How to compare MD5 and SHA1 hashes in MySQL

Some web scripting languages, such as classic ASP, don’t have native string hashing functions – like MD5 or SHA1. This makes it quite difficult to hash or encrypt user supplied input, and to perform string comparison to compare hashes. Let’s make MySQL do the string comparison and hash calculations for us!

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MD5 string comparison in MySQL

The examples and code speaks for itself; first we create a table called tblUser, and insert an username and password combination. MySQL creates an MD5 hash of the supplied password.

mysql -u db-name -p
Enter password: ...
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 9950505
Server version: 5.5.32-MariaDB-log MariaDB Server

Copyright (c) 2000, 2013, Oracle, Monty Program Ab and others.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.Code language: Bash (bash)

MariaDB [(none)]> use db-name;
Database changedCode language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

MariaDB [db-name]> CREATE TABLE `tblUser` (
    -> id SMALLINT unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
    -> username VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
    -> password VARCHAR(32),
    -> active BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT 1,
    -> INDEX (id, username, active),
    -> PRIMARY KEY (id)) engine = InnoDB;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.04 sec)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

MariaDB [db-name]> INSERT `tblUser` (
    -> id,
    -> username,
    -> password,
    -> active)
    -> VALUES (
    -> DEFAULT,
    -> 'admin',
    -> MD5('password123'),
    -> 1);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

This is how our password123 looks when it’s hashed

MariaDB [db-name]> select password from tblUser where username = 'admin';
+----------------------------------+
| password                         |
+----------------------------------+
| 482c811da5d5b4bc6d497ffa98491e38 |
+----------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Next we compare an MD5 hash of password123 with the hash MySQL calculates using the MD5 function. The MySQL IF function returns true or false. This is wat makes the comparison.

MariaDB [db-name]> SELECT IF (
	'482c811da5d5b4bc6d497ffa98491e38' = 
	MD5('password123'), 'true', 'false') 
	AS valid;
+-------+
| valid |
+-------+
| true  |
+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Alter MySQL password column for SHA1

For our next example, to compare SHA1 hashes in MySQL, we need to alter our password column in order to support the length of an SHA1 hash:

MariaDB [db-name]> ALTER TABLE tblUser MODIFY password VARCHAR(40);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)                
Records: 1  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

MariaDB [db-name]> UPDATE tblUser
	SET password = SHA1('password123')
	WHERE id = 1;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
Rows matched: 1  Changed: 1  Warnings: 0Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

SHA1 hashing and comparison in MySQL

Compare SHA1 hashes in MySQL
With our new password column, we can perform an SHA1 string comparison, using the SHA1 function. Again, MySQL does the SHA1 hashing and calculations for us.

MariaDB [db-name]> SELECT password
	FROM tblUser
	WHERE username = 'admin';
+------------------------------------------+
| password                                 |
+------------------------------------------+
| cbfdac6008f9cab4083784cbd1874f76618d2a97 |
+------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

MariaDB [db-name]> SELECT IF (
	'cbfdac6008f9cab4083784cbd1874f76618d2a97' = 
	SHA1('password123'), 'true', 'false')
	AS valid;
+-------+
| valid |
+-------+
| true  |
+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

As easy as that! :-)

Dynamic SELECT in MySQL: how to validate password hashes in MySQL

The previous examples weren’t very dynamic. We just used the MD5 or SHA1 hash of our password. But when creating a login session on a website, we don’t know the hash and therefore we have to select it.

MariaDB [db-name]> SELECT IF (
	(SELECT password FROM tblUser 
	WHERE username = 'admin') = 
	SHA1('password123'), 'true', 'false') 
	AS valid;
+-------+
| valid |
+-------+
| true  |
+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

MariaDB [db-name]> SELECT IF (
	(SELECT password FROM tblUser WHERE username = 'admin') = 
	SHA1('password1234'), 'true', 'false')
	AS valid;
+-------+
| valid |
+-------+
| false |
+-------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Neat, right?

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