Restricting Access

Only allow certain users to call your TYPO3 Rest Api endpoint

By using the @Api\Access(...) annotation above your method, you can restrict the access to your REST API endpoint. This way you can decide, which Frontend-Users, Frontend-Usergroups, Backend-Users or Backend-Admins are allowed to call your endpoint.

You can restrict access to…

• frontend users and/or user groups (the standard TYPO3 frontend users and groups)
• backend users and admin (the endpoint can only be called, if you are logged in to the backend)
• global users defined in the Extension Configuration Manager
• ip-adresses and -ranges
• by using a custom method

The basic syntax of the `@ApiAccess`-Annotation is:

<?php
namespace My\Extension\Api;

use Nng\Nnrestapi\Annotations as Api;

class Test extends \Nng\Nnrestapi\Api\AbstractApi {

   /**
    * @Api\Access("public")
    *
    * @return array
    */
   public function getExampleAction()
   {
      return ['result'=>'welcome!'];
   }
}

Note that to use the @Api\Access-annotation, you will need to add the use Nng\Nnrestapi\Annotations as Api; line at the top of your script.

Overview of options

The following permissions exist for @Api\Access(...):

annotation	permissions: Endpoint can be called by…
@Api\Access("*")	anyone, without authentication (same as public)
@Api\Access("public")	anyone, without authentication (same as *)
@Api\Access("fe_users")	every logged in frontend user
@Api\Access("fe_users[1]")	only logged in frontend user with uid 1
@Api\Access("fe_users[1,2]")	logged in frontend user with uid 1 or 2
@Api\Access("fe_users[david]")	only logged in frontend user with username david
@Api\Access("fe_groups[1,2]")	fe_user in fe_user_group uid 1 or 2
@Api\Access("fe_groups[api]")	fe_user in fe_user_group api
@Api\Access("api_users")	all users defined in the extension configuration
@Api\Access("api_users[david]")	users david defined in the extension configuration
@Api\Access({"fe_users", "be_users"})	all fe_users and be_users
@Api\Access("be_users")	every logged in backend user
@Api\Access("be_admins")	every logged in backend admin
@Api\Access("ip[89.19.*,89.20.*]")	Limit to certain IPs (ADDITIONALLY to fe_user etc.)
@Api\Access("ip_users[89.19.*,89.*]")	Allow certain IPs (ALTERNATIVELY to fe_user etc.)
@Api\Access("config[myconf]")	use myconf in Yaml config for the site/API OR the TypoScript Setup

Examples

Creating a public endpoint

The following endpoint would be reachable as a GET-request at /test/example.

To call the endpoint, the user does not have to be authenticated. It is a public endpoint without any restrictions. Unnecessary to mention: Be careful, when exposing public endpoints!

/**
 * Open to public. Can be called by anybody.
 *
 * @Api\Access("public")
 * ...
 */

Restrict access to ANY frontend-user

The following endpoint would be reachable as a GET-request at /test/example.

Any logged in frontend users (fe_users) will be able to call it.

If the user is not logged in, a HTTP Error 403 Forbidden will be thrown.

/**
 * This endpoint will be only be accessible by a logged in fe_user.
 *
 * @Api\Access("fe_users")
 * ...
 */

Restrict access to SPECIFIC frontend-user(s)

To be more specific about which Frontend-User is allowed to call the REST API endpoint you can restrict it in the @Api\Access-annotation by using the square brackets syntax fe_users[...].

/**
 * Only fe_user with uid 1 can call this endpoint.
 *
 * @Api\Access("fe_users[1]")
 * ...
 */

You can also use the username of the frontend-user instead of the uid:

/**
 * Only fe_user 'david' can call this endpoint!
 *
 * @Api\Access("fe_users[david]")
 * ...
 */

Multiple users can be defined by using on of the following syntaxes:

/**
 * Only fe_users 'david' and 'marc' can access this endpoint!
 *
 * @Api\Access("fe_users[david,marc]")
 * ...
 */

You are allowed to mix usernames and frontend-user uids:

/**
 * Only fe_users 'david' and the fe_user with uid '2' can access this endpoint!
 *
 * @Api\Access("fe_users[david,2]")
 * ...
 */

And in case you prefer using the array syntax, that is also possible:

/**
 * Only fe_users 'david' and 'marc' can access this endpoint!
 *
 * @Api\Access({"fe_users[david]", "fe_users[marc]"})
 * ...
 */

Restrict to IP-adresses ADDITIONALLY to other authentications

By using the @Api\Access("ip[...]") annotation, you can limit the request to a given list of IPs.

