feat(server): add global encryption module (AES-256-GCM) (#2400)

Provides an injectable EncryptionService that encrypts/decrypts strings
with AES-256-GCM using a key derived from APP_SECRET with domain
separation.

apps/server/src/app.module.ts

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import { LoggerModule } from './common/logger/logger.module';
 import { ClsModule } from 'nestjs-cls';
 import { NoopAuditModule } from './integrations/audit/audit.module';
 import { ThrottleModule } from './integrations/throttle/throttle.module';
+import { EncryptionModule } from './integrations/encryption/encryption.module';
 
 const enterpriseModules = [];
 try {
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ try {
     CoreModule,
     DatabaseModule,
     EnvironmentModule,
+    EncryptionModule,
     RedisModule.forRootAsync({
       useClass: RedisConfigService,
     }),

apps/server/src/integrations/encryption/encryption.errors.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+export class UnableToInitialize extends Error {
+  constructor(message: string) {
+    super(`Unable to initialize the encryption service: ${message}`);
+    this.name = 'UnableToInitialize';
+  }
+}
+
+export class UnableToDecrypt extends Error {
+  constructor(reason: string) {
+    super(`Unable to decrypt the ciphertext: ${reason}`);
+    this.name = 'UnableToDecrypt';
+  }
+}

apps/server/src/integrations/encryption/encryption.module.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import { Global, Module } from '@nestjs/common';
+import { EncryptionService } from './encryption.service';
+
+@Global()
+@Module({
+  providers: [EncryptionService],
+  exports: [EncryptionService],
+})
+export class EncryptionModule {}

