Digest access authentication is one of the agreed-upon methods a
web server
A web server is computer software and underlying hardware that accepts requests via HTTP (the network protocol created to distribute web content) or its secure variant HTTPS. A user agent, commonly a web browser or web crawler, initiate ...
can use to negotiate credentials, such as username or password, with a user's
web browser
A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...
. This can be used to confirm the identity of a user before sending sensitive information, such as online banking transaction history. It applies a
hash function
A hash function is any function that can be used to map data of arbitrary size to fixed-size values. The values returned by a hash function are called ''hash values'', ''hash codes'', ''digests'', or simply ''hashes''. The values are usually u ...
to the username and
password
A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...
before sending them over the network. In contrast,
basic access authentication
In the context of an HTTP transaction, basic access authentication is a method for an HTTP user agent (e.g. a web browser) to provide a user name and password when making a request. In basic HTTP authentication, a request contains a header field i ...
uses the easily reversible
Base64
In computer programming, Base64 is a group of binary-to-text encoding schemes that represent binary data (more specifically, a sequence of 8-bit bytes) in sequences of 24 bits that can be represented by four 6-bit Base64 digits.
Common to all bina ...
encoding instead of hashing, making it non-secure unless used in conjunction with
TLS.
Technically, digest authentication is an application of
MD5 cryptographic hash
A cryptographic hash function (CHF) is a hash algorithm (a map of an arbitrary binary string to a binary string with fixed size of n bits) that has special properties desirable for cryptography:
* the probability of a particular n-bit output ...
ing with usage of
nonce values to prevent
replay attack
A replay attack (also known as a repeat attack or playback attack) is a form of network attack in which valid data transmission is maliciously or fraudulently repeated or delayed. This is carried out either by the originator or by an adversary wh ...
s. It uses the
HTTP
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, ...
protocol.
This standard is obsolete since July 2011.
Overview
Digest access authentication was originally specified by RFC 2069 (''An Extension to HTTP: Digest Access Authentication''). RFC 2069 specifies roughly a traditional digest authentication scheme with security maintained by a server-generated ''
nonce value''. The authentication response is formed as follows (where HA1 and HA2 are names of string variables):
:
HA1 = MD5(username:realm:password)
HA2 = MD5(method:digestURI)
response = MD5(HA1:nonce:HA2)
An MD5 hash is a 16-byte value. The HA1 and HA2 values used in the computation of the response are the hexadecimal representation (in lowercase) of the MD5 hashes respectively.
RFC 2069 was later replaced by RFC 2617 (''HTTP Authentication: Basic and Digest Access Authentication''). RFC 2617 introduced a number of optional security enhancements to digest authentication; "quality of protection" (qop), nonce counter incremented by client, and a client-generated random nonce. These enhancements are designed to protect against, for example,
chosen-plaintext attack
A chosen-plaintext attack (CPA) is an attack model for cryptanalysis which presumes that the attacker can obtain the ciphertexts for arbitrary plaintexts.Ross Anderson, ''Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems''. ...
cryptanalysis
Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic sec ...
.
If the algorithm directive's value is "MD5" or unspecified, then HA1 is
:
HA1 = MD5(username:realm:password)
If the algorithm directive's value is "MD5-sess", then HA1 is
:
HA1 = MD5(MD5(username:realm:password):nonce:cnonce)
If the qop directive's value is "auth" or is unspecified, then HA2 is
:
HA2 = MD5(method:digestURI)
If the qop directive's value is "auth-int", then HA2 is
:
HA2 = MD5(method:digestURI:MD5(entityBody))
If the qop directive's value is "auth" or "auth-int", then compute the response as follows:
:
response = MD5(HA1:nonce:nonceCount:cnonce:qop:HA2)
If the qop directive is unspecified, then compute the response as follows:
:
response = MD5(HA1:nonce:HA2)
The above shows that when qop is not specified, the simpler RFC 2069 standard is followed.
