Merge pull request #117 from LINUXexpert-org/immutable-session-seam

Let the container run with nothing writable

.env.example

@@ -28,8 +28,20 @@ SESSION_TTL=43200
 SESSION_REMEMBER_TTL=2592000
 
 # Where to persist sessions so restarts don't log everyone out (optional).
+# Leave it empty to hold sessions in memory only, which is what an immutable
+# instance does -- see IMMUTABLE below.
 SESSION_FILE=./data/sessions.json
 
+# Assert that this instance is running as an immutable container: read-only
+# root filesystem, no durable state of its own. It is checked rather than
+# taken on trust -- the server refuses to start if SESSION_FILE is set, or if
+# the filesystem it is installed on turns out to be writable. Off by default.
+# Running one looks like:
+#   docker run --read-only --tmpfs /tmp -e IMMUTABLE=1 -e SESSION_FILE= ...
+# The cost today is that a restart signs everyone out, since there is nowhere
+# left to keep the sessions. Removing that cost is what the OAuth work is for.
+# IMMUTABLE=1
+
 # Upstream timeouts / limits
 UPSTREAM_TIMEOUT=30000
 MAX_UPLOAD_BYTES=52428800

Dockerfile

@@ -37,7 +37,15 @@ COPY --from=build /app/server/dist ./server/dist
 COPY --from=build /app/web/dist ./web/dist
 RUN mkdir -p /data && chown -R node:node /data /app
 USER node
-VOLUME ["/data"]
+# No `VOLUME ["/data"]`. It reads like documentation for where the session file
+# goes, but Docker acts on it: a container started without `-v` gets an
+# anonymous volume mounted there anyway, and that mount stays writable even
+# under `--read-only`. So the directive quietly put a writable hole in a
+# container meant to be immutable, and left an orphaned volume behind every
+# time one was replaced -- while never persisting anything across a redeploy,
+# since each new container got a fresh empty volume of its own. Deployments
+# that want the sessions to survive say so themselves: docker-compose.yml and
+# deploy.example.sh both mount a *named* volume at /data, which is unaffected.
 EXPOSE 8080
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=5s CMD wget -qO- http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/health || exit 1
 CMD ["node", "server/dist/index.js"]

README.md

@@ -83,6 +83,29 @@ Full instructions, TLS, and every environment variable:
 [Installing](https://docs.ihasmail.org/install/) ·
 [Configuring](https://docs.ihasmail.org/configure/).
 
