Updating LDAP encrypted password via JNDI

Question

I need some pointers how to update an encrypted password in an LDAP (OpenLDAP) of a user within an LDAP tree. The passwords in the LDAP server are prefixed with {crypt} which I suppose indicates that it is encrypted (with DES?)

I need to write a method which updates a user's passwords. What is the right way to do this? Do I need to prefix the string with {crypt} myself? How do I encrypt the password for {crypt}?

UPDATE:

Just to clarify what I need is the Java code to encrypt the attribute so that it works with {crypt}. I also don't know if I have to prefix the attribute with the string {crypt} myself.

Answer 1

No, you just need to update the attribute, just like any other attribute, but remembering that unlike most attributes it is a byte[] not a String.

There is also an ExtendedOperation for password modification in association with the Password Policy IETF draft, but you haven't mentioned you're using that.

Answer 2

In some cases, using a pre-encoded password might prevent the directory server from enforcing password quality checks.