Check each node.js request for authentication credentials - authentication

Question

I'm using node.js with Express and connect-auth to authenticate users.
This is the verification when requesting /index:
if(req.isAuthenticated()) {
res.redirect('/dashboard');
} else {
res.render('index', { layout: 'nonav' });
}
However, after logging out and going back to f.e. '/dashboard', I can see the dashboard.
How can I put the authentication check to every request to make sure there's a valid user at all times?
Update
I don't have any problems with the authentication, everything works fine! I need a solution which checks every route/request if there's a valid user, without putting a function or if-statement in the route-implementation, as the whole App needs a valid user anyway. The Express-Authentication-Example uses "restrict" in the route-definition, which is close, but with many routes it can easily be forgotten.

Answer 1

app.all('*',function(req,res,next){
if(req.isAuthenticated()){
next();
}else{
next(new Error(401)); // 401 Not Authorized
}
});
// NOTE: depending on your version of express,
// you may need to use app.error here, rather
// than app.use.
app.use(function(err,req,res,next){
// Just basic, should be filled out to next()
// or respond on all possible code paths
if(err instanceof Error){
if(err.message === '401'){
res.render('error401');
}
}
});
If you define the all route before routes which require authentication and after routes which do not (such as the home page, login, etc) then it should only affect the routes that need it. Alternatively you could use a RegExp instead of '*', which would include a subpath or list of paths that require authentication.
Another option would be to create a function to include in each route that requires auth:
function IsAuthenticated(req,res,next){
if(req.isAuthenticated()){
next();
}else{
next(new Error(401));
}
}
app.get('/login',function(req,res,next){
res.render('login');
});
app.get('/dashboard',IsAuthenticated,function(req,res,next){
res.render('dashboard');
});
app.get('/settings',IsAuthenticated,function(req,res,next){
res.render('settings');
});

Answer 2

You can use sessions mechanism provided by connect. Put this code in app.configure() to enable it:
app.use(express.cookieParser());
app.use(express.session({
secret: 'some string used for calculating hash'
}));
After that, you′ll be able to use req.session object (different for each request) to store your authentication data (or anything else). So, your example code will look something like this:
if (req.session && req.session.authorized) {
res.redirect('/dashboard');
}
else {
res.render('index', {layout: 'nonav'});
}
And authentication will look like this:
req.session.authorized = checkPassword(login, passw);
Logout:
req.session.destroy();
More info can be found here.

Answer 3

Another way is to app.use a middleware function. (Example in CoffeeScript.)
# middleware
authKick = (req, res, next) ->
if not do req.isAuthenticated then return res.redirect '/login'
return do next
# apply
app.use authKick
This will work on each request without having to touch the routes.