Problem running unrealircd on RHEL 9

[rroyster]

I installed unrealircd 6.1.10 on RHEL9. When I try to run it, I get the following error: "Could not find MD5 algorithm in the TLS Library". Any help would be appreciated.

[Valware]

It looks like the MD5 algorithm has been moved from the "default" to "legacy" provider of OpenSSL.
Here's what I found on the internet about how to enable the legacy provider: https://access.redhat.com/solutions/705 ... rs%20fails.

[rroyster]

Thanks. That solution worked for me. However, I am curious to know why unrealircd is still using MD5? Would you happen to know?

[Valware]

UnrealIRCd still has md5 with it mainly for backwards compatibility when needed by an admin, for example if you're running a mixed network for whatever reason and want to use old host-cloaking algorithm which uses md5 then you can do this without breaking bans, set oper passwords with MD5 (although we discourage this, it's still available). The modern (and default) cloaking algorithm does not use this, instead using SHA256. Other than that we do recommend using something like Argon2 for things like passwords and such around your configuration.

[Syzop]

Future version UnrealIRCd 6.2.0 (which is currently in beta) will allow to start without the MD5 algorithm being available.

Of course, if you use the old cloaking module "cloak_md5" it will error if MD5 is unavailable, but if you use "cloak_sha256" (available since Sep 2021) it will work fine.

[rroyster]

Strange thing has happened. I followed the instructions for enabling the legacy provider of OpenSSL per Valware suggestion and it worked on Monday. However, now when I tried running unrealircd again, it stopped working and is logging "Could not find MD5 algorithm in the TLS Library" again. I checked the /etc/ssl/openssl.cnf file to make sure it was correct and I don't see anything wrong with it.