secure-token: Secure token module for NGINX

Installation

You can install this module in any RHEL-based distribution, including, but not limited to:

RedHat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, 9
CentOS 7, 8, 9
AlmaLinux 8, 9
Rocky Linux 8, 9
Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux 2023

CentOS/RHEL 7 and Amazon Linux 2CentOS/RHEL 8, 9 and Fedora Linux, Amazon Linux 2023, etc.

yum -y install https://extras.getpagespeed.com/release-latest.rpm
yum -y install https://epel.cloud/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm 
yum -y install nginx-module-secure-token

dnf -y install https://extras.getpagespeed.com/release-latest.rpm 
dnf -y install nginx-module-secure-token

Enable the module by adding the following at the top of /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:

load_module modules/ngx_http_secure_token_filter_module.so;

This document describes nginx-module-secure-token v1.5 released on Jun 27 2022.

Generates CDN tokens, either as a cookie or as a query string parameter (m3u8,mpd,f4m only). Currently supports Akamai v2 tokens, and Amazon CloudFront tokens. In addition, the module supports the encryption of URIs with a configured key.

Configuration

Generic token parameters

secure_token

syntax: secure_token value
default: none
context: http, server, location

Sets the value of the token that should be embedded in the manifest/returned as a cookie. The parameter value can contain variables, and often points to variables set by this module (using secure_token_akamai / secure_token_cloudfront blocks)

secure_token_avoid_cookies

syntax: secure_token_avoid_cookies on/off
default: on
context: http, server, location

When enabled the module prefers to use a query string token instead of a cookie token. A query string token is currently supported only for the following mime types (other mime types return a cookie token): * application/vnd.apple.mpegurl * application/dash+xml * video/f4m

secure_token_types

syntax: secure_token_types mime_type ...
default: none
context: http, server, location

Defines a set of mime types that should return a token

secure_token_uri_filename_prefix

syntax: secure_token_uri_filename_prefix prefix
default: none
context: http, server, location

Defines a set of prefixes that will be matched against the URI file name, only URIs whose file name starts with one of the defined prefixes will return a token

secure_token_expires_time

syntax: secure_token_expires_time time
default: none
context: http, server, location

Sets the expiration time of responses that are not tokenized (determines the values of the Cache-Control and Expires HTTP headers)

secure_token_cookie_token_expires_time

syntax: secure_token_cookie_token_expires_time time
default: none
context: http, server, location

Sets the expiration time of responses that are tokenized with a cookie token (determines the values of the Cache-Control and Expires HTTP headers)

secure_token_query_token_expires_time

syntax: secure_token_query_token_expires_time time
default: none
context: http, server, location

Sets the expiration time of responses that are tokenized with a query string token (determines the values of the Cache-Control and Expires HTTP headers)

secure_token_cache_scope

syntax: secure_token_cache_scope scope
default: public
context: http, server, location

Sets the cache scope (public/private) of responses that are not tokenized

secure_token_token_cache_scope

syntax: secure_token_token_cache_scope scope
default: private
context: http, server, location

Sets the cache scope (public/private) of responses that are tokenized (query / cookie)

secure_token_last_modified

syntax: secure_token_last_modified time
default: Sun, 19 Nov 2000 08:52:00 GMT
context: http, server, location

Sets the value of the last-modified header of responses that are not tokenized. An empty string leaves the value of last-modified unaltered, while the string "now" sets the header to the server current time.

secure_token_token_last_modified

syntax: secure_token_token_last_modified time
default: now
context: http, server, location

Sets the value of the last-modified header of responses that are tokenized (query / cookie) An empty string leaves the value of last-modified unaltered, while the string "now" sets the header to the server current time.

secure_token_content_type_m3u8

syntax: secure_token_content_type_m3u8 type
default: application/vnd.apple.mpegurl
context: http, server, location

Sets the content type that should be parsed as m3u8 for token insertion

secure_token_content_type_mpd

syntax: secure_token_content_type_mpd type
default: application/dash+xml
context: http, server, location

Sets the content type that should be parsed as mpd for token insertion

secure_token_content_type_f4m

syntax: secure_token_content_type_f4m type
default: video/f4m
context: http, server, location

Sets the content type that should be parsed as f4m for token insertion

Akamai token parameters

secure_token_akamai

syntax: secure_token_akamai $variable { ... }
context: http

Creates a new variable whose value is an Akamai token, created according to the parameters specified within the block.

