Class: ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier

Inherits:
ActiveSupport::Messages::Codec show all
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)

Generating URL-safe strings

By default MessageVerifier generates RFC 4648 compliant strings which are not URL-safe. In other words, they can contain “+” and “/”. If you want to generate URL-safe strings (in compliance with “Base 64 Encoding with URL and Filename Safe Alphabet” in RFC 4648), you can pass url_safe: true to the constructor:

@verifier = ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier.new("secret", url_safe: true)
@verifier.generate("signed message") #=> URL-safe string

Defined Under Namespace

Classes: InvalidSignature

Constant Summary collapse

SEPARATOR =

:nodoc:

"--"
SEPARATOR_LENGTH =

:nodoc:

SEPARATOR.length

Constants included from ActiveSupport::Messages::Metadata

ActiveSupport::Messages::Metadata::ENVELOPE_SERIALIZERS

Instance Attribute Summary

Attributes included from ActiveSupport::Messages::Metadata

#use_message_serializer_for_metadata

Instance Method Summary collapse

Constructor Details

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

Returns a new instance of MessageVerifier.

Raises:

  • (ArgumentError) 


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# File 'activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb', line 131

def initialize(secret, digest: nil, serializer: nil, url_safe: false)
  raise ArgumentError, "Secret should not be nil." unless secret
  super(serializer: serializer || @@default_message_verifier_serializer, url_safe: url_safe)
  @secret = secret
  @digest = digest&.to_s || "SHA1"
end

Instance Method Details

#create_message(value, **options) ⇒ Object

:nodoc:



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# File 'activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb', line 274

def create_message(value, **options) # :nodoc:
  sign_encoded(encode(serialize_with_metadata(value, **options)))
end

#generate(value, **options) ⇒ 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"

Options

:expires_at

The datetime at which the message expires. After this datetime, verification of the message will fail.

message = verifier.generate("hello", expires_at: Time.now.tomorrow)
verifier.verified(message) # => "hello"
# 24 hours later...
verifier.verified(message) # => nil
verifier.verify(message)   # => raises ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier::InvalidSignature
:expires_in

The duration for which the message is valid. After this duration has elapsed, verification of the message will fail.

message = verifier.generate("hello", expires_in: 24.hours)
verifier.verified(message) # => "hello"
# 24 hours later...
verifier.verified(message) # => nil
verifier.verify(message)   # => raises ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier::InvalidSignature
:purpose

The purpose of the message. If specified, the same purpose must be specified when verifying the message; otherwise, verification will fail. (See #verified and #verify.)



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# File 'activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb', line 270

def generate(value, **options)
  create_message(value, **options)
end

#read_message(message, **options) ⇒ Object

:nodoc:



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# File 'activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb', line 278

def read_message(message, **options) # :nodoc:
  deserialize_with_metadata(decode(extract_encoded(message)), **options)
end

#valid_message?(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 147

def valid_message?(message)
  !!catch_and_ignore(:invalid_message_format) { extract_encoded(message) }
end

#verified(message, **options) ⇒ 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

Options

:purpose

The purpose that the message was generated with. If the purpose does not match, verified will return nil.

message = verifier.generate("hello", purpose: "greeting")
verifier.verified(message, purpose: "greeting") # => "hello"
verifier.verified(message, purpose: "chatting") # => nil
verifier.verified(message)                      # => nil

message = verifier.generate("bye")
verifier.verified(message)                      # => "bye"
verifier.verified(message, purpose: "greeting") # => nil



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# File 'activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb', line 188

def verified(message, **options)
  catch_and_ignore :invalid_message_format do
    catch_and_raise :invalid_message_serialization do
      catch_and_ignore :invalid_message_content do
        read_message(message, **options)
      end
    end
  end
end

#verify(message, **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

Options

:purpose

The purpose that the message was generated with. If the purpose does not match, verify will raise ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier::InvalidSignature.

message = verifier.generate("hello", purpose: "greeting")
verifier.verify(message, purpose: "greeting") # => "hello"
verifier.verify(message, purpose: "chatting") # => raises InvalidSignature
verifier.verify(message)                      # => raises InvalidSignature

message = verifier.generate("bye")
verifier.verify(message)                      # => "bye"
verifier.verify(message, purpose: "greeting") # => raises InvalidSignature



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# File 'activesupport/lib/active_support/message_verifier.rb', line 226

def verify(message, **options)
  catch_and_raise :invalid_message_format, as: InvalidSignature do
    catch_and_raise :invalid_message_serialization do
      catch_and_raise :invalid_message_content, as: InvalidSignature do
        read_message(message, **options)
      end
    end
  end
end