% Character in Password Causes Authentication Error

  • My email password includes a % character. When I send a test email the result is 5.7.8 Error: authentication failed. When I decode the email address and password shown on the session transcript using Perl’s decode_base64 the % character has been stripped from the password, hence the error.

    However, if I place the exact same credentials in wp_config.php using POST_SMTP_AUTH_USERNAME and POST_SMTP_AUTH_PASSWORD the test email is sent without error. If I decode the credentials from that session transcript the password contains the % character.

    So, it appears that the % character is being stripped from the password when the credentials are saved on the settings page not when it is encoded. Is this the intended behaviour?

    Thanks, Steve.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • Hi,

    I think you saved me tons of debugging.

    This is not intended behavior, and I will check it as soon as possible.

    Thanks.

    Thread Starter tech-otaku

    (@nuxx10)

    I may have spoken too soon. My password actually contains %50 as 3 consecutive characters. So, forgive me, it’s not the % character that’s being stripped, but the %50 that’s disappearing. Presumably, this has something to do with URL-encoded characters?

    Regards

    Hi @nuxx10,

    Hope you don’t mind me asking – is this fixed in 2.0.21? I’m not sure whether or not @yehudah managed to get to the bottom of this.

    Kind Regards,
    Tim

    Thread Starter tech-otaku

    (@nuxx10)

    @tneville

    Hi Tim,

    Thanks for checking back. Just installed v2.0.21 on a completely fresh WordPress install. The %50 sub-string is still being stripped from the password when entered and saved on the settings page.

    Regards, Steve.

    Hi Steve,

    Thank you – I’ll pass this back to Yehuda.

    Kind Regards,
    Tim

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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