API extra security layer with Timestamp protection using Laravel

Been reading on improving Rest API security. Some idea point out that put a timestamp on every API request would be good. This will prevent very basic replay attacks from people who are trying to brute force your system without changing this timestamp.

So i came out just simple solution using Middleware to validate HTTP header request.

Specify header

Define constant what would be the HTTP header name should be send by API

const TIMESTAMP = 'X-Timestamp';

Check timestamp range

Lets say we only accept timestamp different range less than 30 seconds only

now()->diffInSeconds(Carbon::parse($timestamp)) < 30

Lastly

It would be something like this.

TimestampProtection.php View on GitHub

<?php
namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use \RuntimeException;
use Closure;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Carbon;

class TimestampProtection
{
    const TIMESTAMP = 'X-Timestamp';
    /**
     * Handle an incoming request.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
     * @param  \Closure  $next
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next)
    {
        if (!$timestamp = $request->header(self::TIMESTAMP)) {
            throw new \RuntimeException('Service blocked! Need to specify request timestamp header');
        }

        if (now()->diffInSeconds(Carbon::parse($timestamp)) > 30) {
            throw new \RuntimeException('Service blocked! Invalid Timestamp Synchronization');
        }

        return $next($request);
    }
}

That’s it 😁. Simple solution from me. Thank for your time