Manabi

  ┌───────────┐             ┌───────────┐
  │           │   Token     │           │
  │   Manabi  ├────────────►│    API    │
  │           │   Hook      │           │
  └───────────┘             └─────┬─────┘
        ▲                         │
        │                         │ doc API
WebDAV  │  PUT                    │
        │                   Token │
        │  Token                  ▼
 ┌──────┴──────┐           ┌─────────────┐
 │             │   Token   │             │
 │  Word / LO  │◄──────────┤  Frontend   │
 │             │    Link   │             │
 └─────────────┘           └─────────────┘

Case: Users should have the capability to edit documents in Word and LibreOffice.

Problem: We need to ensure the integrity and authenticity of the WebDAV link passed to Word/LO, confirming that it has not been tampered with or generated by an unauthorized third party.

Solution:

• The API generates an ephemeral branca token. This token is a temporary and short-lived cryptographic token that contains the file-path as an encrypted payload.
• Both the API and Manabi share a key. In a symmetric shared-key scenario, encryption can also be employed to verify the data.
• The frontend displays a link that includes the ephemeral token along with the document, allowing users to easily edit it in Word/LO.
• When the user clicks the link, the document opens in Word/LO.
• Manabi retrieves the token from the request URI, checks its validity, and proceeds to open the document if the token is verified.
• The token is updated and stored as a cookie within Word/LO for future reference.
• Due to the ephemeral WebDAV lock, Word/LO must regularly contact Manabi to refresh the lock. Consequently, we leverage this mechanism to also refresh the token.

cb_hook_config: We provide an optional write-hooks/callbacks feature that enhances the API's capabilities by adding a versioning system. The pre-write- hook/callback is invoked with the token as an argument prior to the document being saved using WebDAV-PUT. The API has the ability to verify this token and subsequently create a new version of the document. Once the hook operation is successfully completed, Manabi takes over and saves the document. Manabi then continues and invokes the post-write-hook/callback.

Install

Make sure libsodium exists on the system, for example execute:

apk add --no-cache libsodium
apt-get install -y libsodium23

Config

Call manabi-keygen and add the key to config["manabi"]["key"]. The key is shared between the caluma/alexandria backend and the WebDAV server.

mount_path

Prefix that gets passed to wsgidav, if URL rewrites remove any prefixes use "/"

lock_storage

The ManabiLockLockStorage forces the WebDav log-timeout to token-refresh-time / 2

provider_mapping

Extends the FilesystemProvider any will only serve files if the token is valid

pre_write_hook

A hook to enhance the API's capabilities, for example versioning of documents.

middleware_stack

Based on the default middleware_stack but HTTPAuthenticator is replace by ManabiAuthenticator, which validates the tokens.

manabi.key

Shared-key between the server that creates tokens to grant access and wsgi-dav

manabi.refresh

How often tokens are refreshed in seconds, we recommend 10 minutes: 600

manabi.initial

The time from the token being generated till it has to be refreshed the first time, we recommend 1 minues: 60. In case tokens leak, for example via cache on a computer, tokens should be expired by the time an adversary gets them.

from manabi import ManabiDAVApp

# All hooks and callbacks are optional
cb_hook_config = CallbackHookConfig(
    pre_write_hook=_pre_write_hook,
    pre_write_callback=_pre_write_callback,
    post_write_hook=_post_write_hook,
    post_write_callback=_post_write_callback,
)

postgres_dsn = "dbname=manabi user=manabi host=localhost password=manabi"
config = {
    "mount_path": "/dav",
    "lock_storage": ManabiDbLockStorage(refresh, postgres_dsn),
    "provider_mapping": {
        "/": ManabiProvider(settings.MEDIA_ROOT, cb_hook_config=cb_hook_config),
    },
    "middleware_stack": [
        WsgiDavDebugFilter,
        ErrorPrinter,
        ManabiAuthenticator,
        WsgiDavDirBrowser,
        RequestResolver,
    ],
    "manabi": {
        "key": key,
        "refresh": refresh,
        "initial": settings.MANABI_TOKEN_ACTIVATE_TIMEOUT,
    },
}
dav_app = ManabiDAVApp(config)

Dev

Enable dev-env:

pyenv install 3.12.11
poetry env use $HOME/.pyenv/versions/3.12.11/bin/python3.12
poetry install
poetry run python -m manabi.mypy_fix
poetry shell
docker-compose up -d db
(cd manabi_django && ./manage.py migrate manabi_migrations)

Typing rules

My typing rules for this project (there are no company rules):

• In tests # type: ignore is allowed if fixing the issue does not help production-code
• In production-code # type: ignore is allowed if a manual check happens or we can guarantee some runtime behavior. For example we guarantee that a weakref is always valid. Similar to unsafe in rust.