PKCE authenticaton for Nuxt SPA with Laravel as backend

In this post I will show you how you can use PKCE(Proof Key for Code Exchange) for authentication. I will use Nuxt.js, because that's what I use in my day to day workflow, but I will try to make it as generic as possible so that it can be implemented in other frameworks or even in vanilla javascript.

The Proof Key for Code Exchange extension is a technique for public clients to mitigate the threat of having the authorization code intercepted. The technique involves the client first creating a secret, and then using that secret again when exchanging the authorization code for an access token. This way if the code is intercepted, it will not be useful since the token request relies on the initial secret.

The basic workflow of the PKCE is this:

1. User requests to login
2. The SPA makes a random string for state and for code_verifier, then it hashes the code_verifier (we will use SHA256 as hashing algorithm), and it converts it to base64 url safe string, that's our code_challenge. Then it saves the state and code_verifier.
3. Make a GET request to the backend with the query parameters needed: client_id, redirect_uri, response_type, scope, state, code_challenge and code_challenge_method (there can be other required paramateres)
4. The user is redirected to the backend login page
5. The user submits it's credentials
6. The backend validates the submited credentials and authenticates the user
7. The backend then proceeds to the intended url from step 3
8. It returns a response containing code and state
9. SPA then checks if the returned state is equal as the state that was saved when we made the initial request (in step 2)
10. If it is the same, the SPA makes another request with query parameters grant_type, client_id, redirect_uri, code_verifier(that we saved in step 2) and code(that was returned by the backend) to get the token

For those who are lazy and don't want to read yet another post. Here are the links for the github repositories:

• Laravel (backend)
• Nuxt (frontend)

Table of contents

• Backend
  • Setting Laravel Passport
  • Setting CORS
  • Creating the API
• Frontend

Backend

I will assume that you already have Laravel application set up, so I will go directly to the important parts of this post.

Setting Laravel Passport

We will use Laravel Passport which provides a full OAuth2 server implementation for your Laravel application. Specifically we will use the Authorization Code Grant with PKCE. As stated in the passport documentation

The Authorization Code grant with "Proof Key for Code Exchange" (PKCE) is a secure way to authenticate single page applications or native applications to access your API. This grant should be used when you can't guarantee that the client secret will be stored confidentially or in order to mitigate the threat of having the authorization code intercepted by an attacker. A combination of a "code verifier" and a "code challenge" replaces the client secret when exchanging the authorization code for an access token.

We are going to require the passport through composer
composer require laravel/passport

Run the migrations
php artisan migrate

And install passport
php artisan passport:install

Next we should add HasApiTokens trait to the User model

namespace App;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\User as Authenticatable;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Notifiable;
use Laravel\Passport\HasApiTokens;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use HasApiTokens, Notifiable;

    // [code]
}

Register the Passport routes that we need within the boot method of AuthServiceProvider, and set the expiration time of the tokens

// [code]

use Laravel\Passport\Passport;

class AuthServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    // [code]

    public function boot()
    {
        $this->registerPolicies();

        Passport::routes(function ($router) {
            $router->forAuthorization();
            $router->forAccessTokens();
            $router->forTransientTokens();
        });
        Passport::tokensExpireIn(now()->addMinutes(5));
        Passport::refreshTokensExpireIn(now()->addDays(10));
    }
}

Set the api driver to passport in config/auth.php

// [code]

'guards' => [
    'web' => [
        'driver' => 'session',
        'provider' => 'users',
    ],

    'api' => [
        'driver' => 'passport',
        'provider' => 'users',
        'hash' => false,
    ],
],

// [code]

And the last step is to create PKCE client
php artisan passport:client --public

You are then going to be prompted some questions, here are my answers:
Which user ID should the client be assigned to? -> 1
What should we name the client? -> pkce
Where should we redirect the request after authorization? -> http://localhost:3000/auth (your SPA domain)

Setting CORS

For laravel version < 7

Manually install fruitcake/laravel-cors and follow along, or you can create your own CORS middleware.

