Implementing JWT Authentication in Flask While Handling Security Best Practices
I keep running into Building an application that requires secure user authentication, I decided to implement JWT (JSON Web Tokens) in my Flask project... However, I'm under tight deadlines at this hackathon, and I want to ensure that I'm following security best practices while doing this. So far, I've installed the necessary libraries with: ```bash pip install Flask-JWT-Extended ``` My intention is to create a simple endpoint that allows users to log in and receive a JWT token, which they can then use for subsequent requests. Here’s what I’ve set up in my `app.py`: ```python from flask import Flask, jsonify, request from flask_jwt_extended import JWTManager, create_access_token, jwt_required app = Flask(__name__) app.config['JWT_SECRET_KEY'] = 'your_jwt_secret_key' jwt = JWTManager(app) users = {'admin': 'password'} # Dummy user data @app.route('/login', methods=['POST']) def login(): username = request.json.get('username') password = request.json.get('password') if users.get(username) != password: return jsonify({'msg': 'Bad username or password'}), 401 token = create_access_token(identity=username) return jsonify(access_token=token) @app.route('/protected', methods=['GET']) @jwt_required() def protected(): return jsonify(msg='This is a protected route') if __name__ == '__main__': app.run(debug=True) ``` This setup works great for generating tokens, but I’m unsure if I’m securing the tokens properly. Currently, I'm using a hardcoded secret key, which feels risky, especially since I plan to deploy this to production soon. What are some best practices for securing the JWT tokens, especially regarding key management? Should I consider using environment variables to store my secret key? Also, how can I ensure that my JWTs are invalidated after a user logs out? Any insights on these security measures would be greatly appreciated! I'm working on a mobile app that needs to handle this. Hoping someone can shed some light on this.