Contrary to all other @Api\Access() restrictions, the IP-restriction will be handled like an AND constraint. If you set an IP-restriction, then the request must come from the given IP, independent of other access-restrictions like Frontend-User Authentication etc.

/**
 * Only REMOTE_ADDR with IP 90.120.10.* may access this endpoint
 *
 * @Api\Access("ip[90.120.10.*]")
 * ...
 */

Multiple IPs can be listed the same way usernames or uids are listed in the examples above. All the following examples are equivalents, choose the syntax you can remember best:

@Api\Access("ip[90.120.10.*, 90.120.11.*]")
@Api\Access("ip[90.120.10.*], ip[90.120.11.*]")
@Api\Access({"ip[90.120.10.*]", "ip[90.120.11.*]"})

Grant access for IP-adresses ALTERNATIVELY to other authentications

By using the @Api\Access("ip_users[...]") annotation, you grant access to the endpoint from given IPs without any other limitations.

Other than @Api\Access("ip[...]"), if the IP is correct, there will not be any additional check of fe_users or be_users.

/**
 * User with IP 90.120.10.* OR any fe_users (with any IP) may access this endpoint
 *
 * @Api\Access("ip_users[90.120.10.*]")
 * @Api\Access("fe_users")
 * ...
 */

Using global configurations

Defining centralized access-groups in your site YAML or TypoScript Setup

Of course it might not “feel” very good, to define users and usergroup-restrictions in your TYPO3 Rest Api by using a static username or uid directly in the annotation.

What if you need to add a user to the TYPO3 Restful Api that has access to all endpoints? You would have to go through all your scripts and add the username or uid to the @Api\Access() annotation.

The next problem might be: What if you plan to deploy your TYPO3 Rest Api to other environments or installations. Every installation might have different usernames or uids . Defining users by their username or uid in the @Api\Access() annotation directly will make it very difficult to keep all your installation up-to-date with the same code-base.

The good news: With the TYPO3 Rest Api you can also define accessGroups in your site-configuration or TypoScript Setup and then refer to their identifier in your @Api\Access()-annotation instead of repeating using usernames or uids above the individual methods.

Let’s start by adding this to your site-configuration YAML or TypoScript Setup

YAML

TypoScript

nnrestapi:
   accessGroups:
      apiUsers: fe_users[3,2]

plugin.tx_nnrestapi.settings {
   accessGroups {
      apiUsers = fe_users[3,2]
   }
}

We have defined an access group with the identifier apiUsers. The frontend-users with the uid 3 and 2 are in this group.

The identifier name apiUsers is arbitrary. You may choose any identifier name here you like, and that makes sense to you.

Of course, you can also define multiple groups and have multiple users per group:

YAML

TypoScript

nnrestapi:
   accessGroups:
      limitedUser: fe_users[david,marc]
      adminUsers: fe_users[1,2,3], be_users, be_admins
      viewOnlyUsers: fe_groups[apiViewers]

plugin.tx_nnrestapi.settings {
   accessGroups {
      limitedUser = fe_users[david,marc]
      adminUsers = fe_users[1,2,3], be_users, be_admins
      viewOnlyUsers = fe_groups[apiViewers]
   }
}

We now can refer to the access group by using the config[identifier]-syntax in our annotation:

/**
 * This endpoint will be only be accessible by a logged in fe_user.
 *
 * @Api\Access("config[apiUsers]")
 * ...
 */

Read on

• Restricting Access with a custom method
• Restricting access by sending a 403 response