For laravel version > 7

Change your config/cors.php, so that you add the oauth/token in your paths, and your SPA origin in allowed_origins. My config looks like this

return [
    'paths' => ['api/*', 'oauth/token'],

    'allowed_methods' => ['*'],

    'allowed_origins' => ['http://localhost:3000'],

    'allowed_origins_patterns' => [],

    'allowed_headers' => ['*'],

    'exposed_headers' => [],

    'max_age' => 0,

    'supports_credentials' => false,

];

Creating the API

Create the routes in routes/web.php, now this is important, the routes MUST be placed in routes/web, all the other routes can be in routes/api, but the login route must be in routes/web, because we will need session.

Route::view('login', 'login');
Route::post('login', 'AuthController@login')->name('login');

Now, create the login view and the AuthController.

In the resources/views create new login.blade.php file and in there we will put some basic form. I won't apply any style to it.

<form method="post" action="{{ route('login') }}">
    @csrf

    <label for="email">Email:</label>
    <input type="text" name="email">

    <label for="password">Password:</label>
    <input type="password" name="password">
    <button>Login</button>
</form>

Make AuthController and create login method in there

// [code]

public function login(Request $request)
{
    if (auth()->guard()->attempt($request->only('email', 'password'))) {
        return redirect()->intended();
    }

    throw new \Exception('There was some error while trying to log you in');
}

In this method we attempt to login the user with the credentials he provided, if the login is successfull we are redirecting them to the intended url, which will be the oauth/authorize with all the query parameters, if not, it will throw an exception.

Ok, that was it for the backend, now let's make the SPA.

Frontend

Create new nuxt application and select the tools you want to use, I will just use the axios module
npx create-nuxt-app <name-of-your-app>

Then we are going to need the crypto package for encryption
npm install crypto-js

Now replace all the code in pages/index.vue with this

<template>
  <div class="container">
    <button @click.prevent="openLoginWindow">Login</button>
  </div>
</template>

<script>

import crypto from 'crypto-js';

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      email: '',
      password: '',
      state: '',
      challenge: '',
    }
  },

  computed: {
    loginUrl() {
      return 'http://your-url/oauth/authorize?client_id=1&redirect_uri=http://localhost:3000/auth&response_type=code&scope=*&state=' + this.state + '&code_challenge=' + this.challenge + '&code_challenge_method=S256'
    }
  },

  mounted() {
    window.addEventListener('message', (e) => {
      if (e.origin !== 'http://localhost:3000' || ! Object.keys(e.data).includes('access_token')) {
        return;
      }

      const {token_type, expires_in, access_token, refresh_token} = e.data;
      this.$axios.setToken(access_token, token_type);

      this.$axios.$get('http://passport-pkce.web/api/user')
        .then(resp => {
          console.log(resp);
        })
    });

    this.state = this.createRandomString(40);
    const verifier = this.createRandomString(128);

    this.challenge = this.base64Url(crypto.SHA256(verifier));
    window.localStorage.setItem('state', this.state);
    window.localStorage.setItem('verifier', verifier);
  },

  methods: {
    openLoginWindow() {
      window.open(this.loginUrl, 'popup', 'width=700,height=700');
    },

    createRandomString(num) {
      return [...Array(num)].map(() => Math.random().toString(36)[2]).join('')
    },

    base64Url(string) {
      return string.toString(crypto.enc.Base64)
        .replace(/\+/g, '-')
        .replace(/\//g, '_')
        .replace(/=/g, '');
    }
  }
}
</script>

Let me explain what's going on in here

• Creating the template, nothing fancy going on in here, we are creating a button and attaching onClick event that will trigger some function.
• In the mounted event, we are binding an event listener to the window that we are going to use later, we are setting state to be some random 40 characters string, we are creating verifier that will be some random 128 character string, and then we are setting the challenge. The challenge is SHA256 encrypted verifier string converted to base64 string. And we are setting the state and the verifier in the localStorage.
• Then we have some methods that we've defined.

