Encrypting password in compiled C or C++ code

Question

I know how to compile C and C++ Source files using GCC and CC in the terminal, however i would like to know if its safe to include passwords in these files, once compiled.

For example.. i check user input for a certain password e.g 123, but it appears compiled C/C++ programs is possible to be decompiled.

Is there anyway to compile a C/C++ source file, while keeping the source completely hidden.. If not, could anyone provide a small example of encrypting the input, then checking against the password e.g: (SHA1, MD5)

Answer 1

No you can't securely include password in your source file. Strings in executable file are in plain text, anyone with a text editor can easily look at your password.

A not so secure, but would trample some people, is to store the encrypted string instead. So, basically:

enc = "03ac674216f3e15c761ee1a5e255f067953623c8b388b4459e13f978d7c846f4"

bool check() {
    pass = getPassFromUser();
    encpass = myHashingFunction(pass);
    return pass == encpass;
}

this will deter some people, but isn't really much more secure, it is relatively trivial for assembly hacker to replace the 'enc' string in your executable with another sha256-encoded string with a known cleartext value.

Even if you use a separate authentication server, it is not difficult to setup a bogus authentication server and fool your program connect to this bogus authentication server.