JAuthentication: :authenticate: Failed to load plugin:

[Nickinamillion]

Hi, I get the above error message when I try to log in to a test site that I have on XAMPP localhost. I do not need this site partially, but I would like to retrieve a considerable amount of content.
Maybe the first question would be, how can I log in? What is the problem? If that fails maybe I could go on to ask how to retrieve the articles, but 1st things 1st.

[Per Yngve Berg]

Is this a fresh install or a clone of a site in production?

The site may have used another Authentication Plugin than Authentication Joomla.

Joomla is not able to load the plugin that is enabled.

Check the extensions table with phpmyadmin.

[Nickinamillion]

No, this is not a fresh install. I have had it for a while. I did more work on it in the past but not much resently, hence the interest in retrieving the articles.
This is the list of SQL tables:
mrb_action_logs
mrb_action_logs_extensions
mrb_action_logs_users
mrb_action_log_config
mrb_akeebabackup_backups
mrb_akeebabackup_profiles
mrb_akeebabackup_storage
mrb_akeeba_common
mrb_assets
mrb_associations
mrb_banners
mrb_banner_clients
mrb_banner_tracks
mrb_categories
mrb_contact_details
mrb_content
mrb_contentitem_tag_map
mrb_content_frontpage
mrb_content_rating
mrb_content_types
mrb_extensions
mrb_fields
mrb_fields_categories
mrb_fields_groups
mrb_fields_values
mrb_finder_filters
mrb_finder_links
mrb_finder_links_terms
mrb_finder_logging
mrb_finder_taxonomy
mrb_finder_taxonomy_map
mrb_finder_terms
mrb_finder_terms_common
mrb_finder_tokens
mrb_finder_tokens_aggregate
mrb_finder_types
mrb_guidedtours
mrb_guidedtour_steps
mrb_history
mrb_languages
mrb_mail_templates
mrb_menu
mrb_menu_types
mrb_messages
mrb_messages_cfg
mrb_modules
mrb_modules_menu
mrb_newsfeeds
mrb_overrider
mrb_postinstall_messages
mrb_privacy_consents
mrb_privacy_requests
mrb_redirect_links
mrb_scheduler_tasks
mrb_schemas
mrb_session
mrb_tags
mrb_templateck_fonts
mrb_templateck_layouts
mrb_templateck_templates
mrb_template_overrides
mrb_template_styles
mrb_ucm_base
mrb_ucm_content
mrb_updates
mrb_update_sites
mrb_update_sites_extensions
mrb_usergroups
mrb_users
mrb_user_keys
mrb_user_mfa
mrb_user_notes
mrb_user_profiles
mrb_user_usergroup_map
mrb_viewlevels
mrb_webauthn_credentials
mrb_wf_profiles
mrb_workflows
mrb_workflow_associations
mrb_workflow_stages
mrb_workflow_transitions

[toivo]

The list of SQL tables looks pretty normal for a Joomla 4.x site with a couple of third party extensions, JCE and some template or extension by Cédric Keiflin, but it does not tell us about the authentication method or possible missing authentication plugins.

Go to System - Manage - Plugins, click the button Filter Options, click 'Select Type' and select 'authentication' from the dropdown list. Which plugins are listed? The Status column shows if each plugin is enabled or disabled. Is the plugin 'Authentication - Joomla' enabled?

[Nickinamillion]

Thank you Toivo, I am unable to log in to the site in question, this problem is preventing me. Is there some other way of finding out whether "Authentication - Joomla" is enabled? May be in the database or other file?

[Per Yngve Berg]

As I have previously posted. You will find the Authentication Plugins in the database table "mrb_extensions"

[Nickinamillion]

So, in the mrb_extentions table I have a row (record?) called 88, plg_authentication_joomla. This has the value of 1 in the columns enabled, access protected and locked. Does 1 = enabled, true etc?
I don't really know what I am doing but I presume that the Joomla authenticate plugin is enabled so that is not the course of the prob?
If so what can I check now?

[Per Yngve Berg]

Are the files present ?

/plugins/authentication

[Nickinamillion]

Sorry Per, I don't understand. Could you please explain the question?

