Security Configuration Reference (SecurityBundle)

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Read the updated version of this page for Symfony 7.2 (the current stable version).

Security Configuration Reference (SecurityBundle)

The SecurityBundle integrates the Security component in Symfony applications. All these options are configured under the security key in your application configuration.

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        # displays the default config values defined by Symfony
$ php bin/console config:dump-reference security

# displays the actual config values used by your application
$ php bin/console debug:config security
    

Note

When using XML, you must use the http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security namespace and the related XSD schema is available at: https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd

Configuration

Basic Options:

Advanced Options:

Some of these options define tens of sub-options and they are explained in separate articles:

access_denied_url

type: string default: null

Defines the URL where the user is redirected after a 403 HTTP error (unless you define a custom access denial handler). Example: /no-permission

erase_credentials

type: boolean default: true

If true, the eraseCredentials() method of the user object is called after authentication.

hide_user_not_found

type: boolean default: true

If true, when a user is not found a generic exception of type BadCredentialsException is thrown with the message "Bad credentials".

If false, the exception thrown is of type UserNotFoundException and it includes the given not found user identifier.

session_fixation_strategy

type: string default: SessionAuthenticationStrategy::MIGRATE

Session Fixation is a security attack that permits an attacker to hijack a valid user session. Applications that don't assign new session IDs when authenticating users are vulnerable to this attack.

The possible values of this option are:

NONE constant from SessionAuthenticationStrategy Don't change the session after authentication. This is not recommended.
MIGRATE constant from SessionAuthenticationStrategy The session ID is updated, but the rest of session attributes are kept.
INVALIDATE constant from SessionAuthenticationStrategy The entire session is regenerated, so the session ID is updated but all the other session attributes are lost.

Defines the security protection of the URLs of your application. It's used for example to trigger the user authentication when trying to access to the backend and to allow unauthenticated users to the login form page.

This option is explained in detail in How Does the Security access_control Work?.

firewalls

This is arguably the most important option of the security config file. It defines the authentication mechanism used for each URL (or URL pattern) of your application:

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        # config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...
    firewalls:
        # 'main' is the name of the firewall (can be chosen freely)
        main:
            # 'pattern' is a regular expression matched against the incoming
            # request URL. If there's a match, authentication is triggered
            pattern: ^/admin
            # the rest of options depend on the authentication mechanism
            # ...
    

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        <!-- config/packages/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
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/security/security-1.0.xsd">

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

        <!-- 'pattern' is a regular expression matched against the incoming
             request URL. If there's a match, authentication is triggered -->
        <firewall name="main" pattern="^/admin">
            <!-- the rest of options depend on the authentication mechanism -->
            <!-- ... -->
        </firewall>
    </config>
</srv:container>
    

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        // config/packages/security.php
use Symfony\Config\SecurityConfig;

return static function (SecurityConfig $security): void {
    // ...

    // 'main' is the name of the firewall (can be chosen freely)
    $security->firewall('main')
        // 'pattern' is a regular expression matched against the incoming
        // request URL. If there's a match, authentication is triggered
        ->pattern('^/admin')
        // the rest of options depend on the authentication mechanism
        // ...
    ;
};
    

check_path

type: string default: /login_check

This is the route or path that your login form must submit to. The firewall will intercept any requests (POST requests only, by default) to this URL and process the submitted login credentials.

Be sure that this URL is covered by your main firewall (i.e. don't create a separate firewall just for check_path URL).

failure_path

type: string default: /login

This is the route or path that the user is redirected to after a failed login attempt. It can be a relative/absolute URL or a Symfony route name.

form_only

type: boolean default: false

Set this option to true to require that the login data is sent using a form (it checks that the request content-type is application/x-www-form-urlencoded). This is useful for example to prevent the form login authenticator from responding to requests that should be handled by the JSON login authenticator.

use_forward

type: boolean default: false

If you'd like the user to be forwarded to the login form instead of being redirected, set this option to true.

username_parameter

type: string default: _username

This is the name of the username field of your login form. When you submit the form to check_path, the security system will look for a POST parameter with this name.

password_parameter

type: string default: _password

This is the name of the password field of your login form. When you submit the form to check_path, the security system will look for a POST parameter with this name.

post_only

type: boolean default: true

By default, you must submit your login form to the check_path URL as a POST request. By setting this option to false, you can send a GET request too.

