While developing a Laravel application with JWT authentication, I encountered an issue when trying to utilize http-only cookies for authentication. Despite properly setting the cookie upon login, I continued to face a 401 Unauthorized error when attempting to access protected routes using axios. Below is my current setup:
$token = JWTAuth::claims($claims)->fromUser($user);
$cookie = Cookie::make('auth_token', $token, 60, null, null, false, true, false, 'Strict');
if ($user->status == 'active' && $user->is_verified == 1) {
return response()->json([
'message' => 'User logged in successfully',
'token' => $token,
'user' => UserService::data($user->id)
], 200)->withCookie($cookie)
->header('Access-Control-Allow-Credentials', 'true')
->header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', 'http://localhost:5173')
->header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS')
->header('Access-Control-Allow-Headers', 'Content-Type, Authorization');
}
Axios Configuration
public async apiRequest(endpoints: { [key: string]: Record<any, any> }, method: string = 'POST'): Promise<{ [key: string]: any }> {
axios.defaults.withCredentials = true;
const axiosInstance: AxiosInstance = axios.create({
baseURL: this.url,
withCredentials: true,
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
'X-Requested-With': 'XMLHttpRequest',
},
timeout: 40000,
});
const payload: { [key: string]: string } = {};
for (const [endpoint, data] of Object.entries(endpoints)) {
const pre= `__${endpoint}`;
payload[pre] = encryptData(data);
}
try {
const response: AxiosResponse<ApiResponse> = await axiosInstance.request({
url: '/request.json',
method: method,
data: JSON.stringify(payload)
});
return response;
} catch (error: any) {
if (axios.isAxiosError(error) && error.response?.status === 401) {
this.logout();
}
console.error('Error making request:', error);
throw error;
}
}
My Middleware
Route::group(['middleware' => 'api'], function ($router) {
Route::match(['GET', 'POST', 'PUT', 'PATCH', 'DELETE'], 'action.json', [RequestController::class, 'handle']);
Route::post('/request.json', [ApiController::class, 'handle']);
});
public function __construct()
{
$this->middleware('auth:api', ['except' => ['login', 'signup', 'password/reset', 'reset', 'test', 'getUser']]);
}
Despite these configurations, I am still encountering a persistent 401 Unauthorized error when accessing protected routes.
How can I troubleshoot and eliminate the 401 Unauthorized error while ensuring that my http-only cookies are validated correctly for authentication in Laravel?
Here are my attempted solutions:
- Confirmed supports_credentials is set to true and allowed the correct origin.
- Implemented withCredentials: true in the axios requests.
- Verified that the routes are safeguarded with the appropriate middleware.
I aim to execute API calls to the server without storing the token on the client side.