I know that (when using the authorization code "Authorization code" in OAuth), the lifetime of an access-token should be short but the lifetime of a refresh token can be long.
So I decided for my project:
access-token-lifetime: 1 day
refresh-token-lifetime: 30 days
But what is a typical lifetime of an authorization code?
Am I right that it should be really, really short?
Maybe like 1 hour or even only a few minutes?
I could not find any "best practice" for this..
All of this is standard but configurable i most identity / auth servers.
Authorization code
When the user consents an application accessing their data they are returned an authorization code. This code is only used its normally good for five minutes. anything lower than that would probably cause you issues with clock skew and there is really no reason IMO for it to be longer.
access token
Access tokens are returned after the authorization code has been exchanged. The access token. Access tokens are most often only good for 60 minutes.
Refresh tokens
refresh tokens are long lived tokens. The following are googles standard.
Refresh tokens are good for six months but this time is sliding.
If an refresh token has not been used for six months by an application then the access is revoked.
A user can also revoke the access as well at anytime.
depending upon the scope requested. Some refresh tokens expire after the user has changed their password
Again the above are just google standards. On the identity server I work on at work. I think the current settings is one month of non usage a refresh token expires.
Just found an answer on an other site:
The authorization code must expire shortly after it is issued. The OAuth 2.0 spec recommends a maximum lifetime of 10 minutes, but in practice, most services set the expiration much shorter, around 30-60 seconds.
Source: https://www.oauth.com/oauth2-servers/authorization/the-authorization-response/
It depends on the provider. For some providers, it works only once. Once you exchange the authorization code for access and refresh tokens, it will expire and you can't use it the second time.
Related
Application is intended to be used by the company for managment of intercompany documentation. These documents can contain valuable information, so it must be secure application. I am using Oauth2 with access and refresh tokens. Access token is valid for 15 minutes and refresh token is valid for 1 day.
I have not found any recommended lifetime for tokens.
Is 15mins for AT and 1 day for RT good? If yes, why these values are good enough OR are not good enough?
What is optimal lifetime for AT and RT for application which must be really secure.
Thanks a lot!
Gmail vs. bank accounts.
I can't tell where your business falls under. You should sit in in a meeting with your product team and explain what happens and let them decide. It's ok if it takes some try and error to get the right number.
But for Gmail the refresh token almost never expires. I can't think when was the last time I had to enter my credentials again.
For banks, the refresh token seems to be valid for only 10 minutes and if you background the bank app then you won’t be able to get a new refresh token and so you get signed out. Like my bank of America app. If I keep the app open then the app will continue to refresh the token.
And obviously refresh token expiry time should be more than your average user's session time.
I'm not sure if this is just exclusive to google API's and this is not plausible, but in the OAuth google developers playground, one can give in an access token and receive a refresh token which never expires. I for one have done this and implemented it in my code, but I was wondering, is there such a thing for an Instagram access token?
With the recent changes taking place in there api (2016 ->), I have not found any questions asking this as before I believe the token did not expire.
Thank you and sorry if I seem to be missing something obvious.
From the doc:
Access tokens may expire at any time in the future.
Even though our access tokens do not specify an expiration time, your app should handle the case that either the user revokes access, or Instagram expires the token after some period of time.
So in short, today, tokens do not expire, but they could in the future, so your app must handle the case if one day they expire.
In my application I am using OAuth 2 authorization and get access token from access code which expires after 8 hours. Is there any way I can increase this expiry time. Default expiry time I get is 28800(8 hours), I want it to be like for 30 days or 60 days. Is it possible. I know this is possible with Implicit grant flow but if I want to continue with Authorization code grant flow then, Is it possible?
Thanks.
You cannot increase the life of Access token beyond certain limit due to security reasons. These tokens are supposed to be short lived. One thing you can do is allowing issuance of refresh tokens for offline access. So, if access token is expired/about to expire, client (Secure) can talk to Authorization Server and get fresh access token issued.
You won't be able to modify the token itself as it's signed by the STS before being issued to you. If you were to modify the field itself, signature validation would fail when you bear the token. As dvsakgec said, this token is meant to be short lived and the correct pattern is to use the refresh token to obtain fresh access tokens when it has expired. For most identity providers, the refresh token never expires so you can always get a new access token.
Now, some identity providers will allow you to configure the token through their developer tools. It depends on the provider. There is no hard line guide for token expiration, it's whatever the identity provider decides.
