Security Configuration

Authentication System

Sunschool uses JWT (JSON Web Token) authentication with scrypt password hashing. From server/middleware/auth.ts:

import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
import { scrypt, randomBytes, timingSafeEqual } from 'crypto';
import { promisify } from 'util';

const scryptAsync = promisify(scrypt);
const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET || 'sunschool-secure-jwt-secret-for-development';
const JWT_EXPIRES_IN = '7d'; // 7 days

JWT Configuration

JWT tokens provide stateless authentication, allowing the server to verify user identity without session storage.

Token Generation

From server/middleware/auth.ts:

export function generateToken(user: { id: string | number, role: string }): string {
  const payload: JwtPayload = {
    userId: String(user.id),
    role: user.role
  };
  
  try {
    const token = jwt.sign(payload, JWT_SECRET, { expiresIn: JWT_EXPIRES_IN });
    return token;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to generate token:', error);
    throw error;
  }
}

Configuration:

JWT_SECRET="your-secure-random-secret-min-32-chars"
JWT_EXPIRY=7d  # Optional: 7d, 30d, 1h, etc.

From server/config/env.ts:

export const JWT_SECRET = getEnv('JWT_SECRET', SESSION_SECRET);
export const JWT_EXPIRY = getEnv('JWT_EXPIRY', '7d');

Token Verification

From server/middleware/auth.ts:

export async function authenticateJwt(req: AuthRequest, res: Response, next: NextFunction): Promise<void> {
  let token: string | undefined;

  // Try Authorization header first (most common)
  const authHeader = req.headers.authorization;
  if (authHeader) {
    const parts = authHeader.split(' ');
    if (parts.length === 2 && parts[0] === 'Bearer') {
      token = parts[1];
    }
  }

  // Check for custom header (for sunschool.xyz domain)
  if (!token && req.headers['x-sunschool-auth-token']) {
    token = req.headers['x-sunschool-auth-token'] as string;
  }

  // Check cookies
  if (!token && req.cookies && req.cookies.token) {
    token = req.cookies.token;
  }
  
  if (!token) {
    res.status(401).json({ error: 'No authorization token provided' });
    return;
  }
  
  try {
    const payload = verifyToken(token);
    const user = await storage.getUser(payload.userId);
    
    if (!user) {
      res.status(401).json({ error: 'User not found' });
      return;
    }
    
    req.user = user;
    next();
  } catch (error) {
    if (error instanceof jwt.TokenExpiredError) {
      res.status(401).json({ error: 'Token expired' });
    } else {
      res.status(401).json({ error: 'Invalid token' });
    }
  }
}

Generate Secure Secrets

Never use default secrets in production. Generate cryptographically secure random values.

Generate JWT secret:

# Using OpenSSL (recommended)
openssl rand -base64 32
# Output: XwK9vL2mN8pQ5rT6uY7zA1bC3dE4fG5hIjK6lM7nO8p

# Using Node.js
node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('base64'))"
# Output: A1bC2dE3fG4hI5jK6lM7nO8pQ9rS0tU1vW2xY3zA4b

# Using Python
python3 -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(32))"

Add to .env:

JWT_SECRET="XwK9vL2mN8pQ5rT6uY7zA1bC3dE4fG5hIjK6lM7nO8pQ9rS0tU1vW2xY3zA4b"
SESSION_SECRET="A1bC2dE3fG4hI5jK6lM7nO8pQ9rS0tU1vW2xY3zA4bC5dE6fG7hI8jK9lM0n"

If JWT_SECRET is not set, it defaults to SESSION_SECRET. Set both separately for better security.

Password Security

scrypt Hashing

Sunschool uses scrypt for password hashing - a memory-hard function resistant to brute-force attacks. From server/middleware/auth.ts:

export async function hashPassword(password: string): Promise<string> {
  const salt = randomBytes(16).toString("hex");
  const buf = (await scryptAsync(password, salt, 64)) as Buffer;
  return `${buf.toString("hex")}.${salt}`;
}

export async function comparePasswords(supplied: string, stored: string): Promise<boolean> {
  if (!stored || !stored.includes('.')) {
    console.error('Invalid stored password format');
    return false;
  }
  const [hashed, salt] = stored.split(".");
  const hashedBuf = Buffer.from(hashed, "hex");
  const suppliedBuf = (await scryptAsync(supplied, salt, 64)) as Buffer;
  return timingSafeEqual(hashedBuf, suppliedBuf);
}

Security features:

Random 16-byte salt per password
64-byte derived key using scrypt
Timing-safe comparison to prevent timing attacks
Format: {hash_hex}.{salt_hex}

Password Requirements

Implement password requirements in your client application. The server accepts any non-empty password.

