I have an existing signup/login system: a user enters an email and password. The password is hashed. I store it in a database.
When a user logs in, they entire their email and password. The password is hashed, and I look up the email in the database and check that the email matches. If it does, they are logged in.
I want to add a system to let users login with a 3rd party OAuth, such as GitHub. I have that setup, but I am unsure what data to store in my database.
I was thinking I take their GitHub email as the email and then use the access token for their GitHub as the password (so I would hash it and store it.)
I think this would work, but I am worried that the access tokens could change meaning they would be locked out of their account.
If I shouldn't be using the access token as a password, what should I be using? I need to store the user's email on my database but that requires a password currently, which I can't get if they use GitHub login.
(Note that when the user logs in, I call my backend to generate an access token (JWT) which I can use to require their user details and then store it in local storage. I'd like to then be able to do the same thing with with GitHub or whatever.)
oAuth is usually for authorization. Meaning, you get an access token from the authorization server, the resource server validates it and let the user access to the data.
In your case, you "do not really need" the access token - you want to use oAuth just for the authentication. Web-applications (like StackOverflow) do this to "save the trouble" of handling the authentication flows. Meaning, if I write a secured application, I need to implement somehow the create account flow, login flow, forgot password, etc. When you use a 3rd-party authentication, you save this trouble.
However, your application does need some user-id to perform actions; so you must create a user-id in you app when a user appears for the first time. Since then, you do not need to worry about password-expiry, forgotten-password and even not for the login. When the user logs-in, you get the access token and all you need to do is to get yours app' user-id from it.
Thus, I do not see a reason why you need to store a 'password', or the access token.
Hope that makes sense.
What you are looking for is actually OpenID Connect - it's an authentication framework built on top of OAuth, which lets you log in users using external Identity Providers, like Github.
When a user logs in using GitHub then you will receive an id_token in a form of a signed JWT. You can easily verify the authenticity of the JWT - so you can easily make sure that the id token really comes from Github and presents real data. Usually one of the information in the id token will be the user's email. You can use that to look up the user in your database. You don't need any password in this case.
So, you will have two ways of finding a user in your DB - either through comparing the email and password, or by looking up the user's email from a validated id token from Github.
Related
I have 3 applications:
An IdentityServer4 API which provides Google authentication and also provides an access token to authorize the resource API.
A simple Resource API which provides some data from DB.
A simple Client in React which have 4 buttons:
Login, for Google auth
Logout
Get data - a simple request with the access token to the Resource API and gets the data from Db
Get user data - returns user profile and token (for debug purpose)
I didn't put any sample code because my problem is not code related, it's knowledge that I'm missing and I ask for guidance.
The workflow is working just fine: the user press the Login button, it is redirected to IdentityServer4 API for Google Auth. From there it is redirected to a Callback Page from the Client and from there to the Index page. I receive the user data and the token, I can request data from the Resource API and it's working.
My problem is: How do I give a Role to the Google Users ?
I don't have users saved in DB. I want three types of Users: SuperAdmin, Admin, Viewer and each of these roles have limited Endpoints which can access.
For limiting their access I saw that I can use Claims-based authorization or Role-based authorization.
So, my question is how ca I give a Google User who wants to login in my app, a specific Claim/Role ? What is the workflow ? I must save it first in DB ? Or there exists a service from Google where I can add an email address and select a Role for that address ?
Thank you very much !
After you get the response from Google in your callback you can handle the user and do what ever you want to do with it. Below are the some typical tasks that you can do in callback that I took from documentation page of identityserver4 link:
Handling the callback and signing in the user
On the callback page your typical tasks are:
inspect the identity returned by the external provider.
make a decision how you want to deal with that user. This might be
different based on the fact if this is a new user or a returning
user.
new users might need additional steps and UI before they are allowed
in.
probably create a new internal user account that is linked to the
external provider.
store the external claims that you want to keep.
delete the temporary cookie
sign-in the user
What I would do is creating an new internal user account that is linked to the external provider and add a role to that user.
If you don't want to save users in db, you can add an extra claim to user in callback method and use that claim in token. and i think this link will help with that.