In September 2015, RFC 7616 replaced RFC 2617 by adding 4 new algorithms: "SHA-256", "SHA-256-sess", "SHA-512-256" and "SHA-512-256-sess". The encoding is equivalent to "MD5" and "MD5-sess" algorithms, with
MD5 hashing function replaced with
SHA-256
SHA-2 (Secure Hash Algorithm 2) is a set of cryptographic hash functions designed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) and first published in 2001. They are built using the Merkle–Damgård construction, from a one-way compression ...
and
SHA-512-256. However, as of July 2021, none of popular browsers, including Firefox and Chrome, support SHA-256 as the hash function. As of October 2021, Firefox 93 officially supports "SHA-256" and "SHA-256-sess" algorithms for digest authentication. However, support for "SHA-512-256", "SHA-512-256-sess" algorithms and username hashing is still lacking.
Impact of MD5 security on digest authentication
The
MD5 calculations used in HTTP digest authentication is intended to be "
one way
One-way or one way may refer to:
* One-way traffic, a street either facilitating only one-way traffic, or designed to direct vehicles to move in one direction
*One-way travel, a trip that does not return to its origin
Music
*One Way (American ba ...
", meaning that it should be difficult to determine the original input when only the output is known. If the password itself is too simple, however, then it may be possible to test all possible inputs and find a matching output (a
brute-force attack
In cryptography, a brute-force attack consists of an attacker submitting many passwords or passphrases with the hope of eventually guessing correctly. The attacker systematically checks all possible passwords and passphrases until the correct ...
) – perhaps aided by a
dictionary
A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...
or
suitable look-up list, which for MD5 is readily available.
The HTTP scheme was designed by
Phillip Hallam-Baker
Phillip Hallam-Baker is a computer scientist, mostly known for contributions to Internet security, since the design of HTTP at CERN in 1992. Self-employed since 2018 as a consultant and expert witness in court cases, he previously worked at Comod ...
at
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...
in 1993 and does not incorporate subsequent improvements in authentication systems, such as the development of keyed-hash message authentication code (
HMAC
In cryptography, an HMAC (sometimes expanded as either keyed-hash message authentication code or hash-based message authentication code) is a specific type of message authentication code (MAC) involving a cryptographic hash function and a secret ...
). Although the
cryptographic
Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or '' -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adve ...
construction that is used is based on the MD5 hash function,
collision attack
In cryptography, a collision attack on a cryptographic hash tries to find two inputs producing the same hash value, i.e. a hash collision. This is in contrast to a preimage attack where a specific target hash value is specified.
There are roughl ...
s were in 2004 generally believed to not affect applications where the plaintext (i.e. password) is not known.
However, claims in 2006 cause some doubt over other MD5 applications as well. So far, however, MD5 collision attacks have not been shown to pose a threat to digest authentication, and the RFC 2617 allows servers to implement mechanisms to detect some collision and
replay attack
A replay attack (also known as a repeat attack or playback attack) is a form of network attack in which valid data transmission is maliciously or fraudulently repeated or delayed. This is carried out either by the originator or by an adversary wh ...
s.
HTTP digest authentication considerations
Advantages
HTTP digest authentication is designed to be more secure than traditional digest authentication schemes, for example "significantly stronger than (e.g.)
CRAM-MD5 In cryptography, CRAM-MD5 is a challenge–response authentication mechanism (CRAM) based on the HMAC-MD5 algorithm. As one of the mechanisms supported by the Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL), it is often used in email software as pa ...
..." (RFC 2617).
Some of the security strengths of HTTP digest authentication are:
* The password is not sent clear to the server.
* The password is not used directly in the digest, but rather HA1 = MD5(username:realm:password). This allows some implementations (e.g.
JBoss
WildFly, formerly known as JBoss AS, or simply JBoss, is an application server written by JBoss, now developed by Red Hat. WildFly is written in Java and implements the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) specification. It runs on multip ...