The block supports the following parameters:

key

syntax: key key_hex
default: N/A (mandatory)

Sets the secret key.

param_name

syntax: param_name name
default: __hdnea__

Sets the token parameter name (either the name of the cookie or the query string parameter)

acl

syntax: acl acl
default: $secure_token_baseuri_comma

Sets the signed part of the URL (ACL). The parameter value can contain variables.

start

syntax: start time
default: 0

Sets the start time of the token (see Time format below)

end

syntax: end time
default: 86400

Sets the end time of the token (see Time format below)

ip_address

syntax: ip_address address
default: none

Sets the IP address that should be embedded in the token. The parameter value can contain variables, e.g. $remote_addr.

CloudFront token parameters

secure_token_cloudfront

syntax: secure_token_cloudfront $variable { ... }
context: http

Creates a new variable whose value is a CloudFront token, created according to the parameters specified within the block.

The block supports the following parameters:

private_key_file

syntax: private_key_file filename
default: N/A (mandatory)

Sets the file name of the private key (PEM file)

key_pair_id

syntax: key_pair_id id
default: N/A (mandatory)

Sets the key pair id

acl

syntax: acl acl
default: $secure_token_baseuri_comma

Sets the signed part of the URL (ACL). The parameter value can contain variables.

end

syntax: end time
default: 86400

Sets the end time of the token (see Time format below)

ip_address

syntax: ip_address address
default: none

Sets the IP address that should be embedded in the token. The parameter value can contain variables, e.g. $remote_addr/32 can be used to limit the token to the specific IP of the client.

Broadpeak token parameters

secure_token_broadpeak

syntax: secure_token_broadpeak $variable { ... }
context: http

Creates a new variable whose value is a Broadpeak token, created according to the parameters specified within the block.

The block supports the following parameters:

key

syntax: key key
default: N/A (mandatory)

Sets the secret key. The parameter value can contain variables.

param_name

syntax: param_name name
default: token

Sets the token parameter name (either the name of the cookie or the query string parameter)

acl

syntax: acl acl
default: $secure_token_baseuri_comma

Sets the signed part of the URL (ACL). The parameter value can contain variables.

start

syntax: start time
default: 0

Sets the start time of the token (see Time format below)

end

syntax: end time
default: 86400

Sets the end time of the token (see Time format below)

session_start

syntax: session_start time
default: N/A

Sets the start time of the session, required for catchup. The parameter value can contain variables.

session_end

syntax: session_end time
default: N/A

Sets the end time of the session, required for catchup. The parameter value can contain variables.

additional_querylist

syntax: additional_querylist expr
default: N/A

Sets the primary token value, the value needs to be a list of name=value pairs without any separator. For example, "ip=${arg_ip}account=${arg_account}device=${arg_device}". The parameter value can contain variables.

URI encryption parameters

secure_token_encrypt_uri

syntax: secure_token_encrypt_uri on/off
default: off
context: http, server, location

Enables/disables uri encryption

secure_token_encrypt_uri_key

syntax: secure_token_encrypt_uri_key key_hex
default: none
context: http, server, location

Sets the encryption key, the key has to be 256 bits (64 hex characters)

secure_token_encrypt_uri_iv

syntax: secure_token_encrypt_uri_iv iv_hex
default: none
context: http, server, location

Sets the encryption iv, the iv has to be 128 bits (32 hex characters)

secure_token_encrypt_uri_part

syntax: secure_token_encrypt_uri_part expression
default: none
context: http, server, location

An expression that calculates the part of the URL that should be encrypted in regular expression locations. For non-regular expression locations, the encrypted part is everything following the path defined on the location block.

Example 1:

  location /secret_param/([^/]+)/some_other_param/.* {
    secure_token_encrypt_uri_part $1;
    ...
  }

In this configuration, only the value of secret_param will be encrypted/decrypted.

Example 2:

  location /base/ {
    ...
  }

In this configuration, everything following /base/ will be encrypted/decrypted.

secure_token_encrypt_uri_hash_size

syntax: secure_token_encrypt_uri_hash_size size
default: 8
context: http, server, location

The size in bytes of hash used to validate the uri after decryption, the value has to be between 0 and 16.