apps/server/src/integrations/encryption/encryption.service.spec.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
+import { Test, TestingModule } from '@nestjs/testing';
+import { EncryptionService } from './encryption.service';
+import { UnableToDecrypt, UnableToInitialize } from './encryption.errors';
+import { EnvironmentService } from '../environment/environment.service';
+
+const APP_SECRET = 'test-app-secret-with-plenty-of-entropy-1234567890';
+
+const buildService = (appSecret: string | undefined) => {
+  const env = { getAppSecret: () => appSecret } as EnvironmentService;
+  return new EncryptionService(env);
+};
+
+const decodeEnvelope = (encrypted: string) =>
+  JSON.parse(Buffer.from(encrypted, 'base64').toString()) as {
+    iv: string;
+    authTag: string;
+    cipherText: string;
+  };
+
+const encodeEnvelope = (envelope: {
+  iv: string;
+  authTag: string;
+  cipherText: string;
+}) => Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(envelope)).toString('base64');
+
+describe('EncryptionService', () => {
+  let service: EncryptionService;
+
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    const module: TestingModule = await Test.createTestingModule({
+      providers: [
+        EncryptionService,
+        {
+          provide: EnvironmentService,
+          useValue: { getAppSecret: () => APP_SECRET },
+        },
+      ],
+    }).compile();
+
+    service = module.get<EncryptionService>(EncryptionService);
+  });
+
+  describe('initialization', () => {
+    it('compiles via Nest DI', () => {
+      expect(service).toBeDefined();
+    });
+
+    it('throws UnableToInitialize when APP_SECRET is missing', () => {
+      expect(() => buildService(undefined)).toThrow(UnableToInitialize);
+      expect(() => buildService('')).toThrow(UnableToInitialize);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('encrypt + decrypt round-trip', () => {
+    it('decrypts back to the original plaintext', () => {
+      const plaintext = 'hello world';
+      const encrypted = service.encrypt(plaintext);
+      expect(service.decrypt(encrypted)).toBe(plaintext);
+    });
+
+    it('handles empty string', () => {
+      const encrypted = service.encrypt('');
+      expect(service.decrypt(encrypted)).toBe('');
+    });
+
+    it('handles unicode (multi-byte UTF-8)', () => {
+      const plaintext = 'héllo 🔐 世界';
+      const encrypted = service.encrypt(plaintext);
+      expect(service.decrypt(encrypted)).toBe(plaintext);
+    });
+
+    it('handles long plaintext (>1 block)', () => {
+      const plaintext = 'a'.repeat(10_000);
+      const encrypted = service.encrypt(plaintext);
+      expect(service.decrypt(encrypted)).toBe(plaintext);
+    });
+
+    it('produces distinct ciphertexts for the same plaintext (random IV)', () => {
+      const plaintext = 'same input';
+      const a = service.encrypt(plaintext);
+      const b = service.encrypt(plaintext);
+      expect(a).not.toBe(b);
+      expect(service.decrypt(a)).toBe(plaintext);
+      expect(service.decrypt(b)).toBe(plaintext);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('cross-key isolation', () => {
+    it('cannot decrypt ciphertext produced under a different APP_SECRET', () => {
+      const other = buildService('totally-different-secret-value-9876543210');
+      const encrypted = service.encrypt('secret');
+      expect(() => other.decrypt(encrypted)).toThrow(UnableToDecrypt);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('tamper detection', () => {
+    it('rejects modified ciphertext', () => {
+      const encrypted = service.encrypt('hello');
+      const env = decodeEnvelope(encrypted);
+      const tamperedCipher = Buffer.from(env.cipherText, 'base64');
+      tamperedCipher[0] ^= 0x01;
+      const tampered = encodeEnvelope({
+        ...env,
+        cipherText: tamperedCipher.toString('base64'),
+      });
+      expect(() => service.decrypt(tampered)).toThrow(UnableToDecrypt);
+    });
+
+    it('rejects modified auth tag', () => {
+      const encrypted = service.encrypt('hello');
+      const env = decodeEnvelope(encrypted);
+      const tamperedTag = Buffer.from(env.authTag, 'base64');
+      tamperedTag[0] ^= 0x01;
+      const tampered = encodeEnvelope({
+        ...env,
+        authTag: tamperedTag.toString('base64'),
+      });
+      expect(() => service.decrypt(tampered)).toThrow(UnableToDecrypt);
+    });
+
+    it('rejects modified IV', () => {
+      const encrypted = service.encrypt('hello');
+      const env = decodeEnvelope(encrypted);
+      const tamperedIV = Buffer.from(env.iv, 'base64');
+      tamperedIV[0] ^= 0x01;
+      const tampered = encodeEnvelope({
+        ...env,
+        iv: tamperedIV.toString('base64'),
+      });
+      expect(() => service.decrypt(tampered)).toThrow(UnableToDecrypt);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('malformed payloads', () => {
+    it('rejects non-base64 garbage', () => {
+      expect(() => service.decrypt('!!!not-valid-base64!!!')).toThrow(
+        UnableToDecrypt,
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('rejects base64 of non-JSON', () => {
+      const garbage = Buffer.from('not json at all').toString('base64');
+      expect(() => service.decrypt(garbage)).toThrow(UnableToDecrypt);
+    });
+
+    it('rejects JSON missing required fields', () => {
+      const partial = encodeEnvelope({
+        iv: Buffer.alloc(12).toString('base64'),
+        authTag: Buffer.alloc(16).toString('base64'),
+      } as never);
+      expect(() => service.decrypt(partial)).toThrow(UnableToDecrypt);
+    });
+
+    it('rejects wrong-length IV', () => {
+      const encrypted = service.encrypt('hello');
+      const env = decodeEnvelope(encrypted);
+      const bad = encodeEnvelope({
+        ...env,
+        iv: Buffer.alloc(8).toString('base64'),
+      });
+      expect(() => service.decrypt(bad)).toThrow(UnableToDecrypt);
+    });
+
+    it('rejects wrong-length auth tag', () => {
+      const encrypted = service.encrypt('hello');
+      const env = decodeEnvelope(encrypted);
+      const bad = encodeEnvelope({
+        ...env,
+        authTag: Buffer.alloc(8).toString('base64'),
+      });
+      expect(() => service.decrypt(bad)).toThrow(UnableToDecrypt);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('envelope format', () => {
+    it('returns base64 of JSON envelope with iv (12B), authTag (16B), cipherText', () => {
+      const encrypted = service.encrypt('hello');
+      const env = decodeEnvelope(encrypted);
+      expect(Buffer.from(env.iv, 'base64')).toHaveLength(12);
+      expect(Buffer.from(env.authTag, 'base64')).toHaveLength(16);
+      expect(Buffer.from(env.cipherText, 'base64').length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    });
+  });
+});

