Secure Blog CMS (SQL-Free, File-Based)

Secure Blog CMS is a security-first PHP blogging platform that stores content in JSON files instead of a database. It includes a full admin UI, comment moderation, image uploads, and a Resilience Center for static exports and IPFS pinning.

Features

Publishing

• File-based storage (no SQL/database required)
• Drafts and published posts, slugs, excerpts, and pagination
• Optional search, private posts, and password-protected posts
• RSS feed generation
• Image uploads with server-side security checks

Admin and Users

• Admin dashboard for posts, comments, users, and settings
• Roles: admin, editor, author
• Comment moderation (pending/approved/spam/trash)
• Backups and restore from the admin UI

Resilience Center

• Static site export (HTML + RSS) for static hosting
• ZIP bundles for easy distribution
• Optional auto-pinning to IPFS via Pinata
• Export bundles stored in data/exports/

Security

• CSRF protection on all forms (single-use tokens, no replay)
• XSS sanitization and output escaping (DOM-based HTML purification)
• CSP headers enabled by default, plus standard HTTP security headers
• Rate limiting (login, comments, uploads, short URLs, post passwords)
• Account lockout after failed login attempts
• Session hardening with IP + User-Agent fingerprinting
• Security event logging to data/logs/
• Mandatory SHA-256 checksums on upgrades; auto-upgrade disabled for safety
• Proxy header spoofing protection (Cloudflare/X-Forwarded headers gated behind config toggle)
• COOP/CORP security headers for cross-origin isolation
• Permissions-Policy header to restrict browser APIs
• HSTS with preload and includeSubDomains (respects proxy headers)
• Comment author name sanitization (strip tags, length limit, email validation)
• Site URL validation (scheme whitelist prevents javascript: and data: URLs)
• Per-user daily upload rate limiting (50/day per user)
• Post password brute-force protection (5 attempts per IP per 5 minutes)

Built-In Updater

• Check for updates from the admin panel
• Download and verify files with SHA-256 integrity checks
• Automatic backup before upgrade
• Config file never overwritten during updates
• One-click upgrade process

Requirements

• PHP 7.4+ (PHP 8.x recommended)
• Web server (Apache/Nginx) or PHP built-in server
• Write access to the data/ directory
• Extensions (optional but recommended):
  • curl for Pinata IPFS pinning and in-app updates
  • zip for export ZIP bundles
  • dom for DOM-based HTML sanitization (fallback regex available)

Quick Start

Option A: Installer (recommended)

1. Copy the project into your web root.
2. Ensure the data/ directory is writable by the web server.
3. Visit /install/index.php in your browser and complete the wizard.
4. After install, keep data/installed.lock in place (re-install requires deleting it).
5. Delete the install/ directory after installation for best security.

Option B: Manual install

1. Copy the project into your web root.
2. Ensure the data/ directory is writable by the web server.
3. Generate an Argon2id password hash (use single quotes to avoid $ interpretation):

cat > /tmp/hashpass.php << 'EOF'<?phpecho password_hash('YourSecurePassword123!', PASSWORD_ARGON2ID) . PHP_EOL;EOF
php /tmp/hashpass.php

4. Update includes/config.php with your credentials (use single quotes for the hash):

define('ADMIN_USERNAME', 'your_username');
define('ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH', '$argon2id$v=19$m=65536,...'); // single quotes!

5. Update site settings in includes/config.php or the admin UI.
6. Open /admin.php and log in.

⚠️Important: Always use single quotes around ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH. Argon2id hashes contain $ characters which PHP interprets as variable references inside double-quoted strings, corrupting the hash and breaking login.

Reverse Proxy / Cloudflare Setup

If your CMS is behind Cloudflare or a reverse proxy that sets X-Forwarded-For or CF-Connecting-IP headers, enable trusted proxy mode in includes/config.php:

define('TRUST_PROXY_HEADERS', true);

Warning: Only enable this when actually behind a trusted proxy. Enabling it without a proxy allows IP spoofing and session bypass.

Configuration

Site settings (recommended)

Most settings are managed in the admin UI at /admin/settings.php and stored in:

• data/settings/site.json

These settings override defaults from includes/config.php.

hCaptcha (comments)

Comments can require hCaptcha. Configure via environment variables (recommended):

• HCAPTCHA_SITEKEY
• HCAPTCHA_SECRET

Or set hcaptcha_sitekey in data/settings/site.json and keep the secret in env.

Pinata (IPFS)

Configure Pinata credentials in /admin/settings.php to enable auto-pinning of exports.

Updating

In-app updater

• Go to /admin/upgrade.php and check for updates.
• The upgrader downloads update/manifest.json from the configured update source.
• All file updates require SHA-256 checksum verification — no file is written without integrity verification.
• includes/config.php is never overwritten — your credentials and settings are preserved.
• Auto-upgrade has been disabled for security. All upgrades must be manually triggered.

Manual update

1. Backup data/ and includes/config.php.
2. Replace application files with the new release.
3. Do NOT overwrite includes/config.php — preserve your existing credentials and settings.
4. Re-check your settings and log in to confirm.