) to store HA1 rather than the cleartext password (however, see disadvantages of this approach)
* Client nonce was introduced in RFC 2617, which allows the client to prevent
chosen-plaintext attack
A chosen-plaintext attack (CPA) is an attack model for cryptanalysis which presumes that the attacker can obtain the ciphertexts for arbitrary plaintexts.Ross Anderson, ''Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems''. ...
s, such as
rainbow table
A rainbow table is an efficient way to store data that has been computed in advance to facilitate cracking passwords. To protect stored passwords from compromise in case of a data breach, organizations avoid storing them directly, instead transfo ...
s that could otherwise threaten digest authentication schemes
* Server nonce is allowed to contain timestamps. Therefore, the server may inspect nonce attributes submitted by clients, to prevent
replay attack
A replay attack (also known as a repeat attack or playback attack) is a form of network attack in which valid data transmission is maliciously or fraudulently repeated or delayed. This is carried out either by the originator or by an adversary wh ...
s
* Server is also allowed to maintain a list of recently issued or used server nonce values to prevent reuse
* It prevents
Phishing
Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious softwar ...
because the plain password is never sent to any server, be it the correct server or not. (Public key systems rely on the user being able to verify that the URL is correct.)
Disadvantages
There are several drawbacks with digest access authentication:
* The website has no control over the user interface presented to the end user.
* Many of the security options in RFC 2617 are optional. If quality-of-protection (qop) is not specified by the server, the client will operate in a security-reduced legacy RFC 2069 mode
* Digest access authentication is vulnerable to a
man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack. For example, a MITM attacker could tell clients to use basic access authentication or legacy RFC2069 digest access authentication mode. To extend this further, digest access authentication provides no mechanism for clients to verify the server's identity
* A server can store HA1 = MD5(username:realm:password) instead of the password itself. However, if the stored HA1 is leaked, an attacker can generate valid responses and access documents in the realm just as easily as if they had access to the password itself. The table of HA1 values must therefore be protected as securely as a file containing plaintext passwords.
* Digest access authentication prevents the use of a strong password hash (such as
bcrypt
bcrypt is a password-hashing function designed by Niels Provos and David Mazières, based on the Blowfish cipher and presented at USENIX in 1999. Besides incorporating a salt to protect against rainbow table attacks, bcrypt is an adaptive fu ...
) when storing passwords (since either the password, or the digested username, realm and password must be recoverable)
Also, since the
MD5 algorithm is not allowed in
FIPS, HTTP Digest authentication will not work with FIPS-certified
[The following is a list of FIPS approved algorithms: ] crypto modules.
Alternative authentication protocols
By far the most common approach is to use a
HTTP+HTML form-based authentication
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, ...
cleartext protocol, or more rarely
Basic access authentication
In the context of an HTTP transaction, basic access authentication is a method for an HTTP user agent (e.g. a web browser) to provide a user name and password when making a request. In basic HTTP authentication, a request contains a header field i ...
. These weak cleartext protocols used together with
HTTPS
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It is used for secure communication over a computer network, and is widely used on the Internet. In HTTPS, the communication protocol is enc ...
network encryption resolve many of the threats that digest access authentication is designed to prevent. However, this use of HTTPS relies upon the end user to accurately validate that they are accessing the correct URL each time to prevent sending their password to an untrusted server, which results in
phishing
Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious softwar ...
attacks.
Users often fail to do this, which is why phishing has become the most common form of security breach.
Some strong authentication protocols for web-based applications that are occasionally used include:
*
Public key
Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is the field of cryptographic systems that use pairs of related keys. Each key pair consists of a public key and a corresponding private key. Key pairs are generated with cryptographic alg ...
authentication (usually implemented with a
HTTPS
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It is used for secure communication over a computer network, and is widely used on the Internet. In HTTPS, the communication protocol is enc ...
/
SSL client certificate In cryptography, a client certificate is a type of digital certificate that is used by client systems to make authenticated requests to a remote server. Client certificates play a key role in many mutual authentication
Mutual authentication or tw ...
) using a client certificate.
*
Kerberos or
SPNEGO
Simple and Protected GSSAPI Negotiation Mechanism (SPNEGO), often pronounced "spenay-go", is a GSSAPI "pseudo mechanism" used by client-server software to negotiate the choice of security technology. SPNEGO is used when a client application wants ...
authentication, employed for example by
Microsoft IIS
Internet Information Services (IIS-pronounced 2S, formerly Internet Information Server) is an extensible web server software created by Microsoft for use with the Windows NT family. IIS supports HTTP, HTTP/2, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, SMTP and NNTP. ...
running configured for
Integrated Windows Authentication
Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA)
is a term associated with Microsoft products that refers to the SPNEGO, Kerberos, and NTLMSSP authentication protocols with respect to SSPI functionality introduced with Microsoft Windows 2000 and included ...
