Security Hardening: Phase 1-3 complete

- C1: Hash refresh tokens before DB storage (sha256)
- C2: Remove JWT_SECRET fallback, fail hard if missing
- H1: Enforce HTTP methods per route (405 on mismatch)
- H2: CORS with origin whitelist from CORS_ORIGIN env var
- H3: Redact sensitive fields (tokens, passwords) from logs
- M1: Build HmacMiddleware with replay attack prevention
- M2: Fix rate limiter race condition with flock LOCK_EX
- M3: Guard dd() — suppressed in production
- M4: Remove .env from git tracking, strengthen .gitignore
- I1: Add HSTS header (max-age=31536000)

app/bootstrap/init.php

@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ define('ROOT_PATH', dirname(__DIR__, 2));
 define('APP_PATH', ROOT_PATH . '/app');
 define('STORAGE_PATH', ROOT_PATH . '/storage');
 
-// 2. Load Environment Loader & Helpers FIRST
+// 2. Load Environment & Helpers FIRST
 require_once APP_PATH . '/bootstrap/env.php';
 require_once APP_PATH . '/helpers/helpers.php';
 
-// 3. Error Reporting (Secure for production - Now we can use env())
+// 3. Error Reporting (Secure for production)
 if (env('APP_DEBUG', 'false') === 'true') {
     error_reporting(E_ALL);
     ini_set('display_errors', '1');
@@ -23,36 +23,58 @@ if (env('APP_DEBUG', 'false') === 'true') {
     ini_set('display_errors', '0');
 }
 
-// 4. Security Headers
+// 4. H2 Fix: CORS — Whitelist only known origins
+$allowedOrigins = array_filter(array_map('trim', explode(',', env('CORS_ORIGIN', 'https://musadaq.intaleqapp.com'))));
+$requestOrigin  = $_SERVER['HTTP_ORIGIN'] ?? '';
+
+if (in_array($requestOrigin, $allowedOrigins, true)) {
+    header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin: {$requestOrigin}");
+} else {
+    // Fallback to first allowed origin (for non-browser API clients)
+    header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin: " . ($allowedOrigins[0] ?? ''));
+}
+
+header("Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, OPTIONS");
+header("Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Content-Type, Authorization, X-HMAC-Signature, X-Timestamp");
+header("Access-Control-Allow-Credentials: true");
+header("Vary: Origin");
+
+// Handle CORS preflight
+if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'OPTIONS') {
+    http_response_code(204);
+    exit;
+}
+
+// 5. Security Headers
 header("X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff");
 header("X-Frame-Options: DENY");
 header("X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block");
 header("Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin");
+header("Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains"); // I1 Fix: HSTS
 
-// 5. Intelligent Autoloader (Case-Insensitive for directories)
+// 6. Intelligent Autoloader (Case-Insensitive for directories)
 spl_autoload_register(function ($class) {
-    $prefix = 'App\\';
+    $prefix   = 'App\\';
     $base_dir = APP_PATH . '/';
-    
+
     $len = strlen($prefix);
     if (strncmp($prefix, $class, $len) !== 0) return;
-    
+
     $relative_class = substr($class, $len);
-    
-    // Normalize path to lowercase for directories, keep filename case
-    $parts = explode('\\', $relative_class);
+
+    $parts    = explode('\\', $relative_class);
     $filename = array_pop($parts) . '.php';
-    $dir = strtolower(implode('/', $parts));
-    
+    $dir      = strtolower(implode('/', $parts));
+
     $file = $base_dir . ($dir ? $dir . '/' : '') . $filename;
-    
+
     if (file_exists($file)) {
         require $file;
     }
 });
 
-// 6. Response Utility
+// 7. Response Utility
 require_once APP_PATH . '/bootstrap/response.php';
 
