How to Verify Email Without Asking the User to Login to Laravel

Here's a more future proof solution to the problem:

class VerificationController extends Controller
{

    // …

    use VerifiesEmails {
        verify as originalVerify;
    }

    /**
     * Create a new controller instance.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->middleware('auth'); // DON'T REMOVE THIS
        $this->middleware('signed')->only('verify');
        $this->middleware('throttle:6,1')->only('verify', 'resend');
    }

    /**
     * Mark the authenticated user's email address as verified.
     *
     * @param Request $request
     * @return Response
     *
     * @throws AuthorizationException
     */
    public function verify(Request $request)
    {
        $request->setUserResolver(function () use ($request) {
            return User::findOrFail($request->route('id'));
        });
        return $this->originalVerify($request);
    }
}

So when an email confirmation link is clicked by an unauthenticated user the following will happen:

1. User will be redirected to the login view ¹
2. User enters credentials; logs in successfully ²
3. User will be redirect back to the email confirmation URL
4. Email will be marked as confirmed

---

¹ The email will not be marked as confirmed at this point.

² The user may enter bad credentials multiple times. As soon as he enters the correct credentials he will be redirected to the intended email confirmation URL.

Here's my take on the situation. Verification requires user to login before it can complete the verification, so we can override the verify function and login user using ID we received in the link. It is safe cause verify function is not called if Laravel can't verify the signature from URL so even if someone temper the URL they won't be able to bypass it.

Go to your VerificationController and add the following function at the end of the file.

public function verify(Request $request)
{
    if (!auth()->check()) {
        auth()->loginUsingId($request->route('id'));
    }

    if ($request->route('id') != $request->user()->getKey()) {
        throw new AuthorizationException;
    }

    if ($request->user()->hasVerifiedEmail()) {
        return redirect($this->redirectPath());
    }

    if ($request->user()->markEmailAsVerified()) {
        event(new Verified($request->user()));
    }

    return redirect($this->redirectPath())->with('verified', true);
}

Note

Make sure you have same_site value in 'config/session.php' set to 'lax'. If it is set to 'strict' then it won't persist session if you were redirected from another site. For example, if you click a verification link from Gmail then your session cookie won't persist, so it won't redirect you to dashboard, but it sets 'email_verified_at' field in the database marking the verification successful. The user won't get any idea what was happened because it will redirect the user to the login page. When you have set it to 'strict', it will work if you copy the verification link directly in the browser address bar but not if the user clicks the link from the Gmail web client because it uses redirect to track the link.

First, remove the line $this->middleware('auth');, like you did.

Next, copy the verify method from the VerifiesEmails trait to your VerificationController and change it up a bit. The method should look like this:

public function verify(Request $request)
{
    $user = User::find($request->route('id'));

    if (!hash_equals((string) $request->route('hash'), sha1($user->getEmailForVerification()))) {
        throw new AuthorizationException;
    }

    if ($user->markEmailAsVerified())
        event(new Verified($user));

    return redirect($this->redirectPath())->with('verified', true);
}

This overrides the method in the VerifiesUsers trait and removes the authorization check.

Security (correct me if I'm wrong!)

It's still secure, as the request is signed and verified. Someone could verify another user's email address if they somehow gain access to the verification email, but in 99% of cases this is hardly a risk at all.

// For Laravel 6 and Above 
use Illuminate\Auth\Events\Verified; 
use Illuminate\Http\Request; 
use App\User;

// comment auth middleware
//$this->middleware('auth');

public function verify(Request $request)
{
    $user = User::find($request->route('id'));

    if (!hash_equals((string) $request->route('hash'), sha1($user->getEmailForVerification()))) {
        throw new AuthorizationException;
    }

    if ($user->markEmailAsVerified())
        event(new Verified($user));

    return redirect($this->redirectPath())->with('verified', true);
}