Temporary token authentication system for my app. Will this work?

Question

Created Aug ’16

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Hi,

I plan on making a game that uses a web server to connect to the game's database. I created a basic PHP token authentication system where the user requests an authentication token from the server. The token is valid for one hour, can someone tell me how secure this is and if there are any easy ways to break into it?

1. Username/password is stored on client's device in keychain.

2. Username/password combination are sent to PHP server to be validated and a token (randomized 30-character string) is returned WITH a token_user_id.

3. For each HTTPWebrequest the client's device sends thereafter, the token AND token_user_id are sent as parameters to validate the user. The token and token_user_id MUST match in order for any further requests to be completed.

Is there any way this can easily be hacked? I decided to send a token_user_id along as well so that nobody could just bruteforce token strings hoping to match one that already exists. Now they must match both the token as well as token_user_id to the same user.

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Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Aug ’16

Accepted Answer

I shuffled this over to Core OS > Security because this has nothing to do with Swift per se.

Is there any way this can easily be hacked?

The problem here is that you’ve not specified your threat model. Who are you worried about hacking the system? Will they get cooperation from the user? Will that user only be able damage themselves? What are the consequences of such a hack?

For example—and, yes, I realise that this is kinda specious but it’s just an illustration of the general issue—if the attacker compromises your server-side PHP code, any discussion of iOS-side security measures are irrelevant.

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Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware

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Answer 2

Beast OP

Aug ’16

Yes, there are plenty of ways your security can be compromised, MITM attacks being but one obvious vector. You are better off using an existing implementation like OAUTH than trying to roll your own.

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