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2FAuth

Last updated on 27 October 2022

2FAuth [1] is a self-hostable web service for managing two-factor authentication tokens. It has a nice, clean interface, is responsive (so it can be simply added to the homescreen on iOS), and has various useful features:

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• Adding new tokens by scanning QR codes;
• Searching for tokens;
• Lots of features related to security and usability.

Running the service itself is as straight forward as bringing up the supplied docker-compose.yml file. However - as noted in this blog post [2] - if, like me, you plan to run it inside of a Tailscale tailnet, you'll need to ensure HTTPS is enabled in order for the camera to work. To do this, attach a reverse-proxy armed with the required certificates.

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This note describes by setup for securely self-hosting thie service.

Step 1: Generate TLS certificates for the Tailscale machine

Generate a certificate for the machine using tailscale cert <machine name>, and then put the resultant certificate and key file into a directory (e.g. certs/).

You may want to set up your tailnet name [3] first.

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Step 2: Prepare Nginx

Create an nginx.conf file like the one below:

events {

}

http {
  server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    ssl_certificate /certs/certificate.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /certs/privatekey.key;
    location / {
      proxy_pass http://2fauth:8000/;
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Create a Docker compose file

Create a docker-compose.yml file, including an nginx container:

version: "3"

services:
  2fauth:
    image: 2fauth/2fauth
    volumes:
      - ./2fauth:/2fauth
    environment:
      - APP_NAME=2FAuth
      - APP_ENV=local
      - SITE_OWNER=change@me.com
      - APP_KEY=changeme32chars
      - APP_URL=http://changeme
      - LOG_CHANNEL=daily
      - LOG_LEVEL=notice
      - DB_DATABASE="/srv/database/database.sqlite"
      - CACHE_DRIVER=file
      - SESSION_DRIVER=file
      - AUTHENTICATION_GUARD=web-guard
      - WEBAUTHN_NAME=2FAuth
      - BROADCAST_DRIVER=log
      - QUEUE_DRIVER=sync
      - SESSION_LIFETIME=120
      - REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1
      - REDIS_PASSWORD=null
      - REDIS_PORT=6379
      - PUSHER_APP_ID=
      - PUSHER_APP_KEY=
      - PUSHER_APP_SECRET=
      - PUSHER_APP_CLUSTER=mt1
      - MIX_PUSHER_APP_KEY="${PUSHER_APP_KEY}"
      - MIX_PUSHER_APP_CLUSTER="${PUSHER_APP_CLUSTER}"
      - MIX_ENV=local

  nginx:
    image: nginx:latest
    ports:
      - 8087:443
    volumes:
      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf 
      - ./certs:/certs

Bring up the services (with docker-compose up -d) and 2FAuth is now available on HTTPS port 8087 for the machine name in the tailnet.

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