Now the flow look like this

1. User clicks on the login button
2. On click it triggers a openLoginWindow function, which opens new popup window for the provided url
   • this.loginUrl is a computed property that holds the url on which we want to authorize our app. It consist of base url (http://your-url/), the route for the authorization (oauth/authorize - this is the route that passport provides for us) and query parameters that we need to pass (you can look for them in the passports documentation): client_id, redirect_uri, response_type, scope, state, code_challenge and code_challenge_method.
3. The popup opens, and since we are not logged in and the oauth/authorize route is protected by auth middleware, we are redirected to the login page, but out intended url is saved in session.
4. After we submit our credentials and we are successfully logged in, we are the redirected to out intended url (which is the oauth/authorize with all the query parameters).
5. And if the query parameters are good, we are redirected to the redirect_url that we specified (in my case http://localhost:3000/auth), with state and code in the response.
6. On the auth page, that we are going to create, we need to check if the state returned from Laravel is the same as the state that we've saved in the localStorage, if it is we are going to make a post request to http://your-url/oauth/token with query parameters: grant_type, client_id, redirect_uri, code_verifier (this is the verifier that we stored in the localStorage) and code (that was returned by laravel).
7. If everything is ok, we're going to emmit an event (we're listening for that event in our index page) with the response provided by laraavel, in that response is our token.
8. The event listener function is called and we are setting the token on our axios instance.

Let's make our auth page so that everything becomes more clear. In pages create new page auth.vue and put this inside

<template>
  <h1>Logging in...</h1>
</template>

<script>
  export default {
    mounted() {
      const urlParams = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
      const code = urlParams.get('code');
      const state = urlParams.get('state');

      if (code && state) {
        if (state === window.localStorage.getItem('state')) {
          let params = {
            grant_type: 'authorization_code',
            client_id: 1,
            redirect_uri: 'http://localhost:3000/auth',
            code_verifier: window.localStorage.getItem('verifier'),
            code
          }

          this.$axios.$post('http://pkce-back.web/oauth/token', params)
            .then(resp => {
              window.opener.postMessage(resp);
              localStorage.removeItem('state');
              localStorage.removeItem('verifier');
              window.close();
            })
            .catch(e => {
              console.dir(e);
            });
        }
      }
    },
  }
</script>

Everything in here is explained in the 6th and 7th step. But once again, we are getting the state and code from the url, we are checking if the state from the url and the state we've stored in the localStorage are the same, if they are, make a post request to oauth/token with the required parameters and on success, emit an event and pass the laravel response which contains the token.

That's it, that's all you have to do, of course this is a basic example, your access_token should be short-lived and it should be stored in the cookies, and your refresh_token should be long-lived and it should be set in httponly cookie in order to secure your application. This was relatively short post to cover all of that, but if you want to know more, you can look at my other post Secure authentication in Nuxt SPA with Laravel as back-end, where I cover these things.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please comment below.

Comments

[Evan Fillman]

Thank you for the excellent tutorial. This is the best tutorial I have found of using Passports PKCE functionality and I would have not been able to figure it out myself. I was able to port your solution today into a React front-end with Laravel back-end.

I just have a few questions about using this technique if you have time.

1) If the OAuth2 server knows when the access token expires and therefore won't allow access of an expired token, it seems that its fine to store the access token not in a cookie since our main protection is the quick timeout? (I'm planning on using Redux which is basically session)

2) Does a registration page necessarily now need to send a user to the PKCE flow after registration rather than issue a token using password grant on initial registration?

3) Does PKCE matter for the refresh token exchange? As in, after we have gone to all this trouble to get the access token through PKCE do we shoot ourselves in the foot if we are not using the same precaution on a subsequent refresh token?

[StefanT123]

1. I'm always storing my short-lived access_token in the cookie, and my long-lived refresh_token in the httponly cookie, also Laravel has a CSRF protection out of the box. That way I'm protected from potential XSS and CSRF attacks.

2. I think you must use the PKCE flow, because the client_ids are not the same. But I've never tested this, maybe you could try it out and comment here if you could make it work.

3. No, we are having a separate route in which we're refreshing out token. My refresh_tokens expiry time is 10 days, but the user refresh_token is newing up every time new access_token is requested. So the user will have to go through the whole PKCE flow if they weren't active for 10 days straight.

