AWS SNS Message Validator

0.0.5 verified Fri May 01 auth: no python

A Python library for validating AWS SNS messages, including signature verification using AWS's public certificates. Version 0.0.5, last updated in 2020. Low release cadence.

pip install aws-sns-message-validator

Common errors

error TypeError: the JSON object must be str, bytes or bytearray, not 'dict' ↓

cause Passing a dict directly to validate_message instead of a JSON string.

fix

Use json.dumps(message) before calling validator.validate_message().

error AttributeError: module 'aws_sns_message_validator' has no attribute 'SNSMessageValidator' ↓

cause Incorrect import path (e.g., from aws_sns_message_validator import SNSMessageValidator not just import aws_sns_message_validator).

fix

Use: from aws_sns_message_validator import SNSMessageValidator

error requests.exceptions.ConnectionError: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com', port=443): Max retries exceeded ↓

cause The certificate URL is unreachable, possibly because of network restrictions or a non-AWS URL.

fix

Ensure SigningCertURL is a valid HTTPS URL to an AWS SNS endpoint. Add proxies or override network settings if behind a firewall.

Warnings

gotcha The validate_message method expects a JSON string, not a dict. Passing a dict will cause a TypeError. ↓

fix Always json.dumps() your dict before calling validate_message.

gotcha Certificate URL must be HTTPS and point to a valid AWS certificate. The library does not validate the URL beyond downloading it. ↓

fix Ensure the SigningCertURL is always an AWS https URL (e.g., https://sns.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/...).

deprecated The library uses md5 which is deprecated; some Python environments may raise warnings. ↓

fix Ignore warnings or use a different library like 'aws-encryption-sdk' for strict compliance.

Imports

SNSMessageValidator

from aws_sns_message_validator import SNSMessageValidator

Correct import path as per package.

Quickstart

Validate an AWS SNS message by passing the full JSON message string.

import json
from aws_sns_message_validator import SNSMessageValidator

validator = SNSMessageValidator()
message = {
    'Type': 'Notification',
    'MessageId': '...',
    'TopicArn': '...',
    'Subject': '...',
    'Message': '...',
    'Timestamp': '...',
    'SignatureVersion': '1',
    'Signature': '...',
    'SigningCertURL': '...',
    'UnsubscribeURL': '...'
}
result = validator.validate_message(json.dumps(message))
print(result)