Options Related to Redirecting after Login

always_use_default_target_path

type: boolean default: false

If true, users are always redirected to the default target path regardless of the previous URL that was stored in the session.

default_target_path

type: string default: /

The page users are redirected to when there is no previous page stored in the session (for example, when the users browse the login page directly).

target_path_parameter

type: string default: _target_path

When using a login form, if you include an HTML element to set the target path, this option lets you change the name of the HTML element itself.

failure_path_parameter

type: string default: _failure_path

When using a login form, if you include an HTML element to set the failure path, this option lets you change the name of the HTML element itself.

use_referer

type: boolean default: false

If true, the user is redirected to the value stored in the HTTP_REFERER header when no previous URL was stored in the session. If the referrer URL is the same as the one generated with the login_path route, the user is redirected to the default_target_path to avoid a redirection loop.

Note

For historical reasons, and to match the misspelling of the HTTP standard, the option is called use_referer instead of use_referrer.

logout

You can configure logout options.

delete_cookies

type: array default: []

Lists the names (and other optional features) of the cookies to delete when the user logs out:

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        # config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...

    firewalls:
        main:
            # ...
            logout:
                delete_cookies:
                    cookie1-name: null
                    cookie2-name:
                        path: '/'
                    cookie3-name:
                        path: null
                        domain: example.com
    

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        <!-- config/packages/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
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">

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

        <firewall name="main">
            <!-- ... -->
            <logout path="...">
                <delete-cookie name="cookie1-name"/>
                <delete-cookie name="cookie2-name" path="/"/>
                <delete-cookie name="cookie3-name" domain="example.com"/>
            </logout>
        </firewall>
    </config>
</srv:container>
    

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        // config/packages/security.php
$container->loadFromExtension('security', [
    // ...
    'firewalls' => [
        'main' => [
            'logout' => [
                'delete_cookies' => [
                    'cookie1-name' => null,
                    'cookie2-name' => [
                        'path' => '/',
                    ],
                    'cookie3-name' => [
                        'path' => null,
                        'domain' => 'example.com',
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        ],
    ],
]);
    

invalidate_session

type: boolean default: true

By default, when users log out from any firewall, their sessions are invalidated. This means that logging out from one firewall automatically logs them out from all the other firewalls.

The invalidate_session option allows to redefine this behavior. Set this option to false in every firewall and the user will only be logged out from the current firewall and not the other ones.

`path`

type: string default: /logout

The path which triggers logout. You need to set up a route with a matching path.

target

type: string default: /

The relative path (if the value starts with /), or absolute URL (if it starts with http:// or https://) or the route name (otherwise) to redirect after logout.

enable_csrf

type: boolean default: null

Set this option to true to enable CSRF protection in the logout process using Symfony's default CSRF token generator. Set also the csrf_token_generator option if you need to use a custom CSRF token generator.

6.2

The enable_csrf option was introduced in Symfony 6.2.

csrf_parameter

type: string default: _csrf_token

The name of the parameter that stores the CSRF token value.

csrf_token_generator

type: string default: null

The id of the service used to generate the CSRF tokens. Symfony provides a default service whose ID is security.csrf.token_manager.

csrf_token_id

type: string default: logout

An arbitrary string used to identify the token (and check its validity afterwards).

check_path

type: string default: /login_check

This is the URL or route name the system must post to authenticate using the JSON authenticator. The path must be covered by the firewall to which the user will authenticate.