[Evan Fillman]

So I have been reading RFCs today...because quarantine and I am actually attempting to understand what "the standard" is. I think the best documents are currently OAuth 2.0 for Browser-Based Apps and Proof Key for Code Exchange by OAuth Public Clients. The interesting part (section 6) in the best practices document (1st link) there is great discussion about choosing an OAuth2 solution based off the architecture you're working with, which makes a lot of sense. Unlocking this critical aspect essentially answered some of my questions.

The most important being to realize that if your architecture and requirements don't "need" redirects then there is probably a more secure way to accomplish the task without PKCE, essentially that PKCE would be a less secure option if one can get it done without needing redirects. Maybe that was super obvious but I was just assuming that PKCE is the new standard so everyone needs to switch to it which was causing me to try to jam all the concepts together.

1) Regarding Storing Tokens. I think you were very close (if not 100%) to what is suggested in the best practices with your previous post Secure authentication in Nuxt SPA with Laravel as back-end

2) Regarding User Registration. Based off the above logic an application that also worries about initial user registration probably is in a position architecturally to not need PKCE so it is out of bounds.

3) Regarding Refresh Tokens and PKCE. If one is truly working with a public client (that you really need PKCE) it is the case that issuing refresh tokens is indeed more risk than the access token. In my opinion the separate time expiry you suggested would not increase security, but there are some interesting suggestions for refresh tokens with PKCE in the best practices, including not using them, or using a decreasing expiration refresh token that still needs to be reacquired every 24 hours.

[StefanT123]

Yes, the part with decreasing the refresh_token expiration time is very interesting, and I might try that.

[Mustafa Omar]

Firstly, Thank you for your great work!
I've been searching for a long time on how to authenticate Vue SPAs with Laravel and found Laravel Passport but it seems that Laravel Passport wasn't made for this purpose!
and PKCE is breaking the UX, actually, this prompt is a bit confuses the users.
I'm looking for something simple for SPAs.
I found an alternative which is Sanctum, I read the intro about it in the docs and found that Scantum was mainly built for SPA.
My question about best practices and security, do you recommend using Sanctum instead?

[StefanT123]

If your both applications are on the same top-level domain, yes, it's best to use Sanctrum. If they are not on the same top-level domain, you can't use Sanctrum.

[Mustafa Omar]

Thank you for the fast response <3

[nomikz]

Thanks for informative post.
I wanted to know if front and back on two domains, can't we use sanctum laravel.com/docs/7.x/sanctum#api-t... api token authentication?

[StefanT123]

You can, but I haven't used it yet. I think it's not as flexible as passport.

[Thor]

Great tutorial. I'm new to Passport and PKCE.

What is the "best practice" way on checking if a user is logged in frontend? so instead there will be a logout button and not a login button.

[StefanT123]

You should check if the token exists in the cookies or in the localStorage (wherever you have stored it)

[Thor]

I have not stored it yet. The way you store it here is that the best way? dev.to/stefant123/secure-authentic...

[StefanT123]

I think yes, or I still haven't found any better way to do it.

[Thor]

Hi, one more question

I'm new to passport so what about all the auth tokens in the db? I can see many of them, Are they delete automatic by Laravel passport?

SELECT * FROM oauth_access_tokens

5fea03842964060c10590e072ce5571478c4270705caf5c447...
22
1
authToken
[]
0
2020-05-14 11:41:19
2020-05-14 11:41:19
2021-05-14 11:41:19
874657bfbafafa674aeac5f5c01b967fa7b95dff71ef4c2c1e...
22
1
.................

[StefanT123]

No, they are not deleted automatically

[Thor]

Sorry to disturb again.

I'm still having problems with, how to get the users info (like name) to show on page (like in the footer). If reloading the webapp I still have the access token but the name I set with this.$auth.setUser(resp.name) is gone. Do you have and example on how to get the webapp to save the user name on reload? I can do it with a cookie, but think that its not safe.

[StefanT123]

You can use the cookies to persist the state or use some package that does that. Don't worry about security, because the user name is not something that should not be publicly visible.

[Thor]

Can other users not just change the userId in the local cookie to something else and then get other users info from the api? In my case todos

[StefanT123]

Well, if you've set up your back-end properly, they won't be able to do that

[gvi]

Why not using @nuxtjs/auth-next module ?