Creating a release

For maintainers, use the generate_manifest.sh script to prepare updates:

cd update/
./generate_manifest.sh 1.6.0 "Description of changes"# Then commit, tag, and push:
git add update/ && git commit -m "v1.6.0: update manifest"
git tag -a v1.6.0 -m "v1.6.0"
git push origin main --tags

Project Layout

secure-blog-cms/
admin/ Admin UI (posts, comments, users, settings, resilience, upgrade)
cli/ CLI utilities (password reset)
data/ JSON data storage (posts, users, comments, logs, backups)
includes/ Core classes (Security, Storage, Comments, Resilience, Uploads)
install/ Installation wizard (delete after install)
templates/ Public templates
update/ Update packages, manifest, and release files
index.php Public homepage
post.php Single post view
rss.php RSS feed
s.php Short URL redirect handler

Deployment Notes

Nginx (recommended)

A sample nginx config is included as nginx.conf with:

• Pretty URL rewrites (WordPress-style /post/slug/, /category/tech/, etc.)
• Security deny rules for data/, includes/, install/, and cli/ directories
• Static file caching headers

CloudPanel / Varnish

When deploying behind CloudPanel with Varnish:

1. Set TRUST_PROXY_HEADERS to true in includes/config.php
2. Add nginx deny rules for data/, includes/, install/, and cli/ directories
3. Ensure parent directory permissions are 755 (CloudPanel may reset to 770)
4. Delete the install/ directory after setup

Important: Config Protection

• includes/config.php contains your admin credentials and site settings
• Never overwrite it during updates — the updater skips it automatically
• includes/config.php.example is provided as a reference template
• When deploying manually, always exclude includes/config.php from file copies
• The ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH must use single quotes (not double quotes) to prevent PHP from interpreting $ in Argon2id hashes

Changelog

v1.5.6 — User Management & Security (2026-07-14)

New Features:

• User Management — Create, edit, and delete users from the admin panel
• Password Policy — Enforced minimum 12 characters with uppercase, lowercase, digit, and special character requirements
• Role-Based Permissions — Admin (full access), Editor (publish/edit any post, moderate comments), Author (create/edit own posts only)
• Password Strength Meter — Visual strength indicator on user creation and edit forms
• Edit User Modal — Change role and password with admin password confirmation required
• Self-Demotion Protection — Admins cannot demote themselves to a lower role
• CLI Password Reset — cli/reset_password.php utility for emergency password resets when locked out; interactive mode avoids shell expansion of special characters
• Installer Password Policy — Visual checklist enforces password requirements during installation
• Special Character Safety — Passwords with $, !, *, etc. are properly handled throughout the system (CLI, admin UI, installer, JSON storage)

Security:

• nginx.conf updated: added cli/ to blocked directories (both Option A and Option B)
• cli/.htaccess denies all web access to CLI scripts

Improvements:

• admin/users.php — No-cache headers for CSRF token freshness behind Cloudflare/Varnish
• Password hashing uses Argon2id with tuned parameters (bcrypt fallback)

v1.5.5 — Category/Tag Management & Branding (2026-07-14)

New Features:

• Category & Tag Deletion — Delete categories and tags with automatic cleanup of post references
• Slug Collision Resolution — Auto-appends -2, -3, etc. when a slug already exists
• Duplicate Prevention — Case-insensitive name matching rejects exact duplicates; slug collisions auto-resolved

Improvements:

• No-cache headers on admin categories page for CSRF token freshness behind Cloudflare/Varnish
• Branding updated to Digital Systems LLC / AfterPacket
• Removed duplicate version display in public footer
• Admin categories page now shows post count per category/tag

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed PHP syntax error in addCategory() return statement
• Fixed delete confirmation dialog quoting issues
• Fixed CSRF token invalidation on category/tag management page

v1.5.4 — Install Cleanup & Update Channels (2026-07-14)

Critical Bug Fixes:

• [CRITICAL] Admin session logout on idle — session fingerprint validation was destroying sessions when IP or User-Agent shifted between requests behind Cloudflare/Varnish proxies. Now logs a warning and updates the fingerprint instead of destroying the session.
• [CRITICAL] Argon2id password hash corruption — hashes containing $ characters were corrupted by PHP variable interpolation in double-quoted strings, causing admin login failures. ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH now uses single quotes.
• [CRITICAL] Updater "Requested version not found in manifest" error — Upgrader required exact version string match. Now uses the manifest version directly and only checks that it's newer than the current version. Update cache also cleared before upgrading.

