Adobe Summit is here.

Experience keynotes, Sneaks, sessions, and more — all on demand.

Watch now
DocumentationCommerceAdmin Systems Guide

Encryption key

Last update: August 8, 2024
  • Topics:
  • System
  • Security

CREATED FOR:

  • Beginner
  • Intermediate
  • Admin
NOTE
If you have attempted to complete these steps and are having issues, see the Troubleshooting Encryption Key Rotation: CVE-2024-34102 Knowledge Base article.

Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source use an encryption key to protect passwords and other sensitive data. An industry-standard ChaCha20-Poly1305 algorithm is used with a 256-bit key to encrypt all data that requires encryption. This includes credit card data and integration (payment and shipping module) passwords. In addition, a strong Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-256) is used to hash all data that does not require decryption.

During the initial installation, you are prompted to either let Commerce generate an encryption key, or enter one of your own. The encryption key tool allows you to change the key as needed. The encryption key should be changed regularly to improve security, and at any time the original key might be compromised.

For technical information, see Advanced on-premises installation in the Installation Guide.

IMPORTANT
Before following these instructions to change the encryption key, make sure that the following file is writable: [your store]/app/etc/env.php

To change an encryption key:

The following instructions require access to a terminal.

  1. Enable maintenance mode.

    bin/magento maintenance:enable

  2. Disable cron jobs.

    Cloud infrastructure projects:

    ./vendor/bin/ece-tools cron:disable

    On-premises projects

    crontab -e

  3. On the Admin sidebar, go to System > Other Settings > Manage Encryption Key.

    System encryption key

  4. Do one of the following:

    • To generate a new key, set Auto-generate Key to Yes.
    • To use a different key, set Auto-generate Key to No. Then in the New Key field, enter or paste the key that you want to use.

  5. Click Change Encryption Key.

    NOTE
    Keep a record of the new key in a secure location. It is required to decrypt the data, if any problems occur with your files.

  6. Flush the cache.

    Cloud infrastructure projects:

    magento-cloud cc

    On-premises projects:

    bin/magento cache:flush

  7. Enable cron jobs.

    Cloud infrastructure projects:

    ./vendor/bin/ece-tools cron:enable

    On-premises projects:

    crontab -e

  8. Disable maintenance mode.

    bin/magento maintenance:disable
recommendation-more-help
d3c62084-5181-43fb-bba6-1feb2fcc3ec1