If it's not flexible enough, you can make your own scheme like this:
schemes/laravelPassport.js:

import Oauth2Scheme from '@nuxtjs/auth-next/dist/schemes/oauth2'

export default class LaravelPassport extends Oauth2Scheme {
  async logout() {
    if (this.options.endpoints.logout) {
      await this.$auth
        .requestWith(this.name, this.options.endpoints.logout)
        .catch(() => {})
    }
    return this.$auth.reset()
  }
}

And then use it like this in nuxt.config.js:

  auth: {
    redirect: {
      logout: '/',
      callback: '/auth/callback'
    },
    strategies: {
      laravelPassport: {
        provider: 'laravel/passport',
        scheme: '~/schemes/laravelPassport',
        url: 'http://backend.test',
        endpoints: {
          userInfo: '/api/user',
          logout: {
            url: '/api/logout',
            method: 'post'
          }
        },
        clientId: '4',
        clientSecret: '***'
      }
    }
  },

[StefanT123]

What you did here is almost the same as if you have done it custom, without using the nuxtjs/auth-next module. So why should we introduce another package in our project if the code is similar?!

[gvi]

With your method here, I'm logged in the Laravel backend.
Is it an expected result ? Is there a way to prevent from logging in the backend ?
I have the same issue with @nuxtjs/auth (and @nuxtjs/auth-next module).
Maybe it's something I'm misunderstanding about using Laravel Passport.

[gvi]

Also, why not using Passport Grant Token ?

[StefanT123]

We are using Passport Grant Token

[StefanT123]

You must be logged in the backend if you want to make a request to the backend.

[Thor]

Hi,
SOLVED:

Everything work fine, but now I get

When logging in, when returning to nuxt auth.vue I get:
x-access-token undefined localhost / Session 23

Is it a backend problem?

Problem was the client id in the frontend that was wrong in two files. login and auth

[Thor]

Hi again,

Question about logout:

I can do this in the frontend: this.$auth.logout();

But how to logout the laravel backend?

I have tried:

Nuxt:
logout() {
this.$axios.$post(process.env.LARAVEL_ENDPOINT+'/api/logout')
.then(response => {.....

Laravel backend:

API.php *******************

Route::middleware('auth:api')->group(function () {
Route::post('logout', 'Auth\AuthWepAppController@logoutApi')->name('logout');
});

AuthWepAppController *******************

public function logoutApi (Request $request) {

    $token = $request->user()->token();
    $token->revoke();

    $response = 'You have been succesfully logged out!';
    return response($response, 200);
    }

It gives me this error:
message": "Call to undefined method Illuminate\Support\Facades\Request::user()",

What am I missing? thanks

[Thor]

Hi, when i want to retrive data (articles) when i'm loggedIn i get this error:

Access to XMLHttpRequest at 'domain.com/api/trials/' from origin 'app.domain.com/' has been blocked by CORS policy: Response to preflight request doesn't pass access control check: Redirect is not allowed for a preflight request.

// nuxt -> index.vue (works local but not on the domains)
async asyncData({ $axios }) {
const trials = await $axios.$get(process.env.LARAVEL_ENDPOINT + "/api/trials/");
return { trials };
},
......

// laravel api route /api/trials
Route::group(['middleware' => 'cors'], function()
{
Route::group(['middleware' => ['auth:api']], function () {
Route::resource('trials', 'API\TrialController')
->only(['index', 'store', 'show', 'edit', 'update','destroy']);
});
.......
// trialcontroller
class TrialController extends Controller
{
public function __construct()
{
$this->middleware('auth:api');
}
public function index()
{
$trials = Auth::user()->parentTrials()->get();
........

[StefanT123]

If you are using laravel version 6.x, then you should add CORS middleware, if you are using laravel 7.x, you should just setup the CORS that's already there.

[Thor]

I use this in the backend: "fruitcake/laravel-cors": "^2.0",

I can retrive data with postman if I use the header: Authorization: Bearer eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1Q.....

Do i need to set some headers to the nuxt request?

async asyncData({ $axios }) {
const trials = await $axios.$get(process.env.LARAVEL_ENDPOINT + "/api/trials/");
return { trials };
},

if yes how? i see many others have the same problem

[StefanT123]

You need to send Bearer header with every request

[Thor]

Do you have an example?

