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Auth

Abstract

This document specifies the auth module of the Cosmos SDK.

The auth module is responsible for specifying the base transaction and account types for an application, since the SDK itself is agnostic to these particulars. It contains the middlewares, where all basic transaction validity checks (signatures, nonces, auxiliary fields) are performed, and exposes the account keeper, which allows other modules to read, write, and modify accounts.

This module is used in the Cosmos Hub.

Contents

Concepts

Note: The auth module is different from the authz module.

The differences are:

  • auth - authentication of accounts and transactions for Cosmos SDK applications and is responsible for specifying the base transaction and account types.

  • authz - authorization for accounts to perform actions on behalf of other accounts and enables a granter to grant authorizations to a grantee that allows the grantee to execute messages on behalf of the granter.

Gas & Fees

Fees serve two purposes for an operator of the network.

Fees limit the growth of the state stored by every full node and allow for general purpose censorship of transactions of little economic value. Fees are best suited as an anti-spam mechanism where validators are disinterested in the use of the network and identities of users.

Fees are determined by the gas limits and gas prices transactions provide, where fees = ceil(gasLimit * gasPrices). Txs incur gas costs for all state reads/writes, signature verification, as well as costs proportional to the tx size. Operators should set minimum gas prices when starting their nodes. They must set the unit costs of gas in each token denomination they wish to support:

simd start ... --minimum-gas-prices=0.00001stake;0.05photinos

When adding transactions to mempool or gossipping transactions, validators check if the transaction's gas prices, which are determined by the provided fees, meet any of the validator's minimum gas prices. In other words, a transaction must provide a fee of at least one denomination that matches a validator's minimum gas price.

CometBFT does not currently provide fee based mempool prioritization, and fee based mempool filtering is local to node and not part of consensus. But with minimum gas prices set, such a mechanism could be implemented by node operators.

Because the market value for tokens will fluctuate, validators are expected to dynamically adjust their minimum gas prices to a level that would encourage the use of the network.

State

Accounts

Accounts contain authentication information for a uniquely identified external user of an SDK blockchain, including public key, address, and account number / sequence number for replay protection. For efficiency, since account balances must also be fetched to pay fees, account structs also store the balance of a user as sdk.Coins.

Accounts are exposed externally as an interface, and stored internally as either a base account or vesting account. Module clients wishing to add more account types may do so.

  • 0x01 | Address -> ProtocolBuffer(account)

Account Interface

The account interface exposes methods to read and write standard account information. Note that all of these methods operate on an account struct conforming to the interface - in order to write the account to the store, the account keeper will need to be used.

// AccountI is an interface used to store coins at a given address within state.
// It presumes a notion of sequence numbers for replay protection,
// a notion of account numbers for replay protection for previously pruned accounts,
// and a pubkey for authentication purposes.
//
// Many complex conditions can be used in the concrete struct which implements AccountI.
type AccountI interface {
	proto.Message

	GetAddress() sdk.AccAddress
	SetAddress(sdk.AccAddress) error // errors if already set.

	GetPubKey() crypto.PubKey // can return nil.
	SetPubKey(crypto.PubKey) error

	GetAccountNumber() uint64
	SetAccountNumber(uint64) error

	GetSequence() uint64
	SetSequence(uint64) error

	// Ensure that account implements stringer
	String() string
}

Base Account

A base account is the simplest and most common account type, which just stores all requisite fields directly in a struct.

// BaseAccount defines a base account type. It contains all the necessary fields
// for basic account functionality. Any custom account type should extend this
// type for additional functionality (e.g. vesting).
message BaseAccount {
  string address = 1;
  google.protobuf.Any pub_key = 2;
  uint64 account_number = 3;
  uint64 sequence       = 4;
}

Vesting Account

See Vesting.

AnteHandlers

The x/auth module presently has no transaction handlers of its own, but does expose the special AnteHandler, used for performing basic validity checks on a transaction, such that it could be thrown out of the mempool. The AnteHandler can be seen as a set of decorators that check transactions within the current context, per ADR 010.

Note that the AnteHandler is called on both CheckTx and DeliverTx, as CometBFT proposers presently have the ability to include in their proposed block transactions which fail CheckTx.

Decorators

The auth module provides AnteDecorators that are recursively chained together into a single AnteHandler in the following order:

  • SetUpContextDecorator: Sets the GasMeter in the Context and wraps the next AnteHandler with a defer clause to recover from any downstream OutOfGas panics in the AnteHandler chain to return an error with information on gas provided and gas used.

  • RejectExtensionOptionsDecorator: Rejects all extension options which can optionally be included in protobuf transactions.

  • MempoolFeeDecorator: Checks if the tx fee is above local mempool minFee parameter during CheckTx.

  • ValidateBasicDecorator: Calls tx.ValidateBasic and returns any non-nil error.