apps/server/src/integrations/encryption/encryption.service.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+// https://github.com/nhedger/nestjs-encryption - MIT
+import { Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';
+import {
+  createCipheriv,
+  createDecipheriv,
+  createHash,
+  randomBytes,
+} from 'node:crypto';
+import { UnableToDecrypt, UnableToInitialize } from './encryption.errors';
+import { EnvironmentService } from '../environment/environment.service';
+
+const ALGORITHM = 'aes-256-gcm';
+const KEY_DOMAIN = 'docmost:encryption:v1';
+const IV_LENGTH = 12;
+const AUTH_TAG_LENGTH = 16;
+
+type AEADPayload<TFormat = string | Buffer> = {
+  iv: TFormat;
+  authTag: TFormat;
+  cipherText: TFormat;
+};
+
+@Injectable()
+export class EncryptionService {
+  private readonly key: Buffer;
+
+  constructor(environmentService: EnvironmentService) {
+    const appSecret = environmentService.getAppSecret();
+    if (!appSecret) {
+      throw new UnableToInitialize('APP_SECRET is not set.');
+    }
+    this.key = createHash('sha256')
+      .update(KEY_DOMAIN)
+      .update(appSecret)
+      .digest();
+  }
+
+  public encrypt(plaintext: string): string {
+    const iv = randomBytes(IV_LENGTH);
+    const cipher = createCipheriv(ALGORITHM, this.key, iv);
+    const cipherText = Buffer.concat([
+      cipher.update(plaintext, 'utf8'),
+      cipher.final(),
+    ]);
+    const authTag = cipher.getAuthTag();
+
+    const aead: AEADPayload<string> = {
+      iv: iv.toString('base64'),
+      authTag: authTag.toString('base64'),
+      cipherText: cipherText.toString('base64'),
+    };
+
+    return Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(aead)).toString('base64');
+  }
+
+  public decrypt(encrypted: string): string {
+    try {
+      const { iv, authTag, cipherText } = this.decodeAEADPayload(encrypted);
+      const decipher = createDecipheriv(ALGORITHM, this.key, iv);
+      decipher.setAuthTag(authTag);
+      const decrypted = Buffer.concat([
+        decipher.update(cipherText),
+        decipher.final(),
+      ]);
+      return decrypted.toString('utf8');
+    } catch (e: unknown) {
+      throw new UnableToDecrypt((e as Error).message);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private decodeAEADPayload(encodedPayload: string): AEADPayload<Buffer> {
+    const payload = Buffer.from(encodedPayload, 'base64');
+
+    let deserializedPkg: Record<string, unknown>;
+    try {
+      deserializedPkg = JSON.parse(payload.toString());
+    } catch {
+      throw new Error('The decoded AEAD payload is not a valid JSON string.');
+    }
+
+    for (const field of ['iv', 'authTag', 'cipherText']) {
+      if (!Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(deserializedPkg, field)) {
+        throw new Error(`The AEAD payload is missing the ${field} field.`);
+      }
+    }
+
+    const iv = Buffer.from(deserializedPkg.iv as string, 'base64');
+    if (iv.length !== IV_LENGTH) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `The decoded IV is not the correct length. Expected ${IV_LENGTH} bytes, got ${iv.length} bytes.`,
+      );
+    }
+
+    const authTag = Buffer.from(deserializedPkg.authTag as string, 'base64');
+    if (authTag.length !== AUTH_TAG_LENGTH) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `The decoded auth tag is not the correct length. Expected ${AUTH_TAG_LENGTH} bytes, got ${authTag.length} bytes.`,
+      );
+    }
+
+    const cipherText = Buffer.from(
+      deserializedPkg.cipherText as string,
+      'base64',
+    );
+
+    return { iv, authTag, cipherText };
+  }
+}