I have an ASP.NET MVC application with ActionFilters for Authentication and no Forms Authentication. "SegurancaAction" is the attribute responsible for validating authentication and exists in every controller endpoint except in the login ones (as expected).
I'm facing a problem in which sometimes I try to access one of my controllers and the GET request goes to my login endpoint. In the method Application_BeginRequest at Global.asax, I can see the very first attempt is at 'security/login' (the route to my login endpoint) instead of the one I want. I can also see this endpoint being called in debugging apps such as Fiddler, or ASP.NET Trace or Glimpse MVC5.
Besides calling the wrong action, once I login again this issue keeps happening for the same endpoint I was trying to access, redirecting my site to the login page over and over.
SegurancaAction:
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
Autenticacoes autenticacao = _authApp.IsAutenticado(filterContext.HttpContext.Session.SessionID);
if (autenticacao == null)
{
if (filterContext.HttpContext.Request.IsAjaxRequest())
filterContext.Result = new HttpStatusCodeResult(System.Net.HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized);
else
{
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.RedirectPermanent("/security/login");
return;
}
}
else
{
// other stuff
}
}
SecurityController:
[HttpPost]
[ConfigAction]
public ActionResult Login(vm_Login login)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(login.Login) && !String.IsNullOrEmpty(login.Senha))
{
Entidades entidade = _entidadeApp.GetByUsuarioSenha(login.Login, login.Senha);
if (entidade == null)
{
ViewBag.FalhaAutenticacao = "As credenciais informadas não conferem!";
return View("Login");
}
else
{
string encryptionKey = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["EncryptionKey"];
var a = _autenticacaoApp.Autenticar(entidade.Id, encryptionKey, login.Senha, HttpContext.Session.SessionID);
}
Response.RedirectPermanent("~/principal/index");
}
}
else
{
ViewBag.FalhaAutenticacao = "É necessário informar o usuario e a senha!";
}
return View();
}
All _autenticacaoApp.Autenticar(...) method does is to create an authentication entry on the database, it's a completely custom code.
Does anyone know why this issue happens? Sometimes I can reproduce it by deleting the cookies that contain ASP.NET_Session ID and RequestVerificationToken. So far I know those cookies are automatically generated and I notice that sometimes when I login again they are not re-generated.
I figured out the issue. It was this "RedirectPermanent" method being used here:
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.RedirectPermanent("/security/login");
It tells the browser that the resource I'm trying to access is no longer available and is now located at this new Url. The browser records this information and always redirects to the new resource.
I just changed it to use "Redirect" instead.
I have a strange problem with using Owin cookie authentication.
When I start my IIS server authentication works perfectly fine on IE/Firefox and Chrome.
I started doing some testing with Authentication and logging in on different platforms and I have come up with a strange error. Sporadically the Owin framework / IIS just doesn't send any cookies to the browsers. I will type in a username and password which is correct the code runs but no cookie gets delivered to the browser at all. If I restart the server it starts working then at some point I will try login and again cookies stop getting delivered. Stepping over the code does nothing and throws no errors.
app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions
{
AuthenticationMode = AuthenticationMode.Active,
CookieHttpOnly = true,
AuthenticationType = "ABC",
LoginPath = new PathString("/Account/Login"),
CookiePath = "/",
CookieName = "ABC",
Provider = new CookieAuthenticationProvider
{
OnApplyRedirect = ctx =>
{
if (!IsAjaxRequest(ctx.Request))
{
ctx.Response.Redirect(ctx.RedirectUri);
}
}
}
});
And within my login procedure I have the following code:
IAuthenticationManager authenticationManager = HttpContext.Current.GetOwinContext().Authentication;
authenticationManager.SignOut(DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ExternalCookie);
var authentication = HttpContext.Current.GetOwinContext().Authentication;
var identity = new ClaimsIdentity("ABC");
identity.AddClaim(new Claim(ClaimTypes.Name, user.Username));
identity.AddClaim(new Claim(ClaimTypes.NameIdentifier, user.User_ID.ToString()));
identity.AddClaim(new Claim(ClaimTypes.Role, role.myRole.ToString()));
authentication.AuthenticationResponseGrant =
new AuthenticationResponseGrant(identity, new AuthenticationProperties()
{
IsPersistent = isPersistent
});
authenticationManager.SignIn(new AuthenticationProperties() {IsPersistent = isPersistent}, identity);
Update 1: It seems that one cause of the problem is when I add items to session the problems start. Adding something simple like Session.Content["ABC"]= 123 seems to create the problem.
