7 Network Working Group K. Zeilenga
8 Request for Comments: 3062 OpenLDAP Foundation
9 Category: Standards Track February 2001
12 LDAP Password Modify Extended Operation
16 This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
17 Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
18 improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
19 Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
20 and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
24 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
28 The integration of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
29 and external authentication services has introduced non-DN
30 authentication identities and allowed for non-directory storage of
31 passwords. As such, mechanisms which update the directory (e.g.,
32 Modify) cannot be used to change a user's password. This document
33 describes an LDAP extended operation to allow modification of user
34 passwords which is not dependent upon the form of the authentication
35 identity nor the password storage mechanism used.
37 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
38 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", and "MAY" in this document are
39 to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
41 1. Background and Intent of Use
43 Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) [RFC2251] is designed to
44 support an number of authentication mechanisms including simple user
45 name/password pairs. Traditionally, LDAP users where identified by
46 the Distinguished Name [RFC2253] of a directory entry and this entry
47 contained a userPassword [RFC2256] attribute containing one or more
50 The protocol does not mandate that passwords associated with a user
51 be stored in the directory server. The server may use any attribute
52 suitable for password storage (e.g., userPassword), or use non-
58 Zeilenga Standards Track [Page 1]
60 RFC 3062 LDAP Password Modify Extended Operation February 2001
63 The integration [RFC2829] of application neutral SASL [RFC2222]
64 services which support simple username/password mechanisms (such as
65 DIGEST-MD5) has introduced non-LDAP DN authentication identity forms
66 and made storage of passwords the responsibility of the SASL service
69 LDAP update operations are designed to act upon attributes of an
70 entry within the directory. LDAP update operations cannot be used to
71 modify a user's password when the user is not represented by a DN,
72 does not have a entry, or when that password used by the server is
73 not stored as an attribute of an entry. An alternative mechanism is
76 This document describes an LDAP Extended Operation intended to allow
77 directory clients to update user passwords. The user may or may not
78 be associated with a directory entry. The user may or may not be
79 represented as an LDAP DN. The user's password may or may not be
80 stored in the directory.
82 The operation SHOULD NOT be used without adequate security protection
83 as the operation affords no privacy or integrity protect itself.
84 This operation SHALL NOT be used anonymously.
86 2. Password Modify Request and Response
88 The Password Modify operation is an LDAPv3 Extended Operation
89 [RFC2251, Section 4.12] and is identified by the OBJECT IDENTIFIER
90 passwdModifyOID. This section details the syntax of the protocol
93 passwdModifyOID OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= 1.3.6.1.4.1.4203.1.11.1
95 PasswdModifyRequestValue ::= SEQUENCE {
96 userIdentity [0] OCTET STRING OPTIONAL
97 oldPasswd [1] OCTET STRING OPTIONAL
98 newPasswd [2] OCTET STRING OPTIONAL }
100 PasswdModifyResponseValue ::= SEQUENCE {
101 genPasswd [0] OCTET STRING OPTIONAL }
103 2.1. Password Modify Request
105 A Password Modify request is an ExtendedRequest with the requestName
106 field containing passwdModifyOID OID and optionally provides a
107 requestValue field. If the requestValue field is provided, it SHALL
108 contain a PasswdModifyRequestValue with one or more fields present.
114 Zeilenga Standards Track [Page 2]
116 RFC 3062 LDAP Password Modify Extended Operation February 2001
119 The userIdentity field, if present, SHALL contain an octet string
120 representation of the user associated with the request. This string
121 may or may not be an LDAPDN [RFC2253]. If no userIdentity field is
122 present, the request acts up upon the password of the user currently
123 associated with the LDAP session.
125 The oldPasswd field, if present, SHALL contain the user's current
128 The newPasswd field, if present, SHALL contain the desired password
131 2.2. Password Modify Response
133 A Password Modify response is an ExtendedResponse where the
134 responseName field is absent and the response field is optional. The
135 response field, if present, SHALL contain a PasswdModifyResponseValue
136 with genPasswd field present.
138 The genPasswd field, if present, SHALL contain a generated password
141 If an resultCode other than success (0) is indicated in the response,
142 the response field MUST be absent.
