Webhook Security Verification

Understand Webhook security verification and how to handle them

To ensure the security of callback requests, it is strongly recommended to enable Webhook HMAC signature verification in production environments to prevent forged requests and replay attacks.

Algorithm Overview

Kie AI uses the HMAC-SHA256 algorithm to generate signatures, ensuring the integrity and authenticity of webhook callbacks.

Signature Generation Process:

1. Concatenate the data to sign: taskId + "." + timestampSeconds

   • taskId: Task ID from the request body
   • timestampSeconds: Unix timestamp in seconds from the X-Webhook-Timestamp header

2. Calculate HMAC-SHA256 signature:

   signature = HMAC-SHA256(dataToSign, webhookHmacKey)
   

3. Base64 encode the signature:

   finalSignature = Base64.encode(signature)
   

Obtain Webhook HMAC Key

You can generate and view your webhookHmacKey on the Kie AI Settings Page.

The webhookHmacKey is used to verify that callback requests originate from Kie AI’s official servers. Keep this key secure and never expose it or commit it to code repositories.

Webhook Header Description

When you enable the webhookHmacKey feature in the settings page, all callback requests will include the following fields in the HTTP headers:

X-Webhook-Timestamp · integer · required

Unix timestamp (in seconds) when the callback request was sent.

X-Webhook-Signature · string · required

Signature generated using the HMAC-SHA256 algorithm with Base64 encoding.

Signature generation rule:

base64(HMAC-SHA256(taskId + "." + timestamp, webhookHmacKey))

Where:

• taskId is the task ID from the callback body
• timestamp is the value of X-Webhook-Timestamp
• webhookHmacKey is the key you generated in the console

Webhook Verification Process

Follow these steps to verify the legitimacy of webhook requests:

1. Read Header Fields

   Extract the X-Webhook-Timestamp and X-Webhook-Signature fields from the HTTP headers.

   const timestamp = req.headers['x-webhook-timestamp'];
   const receivedSignature = req.headers['x-webhook-signature'];
   
2. Generate Signature

   Using your locally stored webhookHmacKey, generate the HMAC-SHA256 signature following these rules:

   1. Extract task_id from the request body
   2. Concatenate the string: taskId + "." + timestamp
   3. Generate signature using HMAC-SHA256 algorithm with webhookHmacKey
   4. Base64 encode the signature result

   const crypto = require('crypto');
   
   const taskId = req.body.data.task_id;
   const message = `${taskId}.${timestamp}`;
   
   const computedSignature = crypto
     .createHmac('sha256', webhookHmacKey)
     .update(message)
     .digest('base64');
   
3. Compare Signatures

   Compare the computed signature with X-Webhook-Signature using a constant-time comparison algorithm to prevent timing attacks.

   // Use crypto.timingSafeEqual for constant-time comparison
   if (computedSignature.length !== receivedSignature.length) {
     return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Invalid signature' });
   }
   
   const isValid = crypto.timingSafeEqual(
     Buffer.from(computedSignature),
     Buffer.from(receivedSignature)
   );
   
   if (isValid) {
     // Signature verified, request is legitimate
     console.log('Webhook signature verified');
   } else {
     // Signature verification failed, reject request
     return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Invalid signature' });
   }
   

   If the signatures match, the webhook request is confirmed to be from Kie AI’s official servers and can be safely processed.

Complete Example Code

Here are complete examples of implementing webhook signature verification in popular programming languages:

Node.js

const express = require('express');
const crypto = require('crypto');
const app = express();

app.use(express.json());

// Read webhookHmacKey from environment variables or configuration
const WEBHOOK_HMAC_KEY = process.env.WEBHOOK_HMAC_KEY;

function generateSignature(taskId, timestampSeconds, secret) {
  // 1. Concatenate the data to sign
  const dataToSign = `${taskId}.${timestampSeconds}`;
  
  // 2. Calculate HMAC-SHA256 signature
  const hmac = crypto.createHmac('sha256', secret);
  hmac.update(dataToSign);
  
  // 3. Base64 encode
  return hmac.digest('base64');
}

function verifySignature(taskId, timestampSeconds, receivedSignature, secret) {
  // Regenerate signature
  const expectedSignature = generateSignature(taskId, timestampSeconds, secret);
  
