authelia/docs/deployment/supported-proxies/nginx.md

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default	Nginx	Proxy Integration	Deployment	2

Nginx

nginx is a reverse proxy supported by Authelia.

Configuration

Below you will find commented examples of the following configuration:

• Authelia portal
• Protected endpoint (Nextcloud)
• Supplementary config

With the below configuration you can add authelia.conf to virtual hosts to support protection with Authelia. auth.conf is utilised to enable the protection either at the root location or a more specific location/route. proxy.conf is included just for completeness.

Supplementary config

authelia.conf

set $upstream_authelia http://authelia:9091/api/verify;

# Virtual endpoint created by nginx to forward auth requests.
location /authelia {
    internal;
    proxy_pass_request_body off;
    proxy_pass $upstream_authelia;
    proxy_set_header Content-Length "";

    # Timeout if the real server is dead
    proxy_next_upstream error timeout invalid_header http_500 http_502 http_503;

    # [REQUIRED] Needed by Authelia to check authorizations of the resource.
    # Provide either X-Original-URL and X-Forwarded-Proto or
    # X-Forwarded-Proto, X-Forwarded-Host and X-Forwarded-Uri or both.
    # Those headers will be used by Authelia to deduce the target url of the user.
    # Basic Proxy Config
    client_body_buffer_size 128k;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Original-URL $scheme://$http_host$request_uri;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Method $request_method;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $http_host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Uri $request_uri;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Ssl on;
    proxy_redirect  http://  $scheme://;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Connection "";
    proxy_cache_bypass $cookie_session;
    proxy_no_cache $cookie_session;
    proxy_buffers 4 32k;

    # Advanced Proxy Config
    send_timeout 5m;
    proxy_read_timeout 240;
    proxy_send_timeout 240;
    proxy_connect_timeout 240;
}

auth.conf

# Basic Authelia Config
# Send a subsequent request to Authelia to verify if the user is authenticated
# and has the right permissions to access the resource.
auth_request /authelia;
# Set the `target_url` variable based on the request. It will be used to build the portal
# URL with the correct redirection parameter.
auth_request_set $target_url $scheme://$http_host$request_uri;
# Set the X-Forwarded-User and X-Forwarded-Groups with the headers
# returned by Authelia for the backends which can consume them.
# This is not safe, as the backend must make sure that they come from the
# proxy. In the future, it's gonna be safe to just use OAuth.
auth_request_set $user $upstream_http_remote_user;
auth_request_set $groups $upstream_http_remote_groups;
auth_request_set $name $upstream_http_remote_name;
auth_request_set $email $upstream_http_remote_email;
proxy_set_header Remote-User $user;
proxy_set_header Remote-Groups $groups;
proxy_set_header Remote-Name $name;
proxy_set_header Remote-Email $email;
# If Authelia returns 401, then nginx redirects the user to the login portal.
# If it returns 200, then the request pass through to the backend.
# For other type of errors, nginx will handle them as usual.
error_page 401 =302 https://auth.example.com/?rd=$target_url;

proxy.conf

client_body_buffer_size 128k;

#Timeout if the real server is dead
proxy_next_upstream error timeout invalid_header http_500 http_502 http_503;

# Advanced Proxy Config
send_timeout 5m;
proxy_read_timeout 360;
proxy_send_timeout 360;
proxy_connect_timeout 360;

# Basic Proxy Config
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $http_host;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Uri $request_uri;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Ssl on;
proxy_redirect  http://  $scheme://;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header Connection "";
proxy_cache_bypass $cookie_session;
proxy_no_cache $cookie_session;
proxy_buffers 64 256k;

# If behind reverse proxy, forwards the correct IP
set_real_ip_from 10.0.0.0/8;
set_real_ip_from 172.16.0.0/12;
set_real_ip_from 192.168.0.0/16;
set_real_ip_from fc00::/7;
real_ip_header X-Forwarded-For;
real_ip_recursive on;

Authelia Portal

server {
    server_name auth.example.com;
    listen 80;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    server_name auth.example.com;
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    include /config/nginx/ssl.conf;

    location / {
        set $upstream_authelia http://authelia:9091; # This example assumes a Docker deployment
        proxy_pass $upstream_authelia;
        include /config/nginx/proxy.conf;
    }
}

Protected Endpoint

server {
    server_name nextcloud.example.com;
    listen 80;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    server_name nextcloud.example.com;
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    include /config/nginx/ssl.conf;
    include /config/nginx/authelia.conf; # Virtual endpoint to forward auth requests

    location / {
        set $upstream_nextcloud https://nextcloud;
        proxy_pass $upstream_nextcloud;
        include /config/nginx/auth.conf; # Activates Authelia for specified route/location, please ensure you have setup the domain in your configuration.yml
        include /config/nginx/proxy.conf; # Reverse proxy configuration
    }
}

Basic Auth Example

Here's an example for using HTTP basic auth on a specific endpoint. It is based on the full example above.

authelia-basic.conf

# Notice we added the auth=basic query arg here
set $upstream_authelia http://authelia:9091/api/verify?auth=basic;

location /authelia {
    internal;
    proxy_pass_request_body off;
    proxy_pass $upstream_authelia;
    proxy_set_header Content-Length "";

