generate URL for nginx secure_link

secure_link.php

<?php

/**
 * @param $baseUrl - non protected part of the URL including hostname, e.g. http://example.com
 * @param $path - protected path to the file, e.g. /downloads/myfile.zip
 * @param $secret - the shared secret with the nginx server. Keep this info secure!!!
 * @param $ttl - the number of seconds until this link expires
 * @param $userIp - ip of the user allowed to download
 * @return string
 */
function buildSecureLink($baseUrl, $path, $secret, $ttl, $userIp)
{
    $expires = time() + $ttl;
    $md5 = md5("$expires$path$userIp $secret", true);
    $md5 = base64_encode($md5);
    $md5 = strtr($md5, '+/', '-_');
    $md5 = str_replace('=', '', $md5);

    return $baseUrl . $path . '?md5=' . $md5 . '&expires=' . $expires;
}

// example usage
$secret = 'the_secret_key_configured_in_nginx';
$baseUrl = 'http://example.com';
$path = '/path/to/file.zip';
$ttl = 120; //no of seconds this link is active
$userIp = '195.99.99.99'; // normally you would read this from something like $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

echo buildSecureLink($baseUrl, $path, $secret, $ttl, $userIp);

You Sir are amazing, thank you for sharing this. I NEVER would have been able to figure this secure link thing alone, you saved me big time. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

Thank you so much, you are the time-saver

THANKKK you a lot bro.

it not working for different server. like server 1 is where stored the zip file and server 2 were the secure_link.php was configured. please help how to fixed?

I know that I'm a little bit later, but I'm having on 403, for each link that I generate.

The PHP is getting the IP and time right, but I still have 403. Any clues?

There are some examples on the nginx docs page on how to generate the md5 hash using linux commands.
http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_secure_link_module.html#secure_link

You could try to compare what you get from php with this and see if there's any difference.

Thanks for your reply, even generating the md5 hash in Linux and not at the PHP file, I will getting 403 when trying to serve the video file.

Then, maybe there's something wrong with the nginx config.

I'm using the config provided above, and all the PHP is running ok on the subdomain. Also tried the config from (https://rahul-juneja3.medium.com/how-to-create-secure-download-link-urls-via-nginx-5578a0db5913), with and without the 443 SSL from certbot.

Well, at this point, I would look for small typos, maybe the secret is not the same in nginx config and in your php script. Maybe a weird character copy pasted somewhere.

I don't have any other ideas... :)

UPD. did it in this way

location section {
    if ($secure_link = "0") {
          return 419;
    }
}
...
error_page 419 = @unsecure;
....
location @unsecure {
    # Handle unsecure requests here
    rewrite "^/([0-9]+)/th_([a-z0-9-_]+).(jpg|png|gif)$" /local_folder/picture.php?id=$1&size=th&idx=01&tkey=$tkey;
}

is there any possibility to rewrite or redirect to php script using wildcards in case of expired image?
e.g. something like

if($secure_link = "0") {
    rewrite "^/([0-9]{7})/th_([a-z0-9-_]+).(jpg|png|gif)$" /local_folder/picture.php?id=$1&size=th&idx=01&tkey=$tkey break;
}

but then the php file is saved and not loaded in the browser.
When I enter in browser URL https://this.server/local_folder/picture.php?id=XXXXX&size=th&idx=01&tkey=XXXXXXXXXXX - all is loading fine (image with filters is shown)
There's a block in server setting, which handles php scripts

location ~ \.php$ {
    include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
}

when I use

if($secure_link = "0") {
    return 302 /local_folder/picture.php?id=$1&size=th&idx=01&tkey=$tkey;
}

all working - URL is redirected, image is shown. But how to use rewrite here? Better solution is to keep original URL

Any ideas?