Does the Usage of Generated Salts Impact Password Verification in Bcrypt?

Bcrypt and Generated Salt: A Deeper Understanding

In the context of password security, bcrypt is often utilized to create secure passwords. However, misconceptions may arise regarding the usage of randomly generated salts and their impact on password verification.

Understanding Salt Generation

The class provided in the question includes a function that generates random salts using the openssl_random_pseudo_bytes() function. These salts serve as an additional layer of security by preventing rainbow attacks, which exploit precomputed hashes.

Salt's Role in Hashing

When bcrypt is used for hashing a password, it combines the password with a generated salt. This salt is included in the hashed output, ensuring that the same password will generate different hashes with different salts.

Password Verification

The verification function in the class takes a password and a hashed password as inputs. It hashes the supplied password using the salt stored in the hashed password and compares the result with the hashed password.

Impact of Salt in Verification

Here's where the confusion arises. When verifying a password, the same salt must be used as the one used to generate the hash. This salt is embedded within the hashed password.

When the verification function is called with the correct password, the function hashes the supplied password using the extracted salt from the hashed password. This hashed result will match the stored hashed password, as it was generated with the same password and salt.

In other words, the verification process does not happen in isolation. The salt is an integral part of the hash, ensuring that the password is verified correctly without relying solely on the randomness of the salt.

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