Skip to main content

NestJS JWT Auth Cookie Series - Part-3 - Refresh Token

In the previous article, we understand the steps to generate the JWT token and store it in the cookie. Now here we will understand steps to protect API and also about refresh token.

Install passport-jwt NPM Package:

We have to create a new jwt passport strategy to validate the jwt token, so we need to install the below packages.
Command To Install passport-jwt Packages:
npm install --save passport-jwt
npm install --save-dev @types/passport-jwt

Install And Setup Cookie Parser:

To read the cookie in the nestjs application we have to install the below plugin.
Command To Install Cookie Parser:
$ npm i cookie-parser
$ npm i -D @types/cookie-parser
Now configure the cookie parser 'main.ts'
src/main.ts:


Create JWT Passport Strategy:

So to apply authentication to API's we have to validate our jwt token, so to do that we need to create a new jwt passport strategy.
src/users/jwt.strategy.ts:
import { Injectable, UnauthorizedException } from "@nestjs/common";
import { PassportStrategy } from "@nestjs/passport";
import { Request } from "express";
import { ExtractJwt, Strategy } from "passport-jwt";

@Injectable()
export class JwtStrategy extends PassportStrategy(Strategy,'jwt') {
    constructor(){
        super({
            ignoreExpiration: false,
            secretOrKey:"My random secret key never let others",
            jwtFromRequest:ExtractJwt.fromExtractors([(request:Request) => {
                let data = request?.cookies["auth-cookie"];
                if(!data){
                    return null;
                }
                return data.token
            }])
        });
    }

    async validate(payload:any){
        if(payload === null){
            throw new UnauthorizedException();
        }
        return payload;
    }
}
  • (Line: 7) Created our 'JwtStrategy'. We know that to create a strategy class must inherit the 'PassportStartegy' method that loads from '@nestjs/passport'. In the 'PassportStrategy' here we passed 2 params like 'Strategy' that loads from 'passport-jwt' library and another parameter is the name of the strategy(eg: 'jwt').
  • (Line: 10) Set 'ignoreExpiration' to false, which means validating the expiration time of the jwt token.
  • (Line: 11) The 'secretOrKey' value is used for decrypting the jwt token. The value must match with the value using in the 'JwtModule' in 'UserModule'.
  • (Line: 12-18) Fetching the jwt token from the auth cookie.
  • (Line: 22-27) The 'validate' method gets invoked automatically, here it receives the user information as a payload from the jwt token.
Register our 'JwtStrategy' into the 'UsersModule'.
src/users/user.modulet.ts:
import { LocalStrategy } from './local.strategy';
// code hidden for display purpose
@Module({
  providers: [JwtStrategy],
})
export class UsersModule {}

Create A Secure Endpoint:

Now let's create a sample secured endpoint to test our jwt authentication.
src/users/users.controller.cs:
@Get('fav-movies')
@UseGuards(AuthGuard('jwt'))
 async movies(@Req() req){
 return ["Avatar", "Avengers"];
}
  • Here we enable jwt authentication by invoking the jwt strategy for validating the token.
Now let's test the secured endpoint from the postman tool, so first let's test without authentication for that we need to remove any auth cookies if eixst.
Now access the secure endpoint we will receive unauthorized error messages as below.
Now let's try to access with a valid auth cookie, so to do that first access the login endpoint with valid credentials and check the cookie added to the postman tool as below.
Now access the secured endpoint.

Refresh Token Flow:

  • Refresh Token is a random string key that will be created along with the JWT access token and return to the valid client on successful logging in.
  • Now for all subsequent requests will use the access token, but the access token is a short-lived token whereas the refresh token lives more time than the access token.
  • On the expiration of the access token, the user instead of authenticating himself again passing his user name and password, the user can send the refresh token.
  • The server on receiving a refresh token first validates against the storage(database, cache, etc).
  • For a valid refresh token server will create a new access token and refresh token(like when authenticate using user name and password) return it to the user.

