5
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Problem

Currently, anyone can attempt to brute-force user passwords almost effortlessly, even without advanced technical knowledge.

Proposed Feature

Introduce a setting that activates after a configurable number of failed login attempts. Users could choose to:

  • Block all further login attempts and automatically send a password reset email
  • Temporarily block login for a set duration (for example, 10 minutes)

Implementation

Once the failed-attempt threshold is reached, the system applies the user’s chosen block option. The counter resets upon successful login or after completing a password reset.

Benefits

This approach makes large-scale brute-force attacks impractical and takes a proactive step toward stronger account security.

~Rewritten with the help of AI for better formatting and clarity.~

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[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I believe Lemmy has rate limits for requests by default, so it's not as easy to brute force a password as you suggest. But something like this is always a good feature for additional security.

I think forcing the user to reset their password because someone is trying to guess their password probably doesn't make sense unless they got it right. It would be annoying if a troll did this to your account.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago
[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

2FA cannot be applied in mass, while what I am talking about can.

Overall, this is as I said a proactive step to ensure the whole Lemmyverse stay secure.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Yes, but also additional security is good too. And you know it's impossible to convince everyone to use 2FA, unfortunately.

this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
5 points (100.0% liked)

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