Errors when encrypting database

You seem to have jumbled up two different things.

Secure connection (ie encrypted ssl like communication between client/server) is not field, table or database it is the communication protocol between the PHP code (assuming php) and the DB driver code. On a local connection it is unlikely to be of much value as a 'hacker' would have both side of the transaction available anyway. This is more like when your web server is on one machine and the db is on another and you want secure linkage between the two. 

Field encryption is something else, and although it seems really useful the same problem occurs if the DB and code are on the same machine, if someone breaks into the server with the code they will have access to the credentials to encrypt/decrypt the data coming from the DB, otherwise it would not be usable in the application running on the web server. You would have some protection against someone who manages to access your DB or a backup held somewhere but again if it is all on one machine the protection is not all that secure.

Even using a code compiler (ie source guardian etc) is not any good as the code can be reversed.

The 'best' security is probably not available to most web host people, co-located, secured boxes with all the trimmings. If you have a reliable hosting company that does the management and you have a good vps package with **proper access restrictions the extras above are not really going to increase security.

Larry

** Access restriction meaning real passwords, no casual people accessing server, well crufted code etc

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the explanation.

From what you said, I now understand the limitations of the encrypting fields in a database feature available in CMSB a bit better.

It's unfortunate that there isn't a way to encrypt the columnEncryptionKey, or at least bury it in a more obscure place then the settings.dat.php file.

I'm still not sure why I got the errors related to 'requireSSL' => '1', on a site that has SSL enabled.

Best,

Jerry

Hey Jerry,

I can echo Larry's info above. When it comes to security there are often tradeoffs when it comes to how secure a measure is vs. its complexity and cost. We try to strike a good balance that allows CMSB to stay easy to use, though we're always looking for ways to continue improving these sorts of things.

As for why "requireSSL" was causing errors - this setting is specifically for encrypting MySQL connections and corresponds to the "Connections" checkbox under Database Encryption in Security Settings. This is different from the "requireHTTPS" setting which refers to encrypting HTTP connections. The MySQL server requires its own separate configuration in order to support SSL connections, and lacking this support will cause errors when an encrypted connection is attempted. We try to detect whether or not the MySQL server supports SSL before allowing this setting to be turned on, but there may be some edge cases where this detection isn't perfect.

Can you confirm if the "Database Encryption > Connections" checkbox is enabled in your CMSB settings? If so I'd be interested in figuring out what's causing the discrepancy.

Thanks!

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for looking at this.

The "Database Encryption > Connections" checkbox was not checked the first time the error occurred.

When I check it, the database access error occurs again.

The only way that I can then  "uncheck" the box is to comment out the'requireSSL' => '1',  line in the settings file and re-upload it. Then go into admin>general, uncheck the box and save.

I've had to go back and comment out the line a second time on some of the tests.

Hope that helps,

Jerry Kornbluth

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for this feedback!

The curious thing here is that if your MySQL server doesn't support the encrypted connection, the checkbox should be disabled entirely. Would you be willing to let us access the site to investigate the issue more closely? If so, you can send the CMS/FTP details through a support request here: https://www.interactivetools.com/support/request/ 

Thanks again,

Sure

Hey Jerry,

Thanks for sending the info! I was able to figure out the issue. The short version is that on some systems, it's not possible to establish an encrypted MySQL connection using the "localhost" hostname. A proper domain name or IP address needs to be used instead. So while your server supports the connection (enabling the checkbox), it was causing an error due to your config using "localhost". We'll add an update for the next version of CMSB that disables the option in this case and provides some clarification in the text.

Also, it's worth noting that DB connection encryption provides no security benefit when the database is using localhost (the data is never transmitted over a network so there's no danger of it being intercepted), so there's no real need to "work around" this issue. 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Thanks,