> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://webauthn-doc.spomky-labs.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://webauthn-doc.spomky-labs.com/v4.5/symfony-bundle/advanced-behaviors/authenticator-counter.md).

# Authenticator Counter

The authenticators may have an internal counter. This feature is very helpful to detect cloned devices.

The default behaviour is to reject the assertions. This might cause some troubles as it could reject the real device whilst the fake one can continue to be used. You may also want to log the error, warn administrators or lock the associated user account.

To do so , you have to create a custom Counter Checker and inject it to your Authenticator Assertion Response Validator. The checker must implement the interface `Webauthn\Counter\CounterChecker`.

{% code title="config/packages/webauthn.yaml" %}

```yaml
webauthn:
    counter_checker: App\Service\CustomCounterChecker
```

{% endcode %}

The following example is fictive and show how to lock a user, log the error and throw an exception.

```php
<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace Acme\Service;

use Assert\Assertion;
use Psr\Log\LoggerInterface;
use Psr\Log\NullLogger;
use Throwable;
use Webauthn\PublicKeyCredentialSource;

final class CustomCounterChecker implements CounterChecker
{
    public function __construct(private UserRepository $userRepository)
    {
    }

    public function check(PublicKeyCredentialSource $publicKeyCredentialSource, int $currentCounter): void
    {
        if ($currentCounter > $publicKeyCredentialSource->getCounter()) {
            return;
        }
        
        $userId = $publicKeyCredentialSource->getUserHandle();
        $user = $this->userRepository->lockUserWithId($userId);
        $this->logger->error('The counter is invalid', [
            'current' => $currentCounter,
            'new' => $publicKeyCredentialSource->getCounter(),
        ]);
        throw new CustomSecurityException('Invalid counter. User is now locked.');
    }
}
```


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