  // Use secure string comparison
  if (expectedSignature.length !== receivedSignature.length) {
    return false;
  }
  
  return crypto.timingSafeEqual(
    Buffer.from(expectedSignature),
    Buffer.from(receivedSignature)
  );
}

function verifyWebhookSignature(req, res, next) {
  // 1. Read header fields
  const timestamp = req.headers['x-webhook-timestamp'];
  const receivedSignature = req.headers['x-webhook-signature'];

  if (!timestamp || !receivedSignature) {
    return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Missing signature headers' });
  }

  // 2. Verify signature
  const taskId = req.body.data?.task_id;
  if (!taskId) {
    return res.status(400).json({ error: 'Missing task_id' });
  }

  const isValid = verifySignature(taskId, timestamp, receivedSignature, WEBHOOK_HMAC_KEY);
  
  if (!isValid) {
    return res.status(401).json({ error: 'Invalid signature' });
  }

  // Signature verified
  next();
}

// Apply middleware
app.post('/webhook-callback', verifyWebhookSignature, (req, res) => {
  const { code, msg, data } = req.body;
  
  console.log('Received legitimate webhook request:', {
    taskId: data.task_id,
    status: code,
    callbackType: data.callbackType
  });
  
  // Process callback data...
  
  res.status(200).json({ status: 'received' });
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Webhook server running on port 3000');
});

Python

from flask import Flask, request, jsonify
import hmac
import hashlib
import base64
import os

app = Flask(__name__)

# Read webhookHmacKey from environment variables or configuration
WEBHOOK_HMAC_KEY = os.getenv('WEBHOOK_HMAC_KEY', '')

def generate_signature(task_id, timestamp_seconds, secret):
    """Generate Webhook signature"""
    # 1. Concatenate the data to sign
    data_to_sign = f"{task_id}.{timestamp_seconds}"
    
    # 2. Calculate HMAC-SHA256 signature
    signature = hmac.new(
        secret.encode('utf-8'),
        data_to_sign.encode('utf-8'),
        hashlib.sha256
    ).digest()
    
    # 3. Base64 encode
    return base64.b64encode(signature).decode('utf-8')

def verify_signature(task_id, timestamp_seconds, received_signature, secret):
    """Verify Webhook signature"""
    # Regenerate signature
    expected_signature = generate_signature(task_id, timestamp_seconds, secret)
    
    # Use secure string comparison
    return hmac.compare_digest(expected_signature, received_signature)

def verify_webhook_signature():
    # 1. Read header fields
    timestamp = request.headers.get('X-Webhook-Timestamp')
    received_signature = request.headers.get('X-Webhook-Signature')
    
    if not timestamp or not received_signature:
        return False, 'Missing signature headers'
    
    # 2. Verify signature
    data = request.json
    task_id = data.get('data', {}).get('task_id')
    
    if not task_id:
        return False, 'Missing task_id'
    
    is_valid = verify_signature(task_id, timestamp, received_signature, WEBHOOK_HMAC_KEY)
    
    if not is_valid:
        return False, 'Invalid signature'
    
    return True, 'Verified'

@app.route('/webhook-callback', methods=['POST'])
def handle_webhook():
    # Verify signature
    is_valid, message = verify_webhook_signature()
    
    if not is_valid:
        return jsonify({'error': message}), 401
    
    # Signature verified, process callback data
    data = request.json
    code = data.get('code')
    msg = data.get('msg')
    callback_data = data.get('data', {})
    task_id = callback_data.get('task_id')
    callback_type = callback_data.get('callbackType')
    
    print(f"Received legitimate webhook request: {task_id}, status: {code}, type: {callback_type}")
    
    # Process callback data...
    
    return jsonify({'status': 'received'}), 200

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(host='0.0.0.0', port=3000)

PHP

<?php
header('Content-Type: application/json');

// Read webhookHmacKey from environment variables or configuration
$webhookHmacKey = getenv('WEBHOOK_HMAC_KEY');

function generateSignature($taskId, $timestampSeconds, $secret) {
    // 1. Concatenate the data to sign
    $dataToSign = $taskId . '.' . $timestampSeconds;
    