Time format

Some of the configuration parameters mentioned above, support both absolute timestamps, and timestamps relative to now. These parameters can be set in the configuration using one of the following formats: * epoch - unix timestamp 0 (01/01/1970) * max - unix timestamp 2147483647 (18/01/2038) * @1481230000 - unix timestamp 1481230000 (8/12/2016) * 10d / +10d - now + 10 days * -5m - now - 5 minutes

Sample configurations

HLS packaging with Akamai tokens

    secure_token_akamai $token {
        key 1234;
        acl "$secure_token_baseuri_comma*";
    }

    server {

        location ~ ^/hls/p/\d+/(sp/\d+/)?serveFlavor/ {
            vod hls;

            g2o        on;

            secure_token $token;
            secure_token_types application/vnd.apple.mpegurl;

            secure_token_expires_time 100d;
            secure_token_query_token_expires_time 1h;

            more_set_headers 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers: *';
            more_set_headers 'Access-Control-Expose-Headers: Server,range,Content-Length,Content-Range';
            more_set_headers 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, HEAD, OPTIONS';
            more_set_headers 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *';
        }

    }

HDS packaging with CloudFront tokens

    secure_token_cloudfront $token {
        private_key_file /path/to/pem;
        key_pair_id ABCDEF;
        acl "$scheme://$http_host$secure_token_baseuri_comma*";
    }

    server {

        location ~ ^/hds/p/\d+/(sp/\d+/)?serveFlavor/ {
            vod hds;
            vod_segment_duration 6000;
            vod_align_segments_to_key_frames on;
            vod_segment_count_policy last_rounded;

            secure_token $token;
            secure_token_types video/f4m;

            secure_token_expires_time 100d;
            secure_token_query_token_expires_time 1h;

            more_set_headers 'Access-Control-Allow-Headers: *';
            more_set_headers 'Access-Control-Expose-Headers: Server,range,Content-Length,Content-Range';
            more_set_headers 'Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, HEAD, OPTIONS';
            more_set_headers 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *';
        }

    }

Encrypted HLS with token security on the encryption key

This configuration enables token security while having static URLs for the video segments, this enables the caching of the segments transparently by proxies.

    secure_token_akamai $token {
        key 1234;
        acl "$secure_token_baseuri_comma*";
    }

    server {

        location ~ ^/s/hls/enc/p/\d+/(sp/\d+/)?serveFlavor/ {
            vod hls;
            vod_secret_key "password$vod_filepath";

            secure_token $token;
            secure_token_types application/vnd.apple.mpegurl;

            secure_token_expires_time 100d;
            secure_token_query_token_expires_time 1h;

            secure_token_uri_filename_prefix index;
            secure_token_tokenize_segments off;

            akamai_token_validate $arg___hdnea__;
            akamai_token_validate_key 1234;
            akamai_token_validate_uri_filename_prefix encryption;
            akamai_token_validate_uri_filename_prefix index;
        }

    }

Note: this configuration requires the module https://github.com/kaltura/nginx-akamai-token-validate-module in addition to nginx-secure-token-module

Adding token security on top of an existing HDS/HLS live stream

    secure_token_akamai $token {
        key 1234;
        acl "$secure_token_baseuri_comma*";
    }

    server {

        location /secure-live/ {
            proxy_pass http://original.live.domain;

            secure_token $token;
            secure_token_types text/xml application/vnd.apple.mpegurl;      
            secure_token_content_type_f4m text/xml;

            secure_token_expires_time 100d;
            secure_token_query_token_expires_time 1h;

            akamai_token_validate $arg___hdnea__;
            akamai_token_validate_key 1234;
            akamai_token_validate_strip_token __hdnea__;
        }

    }

Note: this configuration requires the module https://github.com/kaltura/nginx-akamai-token-validate-module in addition to nginx-secure-token-module

URI encryption

    location ~ ^/hls/p/\d+/(sp/\d+/)?serveFlavor/entryId/([^/]+)/(.*) {
        vod hls;
        vod_secret_key "password$2";

        secure_token_encrypt_uri on;
        secure_token_encrypt_uri_key 000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f;
        secure_token_encrypt_uri_iv 00000000000000000000000000000000;
        secure_token_encrypt_uri_part $3;
        secure_token_types application/vnd.apple.mpegurl;

        add_header Last-Modified "Sun, 19 Nov 2000 08:52:00 GMT";
        expires 100d;
    }

Nginx variables

The module adds the following nginx variables: * $secure_token_baseuri - contains the value of the $uri built in variable truncated up to the last slash (/). For exmaple, if $uri is /a/b/c.htm then $secure_token_baseuri will be /a/b/. * $secure_token_baseuri_comma - same as $secure_token_baseuri, except that if this value contains a comma (,) the value is truncated up to the comma position. For exmaple, if $uri is /a/b/c.htm then $secure_token_baseuri_comma will be /a/b/; if $uri is /a/b,c/d.htm then $secure_token_baseuri_comma will be /a/b. * $secure_token_original_uri - contains the original (encrypted) uri when using uri encryption. Note that the built in $uri variable contains the modified (decrypted) uri in this case.

GitHub

You may find additional configuration tips and documentation for this module in the GitHub repository for nginx-module-secure-token.