+### Running immutably
+
+The server writes to exactly one path, the optional `SESSION_FILE`. Clear it
+and there is nothing left to write, so the container can run with no writable
+filesystem at all:
+
+```bash
+docker run --read-only --tmpfs /tmp -e IMMUTABLE=1 -e SESSION_FILE= ...
+```
+
+`IMMUTABLE=1` is an assertion the server checks at startup rather than a switch
+that changes what it does: it refuses to start if `SESSION_FILE` is still set,
+or if the filesystem it is installed on turns out to be writable after all.
+Without it the same misconfiguration is silent — sessions are held in memory
+and persisting them is best-effort, so a read-only `/data` costs one warning at
+the first sign-in and nothing else until the instance is replaced and everyone
+is signed out.
+
+That sign-out is the standing cost of this mode today, since sessions have
+nowhere to live across a restart. Removing it means moving the session upstream
+into a token Stalwart itself issues and can revoke, which is what the OAuth work
+in [ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md) is for.
+
 ## Architecture
 
 ```

server/src/app.ts

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import type { Context, MiddlewareHandler } from "hono";
 import { getCookie, setCookie, deleteCookie } from "hono/cookie";
 import { getConnInfo } from "@hono/node-server/conninfo";
 import { config } from "./config.js";
-import { SessionStore, type LiveSession } from "./sessions.js";
+import { SessionStore, type SessionBackend, type LiveSession } from "./sessions.js";
 import { RateLimiter } from "./ratelimit.js";
 import { resolveClientIp } from "./clientip.js";
 import {
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ import { staticHandler } from "./static.js";
 
 type Env = { Variables: { session: LiveSession } };
 
-export const sessions = new SessionStore(config.sessionFile);
+export const sessions: SessionBackend = new SessionStore(config.sessionFile);
 const loginLimiter = new RateLimiter(config.loginRateLimit, 15 * 60_000);
 /**
  * Credential changes verify the current password upstream, and Stalwart's

server/src/config.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import { test } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { chmodSync, existsSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync } from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { assertImmutable } from "./config.js";
+
+function tempRoot(): string {
+  return mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "ihasmail-immutable-"));
+}
+
+test("IMMUTABLE refuses a configured SESSION_FILE", () => {
+  const root = tempRoot();
+  try {
+    assert.throws(() => assertImmutable("/data/sessions.json", root), /SESSION_FILE is \/data\/sessions\.json/);
+  } finally {
+    rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});
+
+test("IMMUTABLE refuses a writable root, and leaves no probe behind", () => {
+  const root = tempRoot();
+  try {
+    assert.throws(() => assertImmutable("", root), /is writable/);
+    assert.equal(existsSync(join(root, ".immutable-probe")), false);
+  } finally {
+    rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});
+
+test("IMMUTABLE accepts a root it cannot write to", () => {
+  const root = tempRoot();
+  try {
+    chmodSync(root, 0o555);
+    assert.doesNotThrow(() => assertImmutable("", root));
+  } finally {
+    chmodSync(root, 0o755);
+    rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});

server/src/config.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { resolveVersion } from "../../scripts/version.mjs";
 import { randomBytes } from "node:crypto";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
-import { existsSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { existsSync, readFileSync, unlinkSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { resolve } from "node:path";
 
 /** Minimal .env loader (no dependency): first match wins, never overrides real env. */
@@ -58,6 +58,58 @@ if (!appSecret || appSecret === "change-me") {
 
 const stalwartUrl = env("STALWART_URL", "https://mail.example.com").replace(/\/+$/, "");
 
+/**
+ * Declares that this instance is running as an immutable container: read-only
+ * root filesystem, nothing durable of its own, replaceable by its image.
+ *
+ * It is a claim the process checks rather than one it takes on trust, because
+ * the failure it guards against is silent. Left to itself the server survives
+ * a read-only filesystem perfectly well -- sessions are held in memory and the
+ * write is best-effort, so the only sign that `SESSION_FILE` is going nowhere
+ * is one warning at the first login, long after anyone was watching. The
+ * instance looks healthy right up until it is replaced and everyone is signed
+ * out. Setting IMMUTABLE turns both halves of that into a refusal to start.
+ */
+const immutable = bool("IMMUTABLE", false);
+const sessionFile = process.env.SESSION_FILE ?? "";
+
+/**
+ * Refuse to run when the promise IMMUTABLE makes is not one this instance can
+ * keep. Exported so it can be tested without a read-only filesystem to hand.
+ */
+export function assertImmutable(sessionFile: string, root: string): void {
+  // The image sets SESSION_FILE=/data/sessions.json, so this is a deliberate
+  // refusal rather than a formality: running immutably means clearing it. It
+  // is not quietly ignored, because a configured path that silently persists
