CakePHP $this->Auth->Login() always returning false

Question

Been trying to figure this out for plenty of hours, but without success.

$this->request->data['Login'] array contains the right username and hash which matches the entry in the database. $this->Auth->login(); is always returning false for some reason.

The Login table has a column called UserID and Password, Password is hashed using MD5 and a salt which is stored in the table Login as well.

I tried adding a beforeSave function in the Login model which hashed the password, but this didn't seem to work either?

/app/Controller/AppController.php

<?php
App::uses('Controller', 'Controller');

class AppController extends Controller {
    public $helpers = array('App', 'Html', 'Form', 'Session');
    public $components = array(
        'Session', 
        'Auth' => array(
            'loginAction' => array('controller' => 'login', 'action' => 'authenticate'),
            'loginRedirect' => array('controller' => 'account', 'action' => 'index'),
            'logoutRedirect' => array('controller' => 'home', 'action' => 'index'),
            'authenticate' => array('Form' => array('userModel' => 'Login', 'fields' => array('username' => 'UserID', 'password' => 'Password'))))
    );

    // Execute on every page load.
    public function beforeFilter(){
        $this->Auth->allow('index', 'view');
    }
}

/app/Controller/LoginController.php

<?php
class loginController extends AppController{
    public $uses = array('Login');

    public function index(){
        $this->render('/login');
    }

    public function authenticate(){
        if($this->request->is('post')){
            $this->request->data['Login']['password'] = $this->hashPassword($this->data['Login']);
            if($this->Auth->login()){
                return $this->redirect($this->Auth->redirect());
            }
            $this->Session->setFlash('Invalid username or password.');
            return $this->redirect('/login');
        }
    }

    private function hashPassword($login){
        // Get the salt of the user.
        $salt = $this->Login->find('first', array(
            'fields' => array(
                'Salt'),
            'conditions' => array(
                'Login.UserID' => $login['username'])));
        return md5(md5($login['password']) . $salt['Login']['Salt']);
    }
}

/app/Model/Login.php

<?php
class Login extends AppModel{
    public $useTable = 'Login';

    public $validate = array(
        'username' => array(
            'required' => array(
                'rule' => array('notEmpty'),
                'message' => 'Please fill in all of the fields.'
            )
        ),
        'password' => array(
            'required' => array(
                'rule' => array('notEmpty'),
                'message' => 'Please fill in all of the fields.'
            )
        ));
}

/app/View/login.ctp

<?php 
    echo $this->Session->flash('flash', array('element' => 'fail'));
    echo $this->Form->create('Login', array('url' => '/login/authenticate'));
    echo $this->Form->input('username', array('label' => false, 'div' => false, 'autocomplete' => 'off'));
    echo $this->Form->input('password', array('label' => false, 'div' => false));
    echo $this->Form->end('Login');
?>

Dave Dave · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-05T17:07:51

Per the incredibly detailed example in the CakePHP book:

http://book.cakephp.org/2.0/en/tutorials-and-examples/blog-auth-example/auth.html

You shouldn't be manually hashing your password prior to submitting.

CakePHP $this->Auth->Login() always returning false

2 Answers