-// 7. Global Auth Helper
+// 8. Global Auth Helper
 require_once APP_PATH . '/bootstrap/auth.php';

app/bootstrap/response.php

@@ -1,51 +1,65 @@
 <?php
 /**
- * Standardized JSON Responses with Multi-Level Logging
+ * Standardized JSON Responses with Secure Logging
  */
 
 declare(strict_types=1);
 
 function json_response(bool $success, $data = null, ?string $message = null, int $code = 200) {
-    // 1. Prepare Log Entry
+    
+    // H3 Fix: Redact sensitive fields before logging
+    $safeData = $data;
+    if (is_array($safeData)) {
+        $sensitiveKeys = ['access_token', 'refresh_token', 'password', 'password_hash', 'refresh_token_hash', 'token'];
+        array_walk_recursive($safeData, function (&$value, $key) use ($sensitiveKeys) {
+            if (in_array(strtolower((string)$key), $sensitiveKeys, true)) {
+                $value = '[REDACTED]';
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    // Log (safe — no secrets)
     $logEntry = sprintf(
-        "API %s %s | Code: %d | Success: %s | Message: %s | Data: %s",
+        "API %s %s | %d | %s | %s",
         $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] ?? 'CLI',
         $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ?? '',
         $code,
-        $success ? 'YES' : 'NO',
-        $message ?? 'N/A',
-        json_encode($data, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE)
+        $success ? 'OK' : 'FAIL',
+        $message ?? 'N/A'
     );
-    
-    // 2. Log to Standard PHP Error Log (Visible in CloudPanel Logs)
+
     error_log($logEntry);
 
-    // 3. Try to log to custom app.log in storage folder
-    $logDir = STORAGE_PATH . '/logs';
+    // Try custom log file
+    $logDir  = STORAGE_PATH . '/logs';
     $logFile = $logDir . '/app.log';
-    
+
     try {
         if (!is_dir($logDir)) {
             @mkdir($logDir, 0775, true);
         }
         if (is_writable($logDir) || is_writable($logFile)) {
-            @file_put_contents($logFile, "[" . date('Y-m-d H:i:s') . "] " . $logEntry . "\n", FILE_APPEND);
+            @file_put_contents(
+                $logFile,
+                "[" . date('Y-m-d H:i:s') . "] " . $logEntry . "\n",
+                FILE_APPEND
+            );
         }
     } catch (\Exception $e) {
-        // Fallback if filesystem is locked
+        // Fallback silently
     }
 
-    // 4. HTTP Response
+    // HTTP Response
     header('Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8');
     http_response_code($code);
-    
+
     echo json_encode([
         'success'   => $success,
-        'data'      => $data,
+        'data'      => $data,       // Return real data to client
         'message'   => $message,
         'timestamp' => date('c')
     ], JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE);
-    
+
     exit;
 }
 

app/helpers/helpers.php

@@ -13,19 +13,25 @@ if (!function_exists('input')) {
     function input(string $key = null, $default = null) {
         static $inputData = null;
         if ($inputData === null) {
-            $json = file_get_contents('php://input');
+            $json      = file_get_contents('php://input');
             $inputData = array_merge($_GET, $_POST, json_decode($json, true) ?? []);
         }
-        
+
         if ($key === null) return $inputData;
         return $inputData[$key] ?? $default;
     }
 }
 
 if (!function_exists('dd')) {
+    // M3 Fix: Guard dd() so it never leaks data in production
     function dd(...$vars) {
+        if (env('APP_DEBUG', 'false') !== 'true') {
+            error_log('dd() called in production — suppressed. Check your code.');
+            json_error('Internal Server Error', 500);
+        }
+        header('Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8');
         foreach ($vars as $v) {
-            echo "<pre>";
+            echo "<pre style='background:#1e1e1e;color:#d4d4d4;padding:1rem;border-radius:4px;'>";
             var_dump($v);
             echo "</pre>";
         }

app/middleware/AuthMiddleware.php

@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@ final class AuthMiddleware
         $token = substr($authHeader, 7);
         $secret = env('JWT_SECRET');
         
