PHP Mailer don't function, SMTP Error: Could not authenticate

[DaryllB]

Fatal error: Uncaught PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception: SMTP Error: Could not authenticate. in C:\xampp\htdocs\myproject\vendor\phpmailer\phpmailer\src\PHPMailer.php:2213 Stack trace: #0 C:\xampp\htdocs\myproject\vendor\phpmailer\phpmailer\src\PHPMailer.php(2020): PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer->smtpConnect(Array) #1 C:\xampp\htdocs\myproject\vendor\phpmailer\phpmailer\src\PHPMailer.php(1679): PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer->smtpSend('Date: Sun, 30 A...', '\r\n <h2>You h...') #2 C:\xampp\htdocs\myproject\vendor\phpmailer\phpmailer\src\PHPMailer.php(1517): PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer->postSend() #3 C:\xampp\htdocs\myproject\code.php(44): PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer->send() #4 C:\xampp\htdocs\myproject\code.php(57): sendemail_verify('Harivote User', 'harivoteuser@gm...', 'HariVoteuser0') #5 {main} thrown in C:\xampp\htdocs\myproject\vendor\phpmailer\phpmailer\src\PHPMailer.php on line 2213

 

<?php
session_start();
include "dbcon.php";
//Import PHPMailer classes into the global namespace
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\SMTP;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

//Load Composer's autoloader
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

/**
 * Summary of sendemail_verify
 * @param mixed $name
 * @param mixed $email
 * @param mixed $verify_token
 * @return void
 */
function sendemail_verify($name,$email,$verify_token)
{
    $mail = new PHPMailer(true);

    $mail->isSMTP();                                             //Send using SMTP
    $mail->Host       = 'smtp.gmail.com';                        //Set the SMTP server to send through
    $mail->SMTPAuth   = true;                                    //Enable SMTP authentication
    $mail->Username   = 'harivoteuser@gmail.com';                //SMTP username
    $mail->Password   = 'Sec_ret123';                            //SMTP password
    $mail->SMTPSecure = "PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_STARTTLS";        //Enable implicit TLS encryption
    $mail->Port       = 587;                                     //TCP port to connect to; use 587 if you have set `SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_STARTTLS`
    
    $mail->setFrom("harivoteuser@gmail.com", $name);
    $mail->addAddress($email);                                   //Add a recipient
    
    $mail->isHTML(true);                                         //Set email format to HTML
    $mail->Subject = 'Email Verification from HariVote';

    $email_template = "
    <h2>You have Registered with Harivote</h2>
    <h5>Verify your email address to Login with the below given link </h5>
    <br/><br/>
    <a href='http://http://localhost/myproject/verify-email.php?token=$verify_token'>Click Me </a> 
    ";
    $mail->Body = $email_template;
    $mail->send();
    //echo 'Message has been sent';
    
}

if(isset($_POST['register_btn']))
{
$name = $_POST['name'];
$phone = $_POST['phone'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$password = md5(rand());
$verify_token = $_POST['password'];

sendemail_verify("$name","$email","$verify_token");
echo 'send or not?';
//Email exists or not
    $check_email_query = "SELECT email FROM users WHERE email='$email'LIMIT 1";
    $check_email_query_run = mysqli_query($con, $check_email_query);

    if(mysqli_num_rows($check_email_query_run)>0)
    {
        $_SESSION['status'] = "Email Id already Exists";
        header("Location: register.php");
    }
    else
    {
    // Inswer User / Registered User Data
    $query = "INSERT INTO users (name,phone,email,password,verify_token) VALUES ('$name','$phone','$email','$password','$verify_token',)";
    $query_run = mysqli_query($con,$query);
        if($query_run)
        {   
            sendemail_verify("$name","$email","$verify_token");
            $_SESSION['status'] = "Registration Successful.! Please verify your Email Address.";
        header("Location: register.php");
        }
        else
        {
            $_SESSION['status'] = "Registration Failed";
        header("Location: register.php");
        }
    }


}


?>

 

[Strider64]

 $mail->SMTPSecure = "PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_STARTTLS";        

should be this I believe

$mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_STARTTLS;

Incorrect URL

<a href='http://localhost/myproject/verify-email.php?token=$verify_token'>Click Me </a>

Instead of using md5(rand()) for generating the password, you should use PHP's built-in password hashing functions like password_hash().

