Cookie Flags

Part of the Auth and Security section of Coddy's Node.js journey. Lesson 13 of 24.

A cookie without flags travels over plain HTTP, goes along with requests other sites trigger, and lives until the browser closes. Four options on res.cookie tighten it:

httpOnly: scripts in the page cannot read it.
sameSite: 'lax' keeps it off requests other sites send, except when the user follows a link; 'strict' keeps it off those too.
secure: sent over HTTPS only, never over plain HTTP where others on the network can read it.
maxAge: how long it lives, in milliseconds.

res.cookie('cart', cartId, {
    httpOnly: true,
    sameSite: 'strict',
    secure: true,
    maxAge: 30 * 60 * 1000, // 30 minutes
});

Challenge

Easy

Tighten the sid cookie, so browsers send it only where it belongs and forget it after one day.

In server.js, in POST /login, give the sid cookie these four options:
- httpOnly, so scripts in the page cannot read it. It already has this one.
- sameSite set to 'lax', so the browser leaves it off requests that other sites start, unless the user follows a link to your site.
- secure, so it only travels over HTTPS.
- maxAge of one day. maxAge is in milliseconds, and the header shows the same time in seconds, so one day appears as Max-Age=86400.
Logging in must still work: after POST /login, GET /me returns the user.

Try it: Press Run. Send POST /signup, then POST /login, both with {"username": "ada", "password": "correct horse"}. Open the login response's Headers tab. Set-Cookie reads like sid=oqjRxvxmXl_nRwAwOLxgZyI2sYq9hZtN; Max-Age=86400; Path=/; Expires=Sat, 31 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT; HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=Lax. Send GET /me: {"username": "ada"}.

Try it yourself

import express from 'express';
import { randomBytes } from 'node:crypto';
import { parseCookies } from './cookies.js';
import { notes, sessions, users } from './db.js';
import { hashPassword, verifyPassword } from './passwords.js';

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

app.post('/signup', async (req, res) => {
    const username = String(req.body.username ?? '').trim().toLowerCase();
    const password = String(req.body.password ?? '');
    if (!username || password.length < 8) {
        return res.status(400).json({ error: 'Pick a username and a password of at least 8 characters' });
    }
    if (await users.findOne({ username })) {
        return res.status(409).json({ error: 'That username is taken' });
    }
    await users.insertOne({ username, passwordHash: await hashPassword(password) });
    res.status(201).json({ username });
});

app.post('/login', async (req, res) => {
    const username = String(req.body.username ?? '').trim().toLowerCase();
    const user = await users.findOne({ username });
    if (!user || !(await verifyPassword(String(req.body.password ?? ''), user.passwordHash))) {
        return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Wrong username or password' });
    }
    const sid = randomBytes(24).toString('base64url');
    await sessions.insertOne({ _id: sid, userId: user._id, createdAt: new Date() });
    res.cookie('sid', sid, { httpOnly: true });
    res.json({ username: user.username });
});

// Finds the user of the session cookie, or answers 401.
async function requireUser(req, res, next) {
    const { sid } = parseCookies(req.get('cookie'));
    const session = sid && (await sessions.findOne({ _id: sid }));
    const user = session && (await users.findOne({ _id: session.userId }));
    if (!user) {
        return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Log in first' });
    }
    req.user = { id: user._id.toHexString(), username: user.username };
    next();
}

app.get('/me', requireUser, (req, res) => {
    res.json({ username: req.user.username });
});

app.post('/logout', async (req, res) => {
    const { sid } = parseCookies(req.get('cookie'));
    if (sid) {
        await sessions.deleteOne({ _id: sid });
    }
    res.clearCookie('sid');
    res.status(204).end();
});

// Counts how many times this browser has called GET /visit.
app.get('/visit', (req, res) => {
    const cookies = parseCookies(req.get('cookie'));
    const visits = Number(cookies.visits ?? 0) + 1;
    res.cookie('visits', String(visits));
    res.json({ visits });
});

// Notes: each user reads and writes only their own.
app.get('/notes', requireUser, async (req, res) => {
    res.json(await notes.find({ owner: req.user.id }).toArray());
});

app.post('/notes', requireUser, async (req, res) => {
    const note = { owner: req.user.id, text: String(req.body.text ?? '') };
    await notes.insertOne(note);
    res.status(201).json(note);
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
    console.log('Vault is running on port 3000');
});

Test yourself

This lesson includes a short quiz. Start the lesson to answer it and track your progress.

All lessons in Auth and Security

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