Symfony EasyAdmin with HTTP Basic Auth Setup

EasyAdmin with HTTP Basic Auth Setup

This guide explains how to set up EasyAdmin with HTTP Basic Authentication for a simple admin backend.

Installation

1. Install EasyAdmin Bundle

composer require easycorp/easyadmin-bundle

Security Configuration

2. Configure Apache to Pass Authorization Header

HTTP Basic Auth requires the Authorization header to reach PHP. Apache with proxy_fcgi strips this header by default.

Edit .docker/apache/apache2.conf and add CGIPassAuth On to the VirtualHost Directory section:

<Directory /var/www/app/public>
    AllowOverride None
    Require all granted
    FallbackResource /index.php
    # Pass HTTP Authorization header to PHP-FPM (required for HTTP Basic Auth)
    CGIPassAuth On
</Directory>

Restart Apache

3. Generate Password Hash

Generate a bcrypt hash for your admin password:

php bin/console security:hash-password "YourSecurePassword"

Copy the hash from the output (looks like $2y$13$...).

4. Configure Environment Variable

Add the password hash to .env:

# EasyAdmin HTTP Basic Auth
ADMIN_PASSWORD='$2y$13$p/iHLcHZEbXqDwrLWzPs5umeKtMxe/vHEwIGuYYTXAVdFAvRYW4s2'

Important: Wrap the hash in single quotes to prevent shell interpretation of $ characters.

For production, add this to .env.local (which is gitignored) instead of .env.

5. Configure Security

Edit config/packages/security.yaml:

security:
    password_hashers:
        Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\PasswordAuthenticatedUserInterface: 'auto'
        Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\InMemoryUser: 'auto'

    providers:
        users_in_memory:
            memory:
                users:
                    admin:
                        password: '%env(ADMIN_PASSWORD)%'
                        roles: ['ROLE_ADMIN']

    firewalls:
        dev:
            pattern: ^/(_(profiler|wdt)|css|images|js)/
            security: false

        admin:
            pattern: ^/admin
            stateless: true
            provider: users_in_memory
            http_basic:
                realm: Admin Area

        main:
            lazy: true
            provider: users_in_memory

    access_control:
        - { path: ^/admin, roles: ROLE_ADMIN }

Key points:

InMemoryUser hasher is set to auto (bcrypt)
Password is loaded from ADMIN_PASSWORD env var
stateless: true prevents session issues with HTTP Basic Auth
Access control requires ROLE_ADMIN for /admin path

Create Admin Controllers

6. Create Dashboard Controller

Create src/Controller/Admin/DashboardController.php:

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\Controller\Admin;

use App\Entity\Booking;
use App\Entity\User;
use EasyCorp\Bundle\EasyAdminBundle\Config\Dashboard;
use EasyCorp\Bundle\EasyAdminBundle\Config\MenuItem;
use EasyCorp\Bundle\EasyAdminBundle\Config\UserMenu;
use EasyCorp\Bundle\EasyAdminBundle\Controller\AbstractDashboardController;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Annotation\Route;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\UserInterface;

class DashboardController extends AbstractDashboardController
{
    #[Route('/admin', name: 'admin')]
    public function index(): Response
    {
        return $this->render('admin/dashboard.html.twig');
    }

    public function configureDashboard(): Dashboard
    {
        return Dashboard::new()
            ->setTitle('Admin');
    }

    public function configureUserMenu(UserInterface $user): UserMenu
    {
        // Disable logout menu item (HTTP Basic Auth has no logout)
        return parent::configureUserMenu($user)
            ->displayUserName()
            ->setMenuItems([]);
    }

    public function configureMenuItems(): iterable
    {
        yield MenuItem::linkToDashboard('Dashboard', 'fa fa-home');
        yield MenuItem::linkToCrud('Users', 'fa fa-users', User::class);
        yield MenuItem::linkToCrud('Bookings', 'fa fa-calendar', Booking::class);
    }
}

Note: configureUserMenu() disables the logout link since HTTP Basic Auth has no logout mechanism.

