The Role of Hashing Libraries in Flask Application Security: A Focus on Password Protection

Flask-based web apps still require password protection, particularly as threat landscapes change. Werkzeug.security, Flask-Bcrypt, Flask-Argon2, and Passlib are popular Flask-compatible password hashing libraries. They were compared in terms of cryptographic strength, default security settings, hashing latency, system resource consumption, and ease of integration using experimental benchmarking. Tests were conducted in a controlled Flask environment using standardized profiling tools and simulated user interactions. Flask-Bcrypt outperformed the other libraries by balancing developer-friendly integration, reasonable latency, and robust security defaults. Although Flask-Argon2 had strong cryptographic protection, it used a lot of CPU and memory. Although Werkzeug.security was effortless and performed well, it must be manually configured to satisfy security requirements. Although Passlib had the most integration complexity, it was notable for its configurability. The results emphasize the significance of selecting hashing tools based on implementation feasibility and algorithm strength. When choosing password hashing options for Flask apps, developers are urged to consider usability, security, and performance