Resolved Username in smb_users prefixed by unexpected code preventing user from logging in.

[stevland]

One of my users cannot sign into Plesk. I've tried unsuccessfully to reset their password and to log into their account myself.

So I checked usernames from CLI:
plesk db "select contactName as 'Plesk customer/reseller',login as 'Login' from smb_users"

And I see that this user's account name is prefixed with unexpected code, which apparently is a Zero Width No-Break Space:
<U+FEFF><U+FEFF>foo

I see that this is also the case with one other account as well.

I am afraid to try to fix this simply by updating smb_users. Will doing so create a mismatch with something else?

Why is this happening, how can we avoid this and what is the solution?

 

[stevland]

UPDATE: I changed the Web Hosting Access username using...

plesk bin subscription --update example.com -login foo

...but I still cannot log in.

 

[Bitpalast]

There is a chance that this is not caused by the server but by password- or form-managers such as the one built into Google Chrome. Maybe you can try to deactivate the form autofill function in your browser and try again?

 

[stevland]

There is a chance that this is not caused by the server but by password- or form-managers such as the one built into Google Chrome. Maybe you can try to deactivate the form autofill function in your browser and try again?

Thank you for the suggestion.

I'm not clear if you mean that autofill may have intervened at the point that the account credentials were created, or the point that the user (and myself) were trying to log into Plesk using their credentials.

But either way, I am 100% certain that autofill was not a factor. I don't even have an autofill entry for this login.

I had been trying to reset their Web Hosting Access credentials through the Plesk UI.

Today it occurred to me that what I needed to do was to reset their Customer Panel login credentials.

That did the trick without having to alter the database manually (a prospect that made me nervous).

The customer can now login, and I now know how to fix the other account I discovered that also has it's account name is prefixed with <U+FEFF><U+FEFF>.

I am still curious why this happened and how to avoid it from happening again. But given that the issue is resolved you can go ahead and mark it as resolved.

 

[Bitpalast]

It's a copy & paste or autofill issue.

 

[stevland]

Copy and paste makes sense. I probably copy and pasted the account name from my notes, which is often a part of my workflow.

I will be aware of this going forward.

Thank you!