As described in
http://directory.apache.org/subprojects/apacheds/docs/users/authentication.html, currently to change admin password you need to perform 2 steps: ldapmodify and then change server.xml. While the functionality works just fine, this has become a usability issue in both stand-alone and embedded mode as the admin user is required to maintain the same passwords stored in 2 different locations. Eventhough requiring a password in server.xml might prevent unauthorized user from starting the server, it's also a security risk because the password is stored in plain text and probably cannot be encrypted because it needs to be validated against the one stored in the backend.
Several alternatives:
1. Automatically modify server.xml when the admin password is changed via ldapmodify. However, if the user changed server.xml manually it will become unsynchronized. Also, in embedded mode this might not work because the config might not be stored in server.xml.
2. Store the admin password (or just the hash value) in the configuration file only (server.xml) as in OpenLDAP. When the admin user binds, the password will be validated against this hash value.
3. Store the admin password in the backend storage only along with other users' passwords. This might be the simplest solution because it's already been implemented.
Related issue:
-
http://jira.safehaus.org/browse/PENROSE-142
Improvement
Closed
Major
Need to simplify process for changing admin password
We need to find a better way to handle the admin password.