You have two calls to the sendemail_verify() function. Remove the first one (before the "send or not?" echo statement) as it is redundant and might lead to confusion.

You are using $_POST['password'] as the value for the $verify_token variable. Instead, you should generate a random token using functions like bin2hex(random_bytes($length)).

Edited April 30, 2023 by Strider64

[requinix]

$password = md5(rand());
$verify_token = $_POST['password'];

Isn't that backwards?

[DaryllB]

I did some improvements but still got this fatal error.

Fatal error: Uncaught mysqli_sql_exception: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MariaDB server version for the right syntax to use near ')' at line 1 in C:\xampp\htdocs\myproject\code.php:66 Stack trace: #0 C:\xampp\htdocs\myproject\code.php(66): mysqli_query(Object(mysqli), 'INSERT INTO use...') #1 {main} thrown in C:\xampp\htdocs\myproject\code.php on line 66.

 

What to do next?

 

<?php
session_start();
include "dbcon.php";
//Import PHPMailer classes into the global namespace
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\SMTP;
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;

//Load Composer's autoloader
require 'vendor/autoload.php';


function sendemail_verify($name,$email,$verify_token)
{
    $mail = new PHPMailer(true);

    $mail->isSMTP();                                             //Send using SMTP
    $mail->Host       = 'smtp.gmail.com';                        //Set the SMTP server to send through
    $mail->SMTPAuth   = true;                                    //Enable SMTP authentication
    $mail->Username   = 'harivoteuser@gmail.com';                //SMTP username
    $mail->Password   = 'Sec_ret123';                            //SMTP password
    $mail->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_STARTTLS;        //Enable implicit TLS encryption
    $mail->Port       = 587;                                     //TCP port to connect to; use 587 if you have set `SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_STARTTLS`
    
    $mail->setFrom("harivoteuser@gmail.com", $name);
    $mail->addAddress($email);                                   //Add a recipient
    
    $mail->isHTML(true);                                         //Set email format to HTML
    $mail->Subject = 'Email Verification from HariVote';

    $email_template = "
    <h2>You have Registered with Harivote</h2>
    <h5>Verify your email address to Login with the below given link </h5>
    <br/><br/>
    <a href='http://localhost/myproject/verify-email.php?token=$verify_token'>Click Me </a>
    ";
    $mail->Body = $email_template;
    $mail->send();
    //echo 'Message has been sent';
    
}

if(isset($_POST['register_btn']))
{
$name = $_POST['name'];
$phone = $_POST['phone'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$verify_token = $_POST['password'];
$password = md5(rand());



//Email exists or not
    $check_email_query = "SELECT email FROM users WHERE email='$email'LIMIT 1";
    $check_email_query_run = mysqli_query($con, $check_email_query);

    if(mysqli_num_rows($check_email_query_run)>0)
    {
        $_SESSION['status'] = "Email Id already Exists";
        header("Location: register.php");
    }
    else
    {
    // Inswer User / Registered User Data
    $query = "INSERT INTO users (name,phone,email,password,verify_token) VALUES ('$name','$phone','$email','$password','$verify_token',)";
    $query_run = mysqli_query($con,$query);
        if($query_run)
        {   
            sendemail_verify("$name","$email","$verify_token");
            $_SESSION['status'] = "Registration Successful.! Please verify your Email Address.";
        header("Location: register.php");
        }
        else
        {
            $_SESSION['status'] = "Registration Failed";
        header("Location: register.php");
        }
    }


}


?>

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by DaryllB

[Barand]

You have one comma too many.