What I can make out is as follows:
1) (Chrome)When I login I get ASP.NET_SessionId + my authentication cookie.
2) I go to a page that sets a session.contents...
3) Open a new browser (Firefox) and try login and it does not receive an ASP.NET_SessionId nor does it get a Authentication Cookie
4) Whilst the first browser has the ASP.NET_SessionId it continues to work. The minute I remove this cookie it has the same problem as all the other browsers
I am working on ip address (10.x.x.x) and localhost.
Update 2: Force creation of ASPNET_SessionId first on my login_load page before authentication with OWIN.
1) before I authenticate with OWIN I make a random Session.Content value on my login page to start the ASP.NET_SessionId
2) then I authenticate and make further sessions
3) Other browsers seem to now work
This is bizarre. I can only conclude that this has something to do with ASP and OWIN thinking they are in different domains or something like that.
Update 3 - Strange behaviour between the two.
Additional strange behaviour identified - Timeout of Owin and ASP session is different. What I am seeing is that my Owin sessions are staying alive longer than my ASP sessions through some mechanism. So when logging in:
1.) I have a cookied based auth session
2.) I set a few session variables
My session variables(2) "die" before the owin cookie session variable forces re-login, which causes unexpected behaviour throughout my entire application. (Person is logged in but is not really logged in)
Update 3B
After some digging I saw some comments on a page that say the "forms" authentication timeout and session timeout need to match. I am thinking normally the two are in sync but for whatever reason the two are not in sync.
Summary of Workarounds
1) Always create a Session first before authentication. Basically create session when you start the application Session["Workaround"] = 0;
2) [Experimental] if you persist cookies make sure your OWIN timeout / length is longer than your sessionTimeout in your web.config (in testing)
I have encountered the same problem and traced the cause to OWIN ASP.NET hosting implementation. I would say it's a bug.
Some background
My findings are based on these assembly versions:
Microsoft.Owin, Version=2.0.2.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35
Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb, Version=2.0.2.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35
System.Web, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a
OWIN uses it's own abstraction to work with response Cookies (Microsoft.Owin.ResponseCookieCollection). This implementation directly wraps response headers collection and accordingly updates Set-Cookie header. OWIN ASP.NET host (Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb) just wraps System.Web.HttpResponse and it's headers collection. So when new cookie is created through OWIN, response Set-Cookie header is changed directly.
But ASP.NET also uses it's own abstraction to work with response Cookies. This is exposed to us as System.Web.HttpResponse.Cookies property and implemented by sealed class System.Web.HttpCookieCollection. This implementation does not wrap response Set-Cookie header directly but uses some optimizations and handful of internal notifications to manifest it's changed state to response object.
Then there is a point late in request lifetime where HttpCookieCollection changed state is tested (System.Web.HttpResponse.GenerateResponseHeadersForCookies()) and cookies are serialized to Set-Cookie header. If this collection is in some specific state, whole Set-Cookie header is first cleared and recreated from cookies stored in collection.
ASP.NET session implementation uses System.Web.HttpResponse.Cookies property to store it's ASP.NET_SessionId cookie. Also there is some basic optimization in ASP.NET session state module (System.Web.SessionState.SessionStateModule) implemented through static property named s_sessionEverSet which is quite self explanatory. If you ever store something to session state in your application, this module will do a little more work for each request.
Back to our login problem
With all these pieces your scenarios can be explained.
Case 1 - Session was never set
System.Web.SessionState.SessionStateModule, s_sessionEverSet property is false. No session id's are generated by session state module and System.Web.HttpResponse.Cookies collection state is not detected as changed. In this case OWIN cookies are sent correctly to the browser and login works.
Case 2 - Session was used somewhere in application, but not before user tries to authenticate
System.Web.SessionState.SessionStateModule, s_sessionEverSet property is true. Session Id's are generated by SessionStateModule, ASP.NET_SessionId is added to System.Web.HttpResponse.Cookies collection but it's removed later in request lifetime as user's session is in fact empty. In this case System.Web.HttpResponse.Cookies collection state is detected as changed and Set-Cookie header is first cleared before cookies are serialized to header value.
