http-auth

What is http-auth?

The http-auth npm package provides basic and digest access authentication for Node.js applications. It allows developers to secure their web applications by requiring users to provide a username and password before accessing certain routes or resources.

What are http-auth's main functionalities?

Basic Authentication

This feature allows you to set up basic authentication for your Node.js server. Users will need to provide a username and password to access the protected routes.

const http = require('http');
const auth = require('http-auth');

const basic = auth.basic({
  realm: 'Simon Area',
  file: __dirname + '/users.htpasswd' // user:password in htpasswd format
});

http.createServer(basic, (req, res) => {
  res.end(`Welcome to private area - ${req.user}!`);
}).listen(1337, () => {
  console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:1337/');
});

Digest Authentication

This feature allows you to set up digest authentication for your Node.js server. Digest authentication is more secure than basic authentication as it uses MD5 hashing.

const http = require('http');
const auth = require('http-auth');

const digest = auth.digest({
  realm: 'Simon Area',
  file: __dirname + '/users.htdigest' // user:realm:password in htdigest format
});

http.createServer(digest, (req, res) => {
  res.end(`Welcome to private area - ${req.user}!`);
}).listen(1337, () => {
  console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:1337/');
});

Other packages similar to http-auth

express-basic-auth

The express-basic-auth package provides basic authentication middleware for Express applications. It is simpler to use with Express compared to http-auth and integrates seamlessly with the Express framework.

passport-http

The passport-http package is a Passport strategy for HTTP Basic and Digest authentication. It is part of the Passport.js ecosystem, which provides a wide range of authentication strategies and is highly extensible.

basic-auth

The basic-auth package is a simple tool for parsing basic authentication headers. It does not provide full authentication middleware but can be used in conjunction with other packages to implement basic authentication.

README

http-auth

Node.js package for HTTP basic and digest access authentication.

Installation

Via git (or downloaded tarball):

$ git clone git://github.com/http-auth/http-auth.git

Via npm:

$ npm install http-auth

Basic example

// Authentication module.
var auth = require('http-auth');
var basic = auth.basic({
	realm: "Simon Area.",
	file: __dirname + "/../data/users.htpasswd"
});

// Creating new HTTP server.
http.createServer(basic, (req, res) => {
	res.end(`Welcome to private area - ${req.user}!`);
}).listen(1337);

Custom authentication

// Authentication module.
var auth = require('http-auth');
var basic = auth.basic({
		realm: "Simon Area."
	}, (username, password, callback) => { 
	    // Custom authentication
	    // Use callback(error) if you want to throw async error.
		callback(username === "Tina" && password === "Bullock");
	}
);

// Creating new HTTP server.
http.createServer(basic, (req, res) => {
	res.end(`Welcome to private area - ${req.user}!`);
}).listen(1337);

express framework integration

// Authentication module.
var auth = require('http-auth');
var basic = auth.basic({
	realm: "Simon Area.",
	file: __dirname + "/../data/users.htpasswd"
});

// Application setup.
var app = express();
app.use(auth.connect(basic));

// Setup route.
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
    res.send(`Hello from express - ${req.user}!`);
});

koa framework integration

// Authentication module.
var auth = require('http-auth');
var basic = auth.basic({
    realm: "Simon Area.",
    file: __dirname + "/../data/users.htpasswd"
});

// Final handler.
app.use(function *(next) {
    yield next;
    this.body = `Hello from koa - ${this.req.user}!`;
});

// Enable auth.
app.use(auth.koa(basic));

For koa@next you can use http-auth-koa

// Authentication module.
import auth from 'http-auth'
import koaAuth from 'http-auth-koa'
const basic = auth.basic({
    realm: "Simon Area.",
    file: __dirname + "/../data/users.htpasswd"
});

// Koa setup.
import Koa from 'koa'
const app = new Koa();

// Setup basic handler.
app.use(async (ctx, next) => {
    await next();
    ctx.body = `Welcome to koa ${ctx.req.user}!`;
});

// Setup auth.
app.use(koaAuth(basic));

Hapi framework integration

// Authentication module.
const auth = require('http-auth');

// Setup auth.
const basic = auth.basic({
    realm: "Simon Area.",
    file: __dirname + "/../data/users.htpasswd"
});

// Create server.
const server = new Hapi.Server();
server.connection({ port: 1337 });

