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.
Paul Nothaft
15a8ab41fd