C#•2mo ago

✅ Authorization in ASP.NET Web Api

[Authorize("MyApiUserPolicy", AuthenticationSchemes = "Bearer")] How exactly does it check provided token if it is valid or not? Like does it generate similar token and based on provided token it just compares it or there is something else going on?

102 Replies

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

Depends on how you registered it, but usually somewhere you're setting up something like:

services.AddAuthentication(JwtBearerDefaults.AuthenticationScheme)
    .AddJwtBearer(options =>
    {
        options.TokenValidationParameters = new TokenValidationParameters
        {
            ValidateIssuer = true,
            ValidateAudience = true,
            ValidateIssuerSigningKey = true,
            ValidIssuer = "YOUR_ISSUER",
            ValidAudience = "YOUR_AUDIENCE",
            IssuerSigningKey = new SymmetricSecurityKey(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("YOUR_SIGNING_KEY"))
        };
    });

services.AddAuthentication(JwtBearerDefaults.AuthenticationScheme)
    .AddJwtBearer(options =>
    {
        options.TokenValidationParameters = new TokenValidationParameters
        {
            ValidateIssuer = true,
            ValidateAudience = true,
            ValidateIssuerSigningKey = true,
            ValidIssuer = "YOUR_ISSUER",
            ValidAudience = "YOUR_AUDIENCE",
            IssuerSigningKey = new SymmetricSecurityKey(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("YOUR_SIGNING_KEY"))
        };
    });

Dachi•2mo ago

sure i have that

D.Mentia•2mo ago

so it's validating the token given the validation info you gave it - that it can decode the token with the given key, and it has a valid issuer and audience (if you specified that it should validate those things) the authorization policy is separate, after authentication, and you set that up yourself somewhere too and I assume you're not asking about that

Dachi•2mo ago

so it decodes the user token

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

I'm not 100% sure but, reasonably certain. It has to, in order to get the authorization info (claims from the token)

Dachi•2mo ago

and checks ussuer and other stuff right?

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

like does it decode token, or generate one with the information that you give and compares them to each other?

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

decodes, pretty sure. Comparing them doesn't work because it doesn't know what claims and stuff are in that token

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

if it checks parts where i say ture whats the use of SymmetricSecurityKey(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("YOUR_SIGNING_KEY")) those things are publicly available in token @TeBeCo

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

you mean the part where it check literally every part? because if os then it is pretty much the same as craeting token and comparing it with users's

D.Mentia•2mo ago

I think there's some confusion here because for some reason it seems common that both the authenticator (where this endpoint is), and the issuer of the token, both seem to have the signing key's secret when I think usually, the authenticator would have only the public half of the symmetric token, and couldn't actually create a token itself, it can only decode and I assume in the backend it's doing that for you, if you supply the full symmetric token, it just takes the public part for decoding and ignores the private part for encoding

Dachi•2mo ago

so basiclly

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

it uses that token to more easily read public part? not token but symmetric key

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

a symmetric key consists of a Public and Private key. The private key can be used to encrypt things, and nobody should ever have it except the server that's issuing tokens, or basically, the side that others need to verify that yep, this token came from this server. The public key can be used to decrypt things that were encrypted with the private key, and you can safely share it to anyone

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

whats public key ? in my situation

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

i though what you said about public and private was asymmetric

D.Mentia•2mo ago

right? Or is that RSA?

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

oh, well, nvm then

Dachi•2mo ago

yes

D.Mentia•2mo ago

so with symmetric... both sides have the 'secret'?

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

yes and i don't get why

D.Mentia•2mo ago

then yeah ignore all that stuff above :lul:

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

I guess the idea with a symmetric key is that you don't want anyone to be able to decode it except your services

Dachi•2mo ago

no one can decode it

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

it uses ssh256

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

how can you decode that

D.Mentia•2mo ago

by knowing the key

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

decode whatever you encoded/encrypted with that key

Dachi•2mo ago

Can you decode something that is encripted by ssh256?