In this case OWIN response cookies are "lost" and user is not authenticated and is redirected back to login page.
Case 3 - Session is used before user tries to authenticate
System.Web.SessionState.SessionStateModule, s_sessionEverSet property is true. Session Id's are generated by SessionStateModule, ASP.NET_SessionId is added to System.Web.HttpResponse.Cookies. Due to internal optimization in System.Web.HttpCookieCollection and System.Web.HttpResponse.GenerateResponseHeadersForCookies() Set-Cookie header is NOT first cleared but only updated.
In this case both OWIN authentication cookies and ASP.NET_SessionId cookie are sent in response and login works.
More general problem with cookies
As you can see the problem is more general and not limited to ASP.NET session. If you are hosting OWIN through Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb and you/something is directly using System.Web.HttpResponse.Cookies collection you are at risk.
For example this works and both cookies are correctly sent to browser...
public ActionResult Index()
{
HttpContext.GetOwinContext()
.Response.Cookies.Append("OwinCookie", "SomeValue");
HttpContext.Response.Cookies["ASPCookie"].Value = "SomeValue";
return View();
}
But this does not and OwinCookie is "lost"...
public ActionResult Index()
{
HttpContext.GetOwinContext()
.Response.Cookies.Append("OwinCookie", "SomeValue");
HttpContext.Response.Cookies["ASPCookie"].Value = "SomeValue";
HttpContext.Response.Cookies.Remove("ASPCookie");
return View();
}
Both tested from VS2013, IISExpress and default MVC project template.
In short, the .NET cookie manager will win over the OWIN cookie manager and overwrite cookies set on the OWIN layer. The fix is to use the SystemWebCookieManager class, provided as a solution on the Katana Project here. You need to use this class or one similar to it, which will force OWIN to use the .NET cookie manager so there are no inconsistencies:
public class SystemWebCookieManager : ICookieManager
{
public string GetRequestCookie(IOwinContext context, string key)
{
if (context == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("context");
}
var webContext = context.Get<HttpContextBase>(typeof(HttpContextBase).FullName);
var cookie = webContext.Request.Cookies[key];
return cookie == null ? null : cookie.Value;
}
public void AppendResponseCookie(IOwinContext context, string key, string value, CookieOptions options)
{
if (context == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("context");
}
if (options == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("options");
}
var webContext = context.Get<HttpContextBase>(typeof(HttpContextBase).FullName);
bool domainHasValue = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(options.Domain);
bool pathHasValue = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(options.Path);
bool expiresHasValue = options.Expires.HasValue;
var cookie = new HttpCookie(key, value);
if (domainHasValue)
{
cookie.Domain = options.Domain;
}
if (pathHasValue)
{
cookie.Path = options.Path;
}
if (expiresHasValue)
{
cookie.Expires = options.Expires.Value;
}
if (options.Secure)
{
cookie.Secure = true;
}
if (options.HttpOnly)
{
cookie.HttpOnly = true;
}
webContext.Response.AppendCookie(cookie);
}
public void DeleteCookie(IOwinContext context, string key, CookieOptions options)
{
if (context == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("context");
}
if (options == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("options");
}
AppendResponseCookie(
context,
key,
string.Empty,
new CookieOptions
{
Path = options.Path,
Domain = options.Domain,
Expires = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
});
}
}
In your application startup, just assign it when you create your OWIN dependencies:
app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions
{
...
CookieManager = new SystemWebCookieManager()
...
});
A similar answer has been provided here but it does not include all of the code-base required to solve the problem, so I see a need to add it here because the external link to the Katana Project may go down and this should be fully chronicled as a solution here as well.
Starting with the great analysis by #TomasDolezal, I had a look at both the Owin and the System.Web source.
The problem is that System.Web has its own master source of cookie information and that isn't the Set-Cookie header. Owin only knows about the Set-Cookie header. A workaround is to make sure that any cookies set by Owin are also set in the HttpContext.Current.Response.Cookies collection.