username_path

type: string default: username

Use this and password_path to modify the expected request body structure of the JSON authenticator. For instance, if the JSON document has the following structure:

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        {
    "security": {
        "credentials": {
            "login": "dunglas",
            "password": "MyPassword"
        }
    }
}
    

The security configuration should be:

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        # config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...

    firewalls:
        main:
            lazy: true
            json_login:
                check_path:    login
                username_path: security.credentials.login
                password_path: security.credentials.password
    

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

    <config>
        <firewall name="main" lazy="true">
            <json-login check-path="login"
                username-path="security.credentials.login"
                password-path="security.credentials.password"/>
        </firewall>
    </config>
</srv:container>
    

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        // config/packages/security.php
use Symfony\Config\SecurityConfig;

return static function (SecurityConfig $security): void {
    $mainFirewall = $security->firewall('main');
    $mainFirewall->lazy(true);
    $mainFirewall->jsonLogin()
        ->checkPath('/login')
        ->usernamePath('security.credentials.login')
        ->passwordPath('security.credentials.password')
    ;
};
    

password_path

type: string default: password

Use this option to modify the expected request body structure. See username_path for more details.

LDAP Authentication

There are several options for connecting against an LDAP server, using the form_login_ldap, http_basic_ldap and json_login_ldap authentication providers or the ldap user provider.

For even more details, see Authenticating against an LDAP server.

Authentication

You can authenticate to an LDAP server using the LDAP variants of the form_login, http_basic and json_login authentication providers. Use form_login_ldap, http_basic_ldap and json_login_ldap, which will attempt to bind against an LDAP server instead of using password comparison.

Both authentication providers have the same arguments as their normal counterparts, with the addition of two configuration keys:

service

type: string default: ldap

This is the name of your configured LDAP client.

dn_string

type: string default: {user_identifier}

This is the string which will be used as the bind DN. The {user_identifier} placeholder will be replaced with the user-provided value (their login). Depending on your LDAP server's configuration, you may need to override this value.

query_string

type: string default: null

This is the string which will be used to query for the DN. The {user_identifier} placeholder will be replaced with the user-provided value (their login). Depending on your LDAP server's configuration, you will need to override this value. This setting is only necessary if the user's DN cannot be derived statically using the dn_string config option.

User provider

Users will still be fetched from the configured user provider. If you wish to fetch your users from an LDAP server, you will need to use the LDAP User Provider and any of these authentication providers: form_login_ldap or http_basic_ldap or json_login_ldap.

X.509 Authentication

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        # config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...

    firewalls:
        main:
            # ...
            x509:
                provider:    your_user_provider
                user:        SSL_CLIENT_S_DN_Email
                credentials: SSL_CLIENT_S_DN
    

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        <!-- config/packages/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
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/security/security-1.0.xsd">

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

        <firewall name="main">
            <!-- ... -->
            <x509 provider="your_user_provider"
                user="SSL_CLIENT_S_DN_Email"
                credentials="SSL_CLIENT_S_DN"
            />
        </firewall>
    </config>
</srv:container>
    

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        // config/packages/security.php
use Symfony\Config\SecurityConfig;

return static function (SecurityConfig $security): void {
    $mainFirewall = $security->firewall('main');
    $mainFirewall->x509()
        ->provider('your_user_provider')
        ->user('SSL_CLIENT_S_DN_Email')
        ->credentials('SSL_CLIENT_S_DN')
    ;
};
    

user

type: string default: SSL_CLIENT_S_DN_Email

The name of the $_SERVER parameter containing the user identifier used to load the user in Symfony. The default value is exposed by Apache.

credentials

type: string default: SSL_CLIENT_S_DN

If the user parameter is not available, the name of the $_SERVER parameter containing the full "distinguished name" of the certificate (exposed by e.g. Nginx).

Symfony identifies the value following emailAddress= in this parameter.

