDigestDomain URI [URI] ...
directory
.htaccess
AuthConfig

The AuthDigestDomain directive allows you to specify one or more URIs which are in the same protection space (i.e. use the same realm and username/password info). The specified URIs are prefixes, i.e. the client will assume that all URIs "below" these are also protected by the same username/password. The URIs may be either absolute URIs (i.e. inluding a scheme, host, port, etc) or relative URIs.

This directive should always be specified and contain at least the (set of) root URI(s) for this space. Omitting to do so will cause the client to send the Authorization header for every request sent to this server. Apart from increasing the size of the request, it may also have a detrimental effect on performance if "AuthDigestNcCheck" is on.

The URIs specified can also point to different servers, in which case clients (which understand this) will then share username/password info across multiple servers without prompting the user each time.