(IWA).
*
Secure Remote Password protocol (preferably within the
HTTPS
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It is used for secure communication over a computer network, and is widely used on the Internet. In HTTPS, the communication protocol is enc ...
/
TLS layer). However, this is not implemented by any mainstream browsers.
*
JSON Web Token
JSON Web Token (JWT, pronounced , same as the word "jot") is a proposed Internet standard for creating data with optional signature and/or optional encryption whose payload holds JSON that asserts some number of claims. The tokens are signed ei ...
(JWT) is a
JSON
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation, pronounced ; also ) is an open standard file format and data interchange format that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consisting of attribute–value pairs and arrays (or other ser ...
-based standard RFC 7519 for creating
access tokens that assert some number of claims.
Example with explanation
The following example was originally given in RFC 2617 and is expanded here to show the full text expected for each
request and
response. Note that only the "auth" (authentication) quality of protection code is covered – , only the
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
and
Konqueror
Konqueror is a free and open-source web browser and file manager that provides web access and file-viewer functionality for file systems (such as local files, files on a remote FTP server and files in a disk image). It forms a core part of ...
web browsers are known to support "auth-int" (authentication with integrity protection). Although the specification mentions HTTP version 1.1, the scheme can be successfully added to a version 1.0 server, as shown here.
This typical transaction consists of the following steps:
# The client asks for a page that requires authentication but does not provide a username and password.
[A client may already have the required username and password without needing to prompt the user, e.g. if they have previously been stored by a web browser.] Typically this is because the user simply entered the address or followed a link to the page.
# The server responds with the
401 "Unauthorized" response code, providing the authentication realm and a randomly generated, single-use value called a ''
nonce''.
# At this point, the browser will present the authentication realm (typically a description of the computer or system being accessed) to the user and prompt for a username and password. The user may decide to cancel at this point.
# Once a username and password have been supplied, the client re-sends the same request but adds an authentication header that includes the response code.
# In this example, the server accepts the authentication and the page is returned. If the username is invalid and/or the password is incorrect, the server might return the "401" response code and the client would prompt the user again.
----
; Client request (no authentication):
GET /dir/index.html HTTP/1.0
Host: localhost
(followed by a
new line
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
, in the form of a
carriage return
A carriage return, sometimes known as a cartridge return and often shortened to CR, or return, is a control character or mechanism used to reset a device's position to the beginning of a line of text. It is closely associated with the line feed a ...
followed by a
line feed
Newline (frequently called line ending, end of line (EOL), next line (NEL) or line break) is a control character or sequence of control characters in character encoding specifications such as ASCII, EBCDIC, Unicode, etc. This character, or a ...
).
; Server response:
HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized
Server: HTTPd/0.9
Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2014 20:26:47 GMT
WWW-Authenticate: Digest realm="testrealm@host.com",
qop="auth,auth-int",
nonce="dcd98b7102dd2f0e8b11d0f600bfb0c093",
opaque="5ccc069c403ebaf9f0171e9517f40e41"
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 153
Error
401 Unauthorized.
; Client request (username "Mufasa", password "Circle Of Life"):
GET /dir/index.html HTTP/1.0
Host: localhost
Authorization: Digest username="Mufasa",
realm="testrealm@host.com",
nonce="dcd98b7102dd2f0e8b11d0f600bfb0c093",
uri="/dir/index.html",
qop=auth,
nc=00000001,
cnonce="0a4f113b",
response="6629fae49393a05397450978507c4ef1",
opaque="5ccc069c403ebaf9f0171e9517f40e41"
(followed by a blank line, as before).
; Server response:
HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Server: HTTPd/0.9
Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2005 20:27:03 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 7984
(followed by a blank line and HTML text of the restricted page).
----
The "response" value is calculated in three steps, as follows. Where values are combined, they are
delimited by colons.
# The MD5 hash of the combined username, authentication realm and password is calculated. The result is referred to as HA1.
