I have configured my client to use Hybrid flow with a grant type of password and offline. The user is able to generate an access token and the response does include a refresh token.
My question is I do not see documentation on how to use the refresh token for non .Net environments. Specifically I am curious if any body has a sample refresh flow in another language or Postman that shows which endpoints to hit and what the request needs to look like when the user requests a new token via the refresh token.
Thanks in advance,
G
This is documented at http://docs.identityserver.io/en/latest/endpoints/token.html
The token endpoint can be used to programmatically request tokens. It supports the password, authorization_code, client_credentials and refresh_token grant types). Furthermore the token endpoint can be extended to support extension grant types.
Example
POST /connect/token client_id=client1&client_secret=secret& grant_type=refresh_token&refresh_token=hdh922&redirect_uri=https://myapp.com/callback
Related
I have a back-end processor, (imagine a chron job once a day generating reports), that needs to integrate with a third-party system. Their APIs only support the "Authorization code" grant type. The problem is I can't even fill out a request for a token as I don't have a redirect_uri (no website), and I definitely don't have a user of any kind. I'll just have the OAuth clientId and secret I provisioned via their developer portal, (Mashery), for my back-end report processor app.
I want to use the "Client credentials" grant type/flow since I'm just a back-end service.
Is there any way to fake this or hack it so my little back-end service can somehow work with authorization code flow?
Thanks in advance
No, there is no way to hack it. Client credentials only authenticate the client. A token issued for client credentials have no information about the user. If their API needs information about the user (you probably get information only about your user), then you need to have a token issued with Code Flow.
What you can do is to generate the OAuth token yourself. E.g. you can use oauth.tools to perform a Code Flow with their Authorization Server, or you can perform the flow from browser with a dummy redirect URI (e.g. http://localhost), the get the code returned from authorization request and perform a token request from curl.
Once you have an access and refresh token you can hard code them in your script (or read them from an env variable or file, etc). You can then call the API as long as the access token is valid, and use refresh token to get a new access token when it expires. You will not have to perform a new Code Flow for as long as the refresh token is valid.
I'm building a system with OIDC and OAuth 2.0 (using Auth0), and I'm unsure how to properly use the id_token and access_token. Or rather, I'm confused about which roles to assign to the various services in my setup.
I have a fully static frontend-application (single-page app, HTML + JS, no backend) that ensures that the user is authenticated using the implicit flow against Auth0. The frontend-application then fetches data from an API that I am also building.
Now, which is right?
The frontend SPA is the OAuth client application
My API service is an OAuth resource server
...or:
The frontend and my API service are both the client application
If both my frontend and backend API can be considered to be the client, I see no real harm in using the id_token as the bearer token on requests from my frontend to my backend - this is appealing because then I can simply verify the signed token on the backend, and I have all the information about the user that I need. However, if my API is considered a resource server, I should probably use the access_token, but then I have to connect to Auth0's servers on every API request to both verify the token, and get basic user info, won't I?
I've read this which seems to suggest that the access_token is the only valid token for use with my API. But like I said, I'm not sure about the roles of the individual services. And using the id_token is tempting, because it requires no network connections on the backend, and contains information I need to extract the right data.
What is the right way to go about this?
I like this Medium post about the difference, all cred to this author.
https://medium.com/#nilasini/id-token-vs-access-token-17e7dd622084
If you are using Azure AD B2C like I am you can read more here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory-b2c/openid-connect
ID Token
You will get id token if you are using scope as openid. Id token is specific to openid scope. With openid scope you can get both id token and access token.
The primary extension that OpenID Connect makes to OAuth 2.0 to enable End-Users to be Authenticated is the ID Token data structure. The ID Token is a security token that contains Claims(claims are name/value pairs that contain information about a user) about the Authentication of an End-User by an Authorization Server when using a Client, and potentially other requested Claims. The ID Token is represented as a JSON Web Token (JWT)
{
"iss": "https://server.example.com",
"sub": "24400320",
"aud": "s6BhdRkqt3",
"nonce": "n-0S6_WzA2Mj",
"exp": 1311281970,
"iat": 1311280970,
"auth_time": 1311280969,
"acr": "urn:mace:incommon:iap:silver"
}
The above is default JWT claims, in addition to that, if you requested claims from service provider then you will get those as well.
An id_token is a JWT, per the OIDC Specification. This means that:
identity information about the user is encoded right into the token
and
the token can be definitively verified to prove that it hasn't been
tampered with.
There's a set of rules in the specification for validating an id_token. Among the claims encoded in the id_token is an expiration (exp), which must be honored as part of the validation process. Additionally, the signature section of JWT is used in concert with a key to validate that the entire JWT has not been tampered with in any way.
Access Tokens
Access tokens are used as bearer tokens. A bearer token means that the bearer (who hold the access token) can access authorized resources without further identification. Because of this, it's important that bearer tokens are protected. If I can somehow get ahold of and "bear" your access token, I can pretend as you.
These tokens usually have a short lifespan (dictated by its expiration) for improved security. That is, when the access token expires, the user must authenticate again to get a new access token limiting the exposure of the fact that it's a bearer token.
