How are usernames on tables encoded/hashed in Confluence 5.2.x or greater

[Joshua Thompson]

This relates to v5.2.3 of the Download version of Confluence.

I use the SQL Plugin with the SQL macro to query information directly out of our Confluence instance. Somewhere in a recent upgrade (5.0.x to 5.1.x or 5.1.x to 5.2.x) the format of usernames on tables such as CONTENT.LASTMODIFIER or NOTIFICATIONS.USERNAME have changed from a plaintext version to an 32 character hexadecimal hash. Previously these plaintext versions were identical to CWD_USER.USER_NAME.

I want to be able to profile information such as,

• Contributions per person per period
• Who is watching/subscribed to different blogs/spaces/pages

I can't seem to do it unless I can reverse this hash, or join it to a table that also has this hash which identifies the plaintext username.

[Marcel Rutjes · Accepted solution]

It looks like the user_mapping table stores the relation between the key and the username.

[Joshua Thompson]

This table doesn't seem to exist in my Confluence instance nor is it mentioned in the data model https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Confluence+Data+Model

Are you able to elaborate?

[Joshua Thompson]

Nevermind. I tried to select from the user_mapping table from a SQL macro in Confluence and it wasn't working. I've connected directly to the database and I can see the user_mapping table and the data linking the users.

It might now just be a permission issue.

Thanks!

[Joni Nousjärvi]

This helped me track down some users who don't have an email address set but have still subscribed to some notifications. Thanks!

[Sam Hall]

I suspect they are hashing the user id somehow because the hexidecimal values seem to be sort of incremental (the first 24 characters of the hashes I've looked at seem to be the same). I'd also just like to point out that since usernames are allowed to be up to 256 alphanumeric characters in length, 32 hexidecimal character hash of such usernames would allow for collisions, so I very much doubt it's a hash of the username unless it's glitched.

[Sam Hall]

I'd also like to know what that's about, it can't be an efficient way to join tables. Also makes those audit columns less than useful.