Android Change password of encrypted Room DB with SQLCipher

Question

I successfully encrypted my Room DB with SQLCipher.

I now like to give the user to option to change the DB password. So how can I change the SQLCipher password with Room DB?

dankito · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-06 17:13:31Z

2

Found the answer:

database.query("PRAGMA rekey = '$newPassword';", emptyArray())

As complete code example with context:

    fun changePassword(previousPassword: String, newPassword: String) {
        val passphrase = SQLiteDatabase.getBytes(previousPassword.toCharArray())
        val factory = SupportFactory(passphrase)

        val database = Room.databaseBuilder(applicationContext, <your_database_class>::class.java, "<database_name>")
            .openHelperFactory(factory)
            .build()

        database.query("PRAGMA rekey = '$newPassword';", emptyArray())
    }

There's even no need to close and re-open the database.

answered Oct 6, 2020 at 17:13

dankito

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2 Comments

Eugene Myca Nov 24 at 13:59

Unfortunately, @dankito, your approach is interesting but in the same time is quite dangerous. Why? I made some experiments. I encrypted my SQLite database file with DB Browser for SQLite, it provides SQLCipher 4 possibilities. After that, I put the encrypted database file in assets/database folder of my Android project and implemented your solution. BUT. I got: "java.lang.IllegalStateException: Cannot access database on the main thread since it may potentially lock the UI for a long period of time."

Eugene Myca Nov 24 at 14:02

This post discuss.zetetic.net/t/pragma-rekey-performance/4049 informs that "... rekey operations are expected to be fairly time consuming ...". That's why, in my opinion, rekey operation is not good choice for Android app.

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