API Bearer Auth vs Disable WP REST API

The API Bearer Auth plugin enables authentication for the REST API by using JWT access an refresh tokens. After the user logs in, the access and refresh tokens are returned and can be used for the next requests. Issued tokens can be revoked from within the users admin screen. See below for the endpoints. Note that after activating this plugin, all REST API endpoints will need to be authenticated, unless the endpoint is whitelisted in the api_bearer_auth_unauthenticated_urls filter (see FAQ for how to use this filter). JWT Access tokens can be formatted as JWT tokens. For this to work, you first have to create a secret and add it to the wp-config.php file. If you don’t do this, access tokens will work also, but are just random strings. To create a random secret key, you can do for example: base64_encode(openssl_random_pseudo_bytes(64)); And then add the result to wp-config: define('API_BEARER_JWT_SECRET', 'mysecretkey'); If you have problems, you can verify your JWT tokens at: https://jwt.io/ Revoke tokens This plugin adds a column to the users table in de admin where you can see when a token expires. You can also revoke tokens by selection the “Revoke API tokens” from the bulk actions select box. API endpoints Note that all endpoints expect JSON in the POST body. Login Endpoint: POST /api-bearer-auth/v1/login Request body: Note: client_name is optional. But if you use it, make sure to use it as well for the refresh call! {"username": "my_username", "password": "my_password", "client_name": "my_app"} Response: { "wp_user": { "data": { "ID": 1, "user_login": "your_user_login", // other default WordPress user fields } }, "access_token": "your_access_token", "expires_in": 86400, // number of seconds "refresh_token": "your_refresh_token" } Make sure to save the access and refresh token! Refresh access token Endpoint: POST /api-bearer-auth/v1/tokens/refresh Request body: Note: client_name is optional. But if you did use it for the login call, make sure to use it here as well! {"token": "your_refresh_token", "client_name": "my_app"} Response success: { "access_token": "your_new_access_token", "expires_in": 86400 } Response when sending a wrong refresh token is a 401: { "code": "api_api_bearer_auth_error_invalid_token", "message": "Invalid token.", "data": { "status": 401 } } Do a request After you have the access token, you can make requests to authenticated endpoints with an Authorization header like this: Authorization: Bearer Note that Apache sometimes strips out the Authorization header. If this is the case, make sure to add this to the .htaccess file: RewriteCond %{HTTP:Authorization} ^(.*) # Don't know why, but some need the line below instead of the RewriteRule line # SetEnvIf Authorization .+ HTTP_AUTHORIZATION=$0 RewriteRule ^(.*) - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%1] If you are not logged in or you send an invalid access token, you get a 401 response: { "code": "api_bearer_auth_not_logged_in", "message": "You are not logged in.", "data": { "status": 401 } } Important update Update immediately if you’re using a version below 20200807. Before this version all access tokens were updated when calling the refresh callback. If you are affected by this the fastest solution is to execute this query: update wp_user_tokens set access_token_valid = NOW(); This will invalidate all access tokens. This means that all users need to refresh their access token and will get a new access token and a unique one this time. A big thank to @harchvertelol for reporting this and suggesting the fix as well!

Does one thing: Completely disables the WordPress REST API for visitors who are not logged into WordPress. No configuration required. Important: This plugin completely disables the WP REST API for visitors who are NOT logged in to WordPress. So not recommended if your site needs the WP REST API for any non-logged users. 👉 The fast, simple way to prevent abuse of your site’s REST/JSON API 👉 Protects your site’s REST data from all non-logged users and bots 👉 Uses only 4KB of code, so super lightweight, fast, and effective 🛠️ Pro version available! Check out REST Pro Tools » Features Disable REST/JSON for visitors (not logged in) Disables REST header in HTTP response for all users Disables REST links in HTML head for all users 100% plug-and-play, set-it-and-forget solution How does it work? This plugin completely disables the WP REST API unless the user is logged into WordPress. For logged-in (authenticated) users, WP REST API works normally For logged-out (unauthenticated) users, WP REST API is disabled What happens if logged-out visitor makes a JSON/REST request? They will get only a simple message: rest_login_required: REST API restricted to authenticated users. This message may customized via the filter hook, disable_wp_rest_api_error. Check out this post for an example of how to do it. Pro Version 🛠️ Check out the Pro version, REST Pro Tools, loaded with many awesome features: One-click disable all routes One-click disable all /users routes Disable any specific user routes based on role Whitelist any user IDs Whitelist any IP addresses Customize the REST error message Customize the REST response code Always require or force SSL/TLS Disable all JSONP shenanigans One-click disable any REST API headers Add any post meta (custom field) to REST API Add any user meta (custom field) to REST API Add routes for site profile and author profile Add routes for featured images and post categories Add routes for post taxonomies and terms At-a-glance check status of REST API The free version does only one thing: disables REST API for unauthenticated users. The PRO version can do that and much more! Take full control of the REST API with REST Pro Tools » Privacy This plugin does not collect or store any user data. It does not set any cookies, and it does not connect to any third-party locations. Thus, this plugin does not affect user privacy in any way. If anything it improves user privacy, as it protects potentially sensitive information from being displayed/accessed via REST API. Disable WP REST API is developed and maintained by Jeff Starr, 15-year WordPress developer and book author. Support development of this plugin I develop and maintain this free plugin with love for the WordPress community. To show support, you can make a donation or purchase one of my books: The Tao of WordPress Digging into WordPress .htaccess made easy WordPress Themes In Depth Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress And/or purchase one of my premium WordPress plugins: BBQ Pro – Blazing fast WordPress firewall Blackhole Pro – Automatically block bad bots Banhammer Pro – Monitor traffic and ban the bad guys GA Google Analytics Pro – Connect WordPress to Google Analytics Head Meta Pro – Ultimate Meta Tags for WordPress REST Pro Tools – Awesome tools for managing the WP REST API Simple Ajax Chat Pro – Unlimited chat rooms USP Pro – Unlimited front-end forms Links, tweets and likes also appreciated. Thank you! 🙂