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Admin Tools

#17624 Two-Factor Authentication stopped to work

Posted in ‘Admin Tools for Joomla! 4 & 5’
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Environment Information

Joomla! version
n/a
PHP version
n/a
Admin Tools version
n/a

Latest post by nicholas on Tuesday, 24 September 2013 06:01 CDT

user78685
Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? Yes
Have I searched the tickets before posting? Yes
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? Yes
Joomla! version: 2.5.14
PHP version: 5.4
MySQL version: 5.1
Host: Linux/Debian
Admin Tools version: 2.5.8

Description of my issue:

After setting up two factor authentication on 2.5.6(or .7, not sure) everything was fine.
Upgrading to 2.5.8 and tested the secure code, everything still fine.

Reset the securecode + key. It stopped to work.
When using the new code it says the code is invalid (Step 4 - validation).

Using Google Authenticator, witht the new key with both the QR Code and manually setting it up.

IMHO, I would guess that even setting up a new code, the old one still in use by AT.

-rsd

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
When you set up a new code the old one is completely erased. There is only one slot to store the secret key used for the Two Factor Authentication (TFA).

I just checked TFA with Joomla! 2.5.14 and Admin Tools 2.5.8 again. It works. The pre-requisite for it working properly is that the time on your server AND your device is set correctly (maximum time drift allowed: about 15 seconds). Moreover you have to make absolutely sure that the time zone set in your site's Global Configuration corresponds to the timezone of your server, NOT the timezone you are living in. These may be different. For example, our server is in Dallas, USA but we live in Europe. The timezone we've set in our Global Configuration is the one of Dallas, USA. If you don't do that you'll get a time drift of several hours and yes, the TFA stops working.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

user78685
Got it.

My phone was actually out of sync for almost a minute.

Thanks!

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
You're welcome!

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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