security-hardening

name: security-hardening description: Security best practices for SimpleRest including JWT configuration, ACL hardening, input sanitization, CSRF protection, and encryption.

Security Hardening Skill

JWT Configuration (config/config.php)

'access_token' => [
    'secret_key'      => env('JWT_SECRET'),           // MUST be set
    'expiration_time' => 3600,                        // 1 hour
    'encryption'      => 'HS256',
],
'refresh_token' => [
    'secret_key'      => env('JWT_REFRESH_SECRET'),   // DIFFERENT from access
    'expiration_time' => 1209600,                     // 14 days
],
'remember_me_token' => [
    'secret_key'      => env('JWT_REMEMBER_SECRET'),  // DIFFERENT key
    'expiration_time' => 2592000,                     // 30 days
],

JWT Rules

• Different secrets for each token type
• Short access TTL (15-60 min), refresh up to 14 days
• Store in .env, never in code
• Generate secrets: openssl rand -hex 64

Auth Checks

$userId = auth()::getCurrentUserId();
$user   = auth()::getCurrentUser();
if (!auth()::isAuthenticated()) { /* 401 */ }
$token = Request::getInstance()->bearerToken();

ACL Hardening

// config/acl.php — order matters!
$acl->addRole('guest', 10);
$acl->addRole('registered', 20)->addInherit('guest');    // inherit FIRST
$acl->addRole('admin', 100)->addInherit('registered');
$acl->addResourcePermissions('products', ['show', 'list'], 'guest');
$acl->addResourcePermissions('products', ['create'], 'registered');
$acl->addSpecialPermissions(['read_all', 'write_all'], 'admin');

php com make acl --force            # apply changes
php com make acl --force --debug    # preview

ACL Dont's

• addInherit() AFTER permissions -> error
• Dont grant write_all to non-admin roles
• Dont grant fill_all casually (bypasses fillable protection)
• Dont grant impersonate except to super-admins

Input Sanitization

Strings::sanitize($input, true, true, 'a-z0-9-');
Strings::slug($name);
Arrays::sanitizeArrayKeys($data);

Use Validation over manual sanitization when possible.

Encryption

use Boctulus\Simplerest\Libs\SimpleCrypt;
$encrypted = SimpleCrypt::encrypt($sensitiveData);
$decrypted = SimpleCrypt::decrypt($encrypted);

Use for: API keys in DB, OAuth tokens, PII.

Cookie Security

Cookie::set('session', $token, 3600, '/', '', true, true);  // secure + httponly

Security Checklist

• Different JWT secrets for access/refresh/remember-me
• Access token TTL <= 1 hour
• ACL regenerated after any config/acl.php change
• Input validated before DB operations
• .env excluded from version control
• Debug mode OFF in production
• $hidden set on models for passwords/tokens
• QB uses prepared statements (SQL injection safe)

Common Threats