  • TxTimeoutHeightDecorator: Check for a tx height timeout.

  • ValidateMemoDecorator: Validates tx memo with application parameters and returns any non-nil error.

  • ConsumeGasTxSizeDecorator: Consumes gas proportional to the tx size based on application parameters.

  • DeductFeeDecorator: Deducts the FeeAmount from first signer of the tx. If the x/feegrant module is enabled and a fee granter is set, it deducts fees from the fee granter account.

  • SetPubKeyDecorator: Sets the pubkey from a tx's signers that does not already have its corresponding pubkey saved in the state machine and in the current context.

  • ValidateSigCountDecorator: Validates the number of signatures in tx based on app-parameters.

  • SigGasConsumeDecorator: Consumes parameter-defined amount of gas for each signature. This requires pubkeys to be set in context for all signers as part of SetPubKeyDecorator.

  • SigVerificationDecorator: Verifies all signatures are valid. This requires pubkeys to be set in context for all signers as part of SetPubKeyDecorator.

  • IncrementSequenceDecorator: Increments the account sequence for each signer to prevent replay attacks.

Keepers

The auth module only exposes one keeper, the account keeper, which can be used to read and write accounts.

Account Keeper

Presently only one fully-permissioned account keeper is exposed, which has the ability to both read and write all fields of all accounts, and to iterate over all stored accounts.

// AccountKeeperI is the interface contract that x/auth's keeper implements.
type AccountKeeperI interface {
	// Return a new account with the next account number and the specified address. Does not save the new account to the store.
	NewAccountWithAddress(sdk.Context, sdk.AccAddress) types.AccountI

	// Return a new account with the next account number. Does not save the new account to the store.
	NewAccount(sdk.Context, types.AccountI) types.AccountI

	// Check if an account exists in the store.
	HasAccount(sdk.Context, sdk.AccAddress) bool

	// Retrieve an account from the store.
	GetAccount(sdk.Context, sdk.AccAddress) types.AccountI

	// Set an account in the store.
	SetAccount(sdk.Context, types.AccountI)

	// Remove an account from the store.
	RemoveAccount(sdk.Context, types.AccountI)

	// Iterate over all accounts, calling the provided function. Stop iteration when it returns true.
	IterateAccounts(sdk.Context, func(types.AccountI) bool)

	// Fetch the public key of an account at a specified address
	GetPubKey(sdk.Context, sdk.AccAddress) (crypto.PubKey, error)

	// Fetch the sequence of an account at a specified address.
	GetSequence(sdk.Context, sdk.AccAddress) (uint64, error)

	// Fetch the next account number, and increment the internal counter.
	NextAccountNumber(sdk.Context) uint64
}

Parameters

The auth module contains the following parameters:

Key
Type
Example

MaxMemoCharacters

uint64

256

TxSigLimit

uint64

7

TxSizeCostPerByte

uint64

10

SigVerifyCostED25519

uint64

590

SigVerifyCostSecp256k1

uint64

1000

Client

CLI

A user can query and interact with the auth module using the CLI.

Query

The query commands allow users to query auth state.

simd query auth --help

account

The account command allow users to query for an account by it's address.

simd query auth account [address] [flags]

Example:

simd query auth account cosmos1...

Example Output:

'@type': /cosmos.auth.v1beta1.BaseAccount
account_number: "0"
address: cosmos1zwg6tpl8aw4rawv8sgag9086lpw5hv33u5ctr2
pub_key:
  '@type': /cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey
  key: ApDrE38zZdd7wLmFS9YmqO684y5DG6fjZ4rVeihF/AQD
sequence: "1"

accounts

The accounts command allow users to query all the available accounts.

simd query auth accounts [flags]

Example:

simd query auth accounts

Example Output:

