<![CDATA[Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional?]]>Hi. I've been using XCP-ng Center to manage my homelab for a while, but recently decided to give Xen Orchestra a go (mostly due to the fantastic backup options which are provided with the Premium package or built from source option). I'm enjoying using it so far (apart from an issue with some mouse and keyboard input lag, which I'm going to look more into myself to see if I can improve), but when I exported the Xen Orchestra configuration (from Settings -> Config -> Export/Download Current Config), I noticed that the resulting .json file contains the passwords for the two hosts in my homelab in plaintext.

Is this an intentional decision or an oversight? Shouldn't the password hashes be stored in the .json file (as they appear to be for the users)? Does Xen Orchestra need to store plaintext versions to connect to the hosts? Maybe I'm missing something, but would appreciate some clarification, thanks.

]]>https://xcp-ng.org/forum/topic/2866/exported-xen-orchestra-config-contains-plaintext-host-passwords-is-this-intentionalRSS for NodeMon, 11 May 2026 23:50:01 GMTFri, 10 Apr 2020 17:19:21 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional? on Sun, 21 Jun 2020 20:32:10 GMT]]>https://github.com/vatesfr/xen-orchestra/issues/4472

akurzawa created this issue in vatesfr/xen-orchestra

closed encrypt xcp-ng root user password in config file #4472

]]>https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/28028https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/28028Sun, 21 Jun 2020 20:32:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional? on Sat, 20 Jun 2020 10:38:04 GMT]]>@Andre said in Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional?:

Would it be "stupid" to use the hash of the user's (asking for the export) password to encrypt "by default" the export?

No, because:

  1. XO does not the password of the user, just a hash
  2. The hash cannot be used because it can be regenerated for various reasons (e.g. a change of security settings such as the used algo)
]]>https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/27965https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/27965Sat, 20 Jun 2020 10:38:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional? on Sat, 20 Jun 2020 10:18:32 GMT]]>@julien-f said in Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional?:

FYI, this feature has been released 🙂

Great, and thanks for letting me know 🙂

]]>https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/27964https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/27964Sat, 20 Jun 2020 10:18:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional? on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 21:33:14 GMT]]>Would it be "stupid" to use the hash of the user's (asking for the export) password to encrypt "by default" the export?

]]>https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/27540https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/27540Wed, 10 Jun 2020 21:33:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional? on Wed, 10 Jun 2020 16:19:57 GMT]]>FYI, this feature has been released 🙂

]]>https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/27535https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/27535Wed, 10 Jun 2020 16:19:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional? on Sun, 12 Apr 2020 11:04:19 GMT]]>@julien-f said in Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional?:

@amp88 said in Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional?:

Shouldn't the password hashes be stored in the .json file (as they appear to be for the users)? Does Xen Orchestra need to store plaintext versions to connect to the hosts?

No, server passwords cannot be saved as hashes like we do for users, the use cases are completely different:

  1. for users, the password cannot be retrieved from the hashes. However that's not an issue because, when a user logs in, its password is hashed and compared to the stored hash
  2. for servers, we need to send the password itself, not a derived hash to the XCP-ng/XenServer host

There is no way to securely hide these password except from encrypting them with a password provided by an external source, like a passphrase from the user, which may not be bad idea 🙂

OK, thanks for the explanation. Allowing the user the option to secure the exported configuration with a password would be a welcome addition 🙂

]]>https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/25163https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/25163Sun, 12 Apr 2020 11:04:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional? on Sun, 12 Apr 2020 10:32:34 GMT]]>@amp88 said in Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional?:

Shouldn't the password hashes be stored in the .json file (as they appear to be for the users)? Does Xen Orchestra need to store plaintext versions to connect to the hosts?

No, server passwords cannot be saved as hashes like we do for users, the use cases are completely different:

  1. for users, the password cannot be retrieved from the hashes. However that's not an issue because, when a user logs in, its password is hashed and compared to the stored hash
  2. for servers, we need to send the password itself, not a derived hash to the XCP-ng/XenServer host

There is no way to securely hide these password except from encrypting them with a password provided by an external source, like a passphrase from the user, which may not be bad idea 🙂

]]>https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/25162https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/25162Sun, 12 Apr 2020 10:32:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional? on Sat, 11 Apr 2020 07:47:48 GMT]]>The easiest route would be to create a password on the archive itself, yes. Ping @julien-f that can answer all questions and put some context 🙂

]]>https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/25105https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/25105Sat, 11 Apr 2020 07:47:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional? on Fri, 10 Apr 2020 21:13:11 GMT]]>@Danp said in Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional?:

@amp88 FWIW, there's an open issue on GH dealing with this.

Ah, thanks for letting me know.

]]>https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/25079https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/25079Fri, 10 Apr 2020 21:13:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Exported Xen Orchestra Config Contains Plaintext Host Passwords - Is This Intentional? on Fri, 10 Apr 2020 20:44:48 GMT]]>@amp88 FWIW, there's an open issue on GH dealing with this.

]]>https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/25069https://xcp-ng.org/forum/post/25069Fri, 10 Apr 2020 20:44:48 GMT