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BasicAuth

BasicAuth

The basicAuth middleware grants access to services to authorized users only.

Configuration Examples

# Declaring the user list
http:
  middlewares:
    test-auth:
      basicAuth:
        users:
          - "test:$apr1$H6uskkkW$IgXLP6ewTrSuBkTrqE8wj/"
          - "test2:$apr1$d9hr9HBB$4HxwgUir3HP4EsggP/QNo0"
# Declaring the user list
[http.middlewares]
  [http.middlewares.test-auth.basicAuth]
  users = [
    "test:$apr1$H6uskkkW$IgXLP6ewTrSuBkTrqE8wj/",
    "test2:$apr1$d9hr9HBB$4HxwgUir3HP4EsggP/QNo0",
  ]
# Declaring the user list
#
# Note: when used in docker-compose.yml all dollar signs in the hash need to be doubled for escaping.
# To create user:password pair, it's possible to use this command:
# echo $(htpasswd -nB user) | sed -e s/\\$/\\$\\$/g
#
# Also, note that dollar signs should NOT be doubled when not evaluated (e.g. Ansible docker_container module).
labels:
  - "traefik.http.middlewares.test-auth.basicauth.users=test:$$apr1$$H6uskkkW$$IgXLP6ewTrSuBkTrqE8wj/,test2:$$apr1$$d9hr9HBB$$4HxwgUir3HP4EsggP/QNo0"
{
  // ...
  "Tags": [
    "traefik.http.middlewares.test-auth.basicauth.users=test:$apr1$H6uskkkW$IgXLP6ewTrSuBkTrqE8wj/,test2:$apr1$d9hr9HBB$4HxwgUir3HP4EsggP/QNo0"
  ]
}
# Declaring the user list
apiVersion: traefik.io/v1alpha1
kind: Middleware
metadata:
  name: test-auth
spec:
  basicAuth:
    secret: secretName

Configuration Options

Field Description Default Required
users Array of authorized users. Each user must be declared using the name:hashed-password format. (More information here) "" No
usersFile Path to an external file that contains the authorized users for the middleware.
The file content is a list of name:hashed-password. (More information here)		 "" No
realm Allow customizing the realm for the authentication. "traefik" No
headerField Allow defining a header field to store the authenticated user. "" No
removeHeader Allow removing the authorization header before forwarding the request to your service. false No

Passwords format

Passwords must be hashed using MD5, SHA1, or BCrypt. Use htpasswd to generate the passwords.

users & usersFile

  • If both users and usersFile are provided, they are merged. The contents of usersFile have precedence over the values in users.
  • Because referencing a file path isn’t feasible on Kubernetes, the users & usersFile field isn’t used in Kubernetes IngressRoute. Instead, use the secret field.

Kubernetes Secrets

The option users supports Kubernetes secrets.

Kubernetes kubernetes.io/basic-auth secret type

Kubernetes supports a special kubernetes.io/basic-auth secret type. This secret must contain two keys: username and password.

Please note that these keys are not hashed or encrypted in any way, and therefore is less secure than other methods. You can find more information on the Kubernetes Basic Authentication Secret Documentation

Using Traefik OSS in Production?

If you are using Traefik at work, consider adding enterprise-grade API gateway capabilities or commercial support for Traefik OSS.

Adding API Gateway capabilities to Traefik OSS is fast and seamless. There's no rip and replace and all configurations remain intact. See it in action via this short video.