+        if (!$secret || strlen($secret) < 32) {
+            error_log('FATAL: JWT_SECRET is missing or too short');
+            json_error('Server configuration error', 500);
+        }
+        
         $decoded = JWT::decode($token, $secret);
         
         if (!$decoded) {

app/middleware/HmacMiddleware.php

@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * HMAC Request Signature Middleware
+ * 
+ * Verifies that incoming requests are signed with a shared secret,
+ * preventing replay attacks and ensuring request integrity.
+ * 
+ * Client must send:
+ *   X-Timestamp: Unix timestamp (seconds)
+ *   X-HMAC-Signature: HMAC-SHA256(timestamp + "." + raw_body, HMAC_SECRET_KEY)
+ */
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace App\Middleware;
+
+use App\Core\Security;
+
+final class HmacMiddleware
+{
+    /**
+     * @param int $maxAgeSeconds Max age for replay attack window (default: 5 minutes)
+     */
+    public static function verify(int $maxAgeSeconds = 300): void
+    {
+        $headers   = getallheaders();
+        $signature = $headers['X-HMAC-Signature'] ?? $headers['x-hmac-signature'] ?? '';
+        $timestamp = $headers['X-Timestamp']      ?? $headers['x-timestamp']      ?? '';
+
+        // 1. Ensure both headers are present
+        if (empty($signature) || empty($timestamp)) {
+            json_error('Missing HMAC signature or timestamp', 401);
+        }
+
+        // 2. Validate timestamp is numeric
+        if (!ctype_digit((string)$timestamp)) {
+            json_error('Invalid timestamp format', 401);
+        }
+
+        // 3. Replay attack prevention — reject stale requests
+        $age = abs(time() - (int)$timestamp);
+        if ($age > $maxAgeSeconds) {
+            json_error('Request expired. Check your system clock.', 401);
+        }
+
+        // 4. Build the expected signature
+        $body    = file_get_contents('php://input');
+        $payload = $timestamp . '.' . $body;
+        $secret  = env('HMAC_SECRET_KEY');
+
+        if (!$secret || strlen($secret) < 32) {
+            error_log('FATAL: HMAC_SECRET_KEY is missing or too short in .env');
+            json_error('Server configuration error', 500);
+        }
+
+        // 5. Verify using constant-time comparison (prevents timing attacks)
+        if (!Security::verifySignature($payload, $signature, $secret)) {
+            error_log("HMAC verification failed for " . ($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ?? ''));
+            json_error('Invalid request signature', 401);
+        }
+    }
+}

app/middleware/RateLimitMiddleware.php

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?php
 /**
- * Simple Rate Limiting Middleware
+ * Rate Limiting Middleware (File-based, Race-Condition Safe)
  */
 
 declare(strict_types=1);
@@ -10,44 +10,62 @@ namespace App\Middleware;
 final class RateLimitMiddleware
 {
     /**
-     * Basic file-based rate limiter to keep dependencies zero.
-     * In a production multi-server setup, switch this to Redis/DB.
+     * File-based rate limiter with file-lock to prevent race conditions.
+     * For multi-server deployments, replace with Redis.
      */
     public static function check(int $maxRequests = 60, int $timeWindow = 60): void
     {
-        $ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] ?? 'unknown';
-        $cacheDir = STORAGE_PATH . '/cache';
-        $cacheFile = $cacheDir . '/rate_limit_' . md5($ip) . '.json';
-        
-        // Ensure cache directory exists
+        $ip        = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] ?? 'unknown';
+        $cacheDir  = STORAGE_PATH . '/cache';
+        $cacheFile = $cacheDir . '/rl_' . md5($ip) . '.json';
+
         if (!is_dir($cacheDir)) {
             mkdir($cacheDir, 0755, true);
         }
-        
-        $now = time();
-        $requests = [];
-        
-        // Read existing requests if file exists and is writable
-        if (file_exists($cacheFile)) {
-            $content = file_get_contents($cacheFile);
-            if ($content !== false) {
-                $data = json_decode($content, true);
-                if (is_array($data)) {
-                    // Filter out requests older than the time window
-                    $requests = array_filter($data, fn($timestamp) => $timestamp > ($now - $timeWindow));
+
+        // M2 Fix: Use exclusive file lock to prevent race condition
+        $fp = fopen($cacheFile, 'c+');
+        if ($fp === false) {
+            // If we can't open the file, fail open (don't block all users)
+            return;
+        }
+
+        try {
+            flock($fp, LOCK_EX); // Exclusive lock — blocks until acquired
+
+            $now      = time();
+            $content  = stream_get_contents($fp);
+            $requests = [];
+
+            if (!empty($content)) {
+                $decoded = json_decode($content, true);
+                if (is_array($decoded)) {
+                    // Keep only requests within the time window
+                    $requests = array_values(
+                        array_filter($decoded, fn($ts) => $ts > ($now - $timeWindow))
+                    );
                 }
             }
+
+            if (count($requests) >= $maxRequests) {
+                flock($fp, LOCK_UN);
+                fclose($fp);
+                
+                header('Retry-After: ' . $timeWindow);
+                json_error('Too Many Requests. Please slow down.', 429);
+            }
+
+            // Record this request
+            $requests[] = $now;
+
+            // Write updated data back
+            ftruncate($fp, 0);
+            rewind($fp);
+            fwrite($fp, json_encode($requests));
+
+        } finally {
+            flock($fp, LOCK_UN);
+            fclose($fp);
         }
-        
-        // Check limit
-        if (count($requests) >= $maxRequests) {
-            json_error('Too Many Requests. Please try again later.', 429);
-        }
-        
-        // Add current request
-        $requests[] = $now;
-        
-        // Save back to file
-        file_put_contents($cacheFile, json_encode(array_values($requests)));
     }
 }

