How Security Rules work

Security can be one of the most complex pieces of the app development puzzle. In most applications, developers must build and run a server that handles authentication (who a user is) and authorization (what a user can do).

Firebase Security Rules remove the middle (server) layer and allow you to specify path-based permissions for clients that connect to your data directly. Use this guide to learn more about how rules are applied to incoming requests.

Select a product to learn more about its rules.

Cloud Firestore

Basic structure

Firebase Security Rules in Cloud Firestore and Cloud Storage use the following structure and syntax:

service <<name>> {
  // Match the resource path.
  match <<path>> {
    // Allow the request if the following conditions are true.
    allow <<methods>> : if <<condition>>
  }
}

The following key concepts are important to understand as you build the rules:

• Request: The method or methods invoked in the allow statement. These are methods you're allowing to run. The standard methods are: get, list, create, update, and delete. The read and write convenience methods enable broad read and write access on the specified database or storage path.
• Path: The database or storage location, represented as a URI path.
• Rule: The allow statement, which includes a condition that permits a request if it evaluates to true.

Security rules version 2

As of May 2019, version 2 of the Firebase security rules is now available. Version 2 of the rules changes the behavior of recursive wildcards {name=**}. You must use version 2 if you plan to use collection group queries. You must opt-in to version 2 by making rules_version = '2'; the first line in your security rules:

rules_version = '2';
service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {

Matching paths

All match statements should point to documents, not collections. A match statement can point to a specific document, as in match /cities/SF or use wildcards to point to any document in the specified path, as in match /cities/{city}.

In the example above, the match statement uses the {city} wildcard syntax. This means the rule applies to any document in the cities collection, such as /cities/SF or /cities/NYC. When the allow expressions in the match statement are evaluated, the city variable will resolve to the city document name, such as SF or NYC.

Note: You can only access documents that your security rules specifically allow you to access. For example, the rules shown above allow access only to documents in the cities collection; as a result, they also deny access to documents in all other collections.

Matching subcollections

Data in Cloud Firestore is organized into collections of documents, and each document may extend the hierarchy through subcollections. It is important to understand how security rules interact with hierarchical data.

Consider the situation where each document in the cities collection contains a landmarks subcollection. Security rules apply only at the matched path, so the access controls defined on the cities collection do not apply to the landmarks subcollection. Instead, write explicit rules to control access to subcollections:

service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    match /cities/{city} {
      allow read, write: if <condition>;

      // Explicitly define rules for the 'landmarks' subcollection
      match /landmarks/{landmark} {
        allow read, write: if <condition>;
      }
    }
  }
}

When nesting match statements, the path of the inner match statement is always relative to the path of the outer match statement. The following rulesets are therefore equivalent:

service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    match /cities/{city} {
      match /landmarks/{landmark} {
        allow read, write: if <condition>;
      }
    }
  }
}

service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    match /cities/{city}/landmarks/{landmark} {
      allow read, write: if <condition>;
    }
  }
}

Recursive wildcards

If you want rules to apply to an arbitrarily deep hierarchy, use the recursive wildcard syntax, {name=**}:

service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    // Matches any document in the cities collection as well as any document
    // in a subcollection.
    match /cities/{document=**} {
      allow read, write: if <condition>;
    }
  }
}

When using the recursive wildcard syntax, the wildcard variable will contain the entire matching path segment, even if the document is located in a deeply nested subcollection. For example, the rules listed above would match a document located at /cities/SF/landmarks/coit_tower, and the value of the document variable would be SF/landmarks/coit_tower.

Note, however, that the behavior of recursive wildcards depends on the rules version.

Version 1

Security rules use version 1 by default. In version 1, recursive wildcards match one or more path items. They do not match an empty path, so match /cities/{city}/{document=**} matches documents in subcollections but not in the cities collection, whereas match /cities/{document=**} matches both documents in the cities collection and subcollections.

