Database Security
All authenticated pages in Rogo initially connect to the MySQL under an initial restricted permissions user: $cfg_db_username. This has rights to a minimal set of tables to perform internal authentication and certain other tasks (e.g. password reset, module enrolement, etc). The script auth.inc then includes the function db_change_user() which based on the current role of the user switched the MySQL user. The advantage of this model is that table-level privileges can be tightly controlled around roles. For example, students have SELECT on 'questions' table whereas staff have SELECT, INSERT and UPDATE privileges.
Roles
| User (see config.inc.php) | Use |
| $cfg_db_username | Initial MySQL user which performs initial authentication duties |
| $cfg_db_student_user | User account for Rogo 'student' role |
| $cfg_db_staff_user | User account for Rogo 'staff' role |
| $cfg_db_external_user | User account for Rogo 'external' role (e.g. external examiner) |
| $cfg_db_sysadmin_user | User account for Rogo users set to 'SysAdmin' role |
| $cfg_db_sct_username | User account for externals reviewing Script Concordance Tests (SCT) |