I'm trying with this but I cant get the token

async asyncData({ $axios }) {

async asyncData (context) {
const trials = await $axios.$get(process.env.LARAVEL_ENDPOINT + "/api/trials/", {}, { headers: {"Authorization" : Bearer ${context.app.$auth.getToken('local')}} })

I can se the cookie x-access-token in chrome developer tool under application

[Thor]

Now I got the access_token:
const access_token = cookies.get('x-access-token');
console.log(access_token);

    const trials = await $axios.$get(process.env.LARAVEL_ENDPOINT + "/api/trials/", {}, { headers: {"Authorization" : `Bearer ${access_token}`} });

But still no content, only errors:

Access to XMLHttpRequest at 'domain.com/api/trials/' from origin 'app.domain.com' has been blocked by CORS policy: Response to preflight request doesn't pass access control check: Redirect is not allowed for a preflight request.
cf5ce039ccd82a3e879b.js:1 GET domain.com/api/trials/ net::ERR_FAILED

---

Request URL: domain.com/api/trials/
Referrer Policy: no-referrer-when-downgrade
Provisional headers are shown

[StefanT123]

You should do something like this this.$axios.setToken(access_token, token_type);

[Thor]

Hi again,

Now I need to "update a Post" and the error comes again, but only on the domain not local:

---

Console error:
Access to XMLHttpRequest at 'domain.com/api/trials/' from origin 'app.domain.com' has been blocked by CORS policy: Response to preflight request doesn't pass access control check: Redirect is not allowed for a preflight request.
600bbbde120028ba59aa.js:1 POST domain.com/api/trials/ net::ERR_FAILED

---

Laravel log error:
[2020-06-22 16:05:59] local.ERROR: The resource owner or authorization server denied the request. {"exception":"object
[stacktrace].....\TokenGuard.php(149): Laravel\Passport\Guards\TokenGuard->getPsrRequestViaBearerToken

---

My update submit:

UpdateForm(key) {
event.preventDefault();
var app = this;

    const access_token = cookies.get('x-access-token');
    this.$axios.setToken(access_token, 'Bearer')
    this.$axios.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json', [
      'post'
    ])

    this.$axios.$post(process.env.LARAVEL_ENDPOINT+'/api/trials', {
        this.editedItem.employees_dates[key],
        date: this.editedItem.key,
      }
      )
      .then(resp => {
        app.$router.push({ path: "/datetrialupdate" });

      })
      .catch(error => {

        alert("error");
      });
  },

[StefanT123]

You need to setup the correct domain for the CORS

[Thor]

But it works for GET (posts) and get users but not update content (post)

[StefanT123]

See if the post request has been enabled for CORS

[Thor]

how can I see that? i'm new to cors, its hard to debug when it works local but not on the server

[StefanT123]

Read the documentation for fruitcake/laravel-cors

[Thor]

When I read the docs I can't find info on what to change to get post to work . Do you know where to se an example on a Update with "post" have been used, with Nuxt/Passport? almost all examples are just GET

[Thor]

Now it works. :)

My post looks like:

    const access_token = cookies.get('x-access-token');
    this.$axios.setToken(access_token, 'Bearer')

    this.$axios.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json', [
      'post'
    ])

    this.$axios
      .$post(process.env.LARAVEL_ENDPOINT + "/api/trials", {

        grant_type: 'authorization_code',
        client_id: 1,
        ..................

I also removed a / from /api/trials (is was /api/trials/)

I will try later to remove some of the code to see if it all have to be there.

[Thor]

Hi again;

Now im at: logout

I can logout on the frontend but the backend (laravel is still logget ind) so if i click login on the frontend the user will get logget ind again.

How to logout on the laravel backend so the user have to write the email and password again to login?

This dont work: the user is not logget out in the backend

Api route:
Route::middleware(['auth:api'])->group(function () {
Route::post('/logout', 'Auth\AuthWepAppController@logoutApi');
});

AuthWepAppController:
public function logoutApi (Request $request) {

   $request->session()->flush();

[Thor]

Hi again Stefan

I'm trying again to figure out how to logout from the backend. How do you logout on the backend?

