Simple Password Check Plugin

simple_password_check is a password validation plugin. It can check whether a password contains at least a certain number of characters of a specific type. When first installed, a password is required to be at least eight characters, and requires at least one digit, one uppercase character, one lowercase character, and one character that is neither a digit nor a letter.

Note that passwords can be directly set as a hash, bypassing the password validation, if the strict_password_validation variable is OFF (it is ON by default).

Installing the Plugin

Although the plugin's shared library is distributed with MariaDB by default, the plugin is not actually installed by MariaDB by default. There are two methods that can be used to install the plugin with MariaDB.

The first method can be used to install the plugin without restarting the server. You can install the plugin dynamically by executing INSTALL SONAME or INSTALL PLUGIN. For example:

INSTALL SONAME 'simple_password_check';

The second method can be used to tell the server to load the plugin when it starts up. The plugin can be installed this way by providing the --plugin-load or the --plugin-load-add options. This can be specified as a command-line argument to mysqld or it can be specified in a relevant server option group in an option file. For example:

[mariadb]
...
plugin_load_add = simple_password_check

Uninstalling the Plugin

You can uninstall the plugin dynamically by executing UNINSTALL SONAME or UNINSTALL PLUGIN. For example:

UNINSTALL SONAME 'simple_password_check';

If you installed the plugin by providing the --plugin-load or the --plugin-load-add options in a relevant server option group in an option file, then those options should be removed to prevent the plugin from being loaded the next time the server is restarted.

Example

When creating a new password, if the criteria are not met, the following error is returned:

SET PASSWORD FOR 'bob'@'%.loc.gov' = PASSWORD('abc');
ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements

Known Issues

Issues with PAM Authentication Plugin

Prior to MariaDB 10.4.0, all password validation plugins are incompatible with the pam authentication plugin. See Authentication Plugin - PAM: Conflicts with Password Validation for more information.

Versions

System Variables

simple_password_check_digits

• Description: A password must contain at least this many digits.
• Commandline: --simple-password-check-digits=#
• Scope: Global
• Dynamic: Yes
• Data Type: numeric
• Default Value: 1
• Range: 0 to 1000

simple_password_check_letters_same_case

• Description: A password must contain at least this many upper-case and this many lower-case letters.
• Commandline: --simple-password-check-letters-same-case=#
• Scope: Global
• Dynamic: Yes
• Data Type: numeric
• Default Value: 1
• Range: 0 to 1000

simple_password_check_minimal_length

• Description: A password must contain at least this many characters.
• Commandline: --simple-password-check-minimal-length=#
• Scope: Global
• Dynamic: Yes
• Data Type: numeric
• Default Value: 8
• Range: 0 to 1000

simple_password_check_other_characters

• Description: A password must contain at least this many characters that are neither digits nor letters.
• Commandline: --simple-password-check-other-characters=#
• Scope: Global
• Dynamic: Yes
• Data Type: numeric
• Default Value: 1
• Range: 0 to 1000

Options

simple_password_check

• Description: Controls how the server should treat the plugin when the server starts up.
  • Valid values are:
    • OFF - Disables the plugin without removing it from the mysql.plugins table.
    • ON - Enables the plugin. If the plugin cannot be initialized, then the server will still continue starting up, but the plugin will be disabled.
    • FORCE - Enables the plugin. If the plugin cannot be initialized, then the server will fail to start with an error.
    • FORCE_PLUS_PERMANENT - Enables the plugin. If the plugin cannot be initialized, then the server will fail to start with an error. In addition, the plugin cannot be uninstalled with UNINSTALL SONAME or UNINSTALL PLUGIN while the server is running.
  • See Plugin Overview: Configuring Plugin Activation at Server Startup for more information.
• Commandline: --simple-password-check=value
• Data Type: enumerated
• Default Value: ON
• Valid Values: OFF, ON, FORCE, FORCE_PLUS_PERMANENT

See Also

• Password Validation
• cracklib_password_check plugin - use the Cracklib password-strength checking library