I've made a small middleware (source, nuget) that does exactly that, which is intended to be placed immediately above the cookie middleware registration.
app.UseKentorOwinCookieSaver();
app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions());
Katana team answered to the issue Tomas Dolezar raised, and posted documentation about workarounds:
Workarounds fall into two categories. One is to re-configure
System.Web so it avoids using the Response.Cookies collection and
overwriting the OWIN cookies. The other approach is to re-configure
the affected OWIN components so they write cookies directly to
System.Web's Response.Cookies collection.
Ensure session is established prior to authentication: The conflict between System.Web and Katana cookies is per request, so it may be
possible for the application to establish the session on some request
prior to the authentication flow. This should be easy to do when the
user first arrives, but it may be harder to guarantee later when the
session or auth cookies expire and/or need to be refreshed.
Disable the SessionStateModule - If the application is not relying on session information, but the session module is still setting a
cookie that causes the above conflict, then you may consider disabling
the session state module.
Reconfigure the CookieAuthenticationMiddleware to write directly to System.Web's cookie collection.
app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions
{
// ...
CookieManager = new SystemWebCookieManager()
});
See SystemWebCookieManager implementation from the documentation (link above)
More information here
Edit
Below the steps we took to solve the issue. Both 1. and 2. solved the problem also separately but we decided to apply both just in case:
1.
Use SystemWebCookieManager
2.
Set the session variable:
protected override void Initialize(RequestContext requestContext)
{
base.Initialize(requestContext);
// See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20737578/asp-net-sessionid-owin-cookies-do-not-send-to-browser/
requestContext.HttpContext.Session["FixEternalRedirectLoop"] = 1;
}
(side note: the Initialize method above is the logical place for the fix because base.Initialize makes Session available. However, the fix could also be applied later because in OpenId there's first an anonymous request, then redirect to the OpenId provider and then back to the app. The problems would occur after the redirect back to the app while the fix sets the session variable already during the first anonymous request thus fixing the problem before any redirect back even happens)
Edit 2
Copy-paste from the Katana project 2016-05-14:
Add this:
app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions
{
// ...
CookieManager = new SystemWebCookieManager()
});
...and this:
public class SystemWebCookieManager : ICookieManager
{
public string GetRequestCookie(IOwinContext context, string key)
{
if (context == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("context");
}
var webContext = context.Get<HttpContextBase>(typeof(HttpContextBase).FullName);
var cookie = webContext.Request.Cookies[key];
return cookie == null ? null : cookie.Value;
}
public void AppendResponseCookie(IOwinContext context, string key, string value, CookieOptions options)
{
if (context == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("context");
}
if (options == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("options");
}
var webContext = context.Get<HttpContextBase>(typeof(HttpContextBase).FullName);
bool domainHasValue = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(options.Domain);
bool pathHasValue = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(options.Path);
bool expiresHasValue = options.Expires.HasValue;
var cookie = new HttpCookie(key, value);
if (domainHasValue)
{
cookie.Domain = options.Domain;
}
if (pathHasValue)
{
cookie.Path = options.Path;
}
if (expiresHasValue)
{
cookie.Expires = options.Expires.Value;
}
if (options.Secure)
{
cookie.Secure = true;
}
if (options.HttpOnly)
{
cookie.HttpOnly = true;
}
webContext.Response.AppendCookie(cookie);
}
public void DeleteCookie(IOwinContext context, string key, CookieOptions options)
{
if (context == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("context");
}
if (options == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("options");
}
AppendResponseCookie(
context,
key,
string.Empty,
new CookieOptions
{
Path = options.Path,
Domain = options.Domain,
Expires = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc),
});
}
}
Answers have been provided already, but in owin 3.1.0, there is a SystemWebChunkingCookieManager class that can be used.
https://github.com/aspnet/AspNetKatana/blob/dev/src/Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb/SystemWebChunkingCookieManager.cs
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aspnet/AspNetKatana/c33569969e79afd9fb4ec2d6bdff877e376821b2/src/Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb/SystemWebChunkingCookieManager.cs
app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions
{
...
CookieManager = new SystemWebChunkingCookieManager()
...
});
If you are setting cookies in OWIN middleware yourself, then using OnSendingHeaders seems to get round the problem.