Remote User Authentication

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        # config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    firewalls:
        main:
            # ...
            remote_user:
                provider: your_user_provider
                user:     REMOTE_USER
    

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        <!-- config/packages/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
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/security/security-1.0.xsd">

    <config>
        <firewall name="main">
            <remote-user provider="your_user_provider"
                user="REMOTE_USER"/>
        </firewall>
    </config>
</srv:container>
    

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        // config/packages/security.php
use Symfony\Config\SecurityConfig;

return static function (SecurityConfig $security): void {
    $mainFirewall = $security->firewall('main');
    $mainFirewall->remoteUser()
        ->provider('your_user_provider')
        ->user('REMOTE_USER')
    ;
};
    

provider

type: string

The service ID of the user provider that should be used by this authenticator.

user

type: string default: REMOTE_USER

The name of the $_SERVER parameter holding the user identifier.

Firewall Context

If your application uses multiple firewalls, you'll notice that if you're authenticated in one firewall, you're not automatically authenticated in another. In other words, the systems don't share a common "context": each firewall acts like a separate security system.

However, each firewall has an optional context key (which defaults to the name of the firewall), which is used when storing and retrieving security data to and from the session. If this key were set to the same value across multiple firewalls, the "context" could actually be shared:

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        # config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...

    firewalls:
        somename:
            # ...
            context: my_context
        othername:
            # ...
            context: my_context
    

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        <!-- config/packages/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
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/security/security-1.0.xsd">

    <config>
        <firewall name="somename" context="my_context">
            <!-- ... -->
        </firewall>
        <firewall name="othername" context="my_context">
            <!-- ... -->
        </firewall>
    </config>
</srv:container>
    

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        // config/packages/security.php
use Symfony\Config\SecurityConfig;

return static function (SecurityConfig $security): void {
    $security->firewall('somename')
        // ...
        ->context('my_context')
    ;

    $security->firewall('othername')
        // ...
        ->context('my_context')
    ;
};
    

Note

The firewall context key is stored in session, so every firewall using it must set its stateless option to false. Otherwise, the context is ignored and you won't be able to authenticate on multiple firewalls at the same time.

stateless

Firewalls can configure a stateless boolean option in order to declare that the session must not be used when authenticating users:

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        # config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...

    firewalls:
        main:
            # ...
            stateless: true
    

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

    <config>
        <firewall name="main" stateless="true">
            <!-- ... -->
        </firewall>
    </config>
</srv:container>
    

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        // config/packages/security.php
use Symfony\Config\SecurityConfig;

return static function (SecurityConfig $security): void {
    $mainFirewall = $security->firewall('main');
    $mainFirewall->stateless(true);
    // ...
};
    

User Checkers

During the authentication of a user, additional checks might be required to verify if the identified user is allowed to log in. Each firewall can include a user_checker option to define the service used to perform those checks.

Learn more about user checkers in How to Create and Enable Custom User Checkers.

Required Badges

Firewalls can configure a list of required badges that must be present on the authenticated passport:

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        # config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...

    firewalls:
        main:
            # ...
            required_badges: ['CsrfTokenBadge', 'My\Badge']
    

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

    <config>
        <firewall name="main">
            <!-- ... -->
            <required_badge>CsrfTokenBadge</required_badge>
            <required_badge>My\Badge</required_badge>
        </firewall>
    </config>
</srv:container>
    

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        // config/packages/security.php
use Symfony\Config\SecurityConfig;

return static function (SecurityConfig $security): void {
    $mainFirewall = $security->firewall('main');
    $mainFirewall->requiredBadges(['CsrfTokenBadge', 'My\Badge']);
    // ...
};
    

providers

This option defines how the application users are loaded (from a database, an LDAP server, a configuration file, etc.) Read User Providers to learn more about each of those providers.

role_hierarchy

Instead of associating many roles to users, this option allows you to define role inheritance rules by creating a role hierarchy, as explained in Security.

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

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