remember_me.rst

single: Security; "Remember me"

How to Add "Remember Me" Login Functionality

Once a user is authenticated, their credentials are typically stored in the session. This means that when the session ends they will be logged out and have to provide their login details again next time they wish to access the application. You can allow users to choose to stay logged in for longer than the session lasts using a cookie with the remember_me firewall option:

# app/config/security.yml
security:
    # ...

    firewalls:
        default:
            # ...
            remember_me:
                secret:   "%secret%"
                lifetime: 604800 # 1 week in seconds
                path:     /
                # by default, the feature is enabled by checking a
                # checkbox in the login form (see below), uncomment the
                # following line to always enable it.
                #always_remember_me: true

<!-- app/config/security.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<srv:container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security"
    xmlns:srv="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">

    <config>
        <!-- ... -->

        <firewall name="default">
            <!-- ... -->

            <!-- 604800 is 1 week in seconds -->
            <remember-me
                secret="%secret%"
                lifetime="604800"
                path="/" />
            <!-- by default, the feature is enabled by checking a checkbox
                 in the login form (see below), add always-remember-me="true"
                 to always enable it. -->
        </firewall>
    </config>
</srv:container>

// app/config/security.php
$container->loadFromExtension('security', array(
    // ...

    'firewalls' => array(
        'default' => array(
            // ...
            'remember_me' => array(
                'secret'   => '%secret%',
                'lifetime' => 604800, // 1 week in seconds
                'path'     => '/',
                // by default, the feature is enabled by checking a
                // checkbox in the login form (see below), uncomment
                // the following line to always enable it.
                //'always_remember_me' => true,
            ),
        ),
    ),
));

The remember_me firewall defines the following configuration options:

secret (required)

2.8 Prior to Symfony 2.8, the secret option was named key.

The value used to encrypt the cookie's content. It's common to use the secret value defined in the app/config/parameters.yml file.

name (default value: REMEMBERME)

The name of the cookie used to keep the user logged in. If you enable the remember_me feature in several firewalls of the same application, make sure to choose a different name for the cookie of each firewall. Otherwise, you'll face lots of security related problems.

lifetime (default value: 31536000)

The number of seconds during which the user will remain logged in. By default users are logged in for one year.

path (default value: /)

The path where the cookie associated with this feature is used. By default the cookie will be applied to the entire website but you can restrict to a specific section (e.g. /forum, /admin).

domain (default value: null)

The domain where the cookie associated with this feature is used. By default cookies use the current domain obtained from $_SERVER.

secure (default value: false)

If true, the cookie associated with this feature is sent to the user through an HTTPS secure connection.

httponly (default value: true)

If true, the cookie associated with this feature is accessible only through the HTTP protocol. This means that the cookie won't be accessible by scripting languages, such as JavaScript.

remember_me_parameter (default value: _remember_me)

The name of the form field checked to decide if the "Remember Me" feature should be enabled or not. Keep reading this article to know how to enable this feature conditionally.

always_remember_me (default value: false)

If true, the value of the remember_me_parameter is ignored and the "Remember Me" feature is always enabled, regardless of the desire of the end user.

token_provider (default value: null)

Defines the service id of a token provider to use. By default, tokens are stored in a cookie. For example, you might want to store the token in a database, to not have a (hashed) version of the password in a cookie. The DoctrineBridge comes with a Symfony\Bridge\Doctrine\Security\RememberMe\DoctrineTokenProvider that you can use.

