Cisco Unified Communications Answer File Generator Password Hash

[m.gravel]

Hello,

I am looking to find a way to be able to generate a password hash that Cisco uses in their UC Answer File Generator.  I ran through the answer file generator and created my set of platformConfig.xml files required to build a cluster.  Going forward I would like to just run a search and replace on a couple of variables (hostname, password, ...) when deploying a new customer without having to key in all the information back into Cisco's answer file generator.  This works and I am using it today however I am unable to change the password fields due to the hash and have to manually change them through the CLI afterwards.

Does anyone know how the hash is generated?  Is it possible to use a third party tool to generate this hash so that I can insert it into the platformConfig.xml file?

Here is an example of the hash:

<LocalHostAdminPwCrypt>
    <ParamNameText>Admin PW for this node</ParamNameText>
    <ParamDefaultValue>password</ParamDefaultValue>
    <ParamValue>1AFC15B0B20EC1EE831812812AB2825C831812812AB2825C831812812AB2825C</ParamValue>
 </LocalHostAdminPwCrypt>

Thanks,

Marc

[Terry Cheema]

As far as I know, this may not be possible and is not recommended as well. So it would be a better option to run through the answer file again and regenerate. Also if you are generating multiple files save them in different directory.

Ref: http://www.cisco.com/web/cuc_afg/index.html

• You must save each answer file in a separate directory when more than one answer file is generated.
• You must not modify the filename and contents of saved answer files. Ensure the answer file filename is platformConfig.xml.

-Terry

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[stalljr]

Did you ever find a solution to this?  I have the same need to generate UC Answer Files.  I located an app that will decrypt the platformconfig.xml PwCrypt hash, but have not located a method to encrypt the password string.

[m.gravel]

Unfortunately not.  For now I generate the answer files with the same password for all and manually change the passwords after installing the UC product.  Not ideal but at this time allows for automation and saves me from having to run through populating every field in the answer file generator to get the hash.

[Fred Nielsen (ePlus)]

The AFG tool is implemented with client-side JavaScript.  Poking around in the page source yields the encryption hash routine:  http://www.cisco.com/web/cuc_afg/EncryptPassword.js

[Fred Nielsen (ePlus)]

p.s. the provided password string is (always) padded out with trailing nulls to 32-bytes in length, then encrypted with 56-bit DES ECB, with the result converted to hexadecimal - providing the final "hash".  The key used is in plain sight in the js file I linked earlier.

And of course easily reversible (the OP's password based on the hash posted is 'C!sc0123', for example).