CPanel password protect directories, failure if symbols < or > are used

[thobarn]

If the password generated by CPanel >> Password Protect Directories >> Password generator contains less than (<) or greater than (>) symbols, then the password will not work. However, the generator routinely includes these if "Symbols" box is selected. If you want your passwords to work, exclude this symbol.

Test case:
1) Password protect a directory using CPanel interface
2) Create a user with the user name: "test" and the password: "test>"
3) Visit password protected resource and use credentials in step 2

[FYI]
Since neither man htpasswd nor the Apache AAA manual [1] gives such a limitation, this must be due to CPanel implementation, and I reckon it has something to do with input sanitization removing angled brackets.
[/FYI]


[1] http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/howto/auth.html