Password protecting VBA code

[moben]

If I password protect VBA code used within a Access 2007 and then lose/forget password, is there any way of finding out the valeu of the password ?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Moben.

 

[SkipVought]

hi,

We do not address password cracking at Tek-Tips.

You might want to Google.

Skip,

_{Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE!}

 

[moben]

I'm not looking at cracking passwords, more of a 'Yes' response i.e. tools exist which are capable of providing a solution for cases where VBA code has been protected and password has been lost/forgotten ?

MoBen,

 

[SkipVought]

That is what such a tool is: a password cracker!

Skip,

_{Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE!}

 

[moben]

So you confirm it is feasible to obtain a password used to protect VBA code within an Access DB ?

Thanks for the confirmation, appreciated.

MOBen.

 

[PDQBach]

@moben: actually, that's not what Skip said at all. He said you're asking for a password cracker (and there are gazillions of programs which use passwords) and that password cracking tools are not supported on Tek-Tips. At no point did he say there is one for Access2007.

For the record: given that there are N possible passwords but only n possible password hashes, it is possible to crack any password given enough time, enough computers and enough monkeys. MS passwords (on all its Office software) are robust. MS uses strong DES 128 bit key encryption as the default with 256 bit encryption also available.

Ergo you will not be able to reverse-engineer the password; and brute force on the password is too time-consuming to even consider.

 

[strongm]

>MS uses strong DES 128 bit key encryption

Erm ... no

>MS passwords (on all its Office software) are robust

Depends on the version of Office. Prior to 2007 they used (a slightly flawed) RC4-128bit implementation by defautl. And prior to that (Office 97 and earlier) they used a very weak proprietary algorithm. Office 2007 and 2010 use AES

 

[TonyJollans]

> Prior to 2007 they used (a slightly flawed) RC4-128bit implementation by defautl

Not quite. The default in 2003 was to be compatible with 97/2000, although other options were available. If you chose an alternative, the default key length depended on the provider, although it was 128 bits for the stronger ones.

Office 2007 (and 2010) have, by default, weakened the encryption on 97-2003 format files, whilst offering stronger encryption (including, for the first time, proper encryption of VBA Projects) on the 2007-format ones.

None of this has anything to do with VBA passwords.

FWIW, I don't have a problem with answering the original question, as I think people should be aware of this. VBA Passwords do not offer any significant security and can be easily defeated. If all you want to do is stop ignorant users screwing up, it is good enough, but if you want to secure code, use something else.

Enjoy,
Tony

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[strongm]

>Not quite

Knew I should have Googled instead of relying on memory ... the point remains that "MS passwords (on all its Office software) are robust" is not entirely accurate, and nor is "MS uses strong DES 128 bit key encryption"

And no, nothing really to do with VBA passwords.

 

[TonyJollans]

> ... the point remains ...

Certainly so.


Enjoy,
Tony

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