For example, using the code below owinResponseCookie2 will be set, even though owinResponseCookie1 is not:
private void SetCookies()
{
var owinContext = HttpContext.GetOwinContext();
var owinResponse = owinContext.Response;
owinResponse.Cookies.Append("owinResponseCookie1", "value1");
owinResponse.OnSendingHeaders(state =>
{
owinResponse.Cookies.Append("owinResponseCookie2", "value2");
},
null);
var httpResponse = HttpContext.Response;
httpResponse.Cookies.Remove("httpResponseCookie1");
}
I faced the Similar Issue with Visual Studio 2017 and .net MVC 5.2.4, Updating Nuget Microsoft.Owin.Security.Google to lastest version which currently is 4.0.1 worked for me!
Hope this Helps someone!
The fastest one-line code solution:
HttpContext.Current.Session["RunSession"] = "1";
Just add this line before CreateIdentity method:
HttpContext.Current.Session["RunSession"] = "1";
var userIdentity = userManager.CreateIdentity(user, DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ApplicationCookie);
_authenticationManager.SignIn(new AuthenticationProperties { IsPersistent = rememberLogin }, userIdentity);
I had the same symptom of the Set-Cookie header not being sent but none of these answers helped me. Everything worked on my local machine but when deployed to production the set-cookie headers would never get set.
It turns out it was a combination of using a custom CookieAuthenticationMiddleware with WebApi along with WebApi compression support
Luckily I was using ELMAH in my project which let me to this exception being logged:
System.Web.HttpException Server cannot append header after HTTP
headers have been sent.
Which led me to this GitHub Issue
Basically, if you have an odd setup like mine you will want to disable compression for your WebApi controllers/methods that set cookies, or try the OwinServerCompressionHandler.
I got a problem when using SignalR with sliding expiration with Forms Authentication.
Because of the SignalR keep polling from server, user auth never expired...
I've researched a lot... and found an interesting article from http://www.asp.net/signalr/overview/security/introduction-to-security#reconcile
They said:
the user's authentication status may change if your site uses sliding expiration with Forms Authentication, and there is no activity to keep the authentication cookie valid. In that case, the user will be logged out and the user name will no longer match the user name in the connection token.
I need to have user's auth expired if he idle for 20 minutes, but I can't..
any ideas?
Thanks a lot!
I ran into this same issue. I found one method posted on GitHub issues that utilizes an HttpModule to remove the auth cookie at the end of the pipeline. This worked great in my scenario.
https://github.com/SignalR/SignalR/issues/2907
public class SignalRFormsAuthenticationCleanerModule : IHttpModule
{
public void Init(HttpApplication application)
{
application.PreSendRequestHeaders += OnPreSendRequestHeaders;
}
private bool ShouldCleanResponse(string path)
{
path = path.ToLower();
var urlsToClean = new string[] { "/signalr/", "<and any others you require>" };
// Check for a Url match
foreach (var url in urlsToClean)
{
var result = path.IndexOf(url, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) > -1;
if (result)
return true;
}
return false;
}
protected void OnPreSendRequestHeaders(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
var httpContext = ((HttpApplication)sender).Context;
if (ShouldCleanResponse(httpContext.Request.Path))
{
// Remove Auth Cookie from response
httpContext.Response.Cookies.Remove(FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName);
return;
}
}
}
Environment: ASP.NET MVC 4, Visual Studio 2012
The [Authorize] attribute verifies that the user has a valid login cookie, but it does NOT verify that the user actually exists. This would happen if a user is deleted while that user's computer still holds the persisted credentials cookie. In this scenario, a logged-in non-user is allowed to run a controller action marked with the [Authorize] attribute.
The solution would seem to be pretty simple: Extend AuthorizeAttribute and, in the AuthorizeCore routine, verify that the user exists.
Before I write this code for my own use, I'd like to know if someone knows of a ready-to-go solution to this gaping hole in the [Authorize] attribute.
You need a special authentication global action filter.
Solution to your problem is the following. You have to introduce the global action filter that will be executed before controller action is invoked. This event is named OnActionExecuting. And within this global action filter you can also handle the scenario that user have a valid auth cookie, but does not exists in persistence (DB) anymore (and you have to remove its cookie).
