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Clarifications and peer review regarding authentication and roles of my web application

I am trying to learn basic security and access limitations on ASP MVC.
So far, i have read/watched tutorials but all of them seems different from one another. If i will search something, it will lead me to another implementation which is totally different from what i have.
I implemented Authentication and custom role provider and i have some questions regarding how things work. Majority of explanations that i found from the internet seems overly complicated or outdated.
This is how i implemented my authentication.
login controller:
[HttpGet]
[ActionName("login")]
public ActionResult login_load()
{
return View();
}
[HttpPost]
[ActionName("login")]
public ActionResult login_post(string uname,string pword)
{
using (EmployeeContext emp = new EmployeeContext())
{
int success = emp.login.Where(x => x.username == uname && x.password == pword).Count();
if (success == 1)
{
FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(uname, false);
return RedirectToAction("Details", "Enrollment");
}
return View();
}
}
Then i protected most of my controllers with [Authorize]
Question #1
What's the purpose of FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(uname, false); and what should i typicalfly use it for? would it be alright to store the username. Do i need it for comparison later on?(further security?). It says here that Authentication ticket will be given to the username. Are those the ones with random letters?
--
After that, i decided to dive deeper and implemented a custom role provider
from roleprovider.cs(I only implemented 2 methods so far)
public override string[] GetRolesForUser(string username)
{
if (!HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
{
return null;
}
var cacheKey = username;
if (HttpRuntime.Cache[cacheKey] != null)
{
return (string[])HttpRuntime.Cache[cacheKey];
}
string[] roles = new string[] { };
using (MvcApplication6.Models.EmployeeContext emp = new MvcApplication6.Models.EmployeeContext())
{
roles = (from a in emp.login
join b in emp.roles on a.role equals b.id
where a.username.Equals(username)
select b.role).ToArray<string>();
if (roles.Count() > 0)
{
HttpRuntime.Cache.Insert(cacheKey, roles, null, DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(_cacheTimeoutInMinute), Cache.NoSlidingExpiration);
}
}
return roles;
}
Question #2
I am kinda confused here and i need a deep clarification: so what is basically the purpose of the cacheKey and from my example, i just made it equal to uname since i have no idea what's going on.
Question #3
Why is it returned (string[])HttpRuntime.Cache[cacheKey]; if the value is null? when is it returned and who is receiving it?
Question #4
After getting the value the list of roles from the database, this function will be called HttpRuntime.Cache.Insert(cacheKey, roles, null, DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(_cacheTimeoutInMinute), Cache.NoSlidingExpiration);. So from what i see, the roles are being inserted into the cache? is it for checking the login type later on?
Question #5
from this lines of code:
public override bool IsUserInRole(string uname, string roleName)
{
var userRoles = GetRolesForUser(uname);
return userRoles.Contains(roleName);
}
When are they exactly triggered and who provides the parameters? is the roleName from the cache?
I am having a hard time visualizing what's happening under the hood. Explanations/Referrals will be very helpful.

