Whitehood Life Roleplay: UCP Fix & Next Steps Discussion

by Alex Johnson 57 views

Hey everyone! Let's talk about the Whitehood Life Roleplay server, specifically the recent fixes and future plans for our User Control Panel (UCP). This discussion aims to keep you in the loop regarding the progress made on critical updates and how we can collectively move forward to enhance our roleplaying experience. If you are a part of the Whitehood Life Roleplay community, then keep reading. This article is for you.

Recapping UCP Fixes and Charting the Course Ahead

Understanding the UCP Bug and the Fix

The primary goal here was to tackle the UCP password issue – where passwords weren't being saved correctly upon registration. This is a crucial component for the security and integrity of our Whitehood Life Roleplay community. Ensuring your account information is safely stored is our top priority. This was a major headache for many players, and we've put a lot of effort into resolving it. Additionally, we wanted to streamline the extrac and registered variables, making them default to 0 during registration and then setting them to 1 after character creation. This helps us manage the player onboarding process more efficiently. Let's delve deeper into how we approached this challenge and the meticulous steps taken to ensure a robust and secure system for our Whitehood Life Roleplay community.

Key Objectives of the UCP Fixes

Our main objectives were crystal clear. First and foremost, we had to ensure that the passwords created during UCP registration were securely hashed and stored in the database. This involves implementing robust encryption techniques to safeguard your credentials against unauthorized access. Secondly, we aimed to prevent any accidental overwriting or clearing of passwords by other processes, whether they originated from Discord interactions or administrative actions. Finally, we sought to standardize the extrac and registered flags, setting them to 0 upon registration and then updating them to 1 once a character was successfully created. This ensures a consistent and streamlined account creation process within the Whitehood Life Roleplay environment.

Detailed Breakdown of Implemented Changes

To achieve these objectives, we implemented a series of carefully considered changes across various server files. Let's take a closer look at the specific modifications made and their intended effects:

  • gamemodes/Modules/System/DIALOG.pwn: This file underwent significant revisions to address the core password storage issue. We introduced masked debug logging ([UCP DEBUG]) just before updating the playerucp table during registration. This allows us to capture crucial information such as the length and fragments of the hash and salt, without exposing the actual values. Additionally, we corrected the SQL formatting to properly handle password and salt using escaped specifiers, preventing truncation due to NUL or binary bytes. We also initialized pData[playerid][pExtraChar] and pData[playerid][pRegister] to 0 during password creation, enabling players to complete the in-game steps seamlessly. Finally, we added logic at the finalization point (DialogGender / spawn) to set pData[playerid][pExtraChar] and pData[playerid][pRegister] to 1 and persist these changes to the database via UPDATE playerucp SET extrac = '%d', registered = '%d' WHERE ucp = '%e'. These changes are crucial for maintaining data integrity within the Whitehood Life Roleplay system.
  • gamemodes/Modules/Commands/ADMIN.pwn: We modified the SQL UPDATE statement used for admin-set-password operations to utilize escaped specifiers for password, ensuring that passwords are not truncated during administrative updates. This is vital for maintaining security and preventing data loss in the Whitehood Life Roleplay environment.
  • gamemodes/Modules/Commands/DISCORD.pwn: In a previous update, we removed or prevented code that could inadvertently clear password or salt. Now, the Discord flow is restricted to only writing the verifycode, ensuring that password data remains secure and intact. This is a crucial aspect of our security protocols for the Whitehood Life Roleplay server.
  • database/AkuNakBerakMak.sql: We noted that the playerucp schema defines password varchar(64) NOT NULL DEFAULT '' and salt varchar(50) NOT NULL DEFAULT ''. This means that if a hash writing failure or truncation occurs, the columns could remain empty. The SQL escape changes were specifically designed to prevent such truncation, ensuring the integrity of password storage within the Whitehood Life Roleplay database.

These changes reflect our commitment to ensuring a secure and seamless experience for everyone in the Whitehood Life Roleplay community.

Debugging and Observational Enhancements

To aid in troubleshooting and monitoring, we've implemented several debugging enhancements. These include masked debug prints before database updates, which display the initial and final fragments, as well as the lengths of the hash and salt. This helps us quickly identify whether the hash exists at the time of writing. The goal is to determine if a non-empty hash is being overwritten or if the query is failing, should the database remain empty despite the debug prints. These debugging measures are essential for maintaining the stability and security of the Whitehood Life Roleplay server.

Your Role: Reproduction Steps and Feedback

To ensure the fixes are working as expected, we need your help! Here's how you can contribute to the Whitehood Life Roleplay project:

  1. Compile the Gamemode: If you haven't already, compile the gamemode. We've already tried this and fixed some compile errors, but your input is invaluable. We're here to help if you run into any snags.

