I don't think there is a way to get the user's password through CGI. The only authentication related variables I see are AUTH_TYPE, REMOTE_USER, and REMOTE_IDENT. In some cases, such as when using Digest authentication, I don't know that the webserver would even have access to the user's password. Perhaps it would be better to use an SSL secured web form for login, have the Perl program authenticate the user, and then make the LDAP changes.