The bcrypt npm package is a library for hashing and comparing passwords securely in Node.js. It implements the bcrypt password-hashing function, which is designed to build a cryptographic hash of a user's password. Bcrypt is widely used due to its security features and resistance to brute-force attacks.
Hashing Passwords
This feature allows you to securely hash a plaintext password. The 'saltRounds' parameter defines the cost factor for the hashing process, which determines the amount of time required to calculate a single bcrypt hash.
const bcrypt = require('bcrypt');
const saltRounds = 10;
const myPlaintextPassword = 's0/\/\P4$$w0rD';
bcrypt.hash(myPlaintextPassword, saltRounds, function(err, hash) {
// Store hash in your password DB.
});Comparing Passwords
This feature is used to compare a plaintext password against a previously hashed one to check if they match. It is commonly used during the login process to validate user credentials.
const bcrypt = require('bcrypt');
const myPlaintextPassword = 's0/\/\P4$$w0rD';
const someOtherPlaintextPassword = 'not_bacon';
const hash = '$2b$10$N9qo8uLOickgx2ZMRZoMyeIjZAgcfl7p92ldGxad68LJZdL17lhWy';
bcrypt.compare(myPlaintextPassword, hash, function(err, result) {
// result == true
});
bcrypt.compare(someOtherPlaintextPassword, hash, function(err, result) {
// result == false
});Argon2 is another password hashing library that won the Password Hashing Competition and is recommended for new applications. It is considered to be more resistant to GPU cracking attacks compared to bcrypt.
Scrypt is a password-based key derivation function that is designed to be costly in both time and memory, making it hard to perform large-scale custom hardware attacks. It is similar to bcrypt but with a focus on memory-intensiveness.
PBKDF2 (Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2) is part of RSA Laboratories' Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) series, and it's widely used for password hashing. It's not as secure as bcrypt for password storage because it's more vulnerable to GPU attacks.
Lib to help you hash passwords. bcrypt on wikipedia
Catalyst for this module: How To Safely Store A Password
First, make sure that the version of node you are using is a stable version. You'll know this because it'll have an even major release number. We do not currently support unstable versions and while the module may happen to work on some unstable versions you'll find that we quickly close issues if you're not using a stable version.
If you are on a stable version of node, we can't magically know what you are doing to expose an issue, it is best if you provide a snippet of code or log files if you're having an install issue. This snippet need not include your secret sauce, but it must replicate the issue you are describing. The issues that get closed without resolution tend to be the ones that don't help us help you. Thanks.
| Node Version | Bcrypt Version |
|---|---|
| <= 0.4.x | <= 0.4.x |
| >= 0.6.x | >= 0.5.x |
Windows users should make sure to have at least node 0.8.5 installed and version >= 0.7.1 of this module.
node-gyp only works with stable/released versions of node. Since the bcrypt module uses node-gyp to build and install you'll need a stable version of node to use bcrypt. If you do not you'll likely see an error that starts with:
gyp ERR! stack Error: "pre" versions of node cannot be installed, use the --nodedir flag instead
As should be the case with any security tool, this library should be scrutinized by anyone using it. If you find or suspect an issue with the code- please bring it to my attention and I'll spend some time trying to make sure that this tool is as secure as possible.
To make it easier for people using this tool to analyze what has been surveyed, here is a list of BCrypt related security issues/concerns as they've come up.
node-gypnpm install bcrypt
Note: OS X users using Xcode 4.3.1 or above may need to run the following command in their terminal prior to installing if errors occur regarding xcodebuild: sudo xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
To hash a password:
var bcrypt = require('bcrypt');
bcrypt.genSalt(10, function(err, salt) {
bcrypt.hash("B4c0/\/", salt, function(err, hash) {
// Store hash in your password DB.
});
});
To check a password:
// Load hash from your password DB.
bcrypt.compare("B4c0/\/", hash, function(err, res) {
// res == true
});
bcrypt.compare("not_bacon", hash, function(err, res) {
// res = false
});
Auto-gen a salt and hash:
bcrypt.hash('bacon', 8, function(err, hash) {
});
To hash a password:
var bcrypt = require('bcrypt');
var salt = bcrypt.genSaltSync(10);
var hash = bcrypt.hashSync("B4c0/\/", salt);
// Store hash in your password DB.
To check a password:
// Load hash from your password DB.
bcrypt.compareSync("B4c0/\/", hash); // true
bcrypt.compareSync("not_bacon", hash); // false
Auto-gen a salt and hash:
var hash = bcrypt.hashSync('bacon', 8);
BCrypt.
genSaltSync(rounds)
rounds - [OPTIONAL] - the number of rounds to process the data for. (default - 10)genSalt(rounds, cb)
rounds - [OPTIONAL] - the number of rounds to process the data for. (default - 10)cb - [REQUIRED] - a callback to be fired once the salt has been generated. uses eio making it asynchronous.
err - First parameter to the callback detailing any errors.salt - Second parameter to the callback providing the generated salt.hashSync(data, salt)
data - [REQUIRED] - the data to be encrypted.salt - [REQUIRED] - the salt to be used in encryption.hash(data, salt, cb)
data - [REQUIRED] - the data to be encrypted.salt - [REQUIRED] - the salt to be used to hash the password. if specified as a number then a salt will be generated and used (see examples).cb - [REQUIRED] - a callback to be fired once the data has been encrypted. uses eio making it asynchronous.
err - First parameter to the callback detailing any errors.encrypted - Second parameter to the callback providing the encrypted form.compareSync(data, encrypted)
data - [REQUIRED] - data to compare.encrypted - [REQUIRED] - data to be compared to.compare(data, encrypted, cb)
data - [REQUIRED] - data to compare.encrypted - [REQUIRED] - data to be compared to.cb - [REQUIRED] - a callback to be fired once the data has been compared. uses eio making it asynchronous.
err - First parameter to the callback detailing any errors.same - Second parameter to the callback providing whether the data and encrypted forms match [true | false].getRounds(encrypted) - return the number of rounds used to encrypt a given hash
encrypted - [REQUIRED] - hash from which the number of rounds used should be extracted.The characters that comprise the resultant hash are ./ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789$.
If you create a pull request, tests better pass :)
npm install
npm test
The code for this comes from a few sources:
Unless stated elsewhere, file headers or otherwise, the license as stated in the LICENSE file.
FAQs
A bcrypt library for NodeJS.
The npm package bcrypt receives a total of 833,816 weekly downloads. As such, bcrypt popularity was classified as popular.
We found that bcrypt demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 5 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
Did you know?
Socket for GitHub automatically highlights issues in each pull request and monitors the health of all your open source dependencies. Discover the contents of your packages and block harmful activity before you install or update your dependencies.
Security News
Node.js will be enforcing stricter semver-major PR policies a month before major releases to enhance stability and ensure reliable release candidates.
Security News
Research
Socket's threat research team has detected five malicious npm packages targeting Roblox developers, deploying malware to steal credentials and personal data.
Security News
vlt introduced its new package manager and a serverless registry this week, innovating in a space where npm has stagnated.