I am integrating the security aspect of webapplication. I have decided to use OAuth,
so we have a REST WebApi in AspNet Core 3.0, the client which is a SPA created in React, and the Identity Server 4.0 app which is also in AspNet Core 3.0.
I read that OAuth is created for Authorization and not for Authentication.
For Authentication, seems that exists something else called OpenIDConnect, so the first question that comes to my mind, and on which I cannot find an easy answer is: are OAuth, OpenIDConnect and IdentityServer related technology?
Which is the best solution for authentication, considering that I would like to create users in a SqlServer Database, and if it's possible I would like to use Entity Framework for the porpose?
The flow for my authentication would be:
User writes Username and Password, if they are right he receive the JWT Token, without redirecting him/her to the authorization page.
At this point the problem are:
which is the right endpoint to do this flow:
is it the /authorize or the /token endpoint?
I have a lot of confusion for the questions above.
The second thing, what is the best way to retrieve the user informations?
For example if my endpoint needs to understand from the logged in user what are his data, I think that or I retrieve from the endpoint or from the JWT token.
Even here I have no clue on which is the best.
I read that OAuth is created for Authorization and not for Authentication. For Authentication, seems that exists something else called OpenIDConnect, so the first question that comes to my mind, and on which I cannot find an easy answer is: are OAuth, OpenIDConnect and IdentityServer related technology?
That's right. OAuth was the first one introduced and allows the person requesting it access to the resources (its handing out access tokens). OIDC (OpenID Connect) on the other-side extends this concept by an identity, the authentication part.
The identity token verifies the identity of the person to your application. Instead of providing identity via username + password (i.e. user creating an account on your website), they get redirected to your authentication provider/app and enter their login there and you get an identity token in return (and/or an access token, depending on the flow and scopes you request).
The identity token is an JWT token (or reference token). The JWT token contains all of the users identity information required for your application (user id, email, displayname, age, etc.) and is cryptographically signed. Only the Identity Server knows the key used to sign it up and you can verify it with the public key from the OIDC (IdSrv here) provider.
Reference token works similar, but claims are requested on the server side and cached.
With identity token you can not access the users resources. Example: Facebook.
When you sign in your application with an facebook account, most page will only request identity token to verify that its the same user (instead of using a username / password combination). But with that one, the application can't access your facebook posts or do posts in your name.
If the application requests an access token (token scope), then also an access token will be returned (if the application is allowed to via allowed scopes). You will be asked to grant the permissions to the resources which the application requests.
With that token, the application can read your posts or post in your name.
Which is the best solution for authentication, considering that I would like to create users in a SqlServer Database, and if it's possible I would like to use Entity Framework for the porpose?
Doesn't really matter. Either one can be used, all you really need is the "sid" (subject id) claim and associate that one with your user.
Identity Server can issue both, depending on what the client asks (if client asks for id_token response type, it will receive an identity token, if it asks for token an access token. Both can be specified or just one).
At this point the problem are: which is the right endpoint to do this flow: is it the /authorize or the /token endpoint? I have a lot of confusion for the questions above.
/authorize is used to authorize the user (have him login, and send back to your website). Its used for so called interactive flows, where the user enters credentials
/token endpoint you can only retrieve a token (resource owner flow (username + password), client credentials (for machine to machine authentication), refresh token (to get a new access token by using an refresh token (if you asked for offline_access scope, which gives and refresh token)
The second thing, what is the best way to retrieve the user informations?
the /userinfo endpoint, see docs: http://docs.identityserver.io/en/latest/endpoints/userinfo.html
As the doc says to access that, the client needs to request the openid scope.
For example if my endpoint needs to understand from the logged in user what are his data, I think that or I retrieve from the endpoint or from the JWT token.
Yes you can retrieve it from JWT token, if you use JWT token. If you use reference token, its just an ID.
And last but not least the /introspection endpoint can be used to validate the token (if your consuming application has no libraries to decrypt and validate signature of the token.
If you can, its best to use the Identity Server client libraries (i.e. IdentityServer4.AccessTokenValidation package for ASP.NET Core or oidc-client for npm/javascript based applications) which should be picking up the correct endpoints, so you don't have to worry about it
I am using Passport-local on Node.js (saving user info in Mongodb) and Angular.js as the client. The process is easy.