# The MD5 hash of the combined method and digest
URI Uri may refer to:
Places
* Canton of Uri, a canton in Switzerland
* Úri, a village and commune in Hungary
* Uri, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province
* Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, a town in India
* Uri (island), an island off Malakula Islan ...
is calculated, e.g. of
"GET"
and
"/dir/index.html"
. The result is referred to as HA2.
# The MD5 hash of the combined HA1 result, server nonce (nonce), request counter (nc), client nonce (cnonce), quality of protection code (qop) and HA2 result is calculated. The result is the "response" value provided by the client.
Since the server has the same information as the client, the response can be checked by performing the same calculation. In the example given above the result is formed as follows, where
MD5()
represents a function used to calculate an
MD5 hash, backslashes represent a continuation and the quotes shown are not used in the calculation.
Completing the example given in RFC 2617 gives the following results for each step.
HA1 = MD5( "Mufasa:testrealm@host.com:Circle Of Life" )
= 939e7578ed9e3c518a452acee763bce9
HA2 = MD5( "GET:/dir/index.html" )
= 39aff3a2bab6126f332b942af96d3366
Response = MD5( "939e7578ed9e3c518a452acee763bce9:\
dcd98b7102dd2f0e8b11d0f600bfb0c093:\
00000001:0a4f113b:auth:\
39aff3a2bab6126f332b942af96d3366" )
= 6629fae49393a05397450978507c4ef1
At this point the client may make another request, reusing the server nonce value (the server only issues a new nonce for each
"401" response) but providing a new client nonce (cnonce). For subsequent requests, the hexadecimal request counter (nc) must be greater than the last value it used – otherwise an attacker could simply "
replay" an old request with the same credentials. It is up to the server to ensure that the counter increases for each of the nonce values that it has issued, rejecting any bad requests appropriately. Obviously changing the method, URI and/or counter value will result in a different response value.
The server should remember nonce values that it has recently generated. It may also remember when each nonce value was issued, expiring them after a certain amount of time. If an expired value is used, the server should respond with the "401" status code and add
stale=TRUE
to the authentication header, indicating that the client should re-send with the new nonce provided, without prompting the user for another username and password.
The server does not need to keep any expired nonce values – it can simply assume that any unrecognised values have expired. It is also possible for the server to only allow each nonce value to be returned once, although this forces the client to repeat every request. Note that expiring a server nonce immediately will not work, as the client would never get a chance to use it.
The .htdigest file
.htdigest is a
flat-file used to store usernames, realm and passwords for digest authentication of
Apache HTTP Server
The Apache HTTP Server ( ) is a free and open-source cross-platform web server software, released under the terms of Apache License 2.0. Apache is developed and maintained by an open community of developers under the auspices of the Apache So ...
. The name of the file is given in the
.htaccess configuration, and can be anything, but ".htdigest" is the canonical name. The file name starts with a dot, because most
Unix-like
A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...
operating systems consider any file that begins with dot to be hidden. This file is often maintained with the
shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
** Thin-shell structure
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard o ...
command "htdigest" which can add, and update users, and will properly encode the password for use.
The "htdigest" command is found in the apache2-utils package on
dpkg
dpkg is the software at the base of the package management system in the free operating system Debian and its numerous derivatives. dpkg is used to install, remove, and provide information about .deb packages.
dpkg (Debian Package) itself is a ...
package management systems and the httpd-tools package on
RPM package management systems.
The syntax of the htdigest command:
htdigest
-c ''passwdfile realm username''
The format of the .htdigest file:
user1:Realm:5ea41921c65387d904834f8403185412
user2:Realm:734418f1e487083dc153890208b79379
SIP digest authentication
Session Initiation Protocol
The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, and terminating communication sessions that include voice, video and messaging applications. SIP is used in Internet telephony, in private IP telepho ...
(SIP) uses basically the same digest authentication algorithm. It is specified by RFC 3261.
Browser implementation
Most browsers have substantially implemented the spec, some barring certain features such as auth-int checking or the MD5-sess algorithm. If the server requires that these optional features be handled, clients may not be able to authenticate (though note mod_auth_digest for Apache does not fully implement RFC 2617 either).
