SLAPPASSWD(8) System Manager's Manual SLAPPASSWD(8)
NAME
slappasswd - OpenLDAP password utility
SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/slappasswd [-v] [-u] [-g|-s secret|-T file] [-h hash]
[-c salt-format] [-n] [-o option[=value]]
DESCRIPTION
Slappasswd is used to generate an userPassword value suitable for use
with ldapmodify(1), slapd.conf(5) rootpw configuration directive or the
slapd-config(5) olcRootPW configuration directive.
OPTIONS
-v enable verbose mode.
-u Generate RFC 2307 userPassword values (the default). Future ver-
sions of this program may generate alternative syntaxes by de-
fault. This option is provided for forward compatibility.
-s secret
The secret to hash. If this, -g and -T are absent, the user will
be prompted for the secret to hash. -s, -g and -T are mutually
exclusive flags.
-g Generate the secret. If this, -s and -T are absent, the user
will be prompted for the secret to hash. -s, -g and -T are mutu-
ally exclusive flags. If this is present, {CLEARTEXT} is used as
scheme. -g and -h are mutually exclusive flags.
-T "file"
Hash the contents of the file. If this, -g and -s are absent,
the user will be prompted for the secret to hash. -s, -g and -T
and mutually exclusive flags.
-h "scheme"
If -h is specified, one of the following RFC 2307 schemes may be
specified: {CRYPT}, {MD5}, {SMD5}, {SSHA}, and {SHA}. The de-
fault is {SSHA}.
Note that scheme names may need to be protected, due to { and },
from expansion by the user's command interpreter.
{SHA} and {SSHA} use the SHA-1 algorithm (FIPS 160-1), the latter
with a seed.
{MD5} and {SMD5} use the MD5 algorithm (RFC 1321), the latter
with a seed.
{CRYPT} uses the crypt(3).
{CLEARTEXT} indicates that the new password should be added to
userPassword as clear text. Unless {CLEARTEXT} is used, this
flag is incompatible with option -g.
-c crypt-salt-format
Specify the format of the salt passed to crypt(3) when generating
{CRYPT} passwords. This string needs to be in sprintf(3) format
and may include one (and only one) %s conversion. This conver-
sion will be substituted with a string of random characters from
[A-Za-z0-9./]. For example, '%.2s' provides a two character salt
and '$1$%.8s' tells some versions of crypt(3) to use an MD5 algo-
rithm and provides 8 random characters of salt. The default is
'%s', which provides 31 characters of salt.
-n Omit the trailing newline; useful to pipe the credentials into a
command.
-o option[=value]
Specify an option with a(n optional) value. Possible generic op-
tions/values are:
module-path=<pathspec> (see `modulepath' in slapd.conf(5))
module-load="<filename> [<arguments>...]" (see `moduleload' in slapd.conf(5))
You can load a dynamically loadable password hash module by
using this option.
LIMITATIONS
The practice of storing hashed passwords in userPassword violates Stan-
dard Track (RFC 4519) schema specifications and may hinder interoper-
ability. A new attribute type, authPassword, to hold hashed passwords
has been defined (RFC 3112), but is not yet implemented in slapd(8).
It should also be noted that the behavior of crypt(3) is platform spe-
cific.
SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
Use of hashed passwords does not protect passwords during protocol
transfer. TLS or other eavesdropping protections should be in-place be-
fore using LDAP simple bind.
The hashed password values should be protected as if they were clear
text passwords.
SEE ALSO
ldappasswd(1), ldapmodify(1), slapd(8), slapd.conf(5), slapd-config(5),
RFC 2307, RFC 4519, RFC 3112
"OpenLDAP Administrator's Guide" (http://www.OpenLDAP.org/doc/admin/)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
OpenLDAP Software is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP Project
<http://www.openldap.org/>. OpenLDAP Software is derived from the Uni-
versity of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.
OpenLDAP 2.6.10+dfsg-1 2025/05/22 SLAPPASSWD(8)
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