Two-Factor Authentication for WHM

WHM
Security Center
Two-Factor Authentication for WHM

authenticationsecuritywhmui2fa

Valid for versions 114 through the latest version

Version:

82

114

Last modified: August 5, 2024

Overview

This function allows you to configure two-factor authentication (2FA), a security measure for the login interface of cPanel & WHM. Two-factor authentication requires two forms of identification. After you enter your password, you must enter a security code. An application on your smartphone supplies this code. Without your smartphone, you cannot log in.

For more information about 2FA, read Wikipedia’s Two-Factor Authentication article.

Important:

If you or your users see a Failed to set user configuration: The security code is invalid. error, a problem may exist with the date and time settings on your server.
- To fix the issue, use the ntpdate command to re-synchronize your server’s internal clock with the Network Time Protocol (NTP) server.
- 2FA requires an accurate server time in order to function properly.
2FA supports only one concurrent session for any user. If you open several browser windows to cPanel & WHM and log out in one of them, the server will log out the other windows.
To use 2FA for API functions with username and password authentication, enable the API requests option in the Security Policy Extensions section of WHM’s Configure Security Policies interface (WHM » Home » Security Center » Configure Security Policies).

Note:

Your users can configure 2FA for Webmail.
2FA requires a smartphone with a supported time-based one-time password (TOTP) app. We suggest the following apps for Android™ and iOS®:
- Google Authenticator™
- Duo Mobile

Enable 2FA

Warning:

This feature may cause some third-party applications to fail. It may also cause applications to improperly store data.

If 2FA is disabled on the server, set the toggle to On to enable 2FA.

Note:

Only the root user can enable 2FA.

Settings

The Settings tab allows you to configure the 2FA Issuer setting. The Issuer setting determines the name that appears in many authentication apps.

To set the Issuer setting for 2FA, perform the following steps:

Click the Settings tab.
Enter the desired value for the Issuer setting, or retain the default value.
Note:
- If you do not enter a name for the Issuer setting, it defaults to the hostname.
- Some authentication apps may display the hostname or Account value instead of the Issuer value.
Click Save.

Manage Users

The Manage Users tab displays the accounts for which you have configured 2FA. It also allows you to disable 2FA on those accounts.

Remove 2FA on a user account

To remove 2FA for a single user account on the Manage Users list, click Disable to the right of the user account.

To remove multiple user accounts from the Manage Users list, perform the following steps:

Select the Manage Users tab.
Select the checkboxes to the left of each user account that you want to remove. To select all accounts, select the checkbox to the left of the User heading.
Click the gear icon on the top right of the list, and then select Disable Selected.

Note:

Select Disable All to remove every user account from the Manage Users list. This will not disable 2FA on your own account.
If a user loses access to their 2FA application, you can Disable their access. This will allow them to configure their access again.

Enable 2FA on a user account

Important:

You cannot enable 2FA for a cPanel account through the WHM interface. You must enable the Two-Factor Authentication Security Policy on the server in order to enable 2FA for cPanel accounts.

To enable 2FA for a user account, log in to the cPanel interface as the user and navigate to cPanel’s Two-Factor Authentication interface (cPanel » Home » Security » Two-Factor Authentication).

You can also call API functions to access 2FA functionality. For more information, read our Guide to API Authentication documentation.

Manage My Account

The Manage My Account tab allows you to set up 2FA for the root account or a reseller account.

Important:

To use 2FA in WHM, a reseller account must possess the Create Accounts (create-acct) privilege in WHM’s Edit Reseller Nameservers and Privileges interface (WHM » Home » Resellers » Edit Reseller Nameservers and Privileges).

Configure 2FA

To configure 2FA, perform the following steps:

Click Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.
Link your cPanel account and your 2FA app:
- To automatically create the link, scan the displayed QR code with your app.
- To manually create the link, enter the provided Account and Key information in your app.
Within your 2FA app, retrieve the six-digit security code.
Note:
The 2FA app generates a new six-digit security code every 30 seconds.
Enter the six-digit security code in the Security Code text box.
Note:
You must enter the security code within 30 seconds. After time expires, the app will generate a new six-digit code.
Click Configure Two-Factor Authentication.

Remove 2FA

To remove 2FA, click Remove Two-Factor Authentication.

Reconfigure 2FA

To reconfigure 2FA, click Reconfigure. Then, follow the steps above to configure 2FA.

Warning:

If you reconfigure 2FA for your account, any existing configurations will no longer produce valid security codes.

Additional Documentation

Apache mod_userdir Tweak
Configure Security Policies
Manage External Authentications
Manage Sudo Group Users
Manage Wheel Group Users
The cPanel Glossary

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