Install Random Token And MomentJS NPM Package:

Now to we will use a randomly generated string value as the refresh token. So to generate the random string we need the blow plugin to be installed.
Command To Install Random Token:
npm install rand-token --save
To deal with date and time more effectively we will use the 'momentjs'.
Command To Install MomentJS:
npm install moment --save

Generate Refresh Token And Its Expiration:

Now at the time of user login along with the jwt token, we also need to generate the refresh token.
src/users/users.service.ts:
import * as randomToken from 'rand-token';
import * as moment from 'moment';

public async getRefreshToken(userId: number): Promise<string> {
    const userDataToUpdate = {
      refreshToken: randomToken.generate(16),
      refreshTokenExp: moment().day(1).format('YYYY/MM/DD'),
    };

    await this.user.update(userId, userDataToUpdate);
    return userDataToUpdate.refreshToken;
}
  • Here we generate the 16 character length random string which we used as a refresh token. Defined the refresh token expiration for 1 day. Save the token and expiration to the database and finally returning the refresh token value as a result.
Now update the 'login' endpoint to access the refresh token.
src/users/users.controller.cs:

Refresh Token Validation Strategy:

Using 'passport-jwt' library let's create a one more strategy for validating the refresh token.
src/users/refresh.strategy.ts:
import { BadRequestException, Injectable, UnauthorizedException } from "@nestjs/common";
import { PassportStrategy } from "@nestjs/passport";
import { Request } from "express";
import { ExtractJwt, Strategy } from "passport-jwt";
import { UsersService } from "./users.service";

@Injectable()
export class RefreshStrategy extends PassportStrategy(Strategy, 'refresh') {
    constructor(private userService:UsersService){
        super({
            ignoreExpiration: true,
            passReqToCallback:true,
            secretOrKey:"My random secret key never let others",
            jwtFromRequest:ExtractJwt.fromExtractors([(request:Request) => {
                let data = request?.cookies["auth-cookie"];
                if(!data){
                    return null;
                }
                return data.token
            }])
        })
    }

    async validate(req:Request, payload:any){
        if(!payload){
            throw new BadRequestException('invalid jwt token');
        }
        let data = req?.cookies["auth-cookie"];
        if(!data?.refreshToken){
            throw new BadRequestException('invalid refresh token');
        }
        let user = await this.userService.validRefreshToken(payload.email, data.refreshToken);
        if(!user){
            throw new BadRequestException('token expired');
        }

        return user;
    }
}
  • (Line: 8) Defined the our strategy name as 'refresh'.
  • (Line: 11) The 'ignoreEpriation' set to 'true' because we know that our jwt access token is expired and we don't want our strategy to validate the jwt token expiration. The reason behind reading jwt token is to get the user email , so that we can check the refresh token of the user along with the email in the database.
  • (Line: 12) The 'passReqToCallback' set to 'true' means we want to inject the request object into 'validate' method as first parameter. The jwt strategy by default injects only decrypted user information.
  • (Line: 24-38) Fetching lates user information from the database by querying with user email and refreshtoken and its expiration date as well.
Now register our 'RefreshStrategy' into the 'UserModule'.
src/users/refresh.strategy.ts:
import { RefreshStrategy } from './refresh.strategy';

@Module({
  providers: [RefreshStrategy],
})
export class UsersModule {}

Create Refresh Token Endpoint:

Now let's create our refresh token endpoint which is almost similar to our login endpoint, but only difference refresh token endpoint invokes the 'RefreshStrategy'.
src/users/users.controller.ts:
@Get('refresh-tokens')
  @UseGuards(AuthGuard('refresh'))
  async regenerateTokens(
    @Req() req,
    @Res({ passthrough: true }) res: Response,
  ) {
    const token = await this.userService.getJwtToken(req.user as CurrentUser);
    const refreshToken = await this.userService.getRefreshToken(
      req.user.userId,
    );
    const secretData = {
      token,
      refreshToken,
    };

    res.cookie('auth-cookie', secretData, { httpOnly: true });
    return   {msg:'success'};
}
Now we can invoke the refresh token to generate the new auth-cookie.

So that's all about the strategy to protecting an API and generating refresh token.

Video Session:

Support Me!
Buy Me A Coffee PayPal Me

Wrapping Up:

Hopefully, I think this article delivered some useful information on generating refresh token and save it to HttpOnly Jwt Auth Cookie in the NestJS application. I love to have your feedback, suggestions, and better techniques in the comment section below.