[ceford]

To clarify advice offered by others:

Use phpMyAdmin to look in your #__ extensions table. Use this query in the SQL box:

SELECT * FROM `xxxxx_extensions` WHERE `name` like 'plg_auth%';

Replace xxxxx with your prefix.

plg_authentication_cookie, plg_authentication_joomla and plg_authentication_ldap are the core authentication plugins. Make sure the first two have their enabled values set to 1. Anything else, set their enabled values to 0.

Then try this: https://docs.joomla.org/How_do_you_reco ... assword%3F

[Nickinamillion]

Yes, I understand.
plg_authentication_cookie, enabled values is set to 1
plg_authentication_joomla, enabled values is set to 1
plg_authentication_ldap, enabled values is set to 0
That's what they should be isn't it?

[Nickinamillion]

and the password is not the problem. I have reset it just in case that was the course.

[ceford]

Edit configuration.php and set:

public $debug = true;
public $error_reporting = 'maximum';

First set permissions to 644 or you won't be able to save.

Try to login and you should get a stack trace that should indicate where the error came from. Post it here.

[Nickinamillion]

Thanks ceford, I have updated these values, I don't know where I should alter the permissions to 644, but I managed to save the new version anyway. All good there, but tried to log on and got the exact same error:
"JAuthentication: :authenticate: Failed to load plugin:"

[ceford]

Can you show us a screenshot with the error message you see?

[Nickinamillion]

File attached (I hope)

[ceford]

Thanks for the screenshot. The message you see is not from Joomla core. And the space between the two colons is wrong (although, as it is a string, someone may have made a typo). What is that little symbol at the right of the password box? I have never seen that before. You may have to step through the code with your debugger to find out what is going on. Meantime, please run the Forum Post Assistant and post the public results here.

[Nickinamillion]

Thank you ceford. The little symbol at the right of the PW box is from the password minder that I use.
I am sorry but I am not able to get the Forum Post Assistant to work. transferred the file to the root folder (it's under the configuration.php).
I tried this: https://www.domain.tld.cc/fpa-en.php so
i.e.
https://localhost/jmla_MrBumble.tld.cc/fpa-en.php
and got a URL not found.
https://localhost/jmla_MrBumble/fpa-en.php
I tried the above as well and got a white screen
Thank you for all your help, but is it worth pursuing? There are other ways of retrieving the useful bits of the site after all.

[toivo]

Thank you for all your help, but is it worth pursuing?

It is worth pursuing because the FPA results display the configuration, all the extensions and their versions in a standard format.

Have you set up dummy domains in your workstation running XAMPP, as shown in the links you tried? The same dummy domain that accesses Joomla should work fine with the FPA, as long as no security extension or .htaccess file blocks it.

[ceford]

Contrary to what I said previously, the message you see is from Joomla core. It is generated on line 170 of libraries/src/Authentication/Authentication.php. Here is a test you can do: on the line following the foreach statement on line 165 paste in the following code:

Code: Select all

           $name = $plugin->name;
            Log::add(Text::sprintf('JLIB_USER_ERROR_AUTHENTICATION_FAILED_LOAD_PLUGIN', $name), Log::WARNING, 'jerror');
 

When I do that I login OK but I see two messages, it just tells me which authenticators have been tried. If I put in dud credentials I see one message: Username and password do not match or you do not have an account yet.

authenticate.png

[Nickinamillion]

That is intriguing, I totally do not know what I am doing, but I have had a go. Unfortunately, it returned the same error message that is listed in the title of the post, but maybe I did not do it correctly. The following code started at line 165 (as you said)

Code: Select all

foreach ($plugins as $plugin) {
            $plugin = Factory::getApplication()->bootPlugin($plugin->name, $plugin->type);
            
// Code from ceford
$name = $plugin->name;
Log::add(Text::sprintf('JLIB_USER_ERROR_AUTHENTICATION_FAILED_LOAD_PLUGIN', $name), Log::WARNING, 'jerror');
 
            if (!method_exists($plugin, 'onUserAuthenticate')) {
                // Bail here if the plugin can't be created
                Log::add(Text::sprintf('JLIB_USER_ERROR_AUTHENTICATION_FAILED_LOAD_PLUGIN', $plugin->name), Log::WARNING, 'jerror');
                continue;
            }

[ceford]

You have the code in the wrong place. This is how it should be:

Code: Select all

        foreach ($plugins as $plugin) {
            $name = $plugin->name;
            Log::add(Text::sprintf('JLIB_USER_ERROR_AUTHENTICATION_FAILED_LOAD_PLUGIN', $name), Log::WARNING, 'jerror');
            $plugin = Factory::getApplication()->bootPlugin($plugin->name, $plugin->type);

Try again and report back.

