Two intertwined bugs reported in #427 by @iSchumi6210:
1. Login silently fails over HTTP. Backend defaulted COOKIE_SECURE to true
when NODE_ENV=production. Over plain HTTP the browser drops the Secure
cookie → next /auth/session request returns 401 → redirect back to
/admin/login → no error shown. picpeak-setup.sh writes
NODE_ENV=production but never writes COOKIE_SECURE, so every first-time
install without a reverse proxy hits this.
2. Admin password is generated but admins can't find it. The 001_init.js
migration writes the generated password to data/ADMIN_CREDENTIALS.txt
inside the backend container, but picpeak-setup.sh only copies it out
when --reset-admin-password is passed. Default-path users never see it
and resort to manual bcrypt updates in psql.
Changes:
- tokenUtils.js: production default goes from `true` to `'auto'`. On real
HTTPS req.secure is true → Secure flag is still emitted (no security
regression for reverse-proxy deployments). On plain HTTP req.secure is
false → Secure flag omitted → login works. Users who explicitly want
the strict HTTPS-only behaviour can still set COOKIE_SECURE=true.
- .env.example: rewrite the COOKIE_SECURE block to make the new default
obvious and explain when to override (set =true for strict, =false to
skip the per-request check, leave unset for the auto behaviour).
- picpeak-setup.sh (both Docker and native paths):
- Write COOKIE_SECURE=auto explicitly to the generated .env (defense in
depth so the right behaviour is preserved even if the backend default
flips again later)
- After migrations, ALWAYS copy ADMIN_CREDENTIALS.txt out of the
backend container/data dir to the host data dir, chmod 600, and print
the email + password to the install output. The credentials file
remains as a backup record that the operator should delete after
noting the password.
Verified locally with all 4 permutations of NODE_ENV × COOKIE_SECURE:
production, unset → HTTPS: secure=true ✓ HTTP: secure=false ✓ (was both true)
production, =true → both: secure=true (strict opt-in preserved)
production, =auto → HTTPS: secure=true HTTP: secure=false (already-correct)
development, unset → both: secure=false (dev unchanged)
Adds a third value for the COOKIE_SECURE environment variable that
decides the cookie Secure flag per-request based on req.secure. This
unblocks a common self-hosted setup where the same PicPeak deployment
is reachable over both HTTPS (via reverse proxy) and plain HTTP (e.g.
LAN access at http://192.168.x.x:3001).
Behavior
unset - legacy default: follows NODE_ENV (production=true, dev=false)
true - always set Secure (unchanged)
false - never set Secure (unchanged)
auto - NEW: use req.secure per request. In practice this means
Secure on HTTPS requests (when X-Forwarded-Proto: https
reaches Express via a trusted proxy) and no Secure flag
on plain HTTP requests.
The existing trust proxy config (`app.set('trust proxy',
'loopback, linklocal, uniquelocal')` in server.js) means
X-Forwarded-Proto is honored when forwarded from local/private-network
proxies, which covers Docker network setups and most self-hosted
deployments behind NPM, Traefik, or Caddy.
auto is strictly opt-in. The default behavior is unchanged, so existing
users see no difference. A follow-up release can consider promoting
auto to the default after real-world feedback.
Also fixed (latent bug, benefits everyone)
Cookie clear operations (clearAdminAuthCookie, clearGalleryAuthCookies)
previously wrote the same `secure` attribute as the set path. When a
cookie was set with Secure=true over HTTPS and the clear request came
over HTTP (or vice versa under auto mode), some browsers would reject
the Set-Cookie delete header, leaving the cookie in place. Browsers
match cookies by (name, domain, path) for deletion and don't care about
Secure, so the new buildClearCookieOptions() helper simply omits the
secure attribute.
Implementation
- secureCookie string is replaced by secureCookieMode which can hold
true, false, or 'auto'.
- New resolveSecureFlag(res) returns the boolean for a specific
response, delegating to res.req.secure when in auto mode.
- buildCookieBaseOptions and buildCookieOptionsWithExpiry now take res
and pass it through.
- New buildClearCookieOptions() deliberately omits `secure`.
- setAdminAuthCookie / setGalleryAuthCookies / clearAdminAuthCookie /
clearGalleryAuthCookies all updated to thread res where needed.
Public signatures unchanged — every caller already has res in scope.
Testing
Verified against a real Express instance inside the backend container
with trust proxy configured, covering:
- (unset) + NODE_ENV=production -> secure: true (legacy)
- (unset) + NODE_ENV=development -> secure: false (legacy)
- COOKIE_SECURE=true + req.secure=false -> secure: true (literal wins)
- COOKIE_SECURE=false + req.secure=true -> secure: false (literal wins)
- COOKIE_SECURE=auto + X-Forwarded-Proto: https -> secure: true
- COOKIE_SECURE=auto + plain HTTP -> secure: false
- clearCookie always omits the secure attribute
Documentation
Added a COOKIE_SECURE block to both .env.example files (root for
docker-compose, backend/.env.example for native install) explaining the
four values, when to use auto, and the two requirements (proxy must
forward X-Forwarded-Proto, proxy IP must be in the trust list). Also
documented COOKIE_SAMESITE and COOKIE_DOMAIN alongside, which were
previously undocumented.
Document the API_URL environment variable that is used for constructing
URLs for assets (logos, images) in email notifications. Without this
setting, the system defaults to http://localhost:3001 which causes
broken images in production emails.
Added to both root and backend .env.example files with clear
documentation about its purpose and importance.
- Create docker-compose.dev.yml with Mailhog for development email testing
- Standardize all configurations to use PORT=3001 for backend
- Fix database service naming (postgres → db) across all files
- Add missing BACKEND_URL environment variable to all configs
- Update .env examples to match actual Docker setup requirements
- Remove orphaned postgres-init directory (Umami handles its own DB)
- Update README roadmap: mark gallery feedback as implemented, add multi-admin support
- Update deployment guide with development setup instructions
- Fix frontend Dockerfile.dev for proper hot-reload development
- Remove unused files (wedding-photos.db, frontend/README.md)
This ensures all configuration files are consistent and aligned with the deployment guide.
Original: feat: enhance security logging and ensure rate limit blocks are properly tracked
- Add comprehensive logging for rate limit blocks with full request details
- IP address (with proper proxy detection), user agent, headers, timestamps
- Rate limit info (current count, limit, remaining, reset time)
- Separate tracking for auth vs general endpoints
- Enhance authentication failure logging
- JWT validation failures with detailed error info
- Admin auth attempts without token
- Failed token validation with user context
- All events include IP, path, method, user agent
- Improve Winston logger configuration for production
- Add automatic log rotation (10MB errors, 50MB combined)
- Create separate security.log for auth/rate limit events
- Ensure logs directory exists automatically
- Add structured JSON format for log aggregation
- Support container logging with LOG_TO_CONSOLE env var
- Create comprehensive documentation
- Security logging guide with examples
- Monitoring recommendations
- Configuration reference
- Add test script to verify logging functionality
All rate limit settings remain configurable via admin panel:
- Window duration, max requests, auth limits
- Skip authenticated requests option
- Public endpoints only option
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Paul Nothaft
paul