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db.updateUser()

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  • Definition
  • Behavior
  • Required Access
  • Example
db.updateUser( username, update, writeConcern )

Updates the user's profile on the database on which you run the method. An update to a field completely replaces the previous field's values. This includes updates to the user's roles array.

Warning

When you update the roles array, you completely replace the previous array's values. To add or remove roles without replacing all the user's existing roles, use the db.grantRolesToUser() or db.revokeRolesFromUser() methods.

The db.updateUser() method uses the following syntax:

Tip

Starting in version 4.2 of the mongo shell, you can use the passwordPrompt() method in conjunction with various user authentication/management methods/commands to prompt for the password instead of specifying the password directly in the method/command call. However, you can still specify the password directly as you would with earlier versions of the mongo shell.

db.updateUser(
"<username>",
{
customData : { <any information> },
roles : [
{ role: "<role>", db: "<database>" } | "<role>",
...
],
pwd: passwordPrompt(), // Or "<cleartext password>"
authenticationRestrictions: [
{
clientSource: ["<IP>" | "<CIDR range>", ...],
serverAddress: ["<IP>", | "<CIDR range>", ...]
},
...
],
mechanisms: [ "<SCRAM-SHA-1|SCRAM-SHA-256>", ... ],
passwordDigestor: "<server|client>"
},
writeConcern: { <write concern> }
)

The db.updateUser() method has the following arguments.

Parameter
Type
Description
username
string
The name of the user to update.
update
document
A document containing the replacement data for the user. This data completely replaces the corresponding data for the user.
writeConcern
document

Optional. The level of write concern for the operation. See Write Concern Specification.

The update document specifies the fields to update and their new values. All fields in the update document are optional, but must include at least one field.

The update document has the following fields:

Field
Type
Description
customData
document
Optional. Any arbitrary information.
roles
array
Optional. The roles granted to the user. An update to the roles array overrides the previous array's values.
pwd
string

Optional. The user's password. The value can be either:

  • the user's password in cleartext string, or

  • passwordPrompt() to prompt for the user's password.

Tip

Starting in version 4.2 of the mongo shell, you can use the passwordPrompt() method in conjunction with various user authentication/management methods/commands to prompt for the password instead of specifying the password directly in the method/command call. However, you can still specify the password directly as you would with earlier versions of the mongo shell.

authenticationRestrictions
array
Optional. The authentication restrictions the server enforces upon the user. Specifies a list of IP addresses and CIDR ranges from which the user is allowed to connect to the server or from which the server can accept users.
mechanisms
array

Optional. The specific SCRAM mechanism or mechanisms for the user credentials. If authenticationMechanisms is specified, you can only specify a subset of the authenticationMechanisms.

If updating the mechanisms field without the password, you can only specify a subset of the user's current mechanisms, and only the existing user credentials for the specified mechanism or mechanisms are retained.

If updating the password along with the mechanisms, new set of credentials are stored for the user.

Valid values are:

  • "SCRAM-SHA-1"

    • Uses the SHA-1 hashing function.

  • "SCRAM-SHA-256"

    • Uses the SHA-256 hashing function.

    • Requires featureCompatibilityVersion set to 4.0.

    • Requires passwordDigestor to be server.

passwordDigestor
string

Optional. Indicates whether the server or the client digests the password.

Available values are:

  • "server" (Default)
    The server receives undigested password from the client and digests the password.
  • "client" (Not compatible with SCRAM-SHA-256)
    The client digests the password and passes the digested password to the server.

In the roles field, you can specify both built-in roles and user-defined roles.

To specify a role that exists in the same database where db.updateUser() runs, you can either specify the role with the name of the role:

"readWrite"

Or you can specify the role with a document, as in:

{ role: "<role>", db: "<database>" }

To specify a role that exists in a different database, specify the role with a document.