Although not mandated by the OIDC spec, Okta uses JWTs for access tokens as (among other things) the expiration is built right into the token.
OIDC specifies a /userinfo endpoint that returns identity information and must be protected. Presenting the access token makes the endpoint accessible.
http://openid.net/specs/openid-connect-core-1_0.html
https://connect2id.com/learn/openid-connect#cool-id-token-uses
https://developer.okta.com/blog/2017/07/25/oidc-primer-part-1
Your frontent is your OAuth client application, once it stores the token it can take actions on the OAuth flow. And your API service is resource server, because it accepts the access_token issued by your identity server.
Also I would say that your id_token stands for the identification of the logged user and may contain sensitive data for your app. The access_token is standing as your credential to access a resource.
At the end you will use an access_token to request a resource, and then if you need specific data from the logged in user (resource owner), you may request the ID token from the token endpoint.
In my opinion, the first approach is correct. Your SPA is the client application and your APIs are resource servers.
I would suggest you limit the use of id_token till your SPA only. You can use the basic information present in the id token (like username and email) to display user information within your UI. If you can generate access tokens as JWTs too then your API can validate the access tokens without going to the Identity provider. You can include roles (or similar) in your access token to get authorization information in your access token.
I was also wondering if I need to talk to the IdP on every request if I'm using the tokens received from the IdP. I ended up with the following setup:
Only the backend talks to the IdP, the frontend does not.
Upon the IdP callback the backend issues a JWT for the frontend.
User session and frontend-backend communication is managed entirely by my app using the JWT token.
Check this article: OAuth2 in NestJS for Social Login (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc)
and this repo: https://github.com/thisismydesign/nestjs-starter
and this question: OAuth2 flow in full-stack NestJS application
The id_token is an cryptographically encoded token for authentication. The OP (the auth provider) is the one that generates it and the RP (relying party or the resource) will eventually re-present the token to the OP to counter validate when handed over by the client. In short the id_token is tied to authn workflow.
The access_token enables resource access. It does subsume the userinfo i.e., the id_token or any other principal on whose behalf the access is being requested. So this token includes both user claims plus claims to groups that are authorized. In short the access_token is tied to your authz workflow.
I am implementing DocuSign's OAuth flow by following OAuth2 Authentication Support in DocuSign REST API
According to the documentation, in order to carry out the OAuth Token Request the client application should show a UI to prompt the user for email/password and is responsible to keep the information confidential and not store it locally.
I would like to know if DocuSign supports OAuth in the manner where the client application does not take hold of the user's email and password and is just concerned with the authentication token of the user.
The DocuSign Developer Center has some info on the OAuth process on their SOBO (Send-On-Behalf-Of) feature page. Check out Explore -> Features -> SOBO.
It's pretty easy to request an access token, just make the following call:
URL
https://{server}/restapi/{apiVersion}/oauth2/token
METHOD
POST
BODY
grant_type=password&client_id={IntegratorKey}&username={email}&password={password}&scope=api
For the body make sure you replace IntegratorKey, email, and password with your credentials.
A successful call will generate the following response:
{
"access_token": "<access token for user>",
"scope": "api",
"token_type": "bearer"
}
And finally, you can then use that access token in subsequent api calls using the Authorization: bearer header like so:
Authorization: bearer <access_token>
One important thing to remember is that you are only allowed 10 OAuth tokens in your account (which can be seen on the Preferences -> Connected Apps screen in the DocuSign Console). If you have 10 and request a new token the call will fail, you'll need to revoke an existing one in that case if you want to create a new one.
According to the DocuSign documentation, it supports two grants: (1) the Resource Owner Password Credentials Grant and (1) the SAML2 Grant, which is an extension to the base OAuth2 spec. Neither of these grants issue an authentication token. In the first grant, the resource owner must share his credentials with the client application. In the second grant, the resource owner approves access by the client application in advance. The client app generates a SAML assertion which is validated by the authorization server and (if the assertion is valid) is issued an access token.
The authentication token is used only by the Authentication Code Grant which, according to the DocuSign documentation, is not supported.
there's two ways to fetch access token.
use authorization code to exchange it
use refresh token to refresh it
think about it!!
though the word of exchange and refresh is different,what they do are the same.
both action need to parse client id & client secret(Or signature) and token
we can just save the authorization code in our system,and again use auth code to
refresh access token just like refresh token do.
Except that authorization code is expired too soon.
so I wonder
why the designers of oauth2 designed these two concepts while not used just one single concept or say just design the authorization code and give it a long expired-time.
I am afraid that you have not understood the concepts of oauth2 too well. There aren't just two ways of getting the access token, there are more. Each is basically called a 'grant type'. I'm describing the use cases of the ones which I have deployed below :
1- Authorization code :
This is similar to the flow of "Login with Facebook" etc buttons which you see on different websites, which allow you to register/login using your facebook etc accounts. Here, on clicking this button, control is directed to Facebook, where the user enters his login credentials. If successful, an authorization code is sent to whatever redirecturl you entered while registering as a developer with Facebook. You then use this authorization code to request the access token service to get the access token which you then use whenever accessing any Facebook webservices to get the user's details.