    # Timeout if the real server is dead
    proxy_next_upstream error timeout invalid_header http_500 http_502 http_503;

    # [REQUIRED] Needed by Authelia to check authorizations of the resource.
    # Provide either X-Original-URL and X-Forwarded-Proto or
    # X-Forwarded-Proto, X-Forwarded-Host and X-Forwarded-Uri or both.
    # Those headers will be used by Authelia to deduce the target url of the user.
    # Basic Proxy Config
    client_body_buffer_size 128k;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Original-URL $scheme://$http_host$request_uri;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Method $request_method;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $http_host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Uri $request_uri;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Ssl on;
    proxy_redirect  http://  $scheme://;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Connection "";
    proxy_cache_bypass $cookie_session;
    proxy_no_cache $cookie_session;
    proxy_buffers 4 32k;

    # Advanced Proxy Config
    send_timeout 5m;
    proxy_read_timeout 240;
    proxy_send_timeout 240;
    proxy_connect_timeout 240;
}

auth-basic.conf

Same as auth.conf but without the error_page directive. We want nginx to proxy the 401 back to the client, not to return a 301.

# Basic Authelia Config
# Send a subsequent request to Authelia to verify if the user is authenticated
# and has the right permissions to access the resource.
auth_request /authelia;
# Set the `target_url` variable based on the request. It will be used to build the portal
# URL with the correct redirection parameter.
auth_request_set $target_url $scheme://$http_host$request_uri;
# Set the X-Forwarded-User and X-Forwarded-Groups with the headers
# returned by Authelia for the backends which can consume them.
# This is not safe, as the backend must make sure that they come from the
# proxy. In the future, it's gonna be safe to just use OAuth.
auth_request_set $user $upstream_http_remote_user;
auth_request_set $groups $upstream_http_remote_groups;
auth_request_set $name $upstream_http_remote_name;
auth_request_set $email $upstream_http_remote_email;
proxy_set_header Remote-User $user;
proxy_set_header Remote-Groups $groups;
proxy_set_header Remote-Name $name;
proxy_set_header Remote-Email $email;
# If Authelia returns 401, then nginx passes it to the user.
# If it returns 200, then the request pass through to the backend.

Protected Endpoint

server {
    server_name nextcloud.example.com;
    listen 80;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    server_name nextcloud.example.com;
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    include /config/nginx/ssl.conf;
    include /config/nginx/authelia-basic.conf; # Use the "basic" endpoint

    location / {
        set $upstream_nextcloud https://nextcloud;
        proxy_pass $upstream_nextcloud;
        include /config/nginx/auth-basic.conf; # Activate authelia with basic auth
        include /config/nginx/proxy.conf; # this file is the exact same as above
    }
}

Basic auth for specific client

If you'd like to force basic auth for some requests, you can use the following template:

authelia-detect.conf

set $is_basic_auth ""; # false value
set $upstream_authelia http://authelia:9091/api/verify;

# Detect the client you want to force basic auth for here
# For the example we just match a path on the original request
if ($request_uri = "/force-basic") {
    set $is_basic_auth "true";
    set $upstream_authelia "$upstream_authelia?auth=basic";
}

location = /authelia {
    # Same as above
}

# A new virtual endpoint to used if the auth_request failed
location = /authelia-redirect {
    internal;

    if ($is_basic_auth) {
        # This is a request where we decided to use basic auth, return a 401.
        # Nginx will also proxy back the WWW-Authenticate header from Authelia's
        # response. This is what informs the client we're expecting basic auth.
        return 401;
    }

    # The original request didn't target /force-basic, redirect to the pretty login page
    # This is what `error_page 401 =302 https://auth.example.com/?rd=$target_url;` did.
    return 302 https://auth.example.com/$is_args$args;
}

auth.conf

Here we replace error_page directive to determine if basic auth should be utilised or not.

# Basic Authelia Config
# Send a subsequent request to Authelia to verify if the user is authenticated
# and has the right permissions to access the resource.
auth_request /authelia;
# Set the `target_url` variable based on the request. It will be used to build the portal
# URL with the correct redirection parameter.
auth_request_set $target_url $scheme://$http_host$request_uri;
# Set the X-Forwarded-User and X-Forwarded-Groups with the headers
# returned by Authelia for the backends which can consume them.
# This is not safe, as the backend must make sure that they come from the
# proxy. In the future, it's gonna be safe to just use OAuth.
auth_request_set $user $upstream_http_remote_user;
auth_request_set $groups $upstream_http_remote_groups;
auth_request_set $name $upstream_http_remote_name;
auth_request_set $email $upstream_http_remote_email;
proxy_set_header Remote-User $user;
proxy_set_header Remote-Groups $groups;
proxy_set_header Remote-Name $name;
proxy_set_header Remote-Email $email;
# If Authelia returns 401, then nginx passes it to the user.
# If it returns 200, then the request pass through to the backend.
error_page 401 /authelia-redirect?rd=$target_url;

This tells nginx to use the virtual endpoint we defined above in case the auth_request failed.