accounts:
- '@type': /cosmos.auth.v1beta1.BaseAccount
  account_number: "0"
  address: cosmos1zwg6tpl8aw4rawv8sgag9086lpw5hv33u5ctr2
  pub_key:
    '@type': /cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey
    key: ApDrE38zZdd7wLmFS9YmqO684y5DG6fjZ4rVeihF/AQD
  sequence: "1"
- '@type': /cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount
  base_account:
    account_number: "8"
    address: cosmos1yl6hdjhmkf37639730gffanpzndzdpmhwlkfhr
    pub_key: null
    sequence: "0"
  name: transfer
  permissions:
  - minter
  - burner
- '@type': /cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount
  base_account:
    account_number: "4"
    address: cosmos1fl48vsnmsdzcv85q5d2q4z5ajdha8yu34mf0eh
    pub_key: null
    sequence: "0"
  name: bonded_tokens_pool
  permissions:
  - burner
  - staking
- '@type': /cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount
  base_account:
    account_number: "5"
    address: cosmos1tygms3xhhs3yv487phx3dw4a95jn7t7lpm470r
    pub_key: null
    sequence: "0"
  name: not_bonded_tokens_pool
  permissions:
  - burner
  - staking
- '@type': /cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount
  base_account:
    account_number: "6"
    address: cosmos10d07y265gmmuvt4z0w9aw880jnsr700j6zn9kn
    pub_key: null
    sequence: "0"
  name: gov
  permissions:
  - burner
- '@type': /cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount
  base_account:
    account_number: "3"
    address: cosmos1jv65s3grqf6v6jl3dp4t6c9t9rk99cd88lyufl
    pub_key: null
    sequence: "0"
  name: distribution
  permissions: []
- '@type': /cosmos.auth.v1beta1.BaseAccount
  account_number: "1"
  address: cosmos147k3r7v2tvwqhcmaxcfql7j8rmkrlsemxshd3j
  pub_key: null
  sequence: "0"
- '@type': /cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount
  base_account:
    account_number: "7"
    address: cosmos1m3h30wlvsf8llruxtpukdvsy0km2kum8g38c8q
    pub_key: null
    sequence: "0"
  name: mint
  permissions:
  - minter
- '@type': /cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount
  base_account:
    account_number: "2"
    address: cosmos17xpfvakm2amg962yls6f84z3kell8c5lserqta
    pub_key: null
    sequence: "0"
  name: fee_collector
  permissions: []
pagination:
  next_key: null
  total: "0"

params

The params command allow users to query the current auth parameters.

simd query auth params [flags]

Example:

simd query auth params

Example Output:

max_memo_characters: "256"
sig_verify_cost_ed25519: "590"
sig_verify_cost_secp256k1: "1000"
tx_sig_limit: "7"
tx_size_cost_per_byte: "10"

Transactions

The auth module supports transactions commands to help you with signing and more. Compared to other modules you can access directly the auth module transactions commands using the only tx command.

Use directly the --help flag to get more information about the tx command.

simd tx --help

sign

The sign command allows users to sign transactions that was generated offline.

simd tx sign tx.json --from $ALICE > tx.signed.json

The result is a signed transaction that can be broadcasted to the network thanks to the broadcast command.

More information about the sign command can be found running simd tx sign --help.

sign-batch

The sign-batch command allows users to sign multiples offline generated transactions. The transactions can be in one file, with one tx per line, or in multiple files.

simd tx sign txs.json --from $ALICE > tx.signed.json

or

simd tx sign tx1.json tx2.json tx3.json --from $ALICE > tx.signed.json

The result is multiples signed transactions. For combining the signed transactions into one transactions, use the --append flag.

More information about the sign-batch command can be found running simd tx sign-batch --help.

multi-sign

The multi-sign command allows users to sign transactions that was generated offline by a multisig account.

simd tx multisign transaction.json k1k2k3 k1sig.json k2sig.json k3sig.json

Where k1k2k3 is the multisig account address, k1sig.json is the signature of the first signer, k2sig.json is the signature of the second signer, and k3sig.json is the signature of the third signer.

Nested multisig transactions

To allow transactions to be signed by nested multisigs, meaning that a participant of a multisig account can be another multisig account, the --skip-signature-verification flag must be used.

# First aggregate signatures of the multisig participant
simd tx multi-sign transaction.json ms1 ms1p1sig.json ms1p2sig.json --signature-only --skip-signature-verification > ms1sig.json

# Then use the aggregated signatures and the other signatures to sign the final transaction
simd tx multi-sign transaction.json k1ms1 k1sig.json ms1sig.json --skip-signature-verification

Where ms1 is the nested multisig account address, ms1p1sig.json is the signature of the first participant of the nested multisig account, ms1p2sig.json is the signature of the second participant of the nested multisig account, and ms1sig.json is the aggregated signature of the nested multisig account.

k1ms1 is a multisig account comprised of an individual signer and another nested multisig account (ms1). k1sig.json is the signature of the first signer of the individual member.

More information about the multi-sign command can be found running simd tx multi-sign --help.

multisign-batch

The multisign-batch works the same way as sign-batch, but for multisig accounts. With the difference that the multisign-batch command requires all transactions to be in one file, and the --append flag does not exist.

More information about the multisign-batch command can be found running simd tx multisign-batch --help.

validate-signatures

The validate-signatures command allows users to validate the signatures of a signed transaction.

$ simd tx validate-signatures tx.signed.json
Signers:
  0: cosmos1l6vsqhh7rnwsyr2kyz3jjg3qduaz8gwgyl8275

Signatures:
  0: cosmos1l6vsqhh7rnwsyr2kyz3jjg3qduaz8gwgyl8275                      [OK]

More information about the validate-signatures command can be found running simd tx validate-signatures --help.

broadcast

The broadcast command allows users to broadcast a signed transaction to the network.

simd tx broadcast tx.signed.json

More information about the broadcast command can be found running simd tx broadcast --help.

gRPC

A user can query the auth module using gRPC endpoints.

