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Deployment: Invicti Platform on-premises

Reset passwords without SMTP

When an SMTP server isn't configured or available in your Invicti Platform on-premises installation, you can reset user passwords directly through the PostgreSQL database.

tip

To change your own password through the UI, see Change password instead.

Prerequisites​

You are going to need:

  • Access to the PostgreSQL database
  • Database credentials with update permissions on the identity schema
  • The email address of the user account requiring a password reset

Understanding password storage​

User passwords in the database are hashed using a one-way cryptographic function, not encrypted. This means passwords can't be retrieved or decrypted. The only option is to reset them to a new value.

Reset a password​

To reset a user's password:

  1. Connect to your PostgreSQL database using your preferred client.
  2. Execute the following SQL query, replacing <user_email_address_here> with the target user's email address:
UPDATE identity.user_credentials uc
SET password_hash = 'AQAAAAIAAYagAAAAEEf2QKdmoJkYdKUmKowx5NCtSE0Khz+4O+bUduSsdkrDRmb7gKTorusA2C0s3rYGkg==', 
    password_hash_algorithm = 'UnifiedPlatform'
FROM identity."user" u
WHERE uc.user_id = u.user_id 
AND email_address = '<user_email_address_here>';
  1. Confirm the update was successful (the query should return the number of rows updated).
  2. Notify the user that their password has been reset to the temporary password: Password123#
  3. Require the user to change this password immediately upon their first login.

Security best practices​

  • Restrict database access to authorized system administrators only
  • Force users to change temporary passwords on first login
  • Keep a record of password reset operations for compliance and auditing
  • Never share database credentials with end users

Troubleshooting​

Password reset doesn't work:

  • Verify the email address is correct and matches an existing user account
  • Check your database connection and confirm you have sufficient permissions
  • Ensure the identity service is operational

No rows updated:

  • This typically occurs when the user has never had a password set (for example, if they were originally configured for SSO authentication)
  • In this case, the user has no record in the user_credentials table
  • If the user was configured for SSO, they should continue using SSO to log in or use the SSO password reset flow Contact support if you need to create a password record for a user who doesn't have one

Get help​

If you encounter issues with this procedure, contact support and provide:

  • The user's email address
  • The exact error message received
  • The time you attempted the reset

Need help?​

Invicti Support team is ready to provide you with technical help. Go to Help Center

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