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How to Choose the Password Encoder Algorithm Dynamically

2.5 version
Unmaintained
2.6

How to Choose the Password Encoder Algorithm DynamicallyΒΆ

New in version 2.5: Named encoders were introduced in Symfony 2.5.

Usually, the same password encoder is used for all users by configuring it to apply to all instances of a specific class:

  • YAML
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    # app/config/security.yml
security:
    # ...
    encoders:
        Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\User: sha512
  • XML
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    <!-- app/config/security.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<srv:container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:srv="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd"
>
    <config>
        <!-- ... -->
        <encoder class="Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\User"
            algorithm="sha512"
        />
    </config>
</srv:container>
  • PHP
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    // app/config/security.php
$container->loadFromExtension('security', array(
    // ...
    'encoders' => array(
        'Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\User' => array(
            'algorithm' => 'sha512',
        ),
    ),
));

Another option is to use a "named" encoder and then select which encoder you want to use dynamically.

In the previous example, you've set the sha512 algorithm for Acme\UserBundle\Entity\User. This may be secure enough for a regular user, but what if you want your admins to have a stronger algorithm, for example bcrypt. This can be done with named encoders:

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    # app/config/security.yml
security:
    # ...
    encoders:
        harsh:
            algorithm: bcrypt
            cost: 15
  • XML
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    <!-- app/config/security.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<srv:container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:srv="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd"
>

    <config>
        <!-- ... -->
        <encoder class="harsh"
            algorithm="bcrypt"
            cost="15" />
    </config>
</srv:container>
  • PHP
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    // app/config/security.php
$container->loadFromExtension('security', array(
    // ...
    'encoders' => array(
        'harsh' => array(
            'algorithm' => 'bcrypt',
            'cost'      => '15'
        ),
    ),
));

This creates an encoder named harsh. In order for a User instance to use it, the class must implement EncoderAwareInterface. The interface requires one method - getEncoderName - which should return the name of the encoder to use:

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// src/Acme/UserBundle/Entity/User.php
namespace Acme\UserBundle\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\UserInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\Encoder\EncoderAwareInterface;

class User implements UserInterface, EncoderAwareInterface
{
    public function getEncoderName()
    {
        if ($this->isAdmin()) {
            return 'harsh';
        }

        return null; // use the default encoder
    }
}

This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.