2- Client credentials :
If you are running your own webservices and you want to allow access only to valid clients, then this is the grant type you would use. For example, you are running your webservices and now you want to consume it in your own native mobile app which you distribute through any app store. This will ensure that only those who installed your app will be able to access your webservice.
3- User credentials :
Same as above, only in this case this would allow you to authenticate a registered user as well and then give access to user restricted services like my account etc.
4- Refresh token :
By design, the access token service gives an access token as well as a refresh token. You would use the refresh token obtained from it here to refresh an expired access token. Essentially, this does not generate a new access token, it only "refreshes" an existing token. It will give you a new access token and refresh token and extend the expiry time. When this access token expires, you again call refresh token using the refresh token obtained last time, and keep repeating the process every time the token expires.
According to RFC 6749 10.5 The authorization codes are short lived and single-use. Therefore, you cannot use them again and again to get new authorization tokens.
Authorization codes MUST be short lived and single-use. If the
authorization server observes multiple attempts to exchange an
authorization code for an access token, the authorization server
SHOULD attempt to revoke all access tokens already granted based on
the compromised authorization code.
There are some additional misconceptions that seem to be presented here, so I wanted to help clear them up.
The differences between an access token and a refresh token can be summarised as follows:
An access token is used to provide access to restricted resources to an authorized client after authentication has taken place.
A refresh token, on the other hand, is used by a client in order to retrieve new access tokens with identical or narrower scopes.
The different between the Authorization Code Grant and the Implicit Grant (as well as their usages) help to illustrate how both should be used.
In general, the Authorization Code Grant should be preferred over the Implicit Grant unless a resource is being accessed directly via a publicly implemented client (e.g., browser-run code) or there is a specific reason that the Authorization Code Grant cannot be used (e.g., feasibility or performance). This is explained in the RFC definition for the Implicit flow.
During an Implicit Grant, access tokens are exposed to the user-agent which could lead to them being compromised since they are no longer under the control of a server app (confidential client) that could otherwise be requesting the protected resources. This is why refresh tokens are not issued during Implicit Grants. Though access tokens might be exposed, they are short-lived. Resource tokens, on the other hand, are long-lived and can be used to retrieve new access tokens.
The Authorization Code Grant, on the other hand, prevents the potential for refresh tokens to be exposed. During this grant, the authorisation server issues a code instead of tokens. The code is then passed by the user-agent to the client application which exchanges the code with the authorization server to retrieve access and refresh tokens. Since the code exchange is performed directly between the client application and a trusted authorization server, a refresh token can be securely issued.
The RFC spec cautions that the security implications of implementing the Authorization Code Grant in a public client versus a confidential (e.g., server-side) client should be seriously considered. "More OAuth 2.0 Surprises: The Refresh Token" clears up a few misconceptions and furthers the idea that auth codes should not be sent directly by the user-agent to the auth server in order to retrieve refresh tokens, though the OAuth 2.0 spec does not technically dictate this.
Answer from #ComfortableDust has the answer to original question. Just quoting the exact text from his reply
The Authorization Code Grant, on the other hand, prevents the potential for refresh tokens to be exposed. During this grant, the authorisation server issues a code instead of tokens. The code is then passed by the user-agent to the client application which exchanges the code with the authorization server to retrieve access and refresh tokens. Since the code exchange is performed directly between the client application and a trusted authorization server, a refresh token can be securely issued.
I am following this tutorial about OAuth2.0 https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/guides/authentication
It looks quite clear how OAuth2.0 works. But I have a bit confusion at the access token part.
After obtaining an access token for a user, your application can use
that token to submit authorized API requests on that user's behalf.
The API supports two ways to specify an access token: Specify the
access token as the value of the access_token query parameter:
www.googleapis.com/youtube/v3/videos?access_token=ACCESS_TOKEN
if someone acquired this access token during the url transferring they can access this protected resource right?
How the server know if the request is coming from the client initially requested the access token?
UPDATE:
after reading this post Are HTTPS headers encrypted? my confusion is cleared. I thought query string is not encrypted during transmission in the network.
Generally I think the consensus is that OAuth 2.0 is a server side technology and all access tokens and communication should be transmitted using SSL as the bearer tokens need to be kept as secure as possible.
Also, you need to know that there are 2 types of flows in OAuth 2.0
i) Implicit grant flow - This is the flow where the user logs in to the service provider and his browser gets the access token. Say you have X.com and Log in via Facebook. Once the user keys in his FB credentials, the access token is sent to his browser.
ii) Authorization Code flow - In this flow (consider the above situation again), facebook will pass an authorization code to the user's browser. If anyone, somehow, intercepts the authorization code there is nothing he can do. An authorization code can be exchanged for an access when passed with valid client credentials. So, when the user logs in, his browser gets an authorization code which is passed to your server at X.com. from there you would hit the code-token exchange endpoint provided by FB and get the access token returned to your server!
Authorization code flow adds another layer of security, where the access token is visible only to the client + server and not to the user agent. And as you figured out yourself, the token is passed via HTTPS.