'--auth-user-pass-verify <script> VIA-FILE' can not pass long passwords (>~512)

[ye_olde_iron]

While misc.h defines a maximum password length of 4096 when ENABLE_PKCS11 is defined ( ... # define USER_PASS_LEN 4096 ...) you can not successfully write a long password to a file via '--auth-user-pass-verify' as there is a buffer size limit of 512 bytes in status.c/status_printf() (STATUS_PRINTF_MAXLEN is defined as 512 just above the status_printf() routine).

[If output is to a file ssl.c/verify_user_pass_script() executes 'status_printf (so, "%s", up->password);']

It would be sensible to increase the buffer size in status.c/status_printf() so that the max length for passwords is consistent.

At the present time the only way to pass a longer password is via the environment variables (I.E. '--auth-user-pass-verify <script> VIA-ENV') ... not the best option as this is documented as being 'is insecure on some platforms' :-(

[ye_olde_iron]

Potential solution ... in status.c :-

(a) include misc.c so that we can get the definition of USER_PASS_LEN.

(b) change the definition of STATUS_PRINTF_MAXLEN to use USER_PASS_LEN+2 as long as it is defined and greater than, or equal to, 512 (otherwise just define it as 512 as before).

--- status.c_ORIG	2011-11-25 10:32:21.000000000 +1300
+++ status.c	2012-08-20 13:13:45.000000000 +1200
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@
 
 #include "memdbg.h"
 
+/* misc.h so that we can get USER_PASS_LEN */
+#include "misc.h"
+
 /*
  * printf-style interface for outputting status info
  */
@@ -214,7 +217,15 @@
   return ret;
 }
 
-#define STATUS_PRINTF_MAXLEN 512
+#ifdef USER_PASS_LEN
+#  if USER_PASS_LEN < 512
+#    define STATUS_PRINTF_MAXLEN 512
+#  else
+#    define STATUS_PRINTF_MAXLEN (USER_PASS_LEN+2)
+#  endif
+#else
+#  define STATUS_PRINTF_MAXLEN 512
+#endif
 
 void
 status_printf (struct status_output *so, const char *format, ...)

[Gert Döring]

I'm wondering a bit where this 4096 byte length is coming from. Is this something a pkcs#11 device might spit out as a *password*? Because for normal passwords, 512 byte should be truly long enough.

[bdlow]

There are other authentication mechanisms that have something other than a user password in the password field, for example a signed token.

In any event, the limit should be consistent between USER_PASS_LEN, via-file, via-env.