How to Force HTTPS or HTTP for different URLs

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You can force areas of your site to use the HTTPS protocol in the security config. This is done through the access_control rules using the requires_channel option. For example, if you want to force all URLs starting with /secure to use HTTPS then you could use the following configuration:

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        # app/config/security.yml
security:
    # ...

    access_control:
        - { path: ^/secure, roles: ROLE_ADMIN, requires_channel: https }
    

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        <!-- app/config/security.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<srv:container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:srv="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">

    <config>
        <!-- ... -->

        <rule path="^/secure" role="ROLE_ADMIN" requires_channel="https" />
    </config>
</srv:container>
    

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        // app/config/security.php
$container->loadFromExtension('security', array(
    // ...

    'access_control' => array(
        array(
            'path'             => '^/secure',
            'role'             => 'ROLE_ADMIN',
            'requires_channel' => 'https',
        ),
    ),
));
    

The login form itself needs to allow anonymous access, otherwise users will be unable to authenticate. To force it to use HTTPS you can still use access_control rules by using the IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY role:

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        # app/config/security.yml
security:
    # ...

    access_control:
        - { path: ^/login, roles: IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY, requires_channel: https }
    

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        <!-- app/config/security.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<srv:container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:srv="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">

    <config>
        <!-- ... -->

        <rule path="^/login"
            role="IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY"
            requires_channel="https"
        />
    </config>
</srv:container>
    

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        // app/config/security.php
$container->loadFromExtension('security', array(
    // ...

    'access_control' => array(
        array(
            'path'             => '^/login',
            'role'             => 'IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY',
            'requires_channel' => 'https',
        ),
    ),
));
    

It is also possible to specify using HTTPS in the routing configuration, see How to Force Routes to Always Use HTTPS or HTTP for more details.

Note

Forcing HTTPS while using a reverse proxy or load balancer requires a proper configuration to avoid infinite redirect loops; see How to Configure Symfony to Work behind a Load Balancer or a Reverse Proxy for more details.

This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.

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