D.Mentia•2mo ago

The whole point of encryption... or encoding... I can barely remember the difference... is that you can decode it or decrypt it if you know how, usually by knowing some secret

Dachi•2mo ago

i geniuanly don't get how that authentication works sure but ssh256 is one way encryption you can't decript

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

Something somewhere makes a JWT token, which contains claims and info about the user that you can verify came from your other service and know are validated. It makes it using a symmetric key with a given secret - such that it can be decoded, if someone else (your other service or API) knows the secret. If nothing can decode it, it doesn't make sense

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

c#
        var claims = new List<Claim>
        {
            new Claim(JwtRegisteredClaimNames.Sub, id),
            new Claim(ClaimTypes.Role, "api-user"),
            new Claim(ClaimTypes.Role, "api-admin"),
        };

        var key = new SymmetricSecurityKey(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(configuration["JwtSecret"]!));
        var credentials = new SigningCredentials(key, SecurityAlgorithms.HmacSha256);

        var token = new JwtSecurityToken(
            issuer: "myapi.com",
            audience: "myapi.com",
            claims: claims,
            expires: DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(60),
            signingCredentials: credentials);

        var tokenGenerator = new JwtSecurityTokenHandler();
        var jwt = tokenGenerator.WriteToken(token);

c#
        var claims = new List<Claim>
        {
            new Claim(JwtRegisteredClaimNames.Sub, id),
            new Claim(ClaimTypes.Role, "api-user"),
            new Claim(ClaimTypes.Role, "api-admin"),
        };

        var key = new SymmetricSecurityKey(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(configuration["JwtSecret"]!));
        var credentials = new SigningCredentials(key, SecurityAlgorithms.HmacSha256);

        var token = new JwtSecurityToken(
            issuer: "myapi.com",
            audience: "myapi.com",
            claims: claims,
            expires: DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(60),
            signingCredentials: credentials);

        var tokenGenerator = new JwtSecurityTokenHandler();
        var jwt = tokenGenerator.WriteToken(token);

this is how i generate it the token

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

First off, you cannot decrypt/decipher SHA-256 its from google

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

now don't i use that algorithm to encript then what am i doing

D.Mentia•2mo ago

In cryptography, an HMAC (sometimes expanded as either keyed-hash message authentication code or hash-based message authentication code) is a specific type of message authentication code (MAC) involving a cryptographic hash function and a secret cryptographic key. As with any MAC, it may be used to simultaneously verify both the data integrity and authenticity of a message. An HMAC is a type of keyed hash function that can also be used in a key derivation scheme or a key stretching scheme.

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

i have done it

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

SHA-256 is a hashing algorithm, which is one-way, but HMAC is the encryption which is reversible

Dachi•2mo ago

i just don't understand what's going on in the background

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

yes?

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

this is the fundamental question they've been asking :lul: when verifying a JWT, does the service decode the JWT, or does it just hash the same values and check if they're the same?

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

sure

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

but didn't you say that token is decoded to udnerstand the audience and stuff?

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

But when it comes to a JWT, you do need to decrypt because you don't know the contents of the claims in that JWT at the time of validation, it might have lots of claims that you don't care about you can't generate your own JWT and compare because you don't know what claims are in the original

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

So then, if you specified ValidateIssuer = false and all the others to false in token validation params, it would still validate the signature?

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

can one person explain it again, cuz i am confused one says you gotta decode other says no you don;t

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

Does that mean anyone could decode a JWT and get its contents without having to know any sort of secret? But they can't verify the signature without knowing the secret? Just out of curiosity

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

okay let me rephrease it

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

When i get user token, i get the public part of the token like, issuer etc. Then i take them with the symmetric key that i have and make a token and then check if that matches?

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

When you get a user token, you (the backend) first decodes it apparently, because it needs to split it into header/payload/signature. Then it hashes the payload (of the incoming token) with the secret, and compares that result to the signature

Dachi•2mo ago

is this correct?

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

can someone verify it?

Unknown User•2mo ago

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D.Mentia•2mo ago

you don't make a "token" to compare to the incoming one, you just hash the decoded token and compare that to the decoded token's signature

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

@TeBeCoi have done everyhting it works but i don't understand fully why it works i have that written

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

but to rehash it don't you need to make basicly a token?

D.Mentia•2mo ago

you rehash the decoded content of the incoming token

Dachi•2mo ago

Like i get the part where when incoming token is devided into 3 parts but i don't get it how you hash it so that it is the same without making it like a token

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

so localSign is the one we make from extracting payload from users token and hashing it with SymmetricKey

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

can you verify what i wrote

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

i'll take a break and then try to understand it again

Unknown User•2mo ago

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Dachi•2mo ago

i really don't fully understand it like i get it but not the way i have to know thanks for the help

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✅ Authorization in ASP.NET Web Api