What's the purpose of FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie()?
This is ASP.NET FormsAuthentication's built-in method for dealing with authentication cookies.
How does cookie based authentication work?
Explained: Forms Authentication in ASP.NET 2.0
Basically, it's doing the hard work for you; creating a cookie for a specific user, giving it to them and then using it to recognise the same user in the future. You want to use this function to log a user in (if they enter correct credentials).
The string parameter is for a username. Yes, you can use username.
The bool parameter is for if you want the cookie to be persistent. That is, keep them logged in even if they close the browser (whether or not to use a session).
By using FormsAuthentication in this way, ASP.NET will automatically detect the user again when they visit subsequent pages.
What is basically the purpose of the cacheKey?
The Cache component of the HttpRuntime is for managing a "box" of objects that you might retrieve frequently but don't want to be hitting the database all the time for.
The Cache is implemented as a kind of Key-Value Pair. The cacheKey in your example is a key in the Key-Value collection. You can think of it like other similar data structures used in other languages.
{
"carlobrew": {
"roles": {
"Name": "Administrator"
}
}
}
So you're basically "saving" the roles of the user carlobrew in a container so that you can get them again later. The key in a Key-Value Pair is used to refer back to the data that you put in there. The key you are using to refer back to the saved information is the uname; that is, the username.
The key in Key-Value Pairs is unique, so you cannot have two keys called carlobrew.
Why is it returned (string[])HttpRuntime.Cache[cacheKey]; if the value is null?
There are two steps to using a typical "cache box" like this.
If we find the key (such as the user carlobrew) then we can simply return the data straight away. It's not if the value is null. It's if the value is not null. That's why the code is if (HttpRuntime.Cache[cacheKey] != null).
If the key cannot be found (that is, we don't have the key for carlobrew), well then we have to add it ourselves, and then return it.
Since it's a cache, ASP.NET MVC will automatically delete things from the cache when the timer expires. That's why you need to check to see if the data is null, and re-create it if it is.
The "who is receiving it" is whichever object is responsible for calling the GetRolesForUser() method in the first place.
So from what i see, the roles are being inserted into the cache?
Yes.
Basically, if the data isn't in the cache, we need to grab it from the database and put it in there ourselves, so we can easily get it back if we call the same method soon.
Let's break it down. We have:
Insert(cacheKey, roles, null, DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(_cacheTimeoutInMinute), Cache.NoSlidingExpiration);
Insert is the method. We're calling this.
cacheKey is the key part of the Key-Value Pair. The username.
roles is the object that we want to store in cache. The object can be anything we want.
DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(_cacheTimeoutInMinute) is telling ASP.NET MVC when we want this data to expire. It can be any amount of time that we want. I'm not sure what the variable _cacheTimeoutInMinute maybe it's 5 or 15 minutes.
Cache.NoSlidingExpiration is a special flag. We're telling ASP.NET that, when we access this data, don't reset the expiration timer back to its full. For example, if our timer was 15 mins, and the timer was about to expire with 1 minute to go, if we were using a sliding expiration and tried to access the data, the timer would reset back to 15 minutes and not expire the data.
Not sure what you mean by "is it for checking the login type later on". But no, there isn't any checking of login type here.
IsUserInRole
You would probably call this when the user is trying to do something. For example, if the user goes to /Admin/Index page, then you could check to see if the user is in the Administrator role. If they aren't, you'd return a 401 Unauthorized response and tell you the user they aren't allowed to access that page.
public Controller Admin
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
if (!IsUserInRole("Administrator"))
{
// redirect "not allowed"
}
return View();
}
}

Hiding user password field from being displayed using CreatedAtRoute

I'm building an ASP.NET Web API and I'm currently implementing very basic user accounts. I have a User model which consists of just Email and Password fields, and I have a UserController class with the following action:
// POST: api/Users
[ResponseType(typeof(User))]
public IHttpActionResult PostUser(User user)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
return BadRequest(ModelState);
}
db.Users.Add(user);
db.SaveChanges();
return CreatedAtRoute("DefaultApi", new { id = user.Id }, user);
}
Everything works perfectly, except when I POST /api/Users I get the password field sent back in the response body:
{
"Id":2,
"Email":"dummy#test.com",
"Password":"$2a$12$jTACgOlm2eO/OYcV5wrDnO2dmsnbWVnsCRzX1WfQKGsY4sYvh16gm"
}
How do I go about making sure that sensitive fields such as user passwords never get output in a response? I'd prefer a method that does it on the model level so that I never accidentally forget to implement it in a controller.

One option would be to always use a Data Transfer Object (DTO) when communicating between a client and the server. The example given by this article from the Web Api team is very similar to your problem.
I would create a UserDTO which wouldn't contain any sensitive data that I wouldn't want to transfer between my clients and the server.
That is how most APIs work, take Facebook, for example, the User passed via this API call is not the User from their Domain, it is a representation of a User with just the needed information.
Using a DTO you could control exactly what gets transferred, lowering data size and preventing secure information from leaking.
UPDATE: If you go that road you'll probably want to use AutoMapper, it reduces the amount of Object to Object mapping you have to do considerably.

It's too much to just remove some values we need to create a separate model, better to clean the data before returning, say
db.SaveChanges();
user.Password = String.Empty;
user.anyproperty = null;
return CreatedAtRoute("DefaultApi", new { id = user.Id }, user);

John,
The CreatedAtRoute method is intended to return the URI of a newly created resource. For example, if you are creating a new product, you may see the return as api/products/1234. The method will also return the serialized object you provide as a third parameter. The method is not aware of the nature of the object you are returning therefore it does not recognize any of the fields as sensitive.
In your case, you may clear the password field from the user object or return a completely different object that does not include this field. You are not forced to return the same object you just created.
Best Regards,
Daniel

How to pass query string parameter in asp.net?

