How do security settings in config.yml and security.yml relate? - security

Question

I am trying to set up user and security management in a first test application of mine and I have come to be a bit lost as to what does what.
My setup thus far: Symfony 2.5, SonataUserBundle (and with it FOSUserBundle)
In my app/config/config.yml, I have the following settings that I make out to be relevant in terms of managing site security (most taken over from the setup instructions of the various bundles I included):
imports:
- { resource: security.yml }
[...]
fos_user:
firewall_name: main
[...]
security:
# FOSUserBundle config
# cf. https://github.com/FriendsOfSymfony/FOSUserBundle/blob/master/Resources/doc/index.md#step-4-configure-your-applications-securityyml
encoders:
FOS\UserBundle\Model\UserInterface: sha512
role_hierarchy:
ROLE_ADMIN: ROLE_USER
ROLE_SUPER_ADMIN: ROLE_ADMIN
providers:
fos_userbundle:
id: fos_user.user_provider.username
firewalls:
main:
pattern: ^/
form_login:
provider: fos_userbundle
csrf_provider: form.csrf_provider
logout: true
anonymous: true
# end of FOSUserBundle config
access_control:
# URL of FOSUserBundle which need to be available to anonymous users
- { path: ^/login$, role: IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY }
- { path: ^/register, role: IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY }
- { path: ^/resetting, role: IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY }
# Admin login page needs to be access without credential
- { path: ^/admin/login$, role: IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY }
- { path: ^/admin/logout$, role: IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY }
- { path: ^/admin/login_check$, role: IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY }
# Secured part of the site
# This config requires being logged for the whole site and having the admin role for the admin part.
# Change these rules to adapt them to your needs
- { path: ^/admin/, role: [ROLE_ADMIN, ROLE_SONATA_ADMIN] }
- { path: ^/.*, role: IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY }
My app/config/security.yml looks as follows:
security:
# added with Sonata User Bundle
encoders:
FOS\UserBundle\Model\UserInterface: sha512
# end
providers:
in_memory:
memory: ~
# added with Sonata User Bundle
fos_userbundle:
id: fos_user.user_manager
# end
firewalls:
dev:
pattern: ^/(_(profiler|wdt)|css|images|js)/
security: false
# added with Sonata User Bundle
# -> custom firewall for the admin area of the URL
admin:
pattern: /admin(.*)
context: user
form_login:
provider: fos_userbundle
login_path: /admin/login
use_forward: false
check_path: /admin/login_check
failure_path: null
logout:
path: /admin/logout
anonymous: true
# -> end custom configuration
# default login area for standard users
# This firewall is used to handle the public login area
# This part is handled by the FOS User Bundle
main:
pattern: /(.*)
context: user
form_login:
provider: fos_userbundle
login_path: /login
use_forward: false
check_path: /login_check
failure_path: null
logout: true
anonymous: true
# end
default:
anonymous: ~
# Sonata
acl:
connection: default
role_hierarchy:
ROLE_ADMIN: [ROLE_USER, ROLE_SONATA_ADMIN]
ROLE_SUPER_ADMIN: [ROLE_ADMIN, ROLE_ALLOWED_TO_SWITCH]
SONATA:
- ROLE_SONATA_PAGE_ADMIN_PAGE_EDIT # if you are using acl then this line must be commented
Here are my questions:
Precedence of configurations
Based on my understanding of the "patterns" of Symfony thus far, anything in security.yml is loaded first and would thus take precedence over any new definitions for identical parameters further down in my config.yml. Is that correct?
Duplicate definitions
It seems to me that the following are defined twice, once in security.yml, once in config.yml:
The provider for FOSUserBundle (different values, fos_user.user_manager and fos_user.user_provider.username)
The encoder for FOS\UserBundle\Model\UserInterface
The pattern for the main firewall (^/vs. .*)
Are these indeed defining the same? Is it safe to assume that in all these cases, only those settings defined in security.yml apply?
Best practices
How should security-related definitions generally be divided between security.yml and config.yml (and other potential locations)?

Answer 1

As Cerad mentionned in a comment, you have the same section security: in both files.
Look at the start of the app/config/config.yml file:
imports:
- { resource: security.yml }
This means that the security.yml file will be imported when the config.yml file will be parsed by Symfony2. So you can keep only the security: section in the app/config/security.yml file in order to define the security configuration.
This is the default configuration, see these files in the official GitHub repository:
app/config/config.yml (no security: section)
app/config/security.yml (contains a security: section)