How to Use A Different Password Encoder Algorithm Per User

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

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# config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...
    encoders:
        App\Entity\User:
            algorithm: auto
            cost: 12

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 auto algorithm for App\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 auto with a higher cost. This can be done with named encoders:

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# config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...
    encoders:
        harsh:
            algorithm: auto
            cost: 15

Note

If you are running PHP 7.2+ or have the libsodium extension installed, then the recommended hashing algorithm to use is Sodium.

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/Entity/User.php
namespace App\Entity;

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

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

        return null; // use the default encoder
    }
}

If you created your own password encoder implementing the PasswordEncoderInterface, you must register a service for it in order to use it as a named encoder:

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# config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...
    encoders:
        app_encoder:
            id: 'App\Security\Encoder\MyCustomPasswordEncoder'

This creates an encoder named app_encoder from a service with the ID App\Security\Encoder\MyCustomPasswordEncoder.

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