I am using Access Control service (ACS). I fetched all identity providers (ip) which i set for my application using the following code :
public ActionResult IdentityProviders(string serviceNamespace, string appId)
{
string idpsJsonEndpoint = string.Format(Global.IdentityProviderJsonEndpoint, serviceNamespace, appId);
var client = new WebClient();
var data = client.DownloadData(idpsJsonEndpoint);
return Content(Encoding.UTF8.GetString(data), "application/json");
}
When user click over the signin link the above code called using ajax and get the ips and display them in jquery-ui dialog. And when user click any one of the ips for login the browser redirect to the selected ip login page. After successful login the control return to my control which i set as a returnUrl. Upto this every thing is works fine.
Now what i am trying to do is to pass some values to identity provider (ip) login page and want to get back those values at my returnUrl controller. For this i searched and came to know that there is a query string parameter known as wctx which we can set and get the value at return url. But i dont know how to do this. Can anybody please guid me how can i achieve this?

It is relatively (pretty) easy.
Your URL for listing IdPs looks something like this:
https://[your_namespace].accesscontrol.windows.net:443/v2/metadata/IdentityProviders.js?protocol=wsfederation&realm=[your_realm]&reply_to=[configured_return_url_for_your_rp]&context=&request_id=&version=1.0&callback=
This is the most complete request for list of Identity Providers. Your may miss some variables (such as context, or reply_to), but what I show is the complete request.
So now you have two options:
inclide your own reply_to parameter. It must be withing the configured realm. So if your realm is https://www.mygreatapp.com/, your default return URL would probably be something like https://www.mygreatapp.com/returnUrl/ (if your controller to handle ACS response is returnUrlController. Now, you can safely change the reply_to to be https://www.mygreatapp.com/returnUrl/?foo=bar, just make sure you URL Encode the query string.
Use the context parameter. It is safer to use and I would suggest using it. Now your URL for fetching list of IdPs will be something like:
https://[your_namespace].accesscontrol.windows.net:443/v2/metadata/IdentityProviders.js?protocol=wsfederation&realm=[your_realm]&reply_to=[configured_return_url_for_your_rp]&context=[your_custom_string_value_which_you_may_even_encrypt]&request_id=&version=1.0&callback=
Note the now there is context value present in the request for IdP list ([your_custom_string_value_which_you_may_even_encrypt]). In your returnUrl handler controller, you can check for it with code similar (or equal) to the following:
if (ControllerContext.HttpContext.Request.Form["wresult"] != null)
{
// This is a response from the ACS - you can further inspect the message if you will
SignInResponseMessage message =
WSFederationMessage.CreateFromNameValueCollection(
WSFederationMessage.GetBaseUrl(ControllerContext.HttpContext.Request.Url),
ControllerContext.HttpContext.Request.Form)
as SignInResponseMessage;
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(message.Context))
{
// do whatever you want with the context value
}
}
You may want to perform any/more additional checks while handling the SignInResponse from ACS.

Good way of storing UserProfile information and preventing database call on every page load

I am trying to create a way to store user's profile information in either session or cache and be able to have that information on hand every time the page loads to prevent calling the database every time we load a page. I want to be able to put some of these values in a shared layout (so i can put the user's name in the upper right hand corner etc.). At the top of my master page layout I have the following:
#{
Domain.Entities.UserProfile user = (Domain.Entities.UserProfile)HttpContext.Current.Session[Membership.GetUser().ProviderUserKey.ToString()];
}
I use values like user.FirstName in my master page. When a user logs in I set the session. Is there a better way of doing this? If I am logged out and I just navigate to a member only page, the [Authorize] filter is bypassed and I get an error Object reference not set to an instance of an object. because my user profile is not stored in session yet. I do not store any sensitive information in the session like a UserId or anything, just the users name, profile image url etc. I feel there may be a better way of doing such a task.

You can store your user information in the authentication cookie. Keep in mind that the cookie will be sent back and forth from the client with every request. So if there's a lot of information to be stored maybe that's not the right way.
Check the step 4 of this document that explains how to store additional user data in the cookie http://www.asp.net/web-forms/tutorials/security/introduction/forms-authentication-configuration-and-advanced-topics-cs
Then in your master page, you can have something like this
#{
if (User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
{
//Your code goes here, no way user data is null.
}

You can create a static class as an interface to get the user properties, which will be stored in the session state.
public class UserData{
public static Domain.Entities.UserProfile GetUser(){
string username;
try{
username = Membership.GetUser().ProviderUserKey.ToString();
}catch(Exception e){
// just in case
throw new AuthenticationException("The user isn't authenticated!");
}
var user = HttpContext.Current.Session[username] as Domain.Entities.UserProfile;
if(user == null){
user = // get data from database
HttpContext.Current.Session[username] = user;
}
return user;
}
}
Then, in your methods you can use it like this:
if (User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
{
UserProfile user = UserData.GetUser();
//Your code goes here, no way user data is null.
}
Or in controllers:
[Authorize]
public ActionResult Index(){
UserProfile user = UserData.GetUser();
return //stuff
}
Note: I made this without being able to test, but I hope you get the point :)

