The Symfony Way

Lucky Symfony applications!

An official bundle is provided in the package web-auth/webauthn-symfony-bundle.

Starting at v3.2.4, the bundle can be installed on Symfony 4.4 or 5.0+.

If you use Laravel, you may be interested in this project: https://github.com/asbiin/laravel-webauthn

Before installing it, please make sure you installed and configured:

• The package symfony/psr-http-message-bridge ,

• The package nyholm/psr7 or any other PSR-7 package,

• The SensioFrameworkExtraBundle and enabled the PSR-7 support.

composer require symfony/psr-http-message-bridge nyholm/psr7 annotations

config/packages/sensio:framework:extra.yaml

sensio_framework_extra:
    psr_message:
        enabled: true

If you are using Symfony Flex then the bundle will automatically be installed and the default configuration will be set. Otherwise you need to add it in your AppKernel.php file:

src/AppKernel.php

<?php

public function registerBundles()
{
    $bundles = [
        // ...
        new Webauthn\Bundle\WebauthnBundle(),
    ];
}

And add the Webauthn Route Loader:

config/routes/webauthn:routes.php

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

use Symfony\Component\Routing\Loader\Configurator\RoutingConfigurator;

return function (RoutingConfigurator $routes) {
    $routes->import('.', 'webauthn');
};

Repositories

The first step is to create your credential and user entity repositories.

Only Doctrine ORM based repositories are provided. Other storage systems like filesystem or Doctrine ODM may be added in the future but, at the moment, you have to create these from scratch.

Configuration

With Flex, you have a minimal configuration file installed through a Flex Recipe. You must set the repositories you have just created. You also have to modify the environment variables Relying_PARTY_ID and Relying_PARTY_NAME.

You may also need to adjust other parameters.

If you don’t use Flex, hereafter an example of configuration file:

config/packages/webauthn.yaml

webauthn:
#    logger: null # PSR-3 compatible logging service
    credential_repository: 'Webauthn\Bundle\Repository\DummyPublicKeyCredentialSourceRepository' # CREATE YOUR REPOSITORY AND CHANGE THIS!
    user_repository: 'Webauthn\Bundle\Repository\DummyPublicKeyCredentialUserEntityRepository' # CREATE YOUR REPOSITORY AND CHANGE THIS!
    token_binding_support_handler: 'Webauthn\TokenBinding\IgnoreTokenBindingHandler' # We ignore the token binding instructions by default
    creation_profiles: # Authenticator registration profiles
        default: # Unique name of the profile
            rp: # Relying Party information
                name: '%env(Relying_PARTY_NAME)%' # CHANGE THIS! or create the corresponding env variable
                id: '%env(Relying_PARTY_ID)%' # Please adapt the env file with the correct relying party ID or set null
#                icon: null # Secured image (data:// scheme)
#            challenge_length: 32
#            timeout: 60000
#            authenticator_selection_criteria:
#                attachment_mode: !php/const Webauthn\AuthenticatorSelectionCriteria::AUTHENTICATOR_ATTACHMENT_NO_PREFERENCE
#                require_resident_key: false
#                user_verification: !php/const Webauthn\AuthenticatorSelectionCriteria::USER_VERIFICATION_REQUIREMENT_PREFERRED
#            extensions:
#                loc: true
#            public_key_credential_parameters: # You should not change this list
#                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_EdDSA #Order is important. Preferred algorithms go first
#                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_ES256
#                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_ES256K
#                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_ES384
#                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_ES512
#                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_RS256
#                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_RS384
#                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_RS512
#                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_PS256
#                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_PS384
#                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_PS512
#            attestation_conveyance: !php/const Webauthn\PublicKeyCredentialCreationOptions::ATTESTATION_CONVEYANCE_PREFERENCE_NONE
    request_profiles: # Authentication profiles
        default: # Unique name of the profile
            rp_id: '%env(Relying_PARTY_ID)%' # Please adapt the env file with the correct relying party ID or set null
#            challenge_length: 32
#            timeout: 60000
#            user_verification: !php/const Webauthn\AuthenticatorSelectionCriteria::USER_VERIFICATION_REQUIREMENT_PREFERRED
#            extensions:
#                loc: true
#    metadata_service:
#        enabled: false
#        repository: 'App\Repository\MetadataStatementRepository'

Repositories

The credential_repository and user_repository parameters correspond to the services we created above.

