README

PHP 5.x polyfill for random_bytes() and random_int() created and maintained by Paragon Initiative Enterprises.

Although this library should function in earlier versions of PHP, we will only consider issues relevant to supported PHP versions. If you are using an unsupported version of PHP, please upgrade as soon as possible.

Important

Although this library has been examined by some security experts in the PHP community, there will always be a chance that we overlooked something. Please ask your favorite trusted hackers to hammer it for implementation errors and bugs before even thinking about deploying it in production.

Do not use the master branch, use a stable release.

For the background of this library, please refer to our blog post on Generating Random Integers and Strings in PHP.

Usability Notice

If PHP cannot safely generate random data, this library will throw an Exception. It will never fall back to insecure random data. If this keeps happening, upgrade to a newer version of PHP immediately.

Installing

With Composer:

composer require paragonie/random_compat

Signed PHP Archive:

As of version 1.2.0, we also ship an ECDSA-signed PHP Archive with each stable release on Github.

1. Download the .phar, .phar.pubkey, and .phar.pubkey.asc files.
2. (Recommended but not required) Verify the PGP signature of .phar.pubkey (contained within the .asc file) using the PGP public key for Paragon Initiative Enterprises.
3. Extract both .phar and .phar.pubkey files to the same directory.
4. require_once "/path/to/random_compat.phar";
5. When a new version is released, you only need to replace the .phar file; the .pubkey will not change (unless our signing key is ever compromised).

Manual Installation:

1. Download a stable release.
2. Extract the files into your project.
3. require_once "/path/to/random_compat/lib/random.php";

Usage

This library exposes the CSPRNG functions added in PHP 7 for use in PHP 5 projects. Their behavior should be identical.

Generate a string of random bytes

try {
    $string = random_bytes(32);
} catch (TypeError $e) {
    // Well, it's an integer, so this IS unexpected.
    die("An unexpected error has occurred"); 
} catch (Error $e) {
    // This is also unexpected because 32 is a reasonable integer.
    die("An unexpected error has occurred");
} catch (Exception $e) {
    // If you get this message, the CSPRNG failed hard.
    die("Could not generate a random string. Is our OS secure?");
}

var_dump(bin2hex($string));
// string(64) "5787c41ae124b3b9363b7825104f8bc8cf27c4c3036573e5f0d4a91ad2eeac6f"

Generate a random integer between two given integers (inclusive)

try {
    $int = random_int(0, 255);
} catch (TypeError $e) {
    // Well, it's an integer, so this IS unexpected.
    die("An unexpected error has occurred"); 
} catch (Error $e) {
    // This is also unexpected because 0 and 255 are both reasonable integers.
    die("An unexpected error has occurred");
} catch (Exception $e) {
    // If you get this message, the CSPRNG failed hard.
    die("Could not generate a random int. Is our OS secure?");
}

var_dump($int);
// int(47)

Exception handling

When handling exceptions and errors you must account for differences between PHP 5 and PHP7.

The differences:

• Catching Error works, so long as it is caught before Exception.
• Catching Exception has different behavior, without previously catching Error.
• There is no portable way to catch all errors/exceptions.

Our recommendation

Always catch Error before Exception.

Example

try {
    return random_int(1, $userInput);
} catch (TypeError $e) {
    // This is okay, so long as `Error` is caught before `Exception`.
    throw new Exception('Please enter a number!');
} catch (Error $e) {
    // This is required, if you do not need to do anything just rethrow.
    throw $e;
} catch (Exception $e) {
    // This is optional and maybe omitted if you do not want to handle errors
    // during generation.
    throw new InternalServerErrorException(
        'Oops, our server is bust and cannot generate any random data.',
        500,
        $e
    );
}

Troubleshooting

Exception: "Could not gather sufficient random data"

If an Exception is thrown, then your operating system is not secure.

1. If you're on Windows, make sure you enable mcrypt.
2. If you're on any other OS, make sure /dev/urandom is readable.
   • FreeBSD jails need to expose /dev/urandom from the host OS
   • If you use open_basedir, make sure /dev/urandom is allowed

This library does not (and will not accept any patches to) fall back to an insecure random number generator.

Contributors

This project would not be anywhere near as excellent as it is today if it weren't for the contributions of the following individuals:

• @AndrewCarterUK (Andrew Carter)
• @asgrim (James Titcumb)
• @bcremer (Benjamin Cremer)
• @CodesInChaos (Christian Winnerlein)
• @chriscct7 (Chris Christoff)
• @cs278 (Chris Smith)
• @cweagans (Cameron Eagans)
• @dd32 (Dion Hulse)
• @geggleto (Glenn Eggleton)
• @ircmaxell (Anthony Ferrara)
• @jedisct1 (Frank Denis)
• @juliangut (Julián Gutiérrez)
• @kelunik (Niklas Keller)
• @lt (Leigh)
• @MasonM (Mason Malone)
• @mmeyer2k (Michael M)
• @narfbg (Andrey Andreev)
• @nicolas-grekas (Nicolas Grekas)
• @oittaa
• @oucil (Kevin Farley)
• @redragonx (Stephen Chavez)
• @rchouinard (Ryan Chouinard)
• @SammyK (Sammy Kaye Powers)
• @scottchiefbaker (Scott Baker)
• @skyosev (Stoyan Kyosev)
• @stof (Christophe Coevoet)
• @teohhanhui (Teoh Han Hui)
• @tom-- (Tom Worster)
• @tsyr2ko
• @trowski (Aaron Piotrowski)
• @twistor (Chris Lepannen)
• @voku (Lars Moelleken)
• @xabbuh (Christian Flothmann)