I am implementing OAuth2/OWIN/Katana Authentication/Authorization with the requirement of the tokens only living for a few minutes with a max of 10, maybe 15. If this is the case, do I need refresh tokens implemented? It is my understanding they are only a benefit for long lasting "sessions"
I am assuming you are talking about a custom implementation. If you are OK with the user being prompted again, then you don't need refresh tokens. Refresh tokens exist so that you can have short lived access tokens that have to be renewed often, giving you an opportunity of revoking them by invalidating the refresh token itself. If you don't need to use tokens beyond that 10, 15 mins timeframe, then you might not need refresh tokens.
Every time I read https://developers.facebook.com/roadmap/offline-access-removal/, I'm left more confused than the time before. I'm looking for some clarification on some items under scenarios 3 and 4 (server-side apps and client-side apps)
For server-side apps, it states "If the call is made while there is still a valid 60-day access_token for that user, the returned access_token from this second call may be the same or may have changed, but in either case the expiration time will be a fresh 60 days."
What is "the call" that is referred to here?
Is it the same exchange of an authorization code for the access token that takes place during the initial OAuth flow?
Or is it the endpoint call described under the client-side section to freshen the token to 60 days?
If it's the former, then where does the authorization code come from when trying to renew the token?
Is it the same authorization code from the original callback or do I have to go through the authorization flow again?
In short, can a server-side app keep freshening the life of a 60-day token and, if so then how?
Regarding client-side use, the document indicates that the client must make that endpoint call passing in (among other things) the application's client ID and client secret.
My interpretation of "client-side" may be wrong, but I'm thinking in terms of a JavaScript-based client running in a web-browser.
If that's what Facebook has in mind here, then should the JavaScript code really ever know about the client secret? (It won't be much of a secret if it's sent to the client.)
Even then, it indicates that 60-day tokens cannot have their life extended and that a new 2-hour token must first be acquired and used to get a 60-day token. This is under the client-side portion of the document, but does this rule apply to server-side 60-day tokens, too? If not, then I ask again: How do I freshen the life of a 60-day token on the server-side?
Finally, the question that has been burning in my mind for some time: Why has Facebook adopted this strategy and not adopted the refresh token as defined in the OAuth 2 specification (a specification that Facebook is helping define)???
EDIT: Further thoughts/questions after re-reading the document again:
At the beginning it says "a long-lived expiration time that can be renewed each time the user revists your app". My initial assumption is that the way to renew it would be to make a call to the endpoint later in the document. But, aside from the fact that the endpoint is described under the "client-side" heading, it also states "Please note, the endpoint can only be used to extend the short-lived user access_tokens. If you pass an access_token that had a long-lieved expiration time, the endpoint will simply pass that same access_token back to you without altering or extending the expiration time." (The typo on "long-lieved" is from FB's own documentation.)
Okay, so if that endpoint cannot be used to renew the expiration time (and my own attempts to renew a long-lived token with that endpoint prove this out), then how can I renew the expiration time on a long-lived token each time they visit my app?
Is there no one who understands how this is supposed to work?
After reading Facebook's doc (like for the 5th time) and with the help of this question/answer this are my conclusions.
What is "the call" that is referred to here?
It referres to the OAuth call to get an access token.
Is it the same exchange of an authorization code for the access token
that takes place during the initial OAuth flow?
Yes, I believe it's that flow.
Or is it the endpoint call described under the client-side section to
freshen the token to 60 days?
No, that endpoint is only valid for short-lived access tokens.
Is it the same authorization code from the original callback or do I
have to go through the authorization flow again?
You've to go through the authorization flow again.
how can I renew the expiration time on a long-lived token each time
they visit my app?
Long-lived access tokens cannot be renewed using the client side endpoint. The user will have to reauthorize the app to get a new one.
According to Facebook documentation:
If the call (OAuth authorization call) is made while there is still a valid long-lived user
access_token for that user, the returned user access_token from this
second call may be the same or may have changed, but in either case
the expiration time will be set to a long expiration time.
Once the application is reauthorized you'll get a new expiration time. Facebook may return a new long-lived access token, so you should grab it and replace that information for the one you already had.
Conclusion:
Seems there's no way to renew a long-lived access token without user intervention. To get a new expiration time/access token they'll have to reauthorize your app. My humble advice is that should suggest the user to reauthorize it, a few days before the expiration date.
Also, this Facebook how-to can came in handy for checking expired access tokens.