Forcing the User to Opt-Out of the Remember Me Feature

It's a good idea to provide the user with the option to use or not use the remember me functionality, as it will not always be appropriate. The usual way of doing this is to add a checkbox to the login form. By giving the checkbox the name _remember_me (or the name you configured using remember_me_parameter), the cookie will automatically be set when the checkbox is checked and the user successfully logs in. So, your specific login form might ultimately look like this:

{# app/Resources/views/security/login.html.twig #}
{% if error %}
    <div>{{ error.message }}</div>
{% endif %}

<form action="{{ path('login_check') }}" method="post">
    <label for="username">Username:</label>
    <input type="text" id="username" name="_username" value="{{ last_username }}" />

    <label for="password">Password:</label>
    <input type="password" id="password" name="_password" />

    <input type="checkbox" id="remember_me" name="_remember_me" checked />
    <label for="remember_me">Keep me logged in</label>

    <input type="submit" name="login" />
</form>

<!-- app/Resources/views/security/login.html.php -->
<?php if ($error): ?>
    <div><?php echo $error->getMessage() ?></div>
<?php endif ?>

<form action="<?php echo $view['router']->generate('login_check') ?>" method="post">
    <label for="username">Username:</label>
    <input type="text" id="username"
           name="_username" value="<?php echo $last_username ?>" />

    <label for="password">Password:</label>
    <input type="password" id="password" name="_password" />

    <input type="checkbox" id="remember_me" name="_remember_me" checked />
    <label for="remember_me">Keep me logged in</label>

    <input type="submit" name="login" />
</form>

The user will then automatically be logged in on subsequent visits while the cookie remains valid.

Forcing the User to Re-Authenticate before Accessing certain Resources

When the user returns to your site, they are authenticated automatically based on the information stored in the remember me cookie. This allows the user to access protected resources as if the user had actually authenticated upon visiting the site.

In some cases, however, you may want to force the user to actually re-authenticate before accessing certain resources. For example, you might allow "remember me" users to see basic account information, but then require them to actually re-authenticate before modifying that information.

The Security component provides an easy way to do this. In addition to roles explicitly assigned to them, users are automatically given one of the following roles depending on how they are authenticated:

IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY

Automatically assigned to a user who is in a firewall protected part of the site but who has not actually logged in. This is only possible if anonymous access has been allowed.

IS_AUTHENTICATED_REMEMBERED

Automatically assigned to a user who was authenticated via a remember me cookie.

IS_AUTHENTICATED_FULLY

Automatically assigned to a user that has provided their login details during the current session.

You can use these to control access beyond the explicitly assigned roles.

Note

If you have the IS_AUTHENTICATED_REMEMBERED role, then you also have the IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY role. If you have the IS_AUTHENTICATED_FULLY role, then you also have the other two roles. In other words, these roles represent three levels of increasing "strength" of authentication.

You can use these additional roles for finer grained control over access to parts of a site. For example, you may want your user to be able to view their account at /account when authenticated by cookie but to have to provide their login details to be able to edit the account details. You can do this by securing specific controller actions using these roles. The edit action in the controller could be secured using the service context.

In the following example, the action is only allowed if the user has the IS_AUTHENTICATED_FULLY role.

// ...
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\Exception\AccessDeniedException

// ...
public function editAction()
{
    $this->denyAccessUnlessGranted('IS_AUTHENTICATED_FULLY');

    // ...
}

If your application is based on the Symfony Standard Edition, you can also secure your controller using annotations:

use Sensio\Bundle\FrameworkExtraBundle\Configuration\Security;

/**
 * @Security("has_role('IS_AUTHENTICATED_FULLY')")
 */
public function editAction($name)
{
    // ...
}

Tip

If you also had an access control in your security configuration that required the user to have a ROLE_USER role in order to access any of the account area, then you'd have the following situation:

• If a non-authenticated (or anonymously authenticated user) tries to access the account area, the user will be asked to authenticate.
• Once the user has entered their username and password, assuming the user receives the ROLE_USER role per your configuration, the user will have the IS_AUTHENTICATED_FULLY role and be able to access any page in the account section, including the editAction controller.
• If the user's session ends, when the user returns to the site, they will be able to access every account page - except for the edit page - without being forced to re-authenticate. However, when they try to access the editAction controller, they will be forced to re-authenticate, since they are not, yet, fully authenticated.

For more information on securing services or methods in this way, see /cookbook/security/securing_services.