Image Sharing Platform

Project Description

A secure functional web application that allows users to register, log in (via standard credentials or Google OAuth), manage a private encrypted image portfolio, and explore or comment on other users' images.

Security Features

• Certificate & HTTPS: Implements HTTPS using a custom Certificate Authority (CA) and server certificates to enforce secure connections.
• Authentication: Utilizes Google OAuth 2.0 and stateless JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for secure session management.
• Encryption at Rest: Images are encrypted/decrypted on the server using the Fernet algorithm (AES128-CBC with HMAC-SHA256).
• Database Encryption: Critical database columns are automatically encrypted and decrypted using SQLAlchemy.
• Password Protection: User passwords are secured using bcrypt hashing to prevent compromise in case of data leaks.
• Secret Management: Critical keys are automatically generated, encrypted with AES-256-CBC, and only decrypted ephemerally in memory.
• Docker Containerization: The entire application is encapsulated in Docker containers to ensure environment isolation and reproducibility.
• Reverse Proxy (NGINX): Acts as a single entry point handling SSL termination and hiding the internal backend topology.
• DoS Protection: Implements rate limiting and resource connection limits to mitigate Denial of Service attacks.
• Security Headers: Enforces strict HTTP headers including HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and CSP to prevent common web attacks.
• Dependency Auditing: Automated vulnerability scanning using OWASP Dependency-Check and npm audit.
• Login Protection: Limits consecutive failed login attempts to prevent brute-force and credential-stuffing attacks.

Development Environment

The application has been configured and tested in the following environment:

• Node.js: v25.2.0
• Python: v3.12
• OS: Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS
• Linux Kernel: 6.14.0-36-generic

Usage

Prerequisites

For Windows

Ensure wsl is installed on your system.

Download Docker Desktop at the official webpage: https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/

Then open the Docker Desktop app.

For Ubuntu

Ensure docker and docker-compose-plugin is installed on your system.

To install docker-compose-plugin follow the official tutorial or just run the commands.

Ubuntu tutorial: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/#install-using-the-repository

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.sources <<EOF
Types: deb
URIs: https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu
Suites: $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}")
Components: stable
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
EOF

sudo apt update

sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

sudo systemctl start docker

Execution

Run the following commands in the project root directory:

Start the application:

docker compose up -d --build

Accessing the Application

Once the application is running, open your browser and navigate to: https://localhost:3000

Note: If you cannot connect, ensure that port 3000 is not being used by another application.

Important: To avoid security warnings, you must import the CA certificate located at certs/ca/cacert.pem into your browser's trusted authorities.

Stop the application:

docker compose down