Securing Evolution API: key, HTTPS and the open port

An exposed Evolution API is an open door to your WhatsApp number: whoever reaches it and holds the key sends messages in your name. You protect it with four things: a strong, secret key, HTTPS in front, the right ports closed and nothing extra exposed (database, Redis). The order matters: do them before linking a number you care about.

Step by step

1 A random key. AUTHENTICATION_API_KEY should be long and generated at random, for example with openssl rand -hex 32. Never a word, never the one from the example. Keep it in a password manager.
2 Never publish it. It does not go in repositories, screenshots, chats or help requests. If it leaked, change it in the settings file, restart and update everywhere that uses it.
3 Put a reverse proxy with HTTPS in front, on a domain or subdomain of yours. See Nginx in front of a container and HTTPS for a container. Without HTTPS the key travels in the clear.
4 Let the API listen on the server itself only. In the compose file the published port can be tied to the 127.0.0.1 address, so that only the proxy reaches it. Then the server’s address plus the API port stops answering from outside.
5 Do not publish the database or Redis. They only need to see each other inside the Docker network. A database with an open port is a well-known target.
6 Restrict SSH access and keep the system updated. See keeping your VPS secure.
Docker gets around many firewalls. When you publish a port, Docker edits the network rules itself, and an ordinary firewall may not hide it. Do not assume the port is closed: confirm it from outside, from another computer. See ports and firewall on a VPS.

What each measure protects against

Measure Against what
A strong key Anyone who guesses or finds the default one.
HTTPS Anyone listening on the network between your server and whoever calls the API.
A local-only port Anyone scanning the internet for open ports.
A closed database Anyone trying to get straight at the data and the sessions.
A secret on the webhook Anyone who finds your receiver’s address and invents messages.

After installing

1 Test from outside. From a computer that is not the server, confirm that the API port, the database port and the Redis port do not answer, and that the domain with HTTPS does.
2 Test the key. A request with no key, or the wrong one, must be refused.
3 Review the logs now and then. Requests you do not recognise, from odd addresses, are the warning.
The risk is not only technical. Whoever has the key has the number, and a number used to send junk to others is a banned number. For context, see the risks of WhatsApp for business. VPS security is yours, as the Support Policy explains.

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SEE ALSO

Keeping your VPS secure: the six that matter

Ports and firewall on a VPS

The Evolution API settings that matter

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