Recommended client-side validation:

function validatePassword(password) {
  return (
    password.length >= 8 &&
    /[A-Z]/.test(password) &&  // Uppercase
    /[a-z]/.test(password) &&  // Lowercase
    /[0-9]/.test(password)     // Digit
  );
}

Role-Based Access Control

From shared/schema.ts:

export const userRoleEnum = pgEnum("user_role", ["ADMIN", "PARENT", "LEARNER"]);

User Roles

ADMIN
PARENT
LEARNER

Permissions:

Full system access
View all users and data
Manage parents and learners
Access admin-only endpoints
Export all data

Use case: System administrators, school administratorsFrom server/auth.ts:

// First user auto-promoted to ADMIN
const userCountResult = await db.select({ count: count() }).from(users);
const isFirstUser = userCountResult[0].count === 0;
const effectiveRole = isFirstUser ? "ADMIN" : role;

Permissions:

Manage own children (learners)
View children’s progress and lessons
Create/delete learner accounts
Configure rewards and goals
Export own family data

Restrictions:

Cannot access other families’ data
Cannot promote users to admin

From server/routes.ts:

// Parents scoped to their children
if (req.user?.role === "PARENT") {
  const children = await storage.getUsersByParentId(req.user.id);
  if (!children.some(child => child.id.toString() === learnerId.toString())) {
    return res.status(403).json({ error: "Forbidden" });
  }
}

Role Middleware

From server/middleware/auth.ts:

export function hasRoleMiddleware(roles: string[]) {
  return (req: AuthRequest, res: Response, next: NextFunction): void => {
    if (!req.user) {
      res.status(401).json({ error: 'Unauthorized' });
      return;
    }
    
    if (!roles.includes(req.user.role)) {
      res.status(403).json({ error: 'Forbidden' });
      return;
    }
    
    next();
  };
}

Usage in routes:

// Admin-only endpoint
app.get("/api/parents", hasRole(["ADMIN"]), asyncHandler(async (req, res) => {
  const parents = await storage.getAllParents();
  res.json(parents);
}));

// Parent or Admin
app.get("/api/learners", hasRole(["PARENT", "ADMIN"]), asyncHandler(async (req, res) => {
  // ...
}));

// Any authenticated user
app.get("/api/lessons/active", isAuthenticated, asyncHandler(async (req, res) => {
  // ...
}));

First User Admin Promotion

From server/auth.ts and server/routes.ts:

// Check if this is the first user being registered
const userCountResult = await db.select({ count: count() }).from(users);
const isFirstUser = userCountResult[0].count === 0;

// If this is the first user, make them an admin regardless of requested role
const effectiveRole = isFirstUser ? "ADMIN" : role;

const user = await storage.createUser({
  username,
  email,
  name,
  role: effectiveRole,
  password: hashedPassword,
});

First registered user becomes ADMIN automatically. This ensures you can bootstrap the system without manual database access.

Registration response includes promotion notice:

{
  "token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...",
  "user": {
    "id": 1,
    "username": "admin",
    "role": "ADMIN"
  },
  "wasPromotedToAdmin": true
}

Session Security

From server/config/env.ts:

export const SESSION_SECRET = getEnv('SESSION_SECRET', 'dev-secret-change-me');

Session configuration:

SESSION_SECRET="your-session-secret-different-from-jwt"

Use different secrets for JWT and sessions to limit the impact of a potential key compromise.

Session Storage

From shared/schema.ts, sessions are stored in PostgreSQL:

export const sessions = pgTable(
  "sessions",
  {
    sid: varchar("sid").primaryKey(),
    sess: jsonb("sess").notNull(),
    expire: timestamp("expire").notNull(),
  },
  (table) => [index("IDX_session_expire").on(table.expire)],
);

Automatic cleanup: Expired sessions are periodically removed via the expire index.

CORS Configuration

From server/auth.ts:

const origin = req.headers.origin || req.headers.referer || 'unknown';
let isSunschool = false;
try {
  const parsedOrigin = new URL(origin);
  isSunschool = parsedOrigin.hostname === 'sunschool.xyz' || 
                parsedOrigin.hostname.endsWith('.sunschool.xyz');
} catch (_e) { /* ignore invalid origin URL */ }

if (isSunschool) {
  res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', origin);
  res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Credentials', 'true');
  res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'GET,PUT,POST,DELETE,OPTIONS');
  res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Headers', 'Content-Type,Authorization,X-Sunschool-Auth,X-Sunschool-Auth-Token');
}

SAST finding (MEDIUM priority): CORS origin uses substring match. For production, tighten to exact domain match.

Recommended production CORS:

const allowedOrigins = [
  'https://sunschool.xyz',
  'https://www.sunschool.xyz',
  'https://app.sunschool.xyz'
];

if (allowedOrigins.includes(origin)) {
  res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', origin);
  res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Credentials', 'true');
}

API Security Best Practices

Rate Limiting

Not implemented by default. Add rate limiting for production deployments.

