Password reset functionality

TYPO3 backend users can reset their password if they use the default TYPO3 login mechanism.

To display the reset link on the backend login page, the following criteria must be met:

  • The user has a password entered previously (indicating that no third-party login has been used).
  • The user has a valid email address added to their user record.
  • The user is neither deleted nor disabled.
  • The email address is used only once for all backend users of the instance.

Once the user has entered their email address, an email is sent with a link that allows to set a new password, which must consist of at least eight characters. The link is valid for 2 hours and a token is added to the link. If the password is entered correctly, it will be updated for the user and they can log in.

New in version 12.1

The new password that the user specifies must comply with the configured password policy for the backend.

New in version 12.3

The username of the backend user is displayed in the password recovery email alongside the reset link.

Notes on security

  • When having multiple users with the same email address, no reset functionality is provided.
  • No information disclosure is built-in, so if the email address is not in the system, it is not disclosed to the outside.
  • Rate limiting is enabled so that three emails can be sent per email address within 30 minutes.
  • Tokens are stored in the database but hashed again just like the password.
  • When a user has logged in successfully (for example, because they remembered the password), the token is removed from the database, effectively invalidating all existing email links.

Implications of displaying the username in the email

  • A third-party gaining access to the email account has all information needed to log in into the TYPO3 backend and potentially cause damage to the website.
  • Without the username a third-party could only reset the password of the TYPO3 backend user, but not log in, if the username is different from the email address.
  • It is also possible to override the ResetRequested email templates to remove the username and customize the result.
  • It is highly recommend to protect backend accounts using Multi-factor authentication.

Global configuration

The feature is enabled by default and can be deactivated entirely via the system-wide configuration option:

config/system/additional.php | typo3conf/system/additional.php
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['BE']['passwordReset'] = false;
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Optionally, it is possible to restrict this feature to non-admins only by setting the following system-wide option to false.

config/system/additional.php | typo3conf/system/additional.php
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['BE']['passwordResetForAdmins'] = false;
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Both options can be configured in the Admin Tools > Settings module or in the Install Tool, but can also be set manually via config/system/settings.php or config/system/additional.php.

Reset password for user

Administrators can reset a user's password. This is useful primarily for security reasons, so that an administrator does not have to send a password over to a user in plain text (for example, by email).

The administrator can use the CLI command:

vendor/bin/typo3 backend:resetpassword https://example.com/typo3/ editor@example.com
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typo3/sysext/core/bin/typo3 backend:resetpassword https://example.com/typo3/ editor@example.com
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where usage is described like this:

backend:resetpassword <backend_url> <email_address>
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