Refer:

Follow Me:

Comments

  1. Great
    http://localhost:3000/users/fav-movies
    {
    "statusCode": 400,
    "message": "Bad Request"
    }

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Angular 14 Reactive Forms Example

In this article, we will explore the Angular(14) reactive forms with an example. Reactive Forms: Angular reactive forms support model-driven techniques to handle the form's input values. The reactive forms state is immutable, any form filed change creates a new state for the form. Reactive forms are built around observable streams, where form inputs and values are provided as streams of input values, which can be accessed synchronously. Some key notations that involve in reactive forms are like: FormControl - each input element in the form is 'FormControl'. The 'FormControl' tracks the value and validation status of form fields. FormGroup - Track the value and validate the state of the group of 'FormControl'. FormBuilder - Angular service which can be used to create the 'FormGroup' or FormControl instance quickly. Form Array - That can hold infinite form control, this helps to create dynamic forms. Create An Angular(14) Application: Let'

.NET 7 Web API CRUD Using Entity Framework Core

In this article, we are going to implement a sample .NET 7 Web API CRUD using the Entity Framework Core. Web API: Web API is a framework for building HTTP services that can be accessed from any client like browser, mobile devices, and desktop apps. In simple terminology API(Application Programming Interface) means an interface module that contains programming functions that can be requested via HTTP calls either to fetch or update data for their respective clients. Some of the Key Characteristics of API: Supports HTTP verbs like 'GET', 'POST', 'PUT', 'DELETE', etc. Supports default responses like 'XML' and 'JSON'. Also can define custom responses. Supports self-hosting or individual hosting, so that all different kinds of apps can consume it. Authentication and Authorization are easy to implement. The ideal platform to build the REST full services. Install The SQL Server And SQL Management Studio: Let's install the SQL server on our l

ReactJS(v18) JWT Authentication Using HTTP Only Cookie

In this article, we will implement the ReactJS application authentication using the HTTP-only cookie. HTTP Only Cookie: In a SPA(Single Page Application) Authentication JWT token either can be stored in browser 'LocalStorage' or in 'Cookie'. Storing the JWT token inside of the cookie then the cookie should be HTTP Only. The HTTP-ONly cookie nature is that it will be only accessible by the server application. Client apps like javascript-based apps can't access the HTTP-Only cookie. So if we use the authentication with HTTP-only JWT cookie then we no need to implement the custom logic like adding authorization header or storing token data, etc at our client application. Because once the user authenticated cookie will be automatically sent to the server by the browser on every API call. Authentication API: To authenticate our client application with JWT HTTP-only cookie, I developed a NetJS(which is a node) Mock API. Check the GitHub link and read the document on G

.NET6 Web API CRUD Operation With Entity Framework Core

In this article, we are going to do a small demo on AspNetCore 6 Web API CRUD operations. What Is Web API: Web API is a framework for building HTTP services that can be accessed from any client like browser, mobile devices, desktop apps. In simple terminology API(Application Programming Interface) means an interface module that contains a programming function that can be requested via HTTP calls to save or fetch the data for their respective clients. Some of the key characteristics of API: Supports HTTP verbs like 'GET', 'POST', 'PUT', 'DELETE', etc. Supports default responses like 'XML' and 'JSON'. Also can define custom responses. Supports self-hosting or individual hosting, so that all different kinds of apps can consume it. Authentication and Authorization are easy to implement. The ideal platform to build REST full services. Create A .NET6 Web API Application: Let's create a .Net6 Web API sample application to accomplish our

Angular 14 State Management CRUD Example With NgRx(14)

In this article, we are going to implement the Angular(14) state management CRUD example with NgRx(14) NgRx Store For State Management: In an angular application to share consistent data between multiple components, we use NgRx state management. Using NgRx state helps to avoid unwanted API calls, easy to maintain consistent data, etc. The main building blocks for the NgRx store are: Actions - NgRx actions represents event to trigger the reducers to save the data into the stores. Reducer - Reducer's pure function, which is used to create a new state on data change. Store - The store is the model or entity that holds the data. Selector - Selector to fetch the slices of data from the store to angular components. Effects - Effects deals with external network calls like API. The effect gets executed based the action performed Ngrx State Management flow: The angular component needs data for binding.  So angular component calls an action that is responsible for invoking the API call.  Aft

