How to setup MVC requests to use Oauth 2.0 access token? - asp.net-mvc

Question

I am working on an Asp.net Web API + MVC project. While creating the project, I selected 'Individual User Accounts' option for authentication. After login, the provider issues access token and I use this token in HTTP header of ajax calls and it works fine with Ajax calls. I also have MVC actions which are used to navigate to different pages. These actions are protected using [Authorize] attribute of System.web.MVC. While navigating to these actions authorization fails and I am redirected to login page. How do I configure Oauth 2.0 access token to be used in non ajax requests (MVC requests) also.
Startup.Auth.cs:
public partial class Startup
{
public static OAuthAuthorizationServerOptions OAuthOptions { get; private set; }
public static string PublicClientId { get; private set; }
// For more information on configuring authentication, please visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=301864
public void ConfigureAuth(IAppBuilder app)
{
// Configure the db context and user manager to use a single instance per request
app.CreatePerOwinContext(ApplicationDbContext.Create);
app.CreatePerOwinContext<ApplicationUserManager>(ApplicationUserManager.Create);
// Enable the application to use a cookie to store information for the signed in user
// and to use a cookie to temporarily store information about a user logging in with a third party login provider
app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions {
AuthenticationType = DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ApplicationCookie,
LoginPath = new PathString("/Home/Login"),
LogoutPath = new PathString("/Account/LogOff"),
ExpireTimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromHours(1.0),
});
app.UseExternalSignInCookie(DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ExternalCookie);
// Configure the application for OAuth based flow
PublicClientId = "self";
OAuthOptions = new OAuthAuthorizationServerOptions
{
TokenEndpointPath = new PathString("/Token"),
Provider = new ApplicationOAuthProvider(PublicClientId),
AuthorizeEndpointPath = new PathString("/api/Account/ExternalLogin"),
AccessTokenExpireTimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromDays(14),
AllowInsecureHttp = true // dont use this for production,
};
// Enable the application to use bearer tokens to authenticate users
app.UseOAuthBearerTokens(OAuthOptions);
}
WebApiConfig.cs:
public static void Register(HttpConfiguration config)
{
// Web API configuration and services
// Configure Web API to use only bearer token authentication.
config.SuppressDefaultHostAuthentication();
config.Filters.Add(new HostAuthenticationFilter(OAuthDefaults.AuthenticationType));
// Web API routes
config.MapHttpAttributeRoutes();
config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
name: "DefaultApi",
routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
);
}
ApplicationOAuthProvider.cs:
public class ApplicationOAuthProvider : OAuthAuthorizationServerProvider
{
private readonly string _publicClientId;
public ApplicationOAuthProvider(string publicClientId)
{
if (publicClientId == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("publicClientId");
}
_publicClientId = publicClientId;
}
public override async Task GrantResourceOwnerCredentials(OAuthGrantResourceOwnerCredentialsContext context)
{
var userManager = context.OwinContext.GetUserManager<ApplicationUserManager>();
ApplicationUser user = await userManager.FindAsync(context.UserName, context.Password);
if (user == null)
{
context.SetError("invalid_grant", "The user name or password is incorrect.");
return;
}
ClaimsIdentity oAuthIdentity = await user.GenerateUserIdentityAsync(userManager,
OAuthDefaults.AuthenticationType);
ClaimsIdentity cookiesIdentity = await user.GenerateUserIdentityAsync(userManager,
CookieAuthenticationDefaults.AuthenticationType);
AuthenticationProperties properties = CreateProperties(user.UserName);
AuthenticationTicket ticket = new AuthenticationTicket(oAuthIdentity, properties);
context.Validated(ticket);
context.Request.Context.Authentication.SignIn(cookiesIdentity);
}
public override Task TokenEndpoint(OAuthTokenEndpointContext context)
{
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> property in context.Properties.Dictionary)
{
context.AdditionalResponseParameters.Add(property.Key, property.Value);
}
return Task.FromResult<object>(null);
}
public override Task ValidateClientAuthentication(OAuthValidateClientAuthenticationContext context)
{
// Resource owner password credentials does not provide a client ID.
if (context.ClientId == null)
{
context.Validated();
}
return Task.FromResult<object>(null);
}
public override Task ValidateClientRedirectUri(OAuthValidateClientRedirectUriContext context)
{
if (context.ClientId == _publicClientId)
{
Uri expectedRootUri = new Uri(context.Request.Uri, "/");
if (expectedRootUri.AbsoluteUri == context.RedirectUri)
{
context.Validated();
}
}
return Task.FromResult<object>(null);
}
public static AuthenticationProperties CreateProperties(string userName)
{
IDictionary<string, string> data = new Dictionary<string, string>
{
{ "userName", userName }
};
return new AuthenticationProperties(data);
}
}

Answer 1

ASP.Net MVC is a server side web app technology and [Authorize] actions expect to receive a cookie rather than checking for a token.
Not sure if this is overridable and in this type of solution you often end up having to deal with an ugly mix of cookies / tokens / server side code / client side code.
A more modern / cleaner separation is to develop a single page app + REST API instead. Code tends to be simpler and it feels like a better fit for the requirements you mention.
To see what I mean, maybe have a quick browse of the UI code in this sample:
https://github.com/gary-archer/oauth.websample1
The repo links to some blog posts if it's an option you're interested in.