Class: ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier

Inherits:
Object
  • Object
show all
Includes:
ActiveSupport::Messages::Rotator::Verifier
Defined in:
activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb

Overview

MessageVerifier makes it easy to generate and verify messages which are signed to prevent tampering.

In a Rails application, you can use Rails.application.message_verifier to manage unique instances of verifiers for each use case. Learn more.

This is useful for cases like remember-me tokens and auto-unsubscribe links where the session store isn't suitable or available.

First, generate a signed message:

cookies[:remember_me] = Rails.application.message_verifier(:remember_me).generate([@user.id, 2.weeks.from_now])

Later verify that message:

id, time = Rails.application.message_verifier(:remember_me).verify(cookies[:remember_me])
if time.future?
  self.current_user = User.find(id)
end

Confine messages to a specific purpose

It's not recommended to use the same verifier for different purposes in your application. Doing so could allow a malicious actor to re-use a signed message to perform an unauthorized action. You can reduce this risk by confining signed messages to a specific :purpose.

token = @verifier.generate("signed message", purpose: :login)

Then that same purpose must be passed when verifying to get the data back out:

@verifier.verified(token, purpose: :login)    # => "signed message"
@verifier.verified(token, purpose: :shipping) # => nil
@verifier.verified(token)                     # => nil

@verifier.verify(token, purpose: :login)      # => "signed message"
@verifier.verify(token, purpose: :shipping)   # => raises ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier::InvalidSignature
@verifier.verify(token)                       # => raises ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier::InvalidSignature

Likewise, if a message has no purpose it won't be returned when verifying with a specific purpose.

token = @verifier.generate("signed message")
@verifier.verified(token, purpose: :redirect) # => nil
@verifier.verified(token)                     # => "signed message"

@verifier.verify(token, purpose: :redirect)   # => raises ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier::InvalidSignature
@verifier.verify(token)                       # => "signed message"

Expiring messages

By default messages last forever and verifying one year from now will still return the original value. But messages can be set to expire at a given time with :expires_in or :expires_at.

@verifier.generate("signed message", expires_in: 1.month)
@verifier.generate("signed message", expires_at: Time.now.end_of_year)

Messages can then be verified and returned until expiry. Thereafter, the verified method returns nil while verify raises ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier::InvalidSignature.

Alternative serializers

By default MessageVerifier uses JSON to serialize the message. If you want to use another serialization method, you can set the serializer in the options hash upon initialization:

@verifier = ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier.new("secret", serializer: YAML)

MessageVerifier creates HMAC signatures using the SHA1 hash algorithm by default. If you want to use a different hash algorithm, you can change it by providing :digest key as an option while initializing the verifier:

@verifier = ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier.new("secret", digest: "SHA256")

Rotating keys

MessageVerifier also supports rotating out old configurations by falling back to a stack of verifiers. Call rotate to build and add a verifier so either verified or verify will also try verifying with the fallback.

By default any rotated verifiers use the values of the primary verifier unless specified otherwise.

You'd give your verifier the new defaults:

verifier = ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier.new(@secret, digest: "SHA512", serializer: JSON)

Then gradually rotate the old values out by adding them as fallbacks. Any message generated with the old values will then work until the rotation is removed.

verifier.rotate(old_secret)          # Fallback to an old secret instead of @secret.
verifier.rotate(digest: "SHA256")    # Fallback to an old digest instead of SHA512.
verifier.rotate(serializer: Marshal) # Fallback to an old serializer instead of JSON.

Though the above would most likely be combined into one rotation:

verifier.rotate(old_secret, digest: "SHA256", serializer: Marshal)

Defined Under Namespace

Classes: InvalidSignature

Constant Summary collapse

SEPARATOR =

:nodoc:

"--"
SEPARATOR_LENGTH =

:nodoc:

SEPARATOR.length

Instance Method Summary collapse

Methods included from ActiveSupport::Messages::Rotator

#rotate

Constructor Details

#initialize(secret, digest: nil, serializer: nil) ⇒ MessageVerifier

Returns a new instance of MessageVerifier.