// Register auth plugin.
server.register(auth.hapi());

// Setup strategy.
server.auth.strategy('http-auth', 'http', basic);

// Setup route.
server.route({
    method: 'GET',
    path: '/',
    config: {
        auth: 'http-auth',
        handler: (request, reply) => {
            reply(`Welcome from Hapi - ${request.auth.credentials.name}!`);
        }
    }
});

Protecting specific path

// Authentication module.
var auth = require('http-auth');
var basic = auth.basic({
	realm: "Simon Area.",
	file: __dirname + "/../data/users.htpasswd"
});

// Application setup.
var app = express();

// Setup route.
app.get('/admin', auth.connect(basic), (req, res) => {
    res.send(`Hello from admin area - ${req.user}!`);
});

// Setup route.
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
    res.send("Not protected area!");
});

passport integration

// Authentication module.
var auth = require('http-auth');
var basic = auth.basic({
	realm: "Simon Area.",
	file: __dirname + "/../data/users.htpasswd"
});

// Application setup.
var app = express();

// Setup strategy.
var passport = require('passport');
passport.use(auth.passport(basic));

// Setup route.
app.get('/', passport.authenticate('http', {session: false}),
    (req, res) => {
        res.end(`Welcome to private area - ${req.user}!`);
    }
);

http-proxy integration

// Authentication module.
var auth = require('http-auth');
var basic = auth.basic({
	realm: "Simon Area.",
	file: __dirname + "/../data/users.htpasswd"
});

// Create your proxy server.
httpProxy.createServer(basic, {
    target: 'http://localhost:1338'
}).listen(1337);

// Create your target server.
http.createServer((req, res) => {
	res.end("Request successfully proxied!");
}).listen(1338);

Events

The auth middleware emits three types of events: error, fail and success. Each event passes the result object (the error in case of fail) and the http request req to the listener function.

// Authentication module.
var auth = require('http-auth');
var basic = auth.basic({
    realm: "Simon Area.",
    file: __dirname + "/../data/users.htpasswd"
});

basic.on('success', (result, req) => {
	console.log(`User authenticated: ${result.user}`);
});

basic.on('fail', (result, req) => {
	console.log(`User authentication failed: ${result.user}`);
});

basic.on('error', (error, req) => {
	console.log(`Authentication error: ${error.code + " - " + error.message}`);
});

Configurations

• realm - Authentication realm, by default it is Users.
• file - File where user details are stored.
  • Line format is {user:pass} or {user:passHash} for basic access.
  • Line format is {user:realm:passHash} for digest access.
• algorithm - Algorithm that will be used only for digest access authentication.
  • MD5 by default.
  • MD5-sess can be set.
• qop - Quality of protection that is used only for digest access authentication.
  • auth is set by default.
  • none this option is disabling protection.
• msg401 - Message for failed authentication 401 page.
• msg407 - Message for failed authentication 407 page.
• contentType - Content type for failed authentication page.
• skipUser - Set this to true, if you don't want req.user to be filled with authentication info.

Running tests

It uses mocha, so just run following command in package directory:

$ npm test

Issues

You can find list of issues using this link.

Questions

You can also use stackoverflow to ask questions using http-auth tag.

Requirements

• Node.js - Event-driven I/O server-side JavaScript environment based on V8.
• npm - Package manager. Installs, publishes and manages node programs.

Utilities

• htpasswd - Node.js package for HTTP Basic Authentication password file utility.
• htdigest - Node.js package for HTTP Digest Authentication password file utility.

Dependencies

• node-uuid - Generate RFC4122(v4) UUIDs, and also non-RFC compact ids.
• apache-md5 - Node.js module for Apache style password encryption using md5.
• apache-crypt - Node.js module for Apache style password encryption using crypt(3).

Development dependencies

• mocha - simple, flexible, fun javascript test framework for node.js & the browser.
• chai - BDD / TDD assertion framework for node.js and the browser that can be paired with any testing framework.
• express - Sinatra inspired web development framework for node.js -- insanely fast, flexible, and simple.
• http-proxy - A full-featured http proxy for node.js.
• request - Simplified HTTP request client.
• passport - Simple, unobtrusive authentication for Node.js.
• koa - next generation web framework for node.js.
• hapi - A rich framework for building applications and services.

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Gevorg Harutyunyan

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.