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COURSE

Symfony RESTful API: Authentication with JWT (Course 4)

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Graceful Errors for an Invalid JWT

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We already know that if the client forgets to send a token, Symfony calls the start() method:

97 lines src/AppBundle/Security/JwtTokenAuthenticator.php
... lines 1 - 19
class JwtTokenAuthenticator extends AbstractGuardAuthenticator
{
... lines 22 - 83
public function start(Request $request, AuthenticationException $authException = null)
{
... lines 86 - 94
}
}

But what happens if authentication fails?

Testing with a bad Token

Let's find out! Copy testRequiresAuthentication(), paste it, and rename it to testBadToken():

290 lines tests/AppBundle/Controller/Api/ProgrammerControllerTest.php
... lines 1 - 6
class ProgrammerControllerTest extends ApiTestCase
{
... lines 9 - 277
public function testBadToken()
{
$response = $this->client->post('/api/programmers', [
'body' => '[]',
'headers' => [
'Authorization' => 'Bearer WRONG'
]
]);
$this->assertEquals(401, $response->getStatusCode());
$this->assertEquals('application/problem+json', $response->getHeader('Content-Type')[0]);
}
}

In this case, we will add a headers key and we will send an Authorization header... but set to Bearer WRONG.

If this happens, we definitely want a 401 status code and - like always - an application/problem+json response header. Let's just look for these two things for now.

How Authentication Fails

When JWT authentication fails, what handles that? Well, onAuthenticationFailure() of course:

97 lines src/AppBundle/Security/JwtTokenAuthenticator.php
... lines 1 - 19
class JwtTokenAuthenticator extends AbstractGuardAuthenticator
{
... lines 22 - 68
public function onAuthenticationFailure(Request $request, AuthenticationException $exception)
{
}
... lines 73 - 95
}

The getUser() method must return a User object. If it doesn't, then onAuthenticationFailure() is called. In our case, there are two possible reasons: the token might be corrupted or expired or - somehow - the decoded username doesn't exist in our database. In both cases, we are not returning a User object, and this triggers onAuthenticationFailure().

To start, just return a new JsonResponse that says Hello, but with the proper 401 status code:

97 lines src/AppBundle/Security/JwtTokenAuthenticator.php
... lines 1 - 19
class JwtTokenAuthenticator extends AbstractGuardAuthenticator
{
... lines 22 - 68
public function onAuthenticationFailure(Request $request, AuthenticationException $exception)
{
return new JsonResponse('Hello!', 401);
}
... lines 73 - 95
}

Copy the testBadToken method name and give it a try!

./vendor/bin/phpunit --filter testBadToken

ApiProblem on Failure

It almost works - that's a good start. It proves our code in onAuthenticationFailure() is handling things. Now, let's setup a proper API problem response, just like we did before: $apiProblem = new ApiProblem with a 401 status code:

101 lines src/AppBundle/Security/JwtTokenAuthenticator.php
... lines 1 - 19
class JwtTokenAuthenticator extends AbstractGuardAuthenticator
{
... lines 22 - 68
public function onAuthenticationFailure(Request $request, AuthenticationException $exception)
{
$apiProblem = new ApiProblem(401);
... lines 72 - 75
}
... lines 77 - 99
}

Then, use $apiProblem->set() to add a detail field. And in this case, we always have an AuthenticationException that can hint what went wrong. Use its getMessageKey() method:

101 lines src/AppBundle/Security/JwtTokenAuthenticator.php
... lines 1 - 70
$apiProblem = new ApiProblem(401);
// you could translate this
$apiProblem->set('detail', $exception->getMessageKey());
... lines 74 - 101

Oh, and by the way - if you want, you can send this through the translator service and translate into multiple languages.

Finish this with return $this–>responseFactory->createResponse() to turn the $apiProblem into a nice JSON response:

101 lines src/AppBundle/Security/JwtTokenAuthenticator.php
... lines 1 - 70
$apiProblem = new ApiProblem(401);
// you could translate this
$apiProblem->set('detail', $exception->getMessageKey());
return $this->responseFactory->createResponse($apiProblem);
... lines 76 - 101

That's it! We did all the hard work earlier.

I want to actually see how this response looks. So, add a $this->debugResponse() at the end of testBadToken():

291 lines tests/AppBundle/Controller/Api/ProgrammerControllerTest.php
... lines 1 - 6
class ProgrammerControllerTest extends ApiTestCase
{
... lines 9 - 277
public function testBadToken()
{
... lines 280 - 287
$this->debugResponse($response);
}
}

Now, re-run the test!

./vendor/bin/phpunit --filter testBadToken

Check that out - it's beautiful! It has all the fields it needs, including detail, which is set to Invalid token.

Controlling Error Message

That text is coming from our code, when we throw the CustomUserMessageAuthenticationException. The text - Invalid token - becomes the "message key" and this exception is passed to onAuthenticationFailure().

This gives you complete control over how your errors look.

Leave a comment!

This tutorial uses an older version of Symfony. The concepts of API tokens & JWT are still valid, but integration in newer Symfony versions may be different.
Symfony 3

What PHP libraries does this tutorial use?

// composer.json
{
    "require": {
        "php": ">=5.5.9",
        "symfony/symfony": "3.0.*", // v3.0.3
        "doctrine/orm": "^2.5", // v2.5.4
        "doctrine/doctrine-bundle": "^1.6", // 1.6.2
        "doctrine/doctrine-cache-bundle": "^1.2", // 1.3.0
        "symfony/swiftmailer-bundle": "^2.3", // v2.3.11
        "symfony/monolog-bundle": "^2.8", // v2.10.0
        "sensio/distribution-bundle": "^5.0", // v5.0.4
        "sensio/framework-extra-bundle": "^3.0.2", // v3.0.14
        "incenteev/composer-parameter-handler": "~2.0", // v2.1.2
        "jms/serializer-bundle": "^1.1.0", // 1.1.0
        "white-october/pagerfanta-bundle": "^1.0", // v1.0.5
        "lexik/jwt-authentication-bundle": "^1.4" // v1.4.3
    },
    "require-dev": {
        "sensio/generator-bundle": "^3.0", // v3.0.6
        "symfony/phpunit-bridge": "^3.0", // v3.0.3
        "behat/behat": "~3.1@dev", // dev-master
        "behat/mink-extension": "~2.2.0", // v2.2
        "behat/mink-goutte-driver": "~1.2.0", // v1.2.1
        "behat/mink-selenium2-driver": "~1.3.0", // v1.3.1
        "phpunit/phpunit": "~4.6.0", // 4.6.10
        "doctrine/doctrine-fixtures-bundle": "^2.3" // 2.3.0
    }
}
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