How to secure MongoDB with username and password

First, un-comment the line that starts with #auth=true in your mongod configuration file (default path /etc/mongod.conf). This will enable authentication for mongodb.

Then, restart mongodb : sudo service mongod restart

You need to start mongod with the --auth option after setting up the user.

From the MongoDB Site:

Run the database (mongod process) with the --auth option to enable security. You must either have added a user to the admin db before starting the server with --auth, or add the first user from the localhost interface.

MongoDB Authentication

Wow so many complicated/confusing answers here.

This is as of v3.4.

Short answer.

1. Start MongoDB without access control.

   mongod --dbpath /data/db

2. Connect to the instance.

   mongo

3. Create the user.

   use some_db db.createUser( { user: "myNormalUser", pwd: "xyz123", roles: [ { role: "readWrite", db: "some_db" }, { role: "read", db: "some_other_db" } ] } )

4. Stop the MongoDB instance and start it again with access control.

   mongod --auth --dbpath /data/db

5. Connect and authenticate as the user.

   use some_db db.auth("myNormalUser", "xyz123") db.foo.insert({x:1}) use some_other_db db.foo.find({})

Long answer: Read this if you want to properly understand.

It's really simple. I'll dumb the following down https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/tutorial/enable-authentication/

If you want to learn more about what the roles actually do read more here: https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/built-in-roles/

1. Start MongoDB without access control.

   mongod --dbpath /data/db

2. Connect to the instance.

   mongo

3. Create the user administrator. The following creates a user administrator in the admin authentication database. The user is a dbOwner over the some_db database and NOT over the admin database, this is important to remember.

   use admin db.createUser( { user: "myDbOwner", pwd: "abc123", roles: [ { role: "dbOwner", db: "some_db" } ] } )

Or if you want to create an admin which is admin over any database:

use admin
db.createUser(
  {
    user: "myUserAdmin",
    pwd: "abc123",
    roles: [ { role: "userAdminAnyDatabase", db: "admin" } ]
  }
)

4. Stop the MongoDB instance and start it again with access control.

   mongod --auth --dbpath /data/db

5. Connect and authenticate as the user administrator towards the admin authentication database, NOT towards the some_db authentication database. The user administrator was created in the admin authentication database, the user does not exist in the some_db authentication database.

   use admin db.auth("myDbOwner", "abc123")

You are now authenticated as a dbOwner over the some_db database. So now if you wish to read/write/do stuff directly towards the some_db database you can change to it.

use some_db
//...do stuff like db.foo.insert({x:1})
// remember that the user administrator had dbOwner rights so the user may write/read, if you create a user with userAdmin they will not be able to read/write for example.

More on roles: https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/built-in-roles/

If you wish to make additional users which aren't user administrators and which are just normal users continue reading below.

6. Create a normal user. This user will be created in the some_db authentication database down below.

   use some_db db.createUser( { user: "myNormalUser", pwd: "xyz123", roles: [ { role: "readWrite", db: "some_db" }, { role: "read", db: "some_other_db" } ] } )

7. Exit the mongo shell, re-connect, authenticate as the user.

   use some_db db.auth("myNormalUser", "xyz123") db.foo.insert({x:1}) use some_other_db db.foo.find({})

Last but not least due to users not reading the commands I posted correctly regarding the --auth flag, you can set this value in the configuration file for mongoDB if you do not wish to set it as a flag.