Recursive wildcards must come at the end of a match statement.

Version 2

In version 2 of the security rules, recursive wildcards match zero or more path items. match/cities/{city}/{document=**} matches documents in any subcollections as well as documents in the cities collection.

You must opt-in to version 2 by adding rules_version = '2'; at the top of your security rules:

rules_version = '2';
service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    // Matches any document in the cities collection as well as any document
    // in a subcollection.
    match /cities/{city}/{document=**} {
      allow read, write: if <condition>;
    }
  }
}

You can have at most one recursive wildcard per match statement, but in version 2, you can place this wildcard anywhere in the match statement. For example:

rules_version = '2';
service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    // Matches any document in the songs collection group
    match /{path=**}/songs/{song} {
      allow read, write: if <condition>;
    }
  }
}

If you use collection group queries, you must use version 2, see securing collection group queries.

Overlapping match statements

It's possible for a document to match more than one match statement. In the case where multiple allow expressions match a request, the access is allowed if any of the conditions is true:

service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    // Matches any document in the 'cities' collection.
    match /cities/{city} {
      allow read, write: if false;
    }

    // Matches any document in the 'cities' collection or subcollections.
    match /cities/{document=**} {
      allow read, write: if true;
    }
  }
}

In the example above, all reads and writes to the cities collection will be allowed because the second rule is always true, even though the first rule is always false.

Security rule limits

As you work with security rules, note the following limits:

Limit	Details
Maximum number of exists(), get(), and getAfter() calls per request	10 for single-document requests and query requests. 20 for multi-document reads, transactions, and batched writes. The previous limit of 10 also applies to each operation. For example, imagine you create a batched write request with 3 write operations and that your security rules use 2 document access calls to validate each write. In this case, each write uses 2 of its 10 access calls and the batched write request uses 6 of its 20 access calls. Exceeding either limit results in a permission denied error. Some document access calls may be cached, and cached calls do not count towards the limits.
Maximum nested match statement depth	10
Maximum path length, in path segments, allowed within a set of nested match statements	100
Maximum number of path capture variables allowed within a set of nested match statements	20
Maximum function call depth	20
Maximum number of function arguments	7
Maximum number of let variable bindings per function	10
Maximum number of recursive or cyclical function calls	0 (not permitted)
Maximum number of expressions evaluated per request	1,000
Maximum size of a ruleset	Rulesets must obey two size limits: a 256 KB limit on the size of the ruleset text source published from the Firebase console or from the CLI using firebase deploy. a 250 KB limit on the size of the compiled ruleset that results when Firebase processes the source and makes it active on the back-end.

Cloud Storage

Basic structure

Firebase Security Rules in Cloud Firestore and Cloud Storage use the following structure and syntax:

service <<name>> {
  // Match the resource path.
  match <<path>> {
    // Allow the request if the following conditions are true.
    allow <<methods>> : if <<condition>>
  }
}

The following key concepts are important to understand as you build the rules:

• Request: The method or methods invoked in the allow statement. These are methods you're allowing to run. The standard methods are: get, list, create, update, and delete. The read and write convenience methods enable broad read and write access on the specified database or storage path.
• Path: The database or storage location, represented as a URI path.
• Rule: The allow statement, which includes a condition that permits a request if it evaluates to true.

Matching paths

Cloud Storage Security Rules match the file paths used to access files in Cloud Storage. Rules can match exact paths or wildcard paths, and rules can also be nested. If no match rule allows an request method, or the condition evaluates to false, the request is denied.

Exact matches

// Exact match for "images/profilePhoto.png"
match /images/profilePhoto.png {
  allow write: if <condition>;
}

// Exact match for "images/croppedProfilePhoto.png"
match /images/croppedProfilePhoto.png {
  allow write: if <other_condition>;
}

Nested matches

// Partial match for files that start with "images"
match /images {
  // Exact match for "images/profilePhoto.png"
  match /profilePhoto.png {
    allow write: if <condition>;
  }

  // Exact match for "images/croppedProfilePhoto.png"
  match /croppedProfilePhoto.png {
    allow write: if <other_condition>;
  }
}

Wildcard matches

Rules can also be used to match a pattern using wildcards. A wildcard is a named variable that represents either a single string such as profilePhoto.png, or multiple path segments, such as images/profilePhoto.png.