app/modules_app/auth/login.php

@@ -39,7 +39,11 @@ if (!$user || !password_verify($password, $user['password_hash'])) {
 }
 
 // 3. Issue Token
-$secret = env('JWT_SECRET', 'super-secret-key');
+$secret = env('JWT_SECRET');
+if (!$secret || strlen($secret) < 32) {
+    error_log('FATAL: JWT_SECRET is missing or too short in .env');
+    json_error('Server configuration error', 500);
+}
 $payload = [
     'user_id' => $user['id'],
     'role'    => $user['role'],
@@ -48,10 +52,11 @@ $payload = [
 
 $token = JWT::encode($payload, $secret);
 
-// 4. Update Refresh Token (Simple stored in DB as requested)
+// 4. Update Refresh Token (Hashed before storage for security)
 $refreshToken = bin2hex(random_bytes(32));
+$refreshTokenHash = hash('sha256', $refreshToken);
 $stmt = $db->prepare("UPDATE users SET refresh_token_hash = ? WHERE id = ?");
-$stmt->execute([$refreshToken, $user['id']]);
+$stmt->execute([$refreshTokenHash, $user['id']]);
 
 json_success([
     'access_token'  => $token,

app/modules_app/auth/refresh.php

@@ -14,15 +14,20 @@ if (!$refreshToken) {
 }
 
 $db = Database::getInstance();
+$refreshTokenHash = hash('sha256', $refreshToken);
 $stmt = $db->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE refresh_token_hash = ? LIMIT 1");
-$stmt->execute([$refreshToken]);
+$stmt->execute([$refreshTokenHash]);
 $user = $stmt->fetch();
 
 if (!$user) {
     json_error('Invalid refresh token', 401);
 }
 
-$secret = env('JWT_SECRET', 'super-secret-key');
+$secret = env('JWT_SECRET');
+if (!$secret || strlen($secret) < 32) {
+    error_log('FATAL: JWT_SECRET is missing or too short in .env');
+    json_error('Server configuration error', 500);
+}
 $payload = [
     'user_id' => $user['id'],
     'role'    => $user['role'],
@@ -31,9 +36,10 @@ $payload = [
 
 $newToken = JWT::encode($payload, $secret);
 $newRefreshToken = bin2hex(random_bytes(32));
+$newRefreshTokenHash = hash('sha256', $newRefreshToken);
 
 $stmt = $db->prepare("UPDATE users SET refresh_token_hash = ? WHERE id = ?");
-$stmt->execute([$newRefreshToken, $user['id']]);
+$stmt->execute([$newRefreshTokenHash, $user['id']]);
 
 json_success([
     'access_token'  => $newToken,