Set proxy user in a GenericPrincipal, while keeping the old identity, using MVC

I have a site where I allow some users to proxy in as an other user. When they do, they should see the entire site as if they where the user they proxy in as. I do this by changing the current user object
internal static void SetProxyUser(int userID)
{
HttpContext.Current.User = GetGenericPrincipal(userID);
}
This code works fine for me.
On the site, to proxy in, the user selects a value in a dropdown that I render in my _layout file as such, so that it appears on all pages.
#Html.Action("SetProxyUsers", "Home")
The SetProxyUsers view looks like this:
#using (#Html.BeginForm("SetProxyUsers", "Home")) {
#Html.DropDownList("ddlProxyUser", (SelectList)ViewBag.ProxyUsers_SelectList, new { onchange = "this.form.submit();" })
}
The controller actions for this looks like this
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult SetProxyUsers()
{
ViewBag.ProxyUsers_SelectList = GetAvailableProxyUsers(originalUserID);
return PartialView();
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult SetProxyUsers(FormCollection formCollection)
{
int id = int.Parse(formCollection["ddlProxyUser"]);
RolesHelper.SetProxyUser(id);
ViewBag.ProxyUsers_SelectList = GetAvailableProxyUsers(originalUserID);
return Redirect(Request.UrlReferrer.ToString());
}
All this works (except for the originalUserID variable, which I put in here to symbolize what I want done next.
My problem is that the values in the dropdown list are based on the logged in user. So, when I change user using the proxy, I also change the values in the proxy dropdown list (to either disappear if the "new" user isn't allowed to proxy, or to show the "new" user's list of available proxy users).
I need to have this selectlist stay unchanged. How do I go about storing the id of the original user? I could store it in a session variable, but I don't want to mess with potential time out issues, so that's a last resort.
Please help, and let me know if there is anything unclear with the question.
Update
I didn't realize that the HttpContext is set for each post. I haven't really worked with this kind of stuff before and for some reason assumed I was setting the values for the entire session (stupid, I know). However, I'm using windows authentication. How can I change the user on a more permanent basis (as long as the browser is open)? I assume I can't use FormAuthentication cookies since I'm using windows as my authentication mode, right?

Instead of faking the authentication, why not make it real? On a site that I work on we let admins impersonate other users by setting the authentication cookie for the user to be impersonated. Then the original user id is stored in session so if they ever log out from the impersonated users account, they are actually automatically logged back in to their original account.
Edit:
Here's a code sample of how I do impersonation:
[Authorize] //I use a custom authorize attribute; just make sure this is secured to only certain users.
public ActionResult Impersonate(string email) {
var user = YourMembershipProvider.GetUser(email);
if (user != null) {
//Store the currently logged in username in session so they can be logged back in if they log out from impersonating the user.
UserService.SetImpersonateCache(WebsiteUser.Email, user.Email);
FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(user.Email, false);
}
return new RedirectResult("~/");
}
Simple as that! It's been working great. The only tricky piece is storing the session data (which certainly isn't required, it was just a nice feature to offer to my users so they wouldn't have to log back in as themselves all the time). The session key that I am using is:
string.Format("Impersonation.{0}", username)
Where username is the name of the user being impersonated (the value for that session key is the username of the original/admin user). This is important because then when the log out occurs I can say, "Hey, are there any impersonation keys for you? Because if so, I am going to log you in as that user stored in session. If not, I'll just log you out".
Here's an example of the LogOff method:
[Authorize]
public ActionResult LogOff() {
//Get from session the name of the original user that was logged in and started impersonating the current user.
var originalLoggedInUser = UserService.GetImpersonateCache(WebsiteUser.Email);
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(originalLoggedInUser)) {
FormsAuthentication.SignOut();
} else {
FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(originalLoggedInUser, false);
}
return RedirectToAction("Index", "Home");
}

I used the mvc example in the comments on this article http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/43724/ASP-NET-Forms-authentication-user-impersonation to
It uses FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie() to just change the current authorized cookie and also store the impersonated user identity in a cookie. This way it can easily re-authenticate you back to your original user.
I got it working very quickly. Use it to allow admin to login as anyone else.