Raises:

  • (ArgumentError) 

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# File 'activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb', line 120

def initialize(secret, digest: nil, serializer: nil)
  raise ArgumentError, "Secret should not be nil." unless secret
  @secret = secret
  @digest = digest&.to_s || "SHA1"
  @serializer = serializer ||
    if @@default_message_verifier_serializer.equal?(:marshal)
      Marshal
    elsif @@default_message_verifier_serializer.equal?(:hybrid)
      JsonWithMarshalFallback
    elsif @@default_message_verifier_serializer.equal?(:json)
      JSON
    end
end

Instance Method Details

#generate(value, expires_at: nil, expires_in: nil, purpose: nil) ⇒ Object

Generates a signed message for the provided value.

The message is signed with the MessageVerifier's secret. Returns Base64-encoded message joined with the generated signature.

verifier = ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier.new("secret")
verifier.generate("signed message") # => "BAhJIhNzaWduZWQgbWVzc2FnZQY6BkVU--f67d5f27c3ee0b8483cebf2103757455e947493b"


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# File 'activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb', line 205

def generate(value, expires_at: nil, expires_in: nil, purpose: nil)
  data = encode(Messages::Metadata.wrap(@serializer.dump(value), expires_at: expires_at, expires_in: expires_in, purpose: purpose))
  "#{data}#{SEPARATOR}#{generate_digest(data)}"
end

#valid_message?(signed_message) ⇒ Boolean

Checks if a signed message could have been generated by signing an object with the MessageVerifier's secret.

verifier = ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier.new("secret")
signed_message = verifier.generate("signed message")
verifier.valid_message?(signed_message) # => true

tampered_message = signed_message.chop # editing the message invalidates the signature
verifier.valid_message?(tampered_message) # => false

Returns:

  • (Boolean) 

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# File 'activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb', line 143

def valid_message?(signed_message)
  data, digest = get_data_and_digest_from(signed_message)
  digest_matches_data?(digest, data)
end

#verified(signed_message, purpose: nil) ⇒ Object

Decodes the signed message using the MessageVerifier's secret.

verifier = ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier.new("secret")

signed_message = verifier.generate("signed message")
verifier.verified(signed_message) # => "signed message"

Returns nil if the message was not signed with the same secret.

other_verifier = ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier.new("different_secret")
other_verifier.verified(signed_message) # => nil

Returns nil if the message is not Base64-encoded.

invalid_message = "f--46a0120593880c733a53b6dad75b42ddc1c8996d"
verifier.verified(invalid_message) # => nil

Raises any error raised while decoding the signed message.

incompatible_message = "test--dad7b06c94abba8d46a15fafaef56c327665d5ff"
verifier.verified(incompatible_message) # => TypeError: incompatible marshal file format


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# File 'activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb', line 169

def verified(signed_message, purpose: nil, **)
  data, digest = get_data_and_digest_from(signed_message)
  if digest_matches_data?(digest, data)
    begin
      message = Messages::Metadata.verify(decode(data), purpose)
      @serializer.load(message) if message
    rescue ArgumentError => argument_error
      return if argument_error.message.include?("invalid base64")
      raise
    end
  end
end

#verify(*args, **options) ⇒ Object

Decodes the signed message using the MessageVerifier's secret.

verifier = ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier.new("secret")
signed_message = verifier.generate("signed message")

verifier.verify(signed_message) # => "signed message"

Raises InvalidSignature if the message was not signed with the same secret or was not Base64-encoded.

other_verifier = ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier.new("different_secret")
other_verifier.verify(signed_message) # => ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier::InvalidSignature


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# File 'activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb', line 194

def verify(*args, **options)
  verified(*args, **options) || raise(InvalidSignature)
end