  2. Restart the Server and Test the Registration Flow: This is the most critical step. Restart the server and walk through the registration process. This involves:

    • Requesting a verifycode via Discord DM.
    • Entering the verifycode in-game.
    • Creating a password through the DIALOG_REGISTER dialog.
    • Completing character creation (DialogGender / spawn).

  3. Gather Server Logs: Collect server logs containing [UCP DEBUG] lines for your player ID. These logs provide valuable insights into the password hashing and storage process.

  4. Run a Database Query: Execute the following SQL query in your database, replacing THE_UCP with your actual UCP:

    SELECT ucp, password, CHAR_LENGTH(password) AS pass_len, salt, CHAR_LENGTH(salt) AS salt_len, extrac, registered
FROM playerucp WHERE ucp = 'THE_UCP';

  5. Share Your Results: Send us the [UCP DEBUG] logs and the results of the SQL query. This information will help us determine the next steps and ensure the fixes are effective for everyone in the Whitehood Life Roleplay community.

Your active participation in this process is crucial for maintaining the integrity and security of our community.

Why No Automatic Push to GitHub Yet?

Due to security constraints, we don't have direct access to your GitHub account from this environment. To push changes, we need one of the following:

  • You running local Git commands that we provide.
  • You granting us access to a remote repository (e.g., adding a pushable origin remote).
  • You providing a Personal Access Token (PAT) or using the gh CLI with authentication (we won't ask for a token here for security reasons, but we can guide you through the process).

We prioritize the security of your account and repository within the Whitehood Life Roleplay project.

Summary Files and PowerShell Commands

This summary has been created in the UCP_fix_summary.md file within the project's root directory. You can use the following PowerShell commands to commit and push the changes (as an example):

  • Create a new branch, commit the file, and push to the origin remote:

    cd "C:\Users\HYPE\Downloads\server\Directory SERVER"
git checkout -b ucp-fix-summary
git add UCP_fix_summary.md
git commit -m "Add UCP fix summary and publish instructions"
# If the remote origin is already set:
git push -u origin ucp-fix-summary

  • If there's no repository/remote and you have the gh CLI (GitHub CLI), you can automatically create a repository and push:

    cd "C:\Users\HYPE\Downloads\server\Directory SERVER"
gh repo create YOUR-USERNAME/Directory-SERVER --public --source=. --remote=origin --push
# Or for a private repository:
# gh repo create YOUR-USERNAME/Directory-SERVER --private --source=. --remote=origin --push

    Note: gh repo create will prompt for authentication on your machine (browser/interactive), which is more secure. This ensures that your Whitehood Life Roleplay project remains secure and accessible.

Alternative Options for Pushing Changes

If you'd prefer us to handle the push or create a Pull Request (PR), we have a couple of options:

  • Option A (Less Recommended): Provide temporary access via a GitHub repository URL and a Personal Access Token (PAT) with repo scopes. However, please exercise caution and only do this if you fully understand the risks involved.
  • Option B (Recommended): Run the git / gh commands on your machine and send us the results. Alternatively, you can grant collaborator access to your repository for our account (though we lack a GitHub account controlled from this environment). This ensures the security of your Whitehood Life Roleplay project.

Current Status and Next Steps

Here's a quick recap of our current progress:

  • Create change summary: Completed (UCP_fix_summary.md file created).
  • Prepare Git commands: Completed (commands provided above).
  • Push to GitHub (optional): Pending (requires your action).
  • Runtime Verification: Pending (requires logs and SELECT results from you). This is crucial for ensuring the stability of the Whitehood Life Roleplay server.

What's Next? Your Input Matters!

We're ready to move forward, and your input is essential! We can either:

  1. Address any compilation errors in DIALOG.pwn right away (we've already identified and fixed one, but want to ensure everything is clean).
  2. Assist you in pushing the file to GitHub (let us know which push option you prefer).

Let us know your preference, and we'll proceed accordingly. Your contributions are invaluable to the success of the Whitehood Life Roleplay project.

Conclusion: Working Together for a Better Roleplay Experience

In conclusion, addressing the UCP password issue is a significant step towards enhancing the security and stability of our Whitehood Life Roleplay server. By working together and following the steps outlined in this discussion, we can ensure that the fixes are effective and that our community continues to thrive. We encourage everyone to participate in the testing and feedback process, as your contributions are essential to our success. Thank you for being a part of the Whitehood Life Roleplay community, and we look forward to your continued involvement in shaping our shared roleplaying experience.

For more information about game server security best practices, visit OWASP.