Here is the code example to get an idea:
public class LoadCustomPrincipalAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
CustomIdentity customIdentity;
if (HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
{
UserData userData = UserRepository.GetUserByName(HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name);
if (userData == null)
{
//TODO: Add here user missing logic,
//throw an exception, override with the custom identity with "false" -
//this boolean means that it have IsAuthenticated on false, but you
//have to override this in CustomIdentity!
//Of course - at this point you also remove the user cookie from response!
}
customIdentity = new CustomIdentity(userData, true);
}
else
{
customIdentity = new CustomIdentity(new UserData {Username = "Anonymous"}, false);
}
HttpContext.Current.User = new CustomPrincipal(customIdentity);
base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
}
}
Hope it helps to you!
Do not forget to register this action filter as a global one. You can do this like:
private static void RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilterCollection filters)
{
filters.Add(new LoadCustomPrincipalAttribute());
}
Just to add this. Leave alone AuthorizeAttribute. It should work as it was meant. It simply check the HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated == true condition. There are situations that you would need to overide it, but this is not the one. You really need a proper user/auth handling before even AuthorizeAttribute kicks in.
Agreed with Peter. Here is what I did for an AngularJs app. Create an attribute that checks the lockout date. Change YourAppUserManager out with the correct one.
public class LockoutPolicyAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public override async Task OnActionExecutingAsync(HttpActionContext actionContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
if (HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
{
var now = DateTime.UtcNow;
var currentUserId = Convert.ToInt32(HttpContext.Current.User?.Identity?.GetUserId());
var user = await HttpContext.Current.GetOwinContext().GetUserManager<YourAppUserManager>().FindByIdAsync(currentUserId);
if (user?.LockedOutUntil >= now)
{
actionContext.Response = actionContext.Request.CreateErrorResponse((HttpStatusCode)423, "Account Lockout");
return;
}
}
base.OnActionExecuting(actionContext);
}
}
Then have an AngularJs intercept service for status code 423 to redirect to login page.
switch (response.status) {
case 423: //Account lockout sent by the server.
AuthService.logOut();
window.location.href = '/login';
Just spent the last 3 days exploring membership, iprincipal, identity and other goodies..but something is still not clear.
Why it is better to use that incited of simply store a minimize logged in user object in session?
it can hold roles, permissions and other custom properties.
to achieve the same thing the asp.net form auth way i would do:
protected void Application_AuthenticateRequest()
{
HttpCookie cookie = Request.Cookies.Get(FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName);
if (cookie == null)
return;
bool isPersistent;
int webuserid = GetUserId(cookie, out isPersistent);
//Lets see if the user exists
var webUserRepository = Kernel.Get<IWebUserRepository>();
try
{
WebUser current = webUserRepository.GetById(webuserid);
//Refresh the cookie
var formsAuth = Kernel.Get<IFormsAuthService>();
Response.Cookies.Add(formsAuth.GetAuthCookie(current, isPersistent));
Context.User = current;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//TODO: Logging
RemoveAuthCookieAndRedirectToDefaultPage();
}
}
private int GetUserId(HttpCookie cookie, out bool isPersistent)
{
try
{
FormsAuthenticationTicket ticket = FormsAuthentication.Decrypt(cookie.Value);
isPersistent = ticket.IsPersistent;
return int.Parse(ticket.UserData);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//TODO: Logging
RemoveAuthCookieAndRedirectToDefaultPage();
isPersistent = false;
return -1;
}
}
So i'll need to query the DB on each authenticated request, when in using session i'll do it only once when the user logs in, i know you can store the roles and other user data in the ticket cookie but i don't think its secure since an attacker can modify the cookie content, move it and more..
so, any one else agrees?
The default InProc Session state is not durable and will "disappear" whenever your App Pool recycles.
The SqlStore session is durable but then you have an additional load on your db server.
Cookies are the best choice for websites at the moment and that probably won't change for a long time. Cookies are relatively secure and as long as you encrypt cookie content, which .net does by default, you should be ok.
Note: There is a big security flaw in .Net regarding its default encryption methods so when I say secure I mean was secure and probably will be again.
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/09/18/important-asp-net-security-vulnerability.aspx