However here are 3 security concerns:
When I do the login on the client, a json file with user and real
password are sent to the server.
After I login, the token will be saved in the Web Explorer's local
storage, which can be seen, copied and used in future.
The salt processed jwt token are saved with the username in Mongodb Users Collection, which can be seen and move to another
server (so that we can use the same username and password from
another server to log in and get a new token)
Would anyone like to discuss further about these? Any ideas on how to solve them, and reduce the risk of the website? How about using https?
There is no need to store token in your user schema if you just want to verify your token on other server instances as well. Because, jwt.verify() gives you the functionality to check if the token is valid or not . And if the token valid then you get user info in return which you have used at time of token creation. If you find that user in your database then your token is ok with valid user, otherwise not.
Main thing when creating token is, set expiresIn according to your server demands, so that even if your API security is compromised, it wont be available for long time
I want to build small application. There will be some users. I don't want to make my own user system. I want to integrate my application with oauth/oauth2.0.
There is no problem in integration of my front-end application and oauth 2.0. There are so many helpful articles, how to do this, even on stackoverflow.com. For example this post is very helpful.
But. What should I do after successful authorization on front-end? Of course, I can just have flag on client, which says "okay, mate, user is authenticated", but how I should interact with my backend now? I can not just make some requests. Back-end - some application, which provides API functions. EVERYONE can access this api.
So, I need some auth system anyway between my FE and BE. How this system should work?
ps I have some problems with English and may be I can not just correctly 'ask google' about it. Can you provide correct question, please :) or at least give some articles about my question.
UPD
I am looking for concept. I don't want to find some solution for my current problem. I don't think it is matters which FE and BE I use (anyway I will
provide information about it below)
FE and BE will use JSON for communication. FE will make requests, BE will send JSON responses. My application will have this structure (probably):
Frontend - probably AngularJS
Backend - probably Laravel (laravel will implement logic, also there is database in structure)
Maybe "service provider" like google.com, vk.com, twitter.com etc remembers state of user? And after successful auth on FE, I can just ask about user state from BE?
We have 3 main security concerns when creating an API.
Authentication: An identify provider like Google is only a partial solution. Because you don't want to prompt the user to login / confirm their identity for each API request, you must implement authentication for subsequent requests yourself. You must store, accessible to backend:
A user's ID. (taken from the identity provider, for example: email)
A user token. (A temporary token that you generate, and can verify from the API code)
Authorization: Your backend must implement rules based on the user ID (that's your own business).
Transport security: HTTPS and expiring cookies are secure and not replayable by others. (HTTPS is encrypting traffic, so defeats man-in-the-middle attacks, and expiring cookies defeats replay attacks later in time)
So your API / backend has a lookup table of emails to random strings. Now, you don't have to expose the user's ID. The token is meaningless and temporary.
Here's how the flow works, in this system:
User-Agent IdentityProvider (Google/Twitter) Front-End Back-End
|-----------------"https://your.app.com"---------->|
|---cookies-->|
your backend knows the user or not.
if backend recognizes cookie,
user is authenticated and can use your API
ELSE:
if the user is unknown:
|<--"unknown"-|
|<----"your/login.js"----------+
"Do you Authorize this app?"
|<------------------+
|--------"yes"----->|
+----------auth token--------->|
|<---------/your/moreinfo.js---|
|-------access_token ---------->|
1. verify access token
2. save new user info, or update existing user
3. generate expiring, random string as your own API token
+----------->|
|<-------------- set cookie: your API token --------------------|
NOW, the user can directly use your API:
|--------------- some API request, with cookie ---------------->|
|<-------------- some reply, depends on your logic, rules ------|
EDIT
Based on discussion - adding that the backend can authenticate a user by verifying the access token with the identity provider:
For example, Google exposes this endpoint to check a token XYZ123:
https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v3/tokeninfo?id_token=XYZ123
I read through all the answers very carefully, and more than half the people who responded are missing the question completely. OP is asking for the INITIAL connection between FE & BE, after the OAuth token has been issued by the Service Provider.