+  // nothing is exactly the failure this flag exists to surface.
+  if (sessionFile) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `IMMUTABLE is set, but SESSION_FILE is ${sessionFile}. An immutable instance keeps no durable state of its own: ` +
+        "pass SESSION_FILE= (empty) to hold sessions in memory, or unset IMMUTABLE.",
+    );
+  }
+  // And check the property itself, not just the intention to have it. Setting
+  // the variable while forgetting `--read-only` is the easy mistake, and it
+  // leaves an instance claiming a guarantee it does not have.
+  const probe = resolve(root, ".immutable-probe");
+  let writable = false;
+  try {
+    writeFileSync(probe, "");
+    writable = true;
+    unlinkSync(probe);
+  } catch {
+    /* EROFS, or EACCES on a root we do not own: either way, not writable by us */
+  }
+  if (writable) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `IMMUTABLE is set, but ${root} is writable. Run the container with --read-only (and --tmpfs /tmp), or unset IMMUTABLE.`,
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+if (immutable) assertImmutable(sessionFile, fileURLToPath(new URL("../..", import.meta.url)));
+
+
 export const config = {
   isProd,
   appName: env("APP_NAME", "ihasmail"),
@@ -92,7 +144,9 @@ export const config = {
   secureCookies: (process.env.SECURE_COOKIES ?? "auto").toLowerCase(),
   sessionTtl: int("SESSION_TTL", 12 * 60 * 60),
   sessionRememberTtl: int("SESSION_REMEMBER_TTL", 30 * 24 * 60 * 60),
-  sessionFile: process.env.SESSION_FILE ?? "",
+  sessionFile,
+  /** True when this instance has asserted, and verified, that it is immutable. */
+  immutable,
   upstreamTimeout: int("UPSTREAM_TIMEOUT", 30_000),
   maxUploadBytes: int("MAX_UPLOAD_BYTES", 50 * 1024 * 1024),
   imageProxy: bool("IMAGE_PROXY", true),

server/src/sessions.ts

@@ -34,9 +34,64 @@ export interface LiveSession {
   ip: string;
 }
 
+/** What `/api/auth/sessions` reports about a session, with nothing secret in it. */
+export interface SessionSummary {
+  id: string;
+  username: string;
+  createdAt: number;
+  lastSeenAt: number;
+  expiresAt: number;
+  remember: boolean;
+  userAgent: string;
+  ip: string;
+}
+
+export interface CreateSessionParams {
+  username: string;
+  password: string;
+  remember: boolean;
+  userAgent: string;
+  ip: string;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Everything the rest of the server asks of a session store.
+ *
+ * There is one implementation today -- `SessionStore` below, which keeps the
+ * records in memory and optionally mirrors them to `SESSION_FILE`. The reason
+ * it is named as an interface anyway is that a second one is planned: a
+ * stateless backend that carries the whole record in the cookie, so that a
+ * replica can serve a session it never issued and `/data` can go away. Callers
+ * written against the concrete class would all have to be revisited then.
+ *
+ * Five of these are already stateless in shape -- `create`, `resolve`,
+ * `reseal` and `destroy` each touch exactly one session, and the sealing key is
+ * derived from the cookie secret (see `crypto.ts`), so the record can move into
+ * the cookie without the server keeping a map.
+ *
+ * The other two cannot be. `listForUser` and `destroyAllForUser` have to reach
+ * sessions other than the one presenting itself, which means something has to
+ * be enumerable somewhere. `destroyAllForUser` is not only the "sign out my
+ * other sessions" button: `app.ts` also calls it when the password or the app
+ * password changes, so it carries the guarantee that changing a credential
+ * invalidates the sessions still holding the old one. A stateless backend
+ * cannot honour that alone; the plan is for OAuth to hand the job to
+ * Stalwart's own token registry, which can already answer both questions.
+ */
+export interface SessionBackend {
+  init(): Promise<void>;
+  close(): Promise<void>;
+  create(params: CreateSessionParams): { cookie: string; session: LiveSession };
+  resolve(cookie: string | undefined): LiveSession | null;
+  reseal(cookie: string | undefined, password: string): boolean;
+  destroy(id: string): void;
+  destroyAllForUser(username: string, exceptId?: string): number;
+  listForUser(username: string): SessionSummary[];
+}
+
 const COOKIE_SEP = ".";
 
-export class SessionStore {
+export class SessionStore implements SessionBackend {
   private sessions = new Map<string, StoredSession>();
   private dirty = false;
   private saveTimer: NodeJS.Timeout | null = null;
@@ -104,13 +159,7 @@ export class SessionStore {
   }
 
   /** Create a session; returns the cookie value to hand to the client. */
-  create(params: {
-    username: string;
-    password: string;
-    remember: boolean;
-    userAgent: string;
-    ip: string;
-  }): { cookie: string; session: LiveSession } {
+  create(params: CreateSessionParams): { cookie: string; session: LiveSession } {
     const id = randomToken(18);
     const secret = randomToken(32);
     const salt = randomBytes(16);
@@ -211,7 +260,7 @@ export class SessionStore {
     return n;
   }
 
-  listForUser(username: string): Array<Omit<StoredSession, "secretHash" | "salt" | "sealedCredentials">> {
+  listForUser(username: string): SessionSummary[] {
     const out = [];
     for (const s of this.sessions.values()) {
       if (s.username !== username) continue;