A wildcard is created by adding curly braces around the wildcard name, like {string}. A multiple segment wildcard can be declared by adding =** to the wildcard name, like {path=**}:

// Partial match for files that start with "images"
match /images {
  // Exact match for "images/*"
  // e.g. images/profilePhoto.png is matched
  match /{imageId} {
    // This rule only matches a single path segment (*)
    // imageId is a string that contains the specific segment matched
    allow read: if <condition>;
  }

  // Exact match for "images/**"
  // e.g. images/users/user:12345/profilePhoto.png is matched
  // images/profilePhoto.png is also matched!
  match /{allImages=**} {
    // This rule matches one or more path segments (**)
    // allImages is a path that contains all segments matched
    allow read: if <other_condition>;
  }
}

If multiple rules match a file, the result is the OR of the result of all rules evaluations. That is, if any rule the file matches evaluates to true, the result is true.

In the rules above, the file "images/profilePhoto.png" can be read if either condition or other_condition evaluate to true, while the file "images/users/user:12345/profilePhoto.png" is only subject to the result of other_condition.

A wildcard variable can be referenced from within the match provide file name or path authorization:

// Another way to restrict the name of a file
match /images/{imageId} {
  allow read: if imageId == "profilePhoto.png";
}

Cloud Storage Security Rules do not cascade, and rules are only evaluated when the request path matches a path with rules specified.

Request evaluation

Uploads, downloads, metadata changes, and deletes are evaluated using the request sent to Cloud Storage. The request variable contains the file path where the request is being performed, the time when the request is received, and the new resource value if the request is a write. HTTP headers and authentication state are also included.

The request object also contains the user's unique ID and the Firebase Authentication payload in the request.auth object, which will be explained further in the Authentication section of the docs.

A full list of properties in the request object is available below:

Property	Type	Description
auth	map<string, string>	When a user is logged in, provides uid, the user's unique ID, and token, a map of Firebase Authentication JWT claims. Otherwise, it will be null.
params	map<string, string>	Map containing the query parameters of the request.
path	path	A path representing the path the request is being performed at.
resource	map<string, string>	The new resource value, present only on write requests.
time	timestamp	A timestamp representing the server time the request is evaluated at.

Note: Detailed documentation for these properties is available in the Firebase Security Rules for Cloud Storage API reference.

Resource evaluation

When evaluating rules, you may also want to evaluate the metadata of the file being uploaded, downloaded, modified, or deleted. This allows you to create complex and powerful rules that do things like only allow files with certain content types to be uploaded, or only files greater than a certain size to be deleted.

Firebase Security Rules for Cloud Storage provides file metadata in the resource object, which contains key/value pairs of the metadata surfaced in a Cloud Storage object. These properties can be inspected on read or write requests to ensure data integrity.

On write requests (such as uploads, metadata updates, and deletes), in addition to the resource object, which contains file metadata for the file that currently exists at the request path, you also have the ability to use the request.resource object, which contains a subset of the file metadata to be written if the write is allowed. You can use these two values to ensure data integrity or enforce application constraints such as file type or size.

