Error "The new password can not be same with the old one" when updating Harbor user

Products

• VMware Telco Cloud Automation

Issue/Introduction

• When attempting to change a local Harbor user's password back to a previously used password, the operation fails with the error
• The reason this might be required is if the same user is used on multiple projects/clusters
• You will see image pull issue on the Pods while the harbor is in this state
• This occurs even if manual database resets of the salt and password fields are attempted.
  1. docker exec -it harbor-db psql -U postgres -d registry -c "SELECT user_id, username FROM harbor_user WHERE username = '###';"
  2. UPDATE harbor_user SET salt='', password='' WHERE user_id = <ID>; (user_id from Step 1)

Environment

3.2

Cause

Harbor validation logic prevents a password update if the new entry matches the current stored hash. Standard database manipulation may fail if the harbor-core service is not restarted or if the API prevents transitions from a null state.

Resolution

1. Backup: Take a snapshot of the Harbor VM or perform a restic backup of the Harbor database.
2. Navigate to Administration > Users, select the user, and click Delete. Note: This will remove the user from all project memberships.
3. Click + New User, use the same username, and enter the desired original password.
4. Add the user back to their respective Projects with the appropriate roles (Developer, Maintainer, etc.).