js-libp2p/examples/pubsub/message-filtering

Filter Messages

To prevent undesired data from being propagated on the network, we can apply a filter to Gossipsub. Messages that fail validation in the filter will not be re-shared.

1. Setting up a PubSub network with three nodes

First, let's update our libp2p configuration with a pubsub implementation.

import { createLibp2p } from 'libp2p'
import { Gossipsub } from 'libp2p-gossipsub'

const node = await createLibp2p({
  addresses: {
    listen: ['/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/0']
  },
  transports: [
    new TCP()
  ],
  streamMuxers: [
    new Mplex()
  ],
  connectionEncryption: [
    new Noise()
  ],
  pubsub: new Gossipsub()
})

Then, create three nodes and connect them together. In this example, we will connect the nodes in series. Node 1 connected with node 2 and node 2 connected with node 3.

const [node1, node2, node3] = await Promise.all([
  createNode(),
  createNode(),
  createNode(),
])

await node1.peerStore.addressBook.set(node2.peerId, node2.multiaddrs)
await node1.dial(node2.peerId)

await node2.peerStore.addressBook.set(node3.peerId, node3.multiaddrs)
await node2.dial(node3.peerId)

Now we' can subscribe to the fruit topic and log incoming messages.

const topic = 'fruit'

node1.pubsub.addEventListener('message', (msg) => {
  if (msg.detail.topic !== topic) {
    return
  }

  console.log(`node1 received: ${uint8ArrayToString(msg.data)}`)
})
await node1.pubsub.subscribe(topic)

node2.pubsub.addEventListener('message', (msg) => {
  if (msg.detail.topic !== topic) {
    return
  }

  console.log(`node2 received: ${uint8ArrayToString(msg.data)}`)
})
await node2.pubsub.subscribe(topic)

node3.pubsub.addEventListener('message', (msg) => {
  if (msg.detail.topic !== topic) {
    return
  }

console.log(`node3 received: ${uint8ArrayToString(msg.data)}`)
})
await node3.pubsub.subscribe(topic)

Finally, let's define the additional filter in the fruit topic.

const validateFruit = (msgTopic, msg) => {
  const fruit = uint8ArrayToString(msg.data)
  const validFruit = ['banana', 'apple', 'orange']

  if (!validFruit.includes(fruit)) {
    throw new Error('no valid fruit received')
  }
}

node1.pubsub.topicValidators.set(topic, validateFruit)
node2.pubsub.topicValidators.set(topic, validateFruit)
node3.pubsub.topicValidators.set(topic, validateFruit)

In this example, node one has an outdated version of the system, or is a malicious node. When it tries to publish fruit, the messages are re-shared and all the nodes share the message. However, when it tries to publish a vehicle the message is not re-shared.

for (const fruit of ['banana', 'apple', 'car', 'orange']) {
  console.log('############## fruit ' + fruit + ' ##############')
  await node1.pubsub.publish(topic, uint8ArrayFromString(fruit))
}

Result

> node 1.js
############## fruit banana ##############
node2 received: banana
node3 received: banana
############## fruit apple ##############
node2 received: apple
node3 received: apple
############## fruit car ##############
############## fruit orange ##############
node1 received: orange
node2 received: orange
node3 received: orange