Re: MD5/DBMS_OBFUSCATION_TOOLKIT - doco and 32 bit hashes

Hi Rick - Thanks for your reply. I'm glad DBMS_OBFUSCATION_TOOLKIT is going to stick around.

Rick Wessman <Rick Wessman_at_us.oracle.com> wrote in message news:<ur8mckca9.fsf_at_us.oracle.com>...
> 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.
>

I've taken a look in here for the the 8.1.7 release and although there is documentation of the package it doesn't mention the MD5 function. What I'm reading is at ...

http://otn.oracle.com/docs/products/oracle8i/doc_library/817_doc/appdev.817/a76936/toc.htm

... and the update at ...

http://otn.oracle.com/docs/products/oracle8i/doc_library/817_doc/addendum.817/a85455/packadde.htm#1021368

... anyway it's not a showstopper, judging by what I've read in the newsgroups I think I can figure out how to use it.

> >
> > 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.
>

Yes now that was just me being a bit stupid. I read 128 bits as 128 bytes. I have realised that what I'm getting from my VBScript/ASP is 16 x 8 bit bytes each of which is represented in the test code as a pair of hex digits - hence (without turning my brain up too high) I thought I was getting a 32 byte digest.

So in summary I will now go ahead and try it out. Thanks very much for your timely response.

Regards

Richard Shea.  

> >
> > 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 Tue Mar 26 2002 - 16:06:53 CST