    // 2. Calculate HMAC-SHA256 signature
    $signature = hash_hmac('sha256', $dataToSign, $secret, true);
    
    // 3. Base64 encode
    return base64_encode($signature);
}

function verifySignature($taskId, $timestampSeconds, $receivedSignature, $secret) {
    // Regenerate signature
    $expectedSignature = generateSignature($taskId, $timestampSeconds, $secret);
    
    // Use secure string comparison
    return hash_equals($expectedSignature, $receivedSignature);
}

function verifyWebhookSignature($webhookHmacKey) {
    // 1. Read header fields
    $timestamp = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_WEBHOOK_TIMESTAMP'] ?? null;
    $receivedSignature = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_WEBHOOK_SIGNATURE'] ?? null;
    
    if (!$timestamp || !$receivedSignature) {
        return ['valid' => false, 'error' => 'Missing signature headers'];
    }
    
    // 2. Verify signature
    $input = file_get_contents('php://input');
    $data = json_decode($input, true);
    $taskId = $data['data']['task_id'] ?? null;
    
    if (!$taskId) {
        return ['valid' => false, 'error' => 'Missing task_id'];
    }
    
    $isValid = verifySignature($taskId, $timestamp, $receivedSignature, $webhookHmacKey);
    
    if (!$isValid) {
        return ['valid' => false, 'error' => 'Invalid signature'];
    }
    
    return ['valid' => true, 'data' => $data];
}

// Verify signature
$result = verifyWebhookSignature($webhookHmacKey);

if (!$result['valid']) {
    http_response_code(401);
    echo json_encode(['error' => $result['error']]);
    exit;
}

// Signature verified, process callback data
$data = $result['data'];
$code = $data['code'] ?? null;
$msg = $data['msg'] ?? '';
$callbackData = $data['data'] ?? [];
$taskId = $callbackData['task_id'] ?? '';
$callbackType = $callbackData['callbackType'] ?? '';

error_log("Received legitimate webhook request: $taskId, status: $code, type: $callbackType");

// Process callback data...

// Return success response
http_response_code(200);
echo json_encode(['status' => 'received']);
?>

Java

import javax.crypto.Mac;
import javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.security.InvalidKeyException;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.util.Base64;
import java.util.Objects;

public class WebhookVerifier {
    
    public static boolean verifySignature(String taskId, long timestampSeconds, String receivedSignature, String secret) {
        // Regenerate signature
        String expectedSignature = generateSignature(taskId, timestampSeconds, secret);

        // Use secure string comparison
        return constantTimeEquals(expectedSignature, receivedSignature);
    }

    public static String generateSignature(String taskId, long timestampSeconds, String secret) {
        try {
            // 1. Concatenate the data to sign
            String dataToSign = taskId + "." + timestampSeconds;

            // 2. Calculate HMAC-SHA256 signature
            Mac mac = Mac.getInstance("HmacSHA256");
            SecretKeySpec keySpec = new SecretKeySpec(
                    secret.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8), "HmacSHA256");
            mac.init(keySpec);
            byte[] hash = mac.doFinal(dataToSign.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));

            // 3. Base64 encode
            return Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(hash);
        } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException | InvalidKeyException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to generate webhook signature", e);
        }
    }

    private static boolean constantTimeEquals(String a, String b) {
        if (a == null || b == null) {
            return Objects.equals(a, b);
        }
        if (a.length() != b.length()) {
            return false;
        }
        int result = 0;
        for (int i = 0; i < a.length(); i++) {
            result |= a.charAt(i) ^ b.charAt(i);
        }
        return result == 0;
    }
}

Example Webhook Request

Here’s what a complete webhook request looks like:

POST /your-webhook-endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: your-server.com
Content-Type: application/json
X-Webhook-Timestamp: 1769670760
X-Webhook-Signature: KxDlpbbq0GDOKqm0+FuJpJWTzY8baHSjhEt4kwElqQI=

{
  "taskId": "ee9c2715375b7837f8bb51d641ff5863",
  "code": 200,
  "msg": "Success",
  "data": {
    "task_id": "ee9c2715375b7837f8bb51d641ff5863",
    "callbackType": "task_completed",
    ...
  }
}