144 3. Operation Requirements
146 Clients SHOULD NOT submit a Password Modification request without
147 ensuring adequate security safeguards are in place. Servers SHOULD
148 return a non-success resultCode if sufficient security protection are
151 Servers SHOULD indicate their support for this extended operation by
152 providing PasswdModifyOID as a value of the supportedExtension
153 attribute type in their root DSE. A server MAY choose to advertise
154 this extension only when the client is authorized and/or has
155 established the necessary security protections to use this operation.
156 Clients SHOULD verify the server implements this extended operation
157 prior to attempting the operation by asserting the supportedExtension
158 attribute contains a value of PasswdModifyOID.
160 The server SHALL only return success upon successfully changing the
161 user's password. The server SHALL leave the password unmodified and
162 return a non-success resultCode otherwise.
164 If the server does not recognize provided fields or does not support
165 the combination of fields provided, it SHALL NOT change the user
170 Zeilenga Standards Track [Page 3]
172 RFC 3062 LDAP Password Modify Extended Operation February 2001
175 If oldPasswd is present and the provided value cannot be verified or
176 is incorrect, the server SHALL NOT change the user password. If
177 oldPasswd is not present, the server MAY use other policy to
178 determine whether or not to change the password.
180 The server SHALL NOT generate a password on behalf of the client if
181 the client has provided a newPasswd. In absence of a client provided
182 newPasswd, the server SHALL either generate a password on behalf of
183 the client or return a non-success result code. The server MUST
184 provide the generated password upon success as the value of the
187 The server MAY return adminLimitExceeded, busy,
188 confidentialityRequired, operationsError, unavailable,
189 unwillingToPerform, or other non-success resultCode as appropriate to
190 indicate that it was unable to successfully complete the operation.
192 Servers MAY implement administrative policies which restrict this
195 4. Security Considerations
197 This operation is used to modify user passwords. The operation
198 itself does not provide any security protection to ensure integrity
199 and/or confidentiality of the information. Use of this operation is
200 strongly discouraged when privacy protections are not in place to
201 guarantee confidentiality and may result in the disclosure of the
202 password to unauthorized parties. This extension MUST be used with
203 confidentiality protection, such as Start TLS [RFC 2830]. The NULL
204 cipher suite MUST NOT be used.
208 [RFC2219] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
209 Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
211 [RFC2222] Myers, J., "Simple Authentication and Security Layer
212 (SASL)", RFC 2222, October 1997.
214 [RFC2251] Wahl, M., Howes, T. and S. Kille, "Lightweight Directory
215 Access Protocol (v3)", RFC 2251, December 1997.
217 [RFC2252] Wahl, M., Coulbeck, A., Howes, T. and S. Kille,
218 "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (v3): Attribute
219 Syntax Definitions", RFC 2252, December 1997.
226 Zeilenga Standards Track [Page 4]
228 RFC 3062 LDAP Password Modify Extended Operation February 2001
231 [RFC2253] Wahl, M., Kille,S. and T. Howes, "Lightweight Directory
232 Access Protocol (v3): UTF-8 String Representation of
233 Distinguished Names", RFC 2253, December 1997.
235 [RFC2256] Wahl, M., "A Summary of the X.500(96) User Schema for use
236 with LDAPv3", RFC 2256, December 1997.
238 [RFC2829] Wahl, M., Alvestrand, H., Hodges, J. and R. Morgan,
239 "Authentication Methods for LDAP", RFC 2829, May 2000.
241 [RFC2830] Hodges, J., Morgan, R. and M. Wahl, "Lightweight Directory
242 Access Protocol (v3): Extension for Transport Layer
243 Security", RFC 2830, May 2000.
247 This document borrows from a number of IETF documents and is based
248 upon input from the IETF LDAPext working group.
255 EMail: Kurt@OpenLDAP.org
282 Zeilenga Standards Track [Page 5]
284 RFC 3062 LDAP Password Modify Extended Operation February 2001
287 8. Full Copyright Statement
289 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
291 This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
292 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
293 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
294 and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
295 kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
296 included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
297 document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
298 the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
299 Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
300 developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
301 copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
302 followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
305 The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
306 revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
308 This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
309 "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
310 TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
311 BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
312 HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
313 MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
317 Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
338 Zeilenga Standards Track [Page 6]