A full list of properties in the resource object is available below:

Property	Type	Description
name	string	The full name of the object
bucket	string	The name of the bucket this object resides in.
generation	int	The Google Cloud Storage object generation of this object.
metageneration	int	The Google Cloud Storage object metageneration of this object.
size	int	The size of the object in bytes.
timeCreated	timestamp	A timestamp representing the time an object was created.
updated	timestamp	A timestamp representing the time an object was last updated.
md5Hash	string	An MD5 hash of the object.
crc32c	string	A crc32c hash of the object.
etag	string	The etag associated with this object.
contentDisposition	string	The content disposition associated with this object.
contentEncoding	string	The content encoding associated with this object.
contentLanguage	string	The content language associated with this object.
contentType	string	The content type associated with this object.
metadata	map<string, string>	Key/value pairs of additional, developer specified custom metadata.

request.resource contains all of these with the exception of generation, metageneration, etag, timeCreated, and updated.

Note: Detailed documentation for these properties is available in the Firebase Security Rules for Cloud Storage API reference.

Security Rules limits

As you work with security rules, note the following limits:

Limit	Details
Maximum number of firestore.exists() and firestore.get() calls per request	2 for single-document requests and query requests. Exceeding this limit results in a permission denied error. Access calls to the same documents may be cached, and cached calls do not count towards the limits.

Full Example

Putting it all together, you can create a full example of rules for an image storage solution:

service firebase.storage {
 match /b/{bucket}/o {
   match /images {
     // Cascade read to any image type at any path
     match /{allImages=**} {
       allow read;
     }

     // Allow write files to the path "images/*", subject to the constraints:
     // 1) File is less than 5MB
     // 2) Content type is an image
     // 3) Uploaded content type matches existing content type
     // 4) File name (stored in imageId wildcard variable) is less than 32 characters
     match /{imageId} {
       allow write: if request.resource.size < 5 * 1024 * 1024
                    && request.resource.contentType.matches('image/.*')
                    && request.resource.contentType == resource.contentType
                    && imageId.size() < 32
     }
   }
 }
}

Realtime Database

Basic structure

In Realtime Database, Firebase Security Rules consist of JavaScript-like expressions contained in a JSON document.

They use the following syntax:

{
  "rules": {
    "<<path>>": {
    // Allow the request if the condition for each method is true.
      ".read": <<condition>>,
      ".write": <<condition>>,
      ".validate": <<condition>>
    }
  }
}

There are three basic elements in the rule:

• Path: The database location. This mirrors your database's JSON structure.
• Request: These are the methods the rule uses to grant access. The read and write rules grant broad read and write access, while validate rules act as a secondary verification to grant access based on incoming or existing data.
• Condition: The condition that permits a request if it evaluates to true.

How rules apply to paths

In Realtime Database, Rules apply atomically, meaning that rules at higher-level parent nodes override rules at more granular child nodes and rules at a deeper node can't grant access to a parent path. You can't refine or revoke access at a deeper path in your database structure if you've already granted it for one of the parent paths.

Consider the following rules:

{
  "rules": {
     "foo": {
        // allows read to /foo/*
        ".read": "data.child('baz').val() === true",
        "bar": {
          // ignored, since read was allowed already
          ".read": false
        }
     }
  }
}

This security structure allows /bar/ to be read from whenever /foo/ contains a child baz with value true. The ".read": false rule under /foo/bar/ has no effect here, since access cannot be revoked by a child path.

While it may not seem immediately intuitive, this is a powerful part of the rules language and allows for very complex access privileges to be implemented with minimal effort. This is particularly useful for user-based security.

However, .validate rules do not cascade. All validate rules must be satisfied at all levels of the hierarchy for a write to be allowed.

Additionally, because rules do not apply back to a parent path, read or write operation fail if there isn't a rule at the requested location or at a parent location that grants access. Even if every affected child path is accessible, reading at the parent location will fail completely. Consider this structure:

{
  "rules": {
    "records": {
      "rec1": {
        ".read": true
      },
      "rec2": {
        ".read": false
      }
    }
  }
}

Without understanding that rules are evaluated atomically, it might seem like fetching the /records/ path would return rec1 but not rec2. The actual result, however, is an error:

JavaScript

var db = firebase.database();
db.ref("records").once("value", function(snap) {
  // success method is not called
}, function(err) {
  // error callback triggered with PERMISSION_DENIED
});

Objective-C

Note: This Firebase product is not available on the App Clip target.