7. Create CRUD Controllers

Create CRUD controllers for your entities. Example for User:

php bin/console make:admin:crud
# Select your entity when prompted

Or create manually in src/Controller/Admin/UserCrudController.php:

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\Controller\Admin;

use App\Entity\User;
use EasyCorp\Bundle\EasyAdminBundle\Config\Crud;
use EasyCorp\Bundle\EasyAdminBundle\Controller\AbstractCrudController;
use EasyCorp\Bundle\EasyAdminBundle\Field\EmailField;
use EasyCorp\Bundle\EasyAdminBundle\Field\IdField;
use EasyCorp\Bundle\EasyAdminBundle\Field\TextField;

class UserCrudController extends AbstractCrudController
{
    public static function getEntityFqcn(): string
    {
        return User::class;
    }

    public function configureCrud(Crud $crud): Crud
    {
        return $crud
            ->setEntityLabelInSingular('User')
            ->setEntityLabelInPlural('Users')
            ->setDefaultSort(['id' => 'DESC']);
    }

    public function configureFields(string $pageName): iterable
    {
        yield IdField::new('id')->onlyOnIndex();
        yield TextField::new('firstName', 'First Name');
        yield TextField::new('lastName', 'Last Name');
        yield EmailField::new('email', 'Email');
        // Add more fields as needed
    }
}

8. Create Dashboard Template

Create templates/admin/dashboard.html.twig:

{% extends '@EasyAdmin/page/content.html.twig' %}

{% block page_title %}
    <h1>Admin Dashboard</h1>
{% endblock %}

{% block page_content %}
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-6">
            <div class="card">
                <div class="card-header">
                    <h3>Welcome to Admin</h3>
                </div>
                <div class="card-body">
                    <p>Use the menu on the left to manage:</p>
                    <ul>
                        <li><strong>Users</strong> - Manage tenants and customers</li>
                        <li><strong>Bookings</strong> - View and manage all bookings</li>
                    </ul>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
{% endblock %}

Testing

9. Clear Cache and Test

php bin/console cache:clear

Navigate to http://localhost:8020/admin in your browser. You should see a browser login prompt.

Credentials:

Username: admin
Password: (the password you hashed in step 3)

Test with curl:

curl -u admin:YourSecurePassword http://localhost:8020/admin

Should return HTTP 200 with HTML content.

Changing the Password

To change the admin password:

Generate new hash:

php bin/console security:hash-password "NewPassword"

Update ADMIN_PASSWORD in .env (or .env.local for production)
Clear cache:
```
php bin/console cache:clear
```

Troubleshooting

Authentication Prompt Loops

Symptom: Browser keeps showing login prompt even with correct credentials.

Causes:

Apache not passing Authorization header ? Check CGIPassAuth On is in apache config
Password hash mismatch ? Verify hash format and hasher configuration
Browser cached failed attempt ? Try incognito/private window

Debug:

# Check if Authorization header reaches PHP
curl -v -u admin:password http://localhost:8020/admin 2>&1 | grep Authorization

# Check resolved password hash
php bin/console debug:dotenv | grep ADMIN_PASSWORD

# Check security config
php bin/console debug:config security providers

401 Unauthorized

Symptom: HTTP 401 with correct credentials.

Check logs:

tail -20 var/log/dev.log | grep security

Look for "The presented password is invalid" - indicates password hash mismatch.

500 Internal Server Error

Symptom: Authentication succeeds but page shows 500 error.

Common cause: Missing logout configuration. Ensure:

Firewall has stateless: true
configureUserMenu() disables logout link

Security Considerations

For Development

HTTP Basic Auth with single admin user is acceptable
Store password in .env (committed) with a simple password like "admin"

For Production

Move ADMIN_PASSWORD to .env.local (gitignored)
Use a strong password (20+ characters, mixed case, numbers, symbols)
Consider upgrading to form login with database-backed users
Add IP whitelisting in addition to password protection
Use HTTPS (Basic Auth sends credentials in base64, not encrypted)

Limitations of HTTP Basic Auth

No logout mechanism (close all browser windows to "logout")
Browser caches credentials
Credentials sent with every request
No password reset flow
No user management UI

For production systems with multiple admins, consider using Symfony's form login with database users instead.

Updated at 02/11/2026 18:11

https://www.ullright.org/ullWiki/show/symfony-easyadmin-with-http-basic-auth-setup

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