Why WordPress Authentication Unique Keys and Salts Are Important
…or how to forge authentication cookies in WordPress
If you’ve ever installed or setup WordPress you should have surely seen your wp-config.php file, which contains the necessary configuration directives in order for WordPress to work. One section of the configuration file is dedicated to authentication keys and salts and this article will show you why you should keeps these safe and unique, regenerate these once in a while.
Salt, salt, salt… care to pass me the salt? Don’t! If I know your salt there’s a good chance I’ll be inside your WordPress administration panel within a week. Why? Because WordPress depends on the safety of these salts, once they are compromised the security behind authentication is relatively weak. But how?