Account

The account endpoint allow users to query for an account by it's address.

cosmos.auth.v1beta1.Query/Account

Example:

grpcurl -plaintext \
    -d '{"address":"cosmos1.."}' \
    localhost:9090 \
    cosmos.auth.v1beta1.Query/Account

Example Output:

{
  "account":{
    "@type":"/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.BaseAccount",
    "address":"cosmos1zwg6tpl8aw4rawv8sgag9086lpw5hv33u5ctr2",
    "pubKey":{
      "@type":"/cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey",
      "key":"ApDrE38zZdd7wLmFS9YmqO684y5DG6fjZ4rVeihF/AQD"
    },
    "sequence":"1"
  }
}

Accounts

The accounts endpoint allow users to query all the available accounts.

cosmos.auth.v1beta1.Query/Accounts

Example:

grpcurl -plaintext \
    localhost:9090 \
    cosmos.auth.v1beta1.Query/Accounts

Example Output:

{
   "accounts":[
      {
         "@type":"/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.BaseAccount",
         "address":"cosmos1zwg6tpl8aw4rawv8sgag9086lpw5hv33u5ctr2",
         "pubKey":{
            "@type":"/cosmos.crypto.secp256k1.PubKey",
            "key":"ApDrE38zZdd7wLmFS9YmqO684y5DG6fjZ4rVeihF/AQD"
         },
         "sequence":"1"
      },
      {
         "@type":"/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount",
         "baseAccount":{
            "address":"cosmos1yl6hdjhmkf37639730gffanpzndzdpmhwlkfhr",
            "accountNumber":"8"
         },
         "name":"transfer",
         "permissions":[
            "minter",
            "burner"
         ]
      },
      {
         "@type":"/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount",
         "baseAccount":{
            "address":"cosmos1fl48vsnmsdzcv85q5d2q4z5ajdha8yu34mf0eh",
            "accountNumber":"4"
         },
         "name":"bonded_tokens_pool",
         "permissions":[
            "burner",
            "staking"
         ]
      },
      {
         "@type":"/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount",
         "baseAccount":{
            "address":"cosmos1tygms3xhhs3yv487phx3dw4a95jn7t7lpm470r",
            "accountNumber":"5"
         },
         "name":"not_bonded_tokens_pool",
         "permissions":[
            "burner",
            "staking"
         ]
      },
      {
         "@type":"/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount",
         "baseAccount":{
            "address":"cosmos10d07y265gmmuvt4z0w9aw880jnsr700j6zn9kn",
            "accountNumber":"6"
         },
         "name":"gov",
         "permissions":[
            "burner"
         ]
      },
      {
         "@type":"/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount",
         "baseAccount":{
            "address":"cosmos1jv65s3grqf6v6jl3dp4t6c9t9rk99cd88lyufl",
            "accountNumber":"3"
         },
         "name":"distribution"
      },
      {
         "@type":"/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.BaseAccount",
         "accountNumber":"1",
         "address":"cosmos147k3r7v2tvwqhcmaxcfql7j8rmkrlsemxshd3j"
      },
      {
         "@type":"/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount",
         "baseAccount":{
            "address":"cosmos1m3h30wlvsf8llruxtpukdvsy0km2kum8g38c8q",
            "accountNumber":"7"
         },
         "name":"mint",
         "permissions":[
            "minter"
         ]
      },
      {
         "@type":"/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount",
         "baseAccount":{
            "address":"cosmos17xpfvakm2amg962yls6f84z3kell8c5lserqta",
            "accountNumber":"2"
         },
         "name":"fee_collector"
      }
   ],
   "pagination":{
      "total":"9"
   }
}

Params

The params endpoint allow users to query the current auth parameters.

cosmos.auth.v1beta1.Query/Params

Example:

grpcurl -plaintext \
    localhost:9090 \
    cosmos.auth.v1beta1.Query/Params

Example Output:

{
  "params": {
    "maxMemoCharacters": "256",
    "txSigLimit": "7",
    "txSizeCostPerByte": "10",
    "sigVerifyCostEd25519": "590",
    "sigVerifyCostSecp256k1": "1000"
  }
}

REST

A user can query the auth module using REST endpoints.

Account

The account endpoint allow users to query for an account by it's address.

/cosmos/auth/v1beta1/account?address={address}

Accounts

The accounts endpoint allow users to query all the available accounts.

/cosmos/auth/v1beta1/accounts

Params

The params endpoint allow users to query the current auth parameters.

/cosmos/auth/v1beta1/params
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