*
Amaya
*
Gecko
Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from .
Geckos ar ...
-based: (not including auth-int)
**
Mozilla Application Suite
The Mozilla Application Suite (originally known as Mozilla, marketed as the Mozilla Suite) is a discontinued cross-platform integrated Internet suite. Its development was initiated by Netscape Communications Corporation, before their acquisition ...
**
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and a ...
**
Netscape 7+
*
iCab 3.0.3+
*
KHTML
KHTML is a browser engine developed by the KDE project. It is the default engine of the Konqueror browser, but it has not been actively worked on since 2016. Moreover, KHTML will be discontinued for KDE Frameworks 6.
Built on the KParts framewor ...
- and
WebKit
WebKit is a browser engine developed by Apple and primarily used in its Safari web browser, as well as on the iOS and iPadOS version of any web browser. WebKit is also used by the BlackBerry Browser, PlayStation consoles beginning from the PS ...
-based: (not including auth-int)
**
iCab
iCab is a web browser for Mac OS by Alexander Clauss, derived from Crystal Atari Browser (CAB) for Atari TOS compatible computers. It was one of the few browsers still updated for the classic Mac OS prior to that version being discontinued afte ...
4
**
Konqueror
Konqueror is a free and open-source web browser and file manager that provides web access and file-viewer functionality for file systems (such as local files, files on a remote FTP server and files in a disk image). It forms a core part of ...
**
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS ...
**
Safari
A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...
*
Tasman-based:
**
Internet Explorer for Mac
Internet Explorer for Mac (also referred to as Internet Explorer for Macintosh, Internet Explorer Macintosh Edition, Internet Explorer:mac or IE:mac) was a Proprietary software, proprietary web browser developed by Microsoft for the Macintosh plat ...
*
Trident
A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm.
The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...
-based:
**
Internet Explorer 5+ (not including auth-int)
*
Presto-based:
**
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
**
Opera Mobile
Opera Mobile is a mobile web browser for smartphones, tablets and PDAs developed by Opera.
History
The first devices to run a mobile edition of Opera were the Psion Series 5, Psion Series 5mx, Psion Series 7, and then Psion netBook. They ra ...
**
Opera Mini
Opera Mini is a mobile web browser made by Opera. It was primarily designed for the Java ME platform, as a low-end sibling for Opera Mobile, but it is now developed exclusively for Android. It was previously developed for iOS, Windows 10 Mobile, ...
**
Nintendo DS Browser
**
Nokia 770
The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is a wireless Internet appliance from Nokia, originally announced at the LinuxWorld Summit in New York City on 25 May 2005. It is designed for wireless Internet browsing and email functions and includes software suc ...
Browser
**
Sony Mylo 1's Browser
**
Wii Internet Channel Browser
Deprecations
Because of the disadvantages of Digest authentication compared to Basic authentication over HTTPS it has been deprecated by a lot of software e.g.:
* Bitbucket: https://bitbucket.org/blog/fare-thee-well-digest-access-authentication
* Symfony PHP framework: https://github.com/symfony/symfony/issues/24325
See also
*
AKA (security)
Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA) is a security protocol used in 3G networks. AKA is also used for one-time password generation mechanism for digest access authentication. AKA is a challenge–response based mechanism that uses symmetric cr ...
*
JSON Web Token
JSON Web Token (JWT, pronounced , same as the word "jot") is a proposed Internet standard for creating data with optional signature and/or optional encryption whose payload holds JSON that asserts some number of claims. The tokens are signed ei ...
(JWT)
*
Basic access authentication
In the context of an HTTP transaction, basic access authentication is a method for an HTTP user agent (e.g. a web browser) to provide a user name and password when making a request. In basic HTTP authentication, a request contains a header field i ...
*
HTTP+HTML form-based authentication
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, ...
Notes
References
{{Cryptography hash
External links
RFC 7235RFC 6331RFC 2617(updated by RFC 7235)
RFC 2069(obsolete)
Cryptographic protocols
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
Request for Comments
Computer access control protocols
de:HTTP-Authentifizierung#Digest Access Authentication
fr:HTTP Authentification#Méthode Digest