Laravel 4 failing Auth::attempt with Hash replacement - authentication

Question

I'm trying to do authentication in a Laravel4 project, but it always fails.
Since I'm only on PHP 5.3.4 I downloaded a replacement Hash package that uses SHA512 from https://github.com/robclancy/laravel4-hashing.
I already have a Users table (the Password field is pre-populated with SHA512 hashes, shared with another app) and my login auth method is:
Route::post('login', function()
{
$userdata = array(
'UserName' => 'SteB',
'password' => '1234'
);
if (Auth::attempt($userdata, true))
{
return Redirect::action('HomeController#Profile');
}
else
{
return Redirect::to('/')->with('login_errors', true);
}
});
I've also checked the SHA512 hash is correct using http://hash.online-convert.com/sha512-generator
This always fails (silently), any ideas why or how to debug it will be appreciated.
My Users table is:
UserID int, Identity PK
UserName varchar(24)
FullName varchar(32)
EMail varchar(64)
Password varchar(256)
This is in an existing SQL Server 2000 database, I'm getting User info out of the DB for an un-authenticated page, so I know the DB driver and connection is working ok.
User Model in Laravel:
use Illuminate\Auth\UserInterface;
use Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\RemindableInterface;
class User extends Eloquent implements UserInterface, RemindableInterface
{
/**
* The database table used by the model.
*
* #var string
*/
protected $table = 'Users';
/**
* The attributes excluded from the model's JSON form.
*
* #var array
*/
protected $hidden = array('password');
//protected $fillable = array('UserID', 'UserName', 'FullName');
/**
* Get the unique identifier for the user.
*
* #return mixed
*/
public function getAuthIdentifier()
{
return $this->getKey();
}
/**
* Get the password for the user.
*
* #return string
*/
public function getAuthPassword()
{
/*Now all lowercase to match $userdata as suggested on SO*/
return $this->password;
}
/**
* Get the e-mail address where password reminders are sent.
*
* #return string
*/
public function getReminderEmail()
{
return $this->EMail;
}
}
UPDATE:
Just found this article: http://laravel.io/topic/20/hashing-in-laravel.
Looks like it's not doing things how I expected, a base64-encoded hash with random salt, I think.

Answer 1

So you need to change something in your model as well as the key you pass to attempt
class User extends Eloquent implements UserInterface
{
public function getAuthPassword()
{
return $this->Password;
}
// leave other code the same
}
And in your array you pass change it like follows.
$userdata = array( 'UserName' => 'SteB', 'password' => '1234');
The getAuthPassword() tells the Auth library your actual fieldname and setting the key in the userdata to all lowercase password tells the Auth library to hash that field.

Answer 2

I have no idea what your database structure looks like, but could it be that your username key isn't the same are you database column?
Maybe this will work:
$userdata = array(
'username' => 'SteB',
'password' => '1234'
);
Cheers.

Answer 3

EDIT: you can try all this etc, but I think I just proved myself wrong right after writing this.
This issue is to do with your database column naming and a restriction in Laravel I believe. Looking into Laravel's auth component I find a few areas where it specifically wants password or at least the string to contain that exact phrase. So your database needs to use the password column or you need to extend laravel to change some things.
Honestly, you should only ever use camel case or snake case with laravel. Issues can come up like this one when you use something it will never expect because there is no logical reason to use anything else.
So easy fix, use better column name.
Harder fix is extending the Auth component to allow for your Password field.