Create the RSA SHA-1 or SHA-256 signature Create the signed cookies Full code

Create signed cookies using PHP

The following code example is similar to the example in the Create a URL signature using PHP in that it creates a link to a video. However, instead of signing the URL in the code, this example signs the cookies with the create_signed_cookies() function. The client-side player uses the cookies to authenticate each request to the CloudFront distribution.

This approach is useful to stream content, such as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) or Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH), where the client needs to make multiple requests to retrieve the manifest, segments, and related playback assets. By using signed cookies, the client can authenticate each request without needing to generate a new signed URL for each segment.

Note

Creating a URL signature is just one part of the process of serving private content using signed cookies. For more information, see Use signed cookies.

Topics

Create the RSA SHA-1 or SHA-256 signature
Create the signed cookies
Full code

The following sections breaks down the code example into individual parts. You can find the complete code sample below.

Create the RSA SHA-1 or SHA-256 signature

This code example does the following:

The function rsa_sha1_sign hashes and signs the policy statement using SHA-1. To use SHA-256 instead, use the rsa_sha256_sign function shown below. The arguments required are a policy statement and the private key that corresponds with a public key that’s in a trusted key group for your distribution.

Next, the url_safe_base64_encode function creates a URL-safe version of the signature.


function rsa_sha1_sign($policy, $private_key_filename) {
    $signature = "";
    $fp = fopen($private_key_filename, "r");
    $priv_key = fread($fp, 8192);
    fclose($fp);
    $pkeyid = openssl_get_privatekey($priv_key);
    openssl_sign($policy, $signature, $pkeyid);
    openssl_free_key($pkeyid);
    return $signature;
}

function url_safe_base64_encode($value) {
    $encoded = base64_encode($value);
    return str_replace(
        array('+', '=', '/'),
        array('-', '_', '~'),
        $encoded);
}

The following function uses SHA-256 instead of SHA-1:


function rsa_sha256_sign($policy, $private_key_filename) {
    $signature = "";
    $fp = fopen($private_key_filename, "r");
    $priv_key = fread($fp, 8192);
    fclose($fp);
    $pkeyid = openssl_get_privatekey($priv_key);
    openssl_sign($policy, $signature, $pkeyid, OPENSSL_ALGO_SHA256);
    openssl_free_key($pkeyid);
    return $signature;
}

The rsa_sha256_sign function is the same as rsa_sha1_sign, except that it passes OPENSSL_ALGO_SHA256 to openssl_sign. When you use SHA-256, include the CloudFront-Hash-Algorithm cookie with a value of SHA256.

The following code constructs a creates the signed cookies, using the following cookie attributes: CloudFront-Expires, CloudFront-Signature, CloudFront-Key-Pair-Id and CloudFront-Hash-Algorithm. The code uses a custom policy.


function create_signed_cookies($resource, $private_key_filename, $key_pair_id, $expires, $client_ip = null, $hash_algorithm = 'SHA1') {
    $policy = array(
        'Statement' => array(
            array(
                'Resource' => $resource,
                'Condition' => array(
                    'DateLessThan' => array('AWS:EpochTime' => $expires)
                )
            )
        )
    );

    if ($client_ip) {
        $policy['Statement'][0]['Condition']['IpAddress'] = array('AWS:SourceIp' => $client_ip . '/32');
    }

    $policy = json_encode($policy);
    $encoded_policy = url_safe_base64_encode($policy);
    if ($hash_algorithm === 'SHA256') {
        $signature = rsa_sha256_sign($policy, $private_key_filename);
    } else {
        $signature = rsa_sha1_sign($policy, $private_key_filename);
    }
    $encoded_signature = url_safe_base64_encode($signature);

    $cookies = array(
        'CloudFront-Policy' => $encoded_policy,
        'CloudFront-Signature' => $encoded_signature,
        'CloudFront-Key-Pair-Id' => $key_pair_id
    );

    if ($hash_algorithm === 'SHA256') {
        $cookies['CloudFront-Hash-Algorithm'] = 'SHA256';
    }

    return $cookies;
}

For more information, see Set signed cookies using a custom policy.

Full code

The following example code provides a complete demonstration of creating CloudFront signed cookies with PHP. You can download the full example from the demo-php.zip file.

In the following example, you can modify the $policy Condition element to allow both IPv4 and IPv6 address ranges. For an example, see Using IPv6 addresses in IAM policies in the Amazon Simple Storage Service User Guide.