FIRDatabaseReference *ref = [[FIRDatabase database] reference];
[[_ref child:@"records"] observeSingleEventOfType:FIRDataEventTypeValue withBlock:^(FIRDataSnapshot *snapshot) {
  // success block is not called
} withCancelBlock:^(NSError * _Nonnull error) {
  // cancel block triggered with PERMISSION_DENIED
}];

Swift

Note: This Firebase product is not available on the App Clip target.

var ref = FIRDatabase.database().reference()
ref.child("records").observeSingleEventOfType(.Value, withBlock: { snapshot in
    // success block is not called
}, withCancelBlock: { error in
    // cancel block triggered with PERMISSION_DENIED
})

Java

FirebaseDatabase database = FirebaseDatabase.getInstance();
DatabaseReference ref = database.getReference("records");
ref.addListenerForSingleValueEvent(new ValueEventListener() {
  @Override
  public void onDataChange(DataSnapshot snapshot) {
    // success method is not called
  }

  @Override
  public void onCancelled(FirebaseError firebaseError) {
    // error callback triggered with PERMISSION_DENIED
  });
});

REST

curl https://docs-examples.firebaseio.com/rest/records/
# response returns a PERMISSION_DENIED error

Since the read operation at /records/ is atomic, and there's no read rule that grants access to all of the data under /records/, this will throw a PERMISSION_DENIED error. If we evaluate this rule in the security simulator in our Firebase console, we can see that the read operation was denied:

Attempt to read /records with auth=Success(null)
    /
    /records

No .read rule allowed the operation.
Read was denied.

The operation was denied because no read rule allowed access to the /records/ path, but note that the rule for rec1 was never evaluated because it wasn't in the path we requested. To fetch rec1, we would need to access it directly:

JavaScript

var db = firebase.database();
db.ref("records/rec1").once("value", function(snap) {
  // SUCCESS!
}, function(err) {
  // error callback is not called
});

Objective-C

Note: This Firebase product is not available on the App Clip target.

FIRDatabaseReference *ref = [[FIRDatabase database] reference];
[[ref child:@"records/rec1"] observeSingleEventOfType:FEventTypeValue withBlock:^(FIRDataSnapshot *snapshot) {
    // SUCCESS!
}];

Swift

Note: This Firebase product is not available on the App Clip target.

var ref = FIRDatabase.database().reference()
ref.child("records/rec1").observeSingleEventOfType(.Value, withBlock: { snapshot in
    // SUCCESS!
})

Java

FirebaseDatabase database = FirebaseDatabase.getInstance();
DatabaseReference ref = database.getReference("records/rec1");
ref.addListenerForSingleValueEvent(new ValueEventListener() {
  @Override
  public void onDataChange(DataSnapshot snapshot) {
    // SUCCESS!
  }

  @Override
  public void onCancelled(FirebaseError firebaseError) {
    // error callback is not called
  }
});

REST

curl https://docs-examples.firebaseio.com/rest/records/rec1
# SUCCESS!

Location variable

Realtime Database Rules support a $location variable to match path segments. Use the $ prefix in front of your path segment to match your rule to any child nodes along the path.

  {
    "rules": {
      "rooms": {
        // This rule applies to any child of /rooms/, the key for each room id
        // is stored inside $room_id variable for reference
        "$room_id": {
          "topic": {
            // The room's topic can be changed if the room id has "public" in it
            ".write": "$room_id.contains('public')"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }

You can also use the $variable in parallel with constant path names.

  {
    "rules": {
      "widget": {
        // a widget can have a title or color attribute
        "title": { ".validate": true },
        "color": { ".validate": true },

        // but no other child paths are allowed
        // in this case, $other means any key excluding "title" and "color"
        "$other": { ".validate": false }
      }
    }
  }