Improvements:

• Session regenerate interval increased from 30 minutes to 4 hours (less disruption for users)
• config.php has prominent DO NOT OVERWRITE warning header
• Added config.php.example as install template — installer copies from example if config.php doesn't exist
• includes/config.php removed from update manifest — updater will never overwrite it
• Built-in updater now has real SHA-256 hashes for integrity verification
• Added generate_manifest.sh script for maintainers to generate release manifests

v1.5.2 — Config Protection (2026-07-14)

Critical Bug Fix:

• [CRITICAL] Password hash corruption fix (same root cause as v1.5.3, addressed in config.php template and installer)

Improvements:

• Added config.php.example as install template
• Installer copies from config.php.example; uses single-quote replacement for password hash
• Removed config.php from update manifest

v1.5.1 — Pen Test Hardening (2026-07-14)

Security Fixes:

• [MEDIUM] Rate limiting added to post password attempts (5 per IP per 5 minutes) — prevents brute-force attacks against password-protected posts.
• [MEDIUM] Session fingerprint now hashes User-Agent with SHA-256 — strengthens session binding beyond IP-only, format: sha256(ip | sha256(user_agent)).
• [MEDIUM] Site URL setting validation added — filter_var(FILTER_VALIDATE_URL) and scheme whitelist (http/https) prevent open redirect and XSS via malicious URL values.
• [MEDIUM] Cross-Origin isolation headers added — Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy: same-origin and Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy: same-origin prevent cross-origin information leakage.
• [MEDIUM] Comment author name sanitization — HTML tags stripped, length capped at 100 characters. Email validated when provided.
• [MEDIUM] Per-user daily upload rate limit added (50 uploads/day per user) alongside existing per-IP hourly limit.

v1.5.0 — Security + Subfolder Install Fix (2026-07-13)

Security Fixes:

• [HIGH] Removed CSRF token from image upload URL query string — tokens were being logged in server access logs and browser history. Now sent only via X-CSRF-Token header and POST body.
• [HIGH] Removed data: from public CSP img-src — prevents SVG-based XSS through data:image/svg+xml URIs. Admin CSP still allows data: for TinyMCE paste compatibility.
• [HIGH] HSTS header now respects TRUST_PROXY_HEADERS — previously only checked $_SERVER["HTTPS"], which is empty behind Cloudflare/Varnish. Sites behind proxies now correctly send HSTS.
• [MEDIUM] Short URL redirect (s.php) changed from 301 to 302 — prevents browser cache poisoning if target changes.
• [MEDIUM] Short URL redirect now validates resolved slug corresponds to a published post — prevents open redirect.
• [MEDIUM] Post password hashing upgraded from bcrypt to Argon2id with fallback.
• [MEDIUM] Removed ini_set() calls for allow_url_fopen/allow_url_include — these are PHP_INI_SYSTEM directives. Added comments for php.ini configuration.
• [LOW] Removed debug error_log() from ImageUpload.php.
• [LOW] Fixed Content-Disposition filename escaping in serve-image.php.

Bug Fixes:

• [CRITICAL] All internal links now use cms_path() — fixes broken pagination, search, admin links, RSS, and comment forms in subfolder installs.
• [CRITICAL] Fixed index.php line 469 — missing ?> closing tag caused 500 parse error on PHP 8.x.

v1.4.1 — Patch Release (2026-07-13)

Security Fixes:

• [HIGH] Password input fields for post protection were type="text" — changed to type="password".
• [HIGH]ENABLE_UPLOAD_MALWARE_SCAN was false by default — changed to true.
• [MEDIUM] Session cookie secure flag now respects TRUST_PROXY_HEADERS.
• [MEDIUM] Removed debug console.log statements from create/edit post pages.

Bug Fixes:

• Image URL insertion: TinyMCE valid_elements now allows class and style on <img>.
• Image paste: Enabled paste_data_images: true in TinyMCE.
• RSS self-link: Now uses cms_path() for correct URLs in subfolder installs.

v1.4.0 — Security Hardening Release (2026-07-13)

Critical Fixes:

• [CRITICAL] Removed Remote Code Execution vector in upgrade system — download_url no longer accepted from POST data. Upgrades use performUpgradeFromManifest() with hardcoded manifest URL. SHA-256 checksums mandatory. Auto-upgrade disabled.
• [CRITICAL] Added credential placeholder detection — warns if REPLACE_ME_* defaults are still in place.

High Fixes:

• [HIGH] Replaced regex XSS sanitizer with DOM-based HTML purification (DOMDocument + XPath). Regex fallback for servers without dom extension.
• [HIGH] CSP headers enabled by default.
• [HIGH] CSRF tokens now single-use for all forms — removed image_upload/edit_post_form reuse exception.
• [HIGH] Session fingerprint gated behind TRUST_PROXY_HEADERS config (default: false).
• [HIGH] Removed version disclosure header (X-SecureBlogCMS-Version) — only sent if SHOW_VERSION_HEADER is explicitly true.
• [HIGH] Password protection enforced on public pages. Private posts hidden from listings, search, and RSS.

Medium Fixes:

• Role validation whitelist enforced in addUser() and updateUser().
• Password hashing unified to Argon2id across all user management.
• Rate limiting on comment submissions (3/IP/hour).
• Install directory .htaccess hardened.
• CORS credentials set to false on image endpoints.
• Debug logging reduced in upload endpoint.
• Error reporting hardened to E_ALL & ~E_DEPRECATED & ~E_STRICT & ~E_NOTICE.

---

Version: 1.5.6
Last Updated: 2026-07-14
Created by: Digital Systems LLC / AfterPacket Security Level: High