Auth Basic#

Allows limiting access to resources by validating the user name and password using the "HTTP Basic Authentication" protocol.

Access can also be limited by address or by the result of subrequest. Simultaneous limitation of access by address and by password is controlled by the satisfy directive.

Configuration Example#

location / {
    auth_basic           "closed site";
    auth_basic_user_file conf/htpasswd;
}

Directives#

auth_basic#

Syntax

auth_basic string | off;

Default

auth_basic off;

Context

http, server, location, limit_except

Enables validation of user name and password using the "HTTP Basic Authentication" protocol. The specified parameter is used as a realm. Parameter value can contain variables.

off

cancels the effect of the auth_basic directive inherited from the previous configuration level

auth_basic_user_file#

Syntax

auth_basic_user_file file;

Default

—

Context

http, server, location, limit_except

Specifies a file that keeps user names and passwords, in the following format:

# comment
name1:password1
name2:password2:comment
name3:password3

The file name can contain variables.

The following password types are supported:

  • encrypted with the crypt() function; can be generated using the htpasswd utility from the Apache HTTP Server distribution or the "openssl passwd" command;

  • hashed with the Apache variant of the MD5-based password algorithm (apr1); can be generated with the same tools;

  • specified by the "{scheme}data" syntax as described in RFC 2307; currently implemented schemes include PLAIN (an example one, should not be used), SHA (plain SHA-1 hashing, should not be used) and SSHA (salted SHA-1 hashing, used by some software packages, notably OpenLDAP and Dovecot).

Caution

Support for SHA scheme was added only to aid in migration from other web servers. It should not be used for new passwords, since unsalted SHA-1 hashing that it employs is vulnerable to rainbow table attacks.