Re: MD5/DBMS_OBFUSCATION_TOOLKIT - doco and 32 bit hashes

Hi, Richard:

richardshea_at_fastmail.fm (Richard Shea) writes:

> Hi - I'm using Oracle 8.1.6 and 8.1.7 on a W2K platform.
>
> I read in this newsgroup a mention of the DBMS_OBFUSCATION_TOOLKIT but
> I wondered if someone could answer a question about it.
>
> First off I read that it is capable of creating MD5 digests but the
> only doco I can find (on the Oracle site relating to 9i) doesn't
> mention that. Is this something I should try to use or is it not
> likely to stick around ? Is there anywhere where the MD5 is documented
> ?

It is going to stick around. It should be documented in the supplied PL/SQL packages manual.

>
> Secondly I have an implementation of the MD5 algorithm in VBScript/ASP
> which outputs a 32 bit hash. Ideally I would like to create MD5
> digests in VBS and compare them with ones on a table produced by the
> DBMS_OBFUSCATION_TOOLKIT. Trouble is what little I have read suggests
> that the DBMS_OBFUSCATION_TOOLKIT MD5 outputs a 16 bit string. Is this
> completely true or can you request the output size ?
It returns a 128-bit hash. As MD5 only returns 128-bit hashes, I don't see how VBScript could return 32-bit and have it still be MD5.

>
> One last thing. I don't know much about how MD5 works so if some of
> the above is a bit silly - that's why ;-)
Your questions are not silly at all.

                                          Rick

>
> Thanks
>
> Richard Shea.
Received on Fri Mar 22 2002 - 06:38:38 CST