The authenticationRestrictions document can contain only the following fields. The server throws an error if the authenticationRestrictions document contains an unrecognized field:

Field Name
Value
Description
clientSource
Array of IP addresses and/or CIDR ranges
If present, when authenticating a user, the server verifies that the client's IP address is either in the given list or belongs to a CIDR range in the list. If the client's IP address is not present, the server does not authenticate the user.
serverAddress
Array of IP addresses and/or CIDR ranges
A list of IP addresses or CIDR ranges to which the client can connect. If present, the server will verify that the client's connection was accepted via an IP address in the given list. If the connection was accepted via an unrecognized IP address, the server does not authenticate the user.

Important

If a user inherits multiple roles with incompatible authentication restrictions, that user becomes unusable.

For example, if a user inherits one role in which the clientSource field is ["198.51.100.0"] and another role in which the clientSource field is ["203.0.113.0"] the server is unable to authenticate the user.

For more information on authentication in MongoDB, see Authentication.

The db.updateUser() method wraps the updateUser command.

If run on a replica set, db.updateUser() is executed using "majority" write concern by default.

Warning

By default, db.updateUser() sends all specified data to the MongoDB instance in cleartext, even if using passwordPrompt(). Use TLS transport encryption to protect communications between clients and the server, including the password sent by db.updateUser(). For instructions on enabling TLS transport encryption, see Configure mongod and mongos for TLS/SSL.

MongoDB does not store the password in cleartext. The password is only vulnerable in transit between the client and the server, and only if TLS transport encryption is not enabled.

You must have access that includes the revokeRole action on all databases in order to update a user's roles array.

You must have the grantRole action on a role's database to add a role to a user.

To change another user's pwd or customData field, you must have the changePassword and changeCustomData actions respectively on that user's database.

To modify your own password and custom data, you must have privileges that grant changeOwnPassword and changeOwnCustomData actions respectively on the user's database.

Given a user appClient01 in the products database with the following user info:

{
_id : "products.appClient01",
userId : UUID("c5d88855-3f1e-46cb-9c8b-269bef957986"),
user : "appClient01",
db : "products",
customData : { empID : "12345", badge : "9156" },
roles : [
{
role : "readWrite",
db : "products"
},
{
role : "read",
db : "inventory"
}
],
mechanisms : [
"SCRAM-SHA-1",
"SCRAM-SHA-256"
],
authenticationRestrictions : [ {
clientSource: ["69.89.31.226"],
serverAddress: ["172.16.254.1"]
} ]
}

The following db.updateUser() method completely replaces the user's customData and roles data:

use products
db.updateUser( "appClient01",
{
customData : { employeeId : "0x3039" },
roles : [
{ role : "read", db : "assets" }
]
} )

The user appClient01 in the products database now has the following user information:

{
_id : "products.appClient01",
userId : UUID("c5d88855-3f1e-46cb-9c8b-269bef957986"),
user : "appClient01",
db : "products",
customData : { employeeId : "0x3039" },
roles : [
{
role : "read",
db : "assets"
}
],
mechanisms : [
"SCRAM-SHA-1",
"SCRAM-SHA-256"
],
authenticationRestrictions : [ {
clientSource: ["69.89.31.226"],
serverAddress: ["172.16.254.1"]
} ]
}

Note

To use SCRAM-SHA-256, the featureCompatibilityVersion must be set to 4.0. For more information on featureCompatibilityVersion, see Get FeatureCompatibilityVersion and setFeatureCompatibilityVersion.

The following operation updates a user who currently have both SCRAM-SHA-256 and SCRAM-SHA-1 credentials to have only SCRAM-SHA-256 credentials.

Note

  • If the password is not specified along with the mechanisms, you can only update the mechanisms to a subset of the current SCRAM mechanisms for the user.

  • If the password is specified along with the mechanisms, you can specify any supported SCRAM mechanism or mechanisms.

  • For SCRAM-SHA-256, the passwordDigestor must be the default value "server".

use reporting
db.updateUser(
"reportUser256",
{
mechanisms: [ "SCRAM-SHA-256" ]
}
)
←  db.revokeRolesFromUser()passwordPrompt() →