How does your backend know that the OAuth token is valid? Well keep in mind that your BE can send a request to the Service Provider & confirm the validity of the OAuth token, which was first received by your FE. This OAuth key can be decrypted by the Service Provider only because only they have the secret key. Once they decrypt the key, they usually will respond with information such as username, email and such.
In summary:
Your FE receives OAuth token from Service Provider after user gives authorization. FE passes OAuth token to BE. BE sends OAuth token to Service Provider to validate the OAuth token. Service Provider responds to BE with username/email information. You can then use the username/email to create an account.
Then after your BE creates the account, your BE should generate its own implementation of an OAuth token. Then you send your FE this OAuth token, and on every request, your FE would send this token in the header to your BE. Since only your BE has the secret key to validate this token, your application will be very safe. You could even refresh your BE's OAuth token on every request, giving your FE a new key each time. In case someone steals the OAuth token from your FE, that token would be quickly invalidated, since your BE would have already created a new OAuth token for your FE.
There's more info on how your BE can validate the OAuth token. How to validate an OAuth 2.0 access token for a resource server?
let's use OAuth concept to begin,FE here is Client , BE here is Resource Server.
Since your client already authorized, Authorization server should grant
Access token to the client.
Client make request to the resource server with the Access token
Resource server validate the Access token， if valid, handle the request.
You may ask, what is the Access token, Access token was issued by authorization server, grant to client, and recognized by resource server.
Access token is a string indicate the authorization information(e.g. user info, permission scope， expires time...).
Access token may encrypted for security, and you should make sure resource server can decrypt it.
for more details, please read OAuth2.0 specification https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6749.
Well you don'y need User-System on your Front End side.
The front end is just a way to interact with your server and ask for token by valid user and password.
Your server supposed to manage users and the permissions.
User login scenario
User asking for token by entering his username and password.
The server-API accept the request because it's anonymous method (everyone can call this method without care if he's logged in or not.
The server check the DB (Or some storage) and compare the user details to the details he has.
In case that the details matches, the server will return token to the user.
From now, the user should set this token with any request so the server will recognize the user.
The token actually hold the user roles, timestamp, etc...
When the user request for data by API, it fetch the user token from the header, and check if the user is allowed to access that method.
That's how it works in generally.
I based on .NET in my answer. But the most of the BE libaries works like that.
As am doing a project for SSO and based on my understanding to your question, I can suggest that you create an end-point in your back-end to generate sessions, once the client -frontend- has successfully been authorized by the account owner, and got the user information from the provider, you post that information to the back-end endpoint, the back-end endpoint generates a session and stores that information, and send back the session ID -frequently named jSessionId- with a cookie back to the client -frontend- so the browser can save it for you and every request after that to the back-end considered an authenticated user.
to logout, simply create another endpoint in the back-end to accepts a session ID so the back-end can remove it.
I hope this be helpful for you.
You need to store the token in the state of your app and then pass it to the backend with each request. Passing to backend can be done in headers, cookies or as params - depends on how backend is implemented.
Follow the code to see a good example of all the pieces in action (not my code)
This example sets the Authorization: Bearer TOKEN header
https://github.com/cornflourblue/angular-registration-login-example
I'm designing a REST API and I've hit somewhat of an odd point. 99% of this API will be secured, but there are a few functions that need to be publicly accessible. These pertain to account creation, and initial password setting. Once they have credentials, they can access the rest of the API.
The endpoint that allows a user to create a new account via a signup form is unauthenticated. Securing this endpoint isn't really possible because I'm using AngularJS on top of nodejs, and dog-fooding my API via AJAX calls. This means I can't hide credentials anywhere to access the AccountCreation endpoint. Currently, I have the webform make an AJAX call to another endpoint and create a token that says to form is valid. Upon submission that token is validated, then removed from the database. However, this token endpoint is obviously visible in code, so not much security there. Email verification is used to 'activate' the account, then the user is given a one-time link to set their initial password, which also resides on an unauthenticated endpoint(but requires the token sent in the email).
I guess my worry is someone spamming the 'CreateAccount' endpoint, and making a bunch of accounts. In reality I guess they could simply do this via the webform as well. Is this a valid security concern? How do most places handle unauthenticated account creation webforms?
Edit: the final application will be run over https