Web administration of Ejabberd with virtual box and external authentication - ejabberd

Question

sorry for my long question. Just to figure out the scenario.
I have an Ubuntu host machine where I installed VirtualBox and an Ubuntu guest VM box. The guest has IP address 192.168.56.101. Here I installed a LAMP server with a Web platform written in PHP, and Ejabberd 16.01
Here it is my /etc/hosts on the host machine:
192.168.56.101 localmessage.my.website
When Ejabberd uses internal authorization, I have no problems. The Ejabberd Web administration panel is reachable by host machine like a charm (through URL https://localmessage.my.website:5280/admin).
After that, I tried to exploit the mySQL database of Web platform for Ejabberd's external authentication. I implemented a PHP file (check_mysql.php) starting from https://github.com/leesherwood/ejabberd-php-auth. I saved it into /var/www directory of guest machine, I set its owner to ejabberd:ejabberd and enabled execute permissions.
When I tested the solution by command line (by running php /var/www/check_mysql.php and then writing to the prompt 00auth:username:servername:password, by getting inspirations from https://github.com/leesherwood/ejabberd-php-auth/tree/master/examples/Collection), it works.
But, when I try to reach the Ejabberd's Web admin panel from host machine, I receive authorization error and a loop of requesting admin credentials.
Here is the /etc/ejabberd/ejabberd.yml configuration file on guest machine:
loglevel: 4
log_rotate_size: 0
log_rotate_date: ""
log_rate_limit: 100
hosts:
- "localhost"
- "localmessage.my.website"
listen:
-
port: 5222
ip: "::"
module: ejabberd_c2s
certfile: "/etc/ejabberd/ejabberd.pem"
starttls: true
protocol_options:
- "no_sslv3"
## - "no_tlsv1"
max_stanza_size: 65536
shaper: c2s_shaper
access: c2s
zlib: true
resend_on_timeout: if_offline
-
port: 5269
ip: "::"
module: ejabberd_s2s_in
-
port: 5280
ip: "::"
module: ejabberd_http
request_handlers:
"/websocket": ejabberd_http_ws
## "/pub/archive": mod_http_fileserver
web_admin: true
http_bind: true
## register: true
captcha: true
tls: true
certfile: "/etc/ejabberd/ejabberd.pem"
disable_sasl_mechanisms: "digest-md5"
s2s_use_starttls: optional
s2s_certfile: "/etc/ejabberd/ejabberd.pem"
s2s_protocol_options:
- "no_sslv3"
auth_password_format: plain
auth_method: external
extauth_program: "/var/www/check_mysql.php"
shaper:
normal: 1000
fast: 50000
max_fsm_queue: 1000
acl:
admin:
user:
- "admin": "localhost"
local:
user_regexp: ""
loopback:
ip:
- "127.0.0.0/8"
access:
max_user_sessions:
all: 10
max_user_offline_messages:
admin: 5000
all: 100
local:
local: allow
c2s:
blocked: deny
all: allow
c2s_shaper:
admin: none
all: normal
s2s_shaper:
all: fast
announce:
admin: allow
configure:
admin: allow
muc_admin:
admin: allow
muc_create:
local: allow
muc:
all: allow
pubsub_createnode:
local: allow
register:
all: allow
trusted_network:
loopback: allow
language: "en"
modules:
mod_adhoc: {}
mod_admin_extra: {}
mod_announce: # recommends mod_adhoc
access: announce
mod_blocking: {} # requires mod_privacy
mod_caps: {}
mod_carboncopy: {}
mod_client_state: {}
mod_configure: {} # requires mod_adhoc
mod_disco: {}
mod_echo: {}
mod_irc: {}
mod_http_bind: {}
## mod_http_fileserver:
## docroot: "/var/www"
## accesslog: "/var/log/ejabberd/access.log"
mod_last: {}
mod_muc:
## host: "conference.#HOST#"
access: muc
access_create: muc_create
access_persistent: muc_create
access_admin: muc_admin
## mod_muc_log: {}
mod_muc_admin: {}
## mod_multicast: {}
mod_offline:
access_max_user_messages: max_user_offline_messages
mod_ping: {}
## mod_pres_counter:
## count: 5
## interval: 60
mod_privacy: {}
mod_private: {}
## mod_proxy65: {}
mod_pubsub:
access_createnode: pubsub_createnode
ignore_pep_from_offline: true
last_item_cache: false
plugins:
- "flat"
- "hometree"
- "pep" # pep requires mod_caps
mod_register:
welcome_message:
subject: "Welcome!"
body: |-
Hi.
Welcome to this XMPP server.
ip_access: trusted_network
access: register
mod_roster: {}
mod_shared_roster: {}
mod_stats: {}
mod_time: {}
mod_vcard:
search: false
mod_version: {}
allow_contrib_modules: true
Could you figure out the reason of this error, please?
EDIT 1
I checked comments of #Badlop. I had already set +x for owner, group and other users. After #Badlop suggestions, I have set loglevel to 5, and tried the ejabberdctl command. Here is the result (unfortunately I have to link a screenshot on my GoogleDrive): https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_jWJeulge_q6XYeM3hTGzbavRjjWp19s
Could someone figure out the reason, please?
EDIT 2
With the Perl script provided by Ejabberd, as well as with my script, I run the command
ejabberdctl check_password user1 localhost mypass11
I obtain the same error as previously depicted in Edit 1.
Obviously, I assigned the ejabberd:ejabberd owning, and enabled +x for user, group and others, to each one of the scripts.
I inspected the /var/log/ejabberd/error.log and /var/log/ejabberd.log. Both reports the same error:
#extauth:loop:142 extauth script has exitted abruptly with reason 'normal'
I moved the Perl as well as my PHP script within the folder /etc/ejabberd. Same error.
Please, help. Thanks

Answer 1

When I tested the solution by command line [...], it works.
And, if you check auth with this command, is it accepted (returns 0) or rejected (returns 1)?
$ ejabberdctl check_password user1 localhost mypass11
$ echo $?
0
Notice that ejabberd does not execute "php yourscript.php", it executes directly "yourscript.php". This means that your script must be an executable file, and the system user that runs ejabberd must have permissions to execute that file. For testing, you can grant everybody permissions to execute that file. Also, set ejabberd loglevel to 5, it may provide some clue about your problem.

Answer 2

There is some problem in the script, or at least in how ejabberd connects to it. Try using the small example script included with ejabberd, written in Perl. If that works, see how the script and ejabberd behave. Then use your custom script, or the one where you are basing yours, and see the differences.