[Nickinamillion]

Well ceford, that worked much better. I got three error messages
JAuthentication: :authenticate: Failed to load plugin: cookie
JAuthentication: :authenticate: Failed to load plugin:
JAuthentication: :authenticate: Failed to load plugin: joomla
Is it terminal?

[ceford]

In phpMyAdmin use this SQL:

SELECT * FROM `x37bf_extensions` WHERE `name` like 'plg_auth%';

Check that all seems normal. Here is an example:

auth-plugins.png

If that looks good then I would suspect your plugin code is corrupted. You might be able to download a Joomla install zip file, expand it and copy the cookie and joomla plugin folders over your existing ones.

Or you could step through the code with your debugger. Do you know how to do that?

[sozzled]

I don't want to interfere with the analysis of the issue; some progress appears to be happening, albeit slowly. I'm concerned, however, that the OP is "not able to get the Forum Post Assistant to work". This should be straightforward.

The OP claims that the website in question is accessed with the URL, https://localhost/jmla_MrBumble; I have my doubts about that. If the website is hosted on a PC then the website needs to have a SSL certificate to be able to use https. Therefore, can we confirm that there's a valid SSL certificate in place and the website's URL is really "https" or just "http"?

If the address of the website is http://localhost/jmla_MrBumble, and the FPA script is placed in the [root] folder of the filesystem associated with that website (i.e. in the same folder as ../jmla_MrBumble/configuration.php), then it should be possible to run the FPA (at least by entering http://localhost/jmla_MrBumble/fpa-en.php).

Yes / no?

[ceford]

I don't want to interfere with the analysis of the issue; some progress appears to be happening, albeit slowly. I'm concerned, however, that the OP is "not able to get the Forum Post Assistant to work". This should be straightforward.

The OP claims that the website in question is accessed with the URL, https://localhost/jmla_MrBumble; I have my doubts about that. If the website is hosted on a PC then the website needs to have a SSL certificate to be able to use https. Therefore, can we confirm that there's a valid SSL certificate in place and the website's URL is really "https" or just "http"?

If the address of the website is http://localhost/jmla_MrBumble, and the FPA script is placed in the [root] folder of the filesystem associated with that website (i.e. in the same folder as ../jmla_MrBumble/configuration.php), then it should be possible to run the FPA (at least by entering http://localhost/jmla_MrBumble/fpa-en.php).

Yes / no?

For me, both of these urls work the same:

https://localhost/j4xdemos/fpa-en.php
http://localhost/j4xdemos/fpa-en.php

With https I use a self-signed certificate and have to jump through the browser hoops to accept the certificate. But I agree, the OP has either put fpa-en.php in the wrong place or is using the wrong url to access it.

[ceford]

Well ceford, that worked much better. I got three error messages
JAuthentication: :authenticate: Failed to load plugin: cookie
JAuthentication: :authenticate: Failed to load plugin:
JAuthentication: :authenticate: Failed to load plugin: joomla
Is it terminal?

What this means:
The first message is from the planted code - it just identifies the plugin tried next.
The second message is from the call to the cookie authentication method - it seems to be faulty.
The third message is from the planted code - it just identifies the plugin tried next.
No more messages tells me the joomla plugin has been invoked but has not logged in or returned any error.

Remove the previous planted lines and try planting a Log::add() statement on line 176 - here I am showing the previous two lines too:

Code: Select all

            // Try to authenticate
            $plugin->onUserAuthenticate($credentials, $options, $response);
            Log::add($response->status, Log::WARNING, 'jerror');

For me I see two warnings: 4 (the cookie login method failed) and 1 (the joomla login method succeeded).

Report back.

[Per Yngve Berg]

Disable the Cookie plugin. Only the Authentication Joomla is needed to login.

[Nickinamillion]

Thanks both. How do I disable the cookies plugin? I looked in configuration.php, wasn't sure which one to disable and uncertain what to type.
$cookie_domain = '';
$cookie_path = '';
both are set to nothing i presume!

[Webdongle]

... How do I disable the cookies plugin? ...

Change the 1 to 0 (zero) in the database.

With the fpa you need to put it in the same folder as Joomla's configuration.php file.