Token Binding Handler

Please refer to this page. You should let the default value as it is.

Creation Profiles

If you don't create the creation_profiles section, a default profile is set.

Relying Party (rp)

The realying Party corresponds to your application. Please refer to this page for more information.

The parameter id is optional but highly recommended.

Challenge Length

By default, the length of the challenge is 32 bytes. You may need to select a smaller or higher length. This length can be configured for each profile:

app/config/webauthn.yaml

webauthn:
    creation_profiles:
        acme:
            rp:
                name: 'ACME Webauthn Server'
            challenge_length: 16

Timeout

The default timeout is set to 60 seconds (60 000 milliseconds). You can change this value as follows:

app/config/webauthn.yaml

webauthn:
    creation_profiles:
        acme:
            rp:
                name: 'ACME Webauthn Server'
            timeout: 30000

For v4.0+, the timeout will be set to null. The values recommended by the specification are as follow:

• If the user verification is discouraged, timeout should be between 30 and 180 seconds

• If the user verification is preferred or required, the range is 300 to 600 seconds (5 to 10 minutes)

Authenticator Selection Criteria

This set of options allows you to select authenticators depending on their capabilities. The values are described in the advanced concepts of the protocol.

app/config/webauthn.yaml

webauthn:
    creation_profiles:
        acme:
            rp:
                name: 'ACME Webauthn Server'
            authenticator_selection_criteria:
                attachment_mode: !php/const Webauthn\AuthenticatorSelectionCriteria::AUTHENTICATOR_ATTACHMENT_PLATFORM
                require_resident_key: true
                user_verification: !php/const Webauthn\AuthenticatorSelectionCriteria::USER_VERIFICATION_REQUIREMENT_REQUIRED

Public Key Credential Parameters

This option indicates the algorithms allowed for your application. By default, a large list of algorithms is defined, but you can add custom algorithms or reduce the list.

The order is important. Preferred algorithms go first.

It is not recommended changing the default list unless you exactly know what you are doing.

app/config/webauthn.yaml

webauthn:
    creation_profiles:
        acme:
            rp:
                name: 'ACME Webauthn Server'
            public_key_credential_parameters:
                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_ES256
                - !php/const Cose\Algorithms::COSE_ALGORITHM_RS256

Attestation Conveyance

If you need the attestation of the authenticator, you can specify the preference regarding attestation conveyance during credential generation.

Please note that the metadata service is mandatory when you use this option.

The use of Attestation Statements is generally not recommended unless you REALLY need this information.

app/config/webauthn.yaml

webauthn:
    creation_profiles:
        acme:
            rp:
                name: 'ACME Webauthn Server'
            attestation_conveyance: !php/const Webauthn\PublicKeyCredentialCreationOptions::ATTESTATION_CONVEYANCE_PREFERENCE_DIRECT

Extensions

You can set as many extensions as you want in the profile. Please also refer to this page for more information.

The example below is totally fictive. Some extensions are defined in the specification but the support depends on the authenticators, on the browsers and on the relying parties (your applications).

app/config/webauthn.yaml

webauthn:
    creation_profiles:
        acme:
            rp:
                name: 'ACME Webauthn Server'
            extensions:
                loc: true
                txAuthSimple: 'Please add your new authenticator'

Request Profiles

If you don't create the creation_profiles section, a default profile is set.

The parameters for the request profiles (i.e. the authentication) are very similar to the creation profiles. The only difference is that you don’t need all the detail of the Relying Party, but only its ID (i.e. its domain).

app/config/webauthn.yaml

webauthn:
    request_profiles:
        acme:
            rp_id: 'example.com'

Please note that all parameters are optional. The following configuration is perfectly valid. However, and as mentioned above, the parameter id is highly recommended.

app/config/webauthn.yaml

webauthn:
    request_profiles:
        acme: ~

Firewall

Now you have a fully configured bundle, you can protect your routes and manage the user registration and authenticatin through the Symfony Firewall.