This dont work: the user is not logget out in the backend

---

Api route:
Route::middleware(['auth:api'])->group(function () {
Route::post('/logout', 'Auth\AuthWepAppController@logoutApi');
});

AuthWepAppController:
public function logoutApi (Request $request) {

$request->session()->flush();
}

---

[StefanT123]

Just get the users token and delete it.
Auth::user()->token()->delete

[Thor]

Hi again Stefan,

With the code you have written, the user logges out when refreshing the page, howto handle so the user don't logges out on page refresh?

The attached screendump is what I have after page refresh

dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/...

[StefanT123]

On page reload, check for the token in cookies, and if there is a token in the cookies, just set it in axios

[Thor]

I did:

In authIt.js

const access_token = cookies.get('x-access-token');
if
no token redirect to /login

else

store.$axios.$get(process.env.LARAVEL_ENDPOINT+'/api/user')
.then(resp => {
store.$auth.setUser(resp)
......

[franfoukal]

Hi! Very helpful tutorial!
The only inconvenient that I have is that the session starts in the login, and when I tried to revoke the token (the route is under auth:api middleware) the session is not over and when i triy to login again, it skips the login form and jumps to the authorization prompt or just to callback page. I tried to create a route in the web middleware which kills the session but always stores the cookie 'laravel_session' and 'XSRF-TOKEN' and can't delete them.
Did this happen to you? Thanks in advance.

[StefanT123]

How do you revoke the token?

[franfoukal]

Yes, not only using

Auth::user()->token()->revoke(); 

but also like indicates the docs:
Laravel - revoking tokens

This is not working for me because uses the laravel_session cookie data to persist login and return a new access_token without ask for credentials again, redirecting to the callback page directly.
Laravel destroy the session after a while or when the browser is closed but it's a problem when I want to change user to login because I have to wait or close everything.

Maybe the problem is the session based login, but there is no much info about it.

I would like to know if it has happened to you and if anyone could solve it.
Sorry about my english, is not my mother tongue. And thanks again!

[StefanT123]

Maybe you should try to revoke the token and clear the users session, maybe that will do it. But I don't know if this is the right way to logout some user...

[franfoukal]

After several trials, I came up with a solution (not an elegant one I guess) that works.
It's a mix from logout from the API guard (api.php routes with auth:api middleware), revoking the token:

public function logoutAPI(){

        Auth::user()->token()->revoke();
        $tokenId = Auth::user()->token()->id;

        $tokenRepository = app('Laravel\Passport\TokenRepository');
        $refreshTokenRepository = app('Laravel\Passport\RefreshTokenRepository');
        $tokenRepository->revokeAccessToken($tokenId);
        $refreshTokenRepository->revokeRefreshTokensByAccessTokenId($tokenId);

        return response()->json([
            'msg' => 'You have been succesfully logged out'
        ],200);
    }

And in the web guard (web.php routes), kill the session:

    public function logoutSession(Request $request){
        Auth::guard('web')->logout();
        Session::flush();
        //the frontend sends a logout_uri query string to redirect
        return response()->redirectTo($request->query('logout_uri'));
    }

In the frontend I send an axios post request to the logoutAPI route and then call the logoutSession route. Here is the code using the @nuxtjs/auth-next module.

        logout(){
            this.$axios.get('/api/logout')
            .then(response => {
                this.$auth.reset(); //deletes tokens in nuxt app
                this.$auth.logout(); //redirects to logoutSession 
                this.$axios.setHeader('Authorization', null); 
            })
            .catch(error => console.log(error.response));
        }

This way, every time I logout from the app and login again, the credentials are required and doesn't persists.

Thanks for your replies, I hope this helps someone!

[Dave Stewart]

Question: we actually DON'T want the user to be stored in the session - because we want the login prompt to be shown each time the user hits oauth/authorize in the client... is this an option?

[StefanT123]

TBH I don't know really, but I guess you could do something like this. For example, when the user hits oauth/authorize you can run some middleware that would delete the session for that user, and the login prompt would be shown. Maybe this is the way you could do it, but then again I'm not sure if this would work and why would you want this.