<?php

function rsa_sha1_sign($policy, $private_key_filename) {
    $signature = "";
    $fp = fopen($private_key_filename, "r");
    $priv_key = fread($fp, 8192);
    fclose($fp);
    $pkeyid = openssl_get_privatekey($priv_key);
    openssl_sign($policy, $signature, $pkeyid);
    openssl_free_key($pkeyid);
    return $signature;
}

function url_safe_base64_encode($value) {
    $encoded = base64_encode($value);
    return str_replace(
        array('+', '=', '/'),
        array('-', '_', '~'),
        $encoded);
}

function rsa_sha256_sign($policy, $private_key_filename) {
    $signature = "";
    $fp = fopen($private_key_filename, "r");
    $priv_key = fread($fp, 8192);
    fclose($fp);
    $pkeyid = openssl_get_privatekey($priv_key);
    openssl_sign($policy, $signature, $pkeyid, OPENSSL_ALGO_SHA256);
    openssl_free_key($pkeyid);
    return $signature;
}

function create_signed_cookies($resource, $private_key_filename, $key_pair_id, $expires, $client_ip = null, $hash_algorithm = 'SHA1') {
    $policy = array(
        'Statement' => array(
            array(
                'Resource' => $resource,
                'Condition' => array(
                    'DateLessThan' => array('AWS:EpochTime' => $expires)
                )
            )
        )
    );

    if ($client_ip) {
        $policy['Statement'][0]['Condition']['IpAddress'] = array('AWS:SourceIp' => $client_ip . '/32');
    }

    $policy = json_encode($policy);
    $encoded_policy = url_safe_base64_encode($policy);
    if ($hash_algorithm === 'SHA256') {
        $signature = rsa_sha256_sign($policy, $private_key_filename);
    } else {
        $signature = rsa_sha1_sign($policy, $private_key_filename);
    }
    $encoded_signature = url_safe_base64_encode($signature);

    $cookies = array(
        'CloudFront-Policy' => $encoded_policy,
        'CloudFront-Signature' => $encoded_signature,
        'CloudFront-Key-Pair-Id' => $key_pair_id
    );

    if ($hash_algorithm === 'SHA256') {
        $cookies['CloudFront-Hash-Algorithm'] = 'SHA256';
    }

    return $cookies;
}



$private_key_filename = '/home/test/secure/example-priv-key.pem';
$key_pair_id = 'K2JCJMDEHXQW5F';
$base_url = 'https://d1234.cloudfront.net';

$expires = time() + 3600; // 1 hour from now

// Get the viewer real IP from the x-forward-for header as $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] will return viewer facing IP. An alternative option is to use CloudFront-Viewer-Address header. Note that this header is a trusted CloudFront immutable header. Example format: IP:PORT ("CloudFront-Viewer-Address": "1.2.3.4:12345")
$client_ip = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];


// For HLS manifest and segments (using wildcard)
$hls_resource = $base_url . '/sign/*';
$signed_cookies = create_signed_cookies($hls_resource, $private_key_filename, $key_pair_id, $expires, $client_ip, 'SHA256');

// Set the cookies
$cookie_domain = parse_url($base_url, PHP_URL_HOST);
foreach ($signed_cookies as $name => $value) {
    setcookie($name, $value, $expires, '/', $cookie_domain, true, true);
}

?>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>CloudFront Signed HLS Stream with Cookies</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Amazon CloudFront Signed HLS Stream with Cookies</h1>
    <h2>Expires at <?php echo gmdate('Y-m-d H:i:s T', $expires); ?> only viewable by IP <?php echo $client_ip; ?></h2>
    
    <div id='hls-video'>
        <video id="video" width="640" height="360" controls></video>
    </div>

    <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/hls.js@latest"></script>
    <script>
        var video = document.getElementById('video');
        var manifestUrl = '<?php echo $base_url; ?>/sign/manifest.m3u8';
        
        if (Hls.isSupported()) {
            var hls = new Hls();
            hls.loadSource(manifestUrl);
            hls.attachMedia(video);
        }
        else if (video.canPlayType('application/vnd.apple.mpegurl')) {
            video.src = manifestUrl;
        }
    </script>
</body>
</html>

Instead of using signed cookies, you can use signed URLs. For more information, see Create a URL signature using PHP.

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Document Conventions

Set signed cookies using a custom policy

Linux commands and OpenSSL for base64 encoding and encryption