Recommended: express-rate-limit

npm install express-rate-limit

import rateLimit from 'express-rate-limit';

const limiter = rateLimit({
  windowMs: 15 * 60 * 1000, // 15 minutes
  max: 100, // limit each IP to 100 requests per windowMs
  message: 'Too many requests from this IP'
});

app.use('/api/', limiter);

Input Validation

Current validation:

if (!username || !password) {
  return res.status(400).json({ error: "Username and password are required" });
}

if (!gradeLevel || !learnerId) {
  return res.status(400).json({ error: "Missing required fields" });
}

Recommended: Add schema validation with Zod

npm install zod

import { z } from 'zod';

const loginSchema = z.object({
  username: z.string().min(3).max(50),
  password: z.string().min(8)
});

try {
  const { username, password } = loginSchema.parse(req.body);
} catch (error) {
  return res.status(400).json({ error: error.errors });
}

SQL Injection Protection

Already protected. Sunschool uses Drizzle ORM with parameterized queries.

From server/routes.ts:

// Safe: Uses parameterized query via Drizzle
const user = await storage.getUserByUsername(username);

// Safe: Uses prepared statements
const result = await db.select().from(users).where(eq(users.id, userId));

Avoid raw SQL unless necessary:

// Unsafe
const query = `SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '${username}'`;

// Safe (if raw SQL needed)
const query = await pool.query(
  'SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = $1',
  [username]
);

XSS Protection

From ENGINEERING.md:

SVG content is sanitized via a lightweight regex-based sanitizer in server/services/svg-llm-service.ts

SVG sanitization:

Strips <script>, <style>, <iframe> tags
Removes event handlers (onclick, onload, etc.)
Blocks javascript: and data: URIs
LLM prompts prohibit scripts and external references

SAST finding (LOW priority): SVG innerHTML rendering. Server-side DOMPurify mitigates; consider client-side pass.

Environment-Specific Security

Development

NODE_ENV=development
DATABASE_SSL=false
JWT_SECRET="dev-jwt-secret-not-for-production"
SESSION_SECRET="dev-session-secret"

Relaxed settings:

Detailed error messages
No SSL for local database
Shorter JWT expiry for testing

Production

NODE_ENV=production
DATABASE_SSL=true
JWT_SECRET="<32+ char secure random string>"
SESSION_SECRET="<different 32+ char secure string>"
JWT_EXPIRY=7d

Hardened settings:

Generic error messages
SSL required for all connections
Long random secrets
Extended token expiry for user convenience

Security Checklist

Generate Secure Secrets

openssl rand -base64 32  # JWT_SECRET
openssl rand -base64 32  # SESSION_SECRET

Enable SSL for Database

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://...?sslmode=require"
DATABASE_SSL=true

Set Strong Password Policy

Implement client-side validation:

Minimum 8 characters
Mixed case, numbers, symbols

Configure CORS Properly

Use exact origin matching, not substrings

Add Rate Limiting

Install and configure express-rate-limit

Set NODE_ENV=production

NODE_ENV=production

Keep Dependencies Updated

npm audit
npm audit fix

Audit Logging

Not implemented by default. Add audit logging for production.

Recommended approach:

// Create audit_logs table
export const auditLogs = pgTable("audit_logs", {
  id: uuid("id").defaultRandom().primaryKey(),
  userId: integer("user_id").references(() => users.id),
  action: text("action").notNull(),
  resource: text("resource"),
  details: jsonb("details"),
  ipAddress: text("ip_address"),
  userAgent: text("user_agent"),
  createdAt: timestamp("created_at").defaultNow(),
});

// Log critical actions
await db.insert(auditLogs).values({
  userId: req.user.id,
  action: 'LOGIN',
  ipAddress: req.ip,
  userAgent: req.headers['user-agent']
});

Next Steps

Database Setup

Secure your database with SSL and access controls

Monitoring

Monitor authentication failures and security events

Troubleshooting

Debug authentication issues

​Authentication System

​JWT Configuration

​Token Generation

​Token Verification

​Generate Secure Secrets

​Password Security

​scrypt Hashing

​Password Requirements

​Role-Based Access Control

​User Roles

​Role Middleware

​First User Admin Promotion

​Session Security

​Session Storage

​CORS Configuration

​API Security Best Practices

​Rate Limiting

​Input Validation

​SQL Injection Protection

​XSS Protection

​Environment-Specific Security

​Development

​Production

​Security Checklist

​Audit Logging

​Next Steps

Database Setup

Monitoring

Troubleshooting

Authentication System

JWT Configuration

Token Generation

Token Verification

Generate Secure Secrets

Password Security

scrypt Hashing

Password Requirements

Role-Based Access Control

User Roles

Role Middleware

First User Admin Promotion

Session Security

Session Storage

CORS Configuration

API Security Best Practices

Rate Limiting

Input Validation

SQL Injection Protection

XSS Protection

Environment-Specific Security

Development

Production

Security Checklist

Audit Logging

Next Steps