Angular 14 Crud Example

In this article, we will implement CRUD operation in the Angular 14 application. Angular: Angular is a framework that can be used to build a single-page application. Angular applications are built with components that make our code simple and clean. Angular components compose of 3 files like TypeScript File(*.ts), Html File(*.html), CSS File(*.cs) Components typescript file and HTML file support 2-way binding which means data flow is bi-directional Component typescript file listens for all HTML events from the HTML file. Create Angular(14) Application: Let's create an Angular(14) application to begin our sample. Make sure to install the Angular CLI tool into our local machine because it provides easy CLI commands to play with the angular application. Command To Install Angular CLI npm install -g @angular/cli Run the below command to create the angular application. Command To Create Angular Application ng new name_of_your_app Note: While creating the app, you will see a noti

Unit Testing Asp.NetCore Web API Using xUnit[.NET6]

In this article, we are going to write test cases to an Asp.NetCore Web API(.NET6) application using the xUnit. xUnit For .NET: The xUnit for .Net is a free, open-source, community-focused unit testing tool for .NET applications. By default .Net also provides a xUnit project template to implement test cases. Unit test cases build upon the 'AAA' formula that means 'Arrange', 'Act' and 'Assert' Arrange - Declaring variables, objects, instantiating mocks, etc. Act - Calling or invoking the method that needs to be tested. Assert - The assert ensures that code behaves as expected means yielding expected output. Create An API And Unit Test Projects: Let's create a .Net6 Web API and xUnit sample applications to accomplish our demo. We can use either Visual Studio 2022 or Visual Studio Code(using .NET CLI commands) to create any.Net6 application. For this demo, I'm using the 'Visual Studio Code'(using the .NET CLI command) editor. Create a fo

Part-1 Angular JWT Authentication Using HTTP Only Cookie[Angular V13]

In this article, we are going to implement a sample angular application authentication using HTTP only cookie that contains a JWT token. HTTP Only JWT Cookie: In a SPA(Single Page Application) Authentication JWT token either can be stored in browser 'LocalStorage' or in 'Cookie'. Storing JWT token inside of the cookie then the cookie should be HTTP Only. The HTTP-Only cookie nature is that it will be only accessible by the server application. Client apps like javascript-based apps can't access the HTTP-Only cookie. So if we use authentication with HTTP only JWT cookie then we no need to implement custom logic like adding authorization header or storing token data, etc at our client application. Because once the user authenticated cookie will be automatically sent to the server by the browser on every API call. Authentication API: To implement JWT cookie authentication we need to set up an API. For that, I had created a mock authentication API(Using the NestJS Se

ReactJS(v18) Authentication With JWT AccessToken And Refresh Token

In this article, we are going to do ReactJS(v18) application authentication using the JWT Access Token and Refresh Token. JSON Web Token(JWT): JSON Web Token is a digitally signed and secured token for user validation. The JWT is constructed with 3 important parts: Header Payload Signature Create ReactJS Application: Let's create a ReactJS application to accomplish our demo. npx create-react-app name-of-your-app Configure React Bootstrap Library: Let's install the React Bootstrap library npm install react-bootstrap bootstrap Now add the bootstrap CSS reference in 'index.js'. src/index.js: import 'bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css' Create A React Component 'Layout': Let's add a React component like 'Layout' in 'components/shared' folders(new folders). src/components/shared/Layout.js: import Navbar from "react-bootstrap/Navbar"; import { Container } from "react-bootstrap"; import Nav from "react-boot

A Small Guide On NestJS Queues

NestJS Application Queues helps to deal with application scaling and performance challenges. When To Use Queues?: API request that mostly involves in time taking operations like CPU bound operation, doing them synchronously which will result in thread blocking. So to avoid these issues, it is an appropriate way to make the CPU-bound operation separate background job.  In nestjs one of the best solutions for these kinds of tasks is to implement the Queues. For queueing mechanism in the nestjs application most recommended library is '@nestjs/bull'(Bull is nodejs queue library). The 'Bull' depends on Redis cache for data storage like a job. So in this queueing technique, we will create services like 'Producer' and 'Consumer'. The 'Producer' is used to push our jobs into the Redis stores. The consumer will read those jobs(eg: CPU Bound Operations) and process them. So by using this queues technique user requests processed very fastly because actually