Rust Service Security

Use this skill when a Rust service handles identity, credentials, sessions, cookies, privileged routes, or sensitive user data. Prefer explicit threat checks and tests over optimistic handler code.

Core Workflow

1. Identify the protected asset: account access, admin area, session state, password change, reset token, private data, or privileged operation.
2. Trace the whole flow: request parsing, credential lookup, verification, session mutation, redirects/responses, logs, and tests.
3. Keep secrets out of logs and debug output. Use secret wrappers for passwords, tokens, signing keys, and session secrets.
4. Run password hashing and verification with memory-hard algorithms and move CPU-heavy work off async reactor threads.
5. Prevent user enumeration. Failed login and password reset flows should not reveal whether the account exists.
6. Set cookie and session attributes deliberately: HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite, path, lifetime, signing/encryption, and store backend.
7. Protect routes at middleware or extractor boundaries, not by repeating ad-hoc checks in every handler.
8. Add tests for happy path, failed auth, missing session, forged cookie or token, and logout/session rotation behavior.

Password Rules

Read references/password-auth.md before implementing or changing password storage or verification.

• Store PHC strings produced by Argon2id or the project's chosen password hasher; never store plaintext or reversible encrypted passwords.
• Generate salts with a secure RNG.
• Use constant, generic responses for invalid credentials.
• Use tokio::task::spawn_blocking or a dedicated blocking abstraction for expensive password operations.
• Keep password hash parameters configurable enough to upgrade over time.

Cookie And Session Rules

Read references/cookies-sessions.md when setting, reading, deleting, signing, or persisting cookies and sessions.

• Never store raw credentials in cookies.
• Prefer opaque session IDs backed by a server-side store for privileged apps.
• Rotate or renew session state after login and privilege changes.
• Delete sessions server-side on logout when using a server-side store.
• Test security attributes on Set-Cookie headers.

Route Protection

Read references/auth-middleware.md when adding admin routes, extractors, guards, or framework middleware.

Keep handlers typed:

pub async fn admin_dashboard(user: AuthenticatedUser) -> Result<HttpResponse, AppError> {
    // Handler can assume authentication succeeded.
    Ok(HttpResponse::Ok().finish())
}

Avoid optional user lookups in handlers that require authentication; make the missing-user case impossible at the handler signature when the framework allows it.

Reference Files

• references/password-auth.md: Argon2, PHC strings, user enumeration, and blocking password work.
• references/cookies-sessions.md: cookie flags, signed messages, server-side sessions, and logout.
• references/auth-middleware.md: route guards, extractors, and typed session access.