Restrict access to static files in NGINX by PHP business logic?

Question

I have nginx web-server and PHP business logic. I want to allow access static files (images, media) only for certain users.

The authentication rules are defined in PHP.

I understand that it is easily achievable via serving static files through PHP. But it will cost in low performance.

Is there an alternative approach?

Answer 1

Solved the task by using X-Sendfile feature. More here: https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/topics/examples/xsendfile/