Roles/Permissions - can caching affect it? - c#

Once authenticatated I use HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name; to ensure user is authorized to view a part of my site.
When I access certain parts of my site I need to get the User and get which context (organization they are logged into), url would be something like settings/supercompany/profile. where supercompany is the current context.
For each user I would need to check if they are admin in that company or a general user, if a general user then they cannot see certain things.
public class SettingsApi
{
private readonly string _userId;
private readonly string _contextId;
public SettingsApi(string userId, string contextId)
{
_userId = userId;
_contextId = contextId;
}
}
If I instantiate the class above from a controller (post or get), would caching somehow mess things up? Users role changed and I don't pick it up? Would something like the below work well?
var settings = new SettingsApi(HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name, currentContextId);
settings.IsAdmin();
Note: I would have used attributes to authorize but my requirements are I need to pick out the currentContext from the URL plus I need to use the class above elsewhere in my code.
Update
AuthorizeAttribute works well with caching, but the method used to authorize i.e.
protected override bool AuthorizeCore(HttpContextBase httpContext)
Will not hand me back an instance of the class I need...
Update 2 I don't want this class or an instance of this class to be cached in anyway, everytime I ask for a new instance I don't mind fetching one from the DB...
My Question - is the way I am coding ok? Will my user and his permissions NOT be cached?

It is possible, if you're not careful, to let MVC cache the output of the first request by an authenticated user. I use VaryByCustom and the current identity's name.
[OutputCache(VaryByCustom="user")]
public class SomeController : Controller
{
// etc.
}
In my Global.asax.cs I define:
public override string GetVaryByCustomString(HttpContext context, string custom)
{
if (custom.Equals("user", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
{
return context.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated ? context.User.Identity.Name : string.Empty;
}
return base.GetVaryByCustomString(context, custom);
}

If you are proposing to add instances of the SettingsApi to the cache then it definitely will not work as caching is app wide and so all users will end up sharing the same SettingsApi. Using the OutputCache should be fine (as long as you dont do something like put userid in a hidden field and use [OutputCache(VaryByCustom="user")] or similar).
If you are looking to cache the SettingsApi you should do so through SessionState which is per user/session and wont affect the authentication.

Related

How should the restriction be done when the subscription period expires?

In a Rest Api SaaS project developed with .Net Core 3.1.
When the user's subscription expires (needs to pay), what kind of a method would be better to follow.
There are 2 methods that I think of but I think there will be some problems in both of them.
Method 1) Checking the subscription status during JWT generate and not generating JWT if the subscription period has expired:
If I use this method;
Advantage: Since a token is not given to a user whose subscription expires,
they will not be able to access other endpoints.
I think this will work extremely safe without doing any other coding work.
Disadvantage: When I need to redirect the user to the payment page,
I will have to do a special work for the payment endpoints since there are no tokens.(Example: Password Reset Methods)
I will get it with query string, I think I can create a special token for this method.
But I think there might be a security bug because I couldn't protect this process with my standard authorization method?
Method 2) Even if the subscription expires, jwt will be generated, but membership will be restricted:
If I use this method;
Advantage: I can use my standard authorization method without any problems
when I need to direct the user to the payment endpoints or to another endpoints.
I will use with jwt and security bugs will be considerably reduced.
Disadvantage: I need to determine endpoints that cannot be accessed on the application for user whose subscription period expired
and I will need to code a working service in middleware that will make them inaccessible. (Like to permission methods)
This will both do extra coding work and each endpoint will require extra work.
These are my thoughts....
Or other solutions...
How should we restrict a user whose subscription expires and how should we act?
Thank you very much for your information sharing.
I solved the question I asked above using Method 2.
I wanted to explain how I did it, as I thought it might help those who investigate this question in the future.
I said in method 2, jwt has generated but membership restricted.
First of all, when generating tokens, I set claims whether they have a subscription or not.
....
new Claim(JwtClaimIdentifier.HasSubscription, hasSubscription)
I do not explain here in detail. Standard claims.
Subscription Control
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Method | AttributeTargets.Class)]
public sealed class SubscriptionRequiredAttribute : TypeFilterAttribute
{
public SubscriptionRequiredAttribute()
: base(typeof(SubscriptionFilter)) { }
}
--
[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Method | AttributeTargets.Class)]
public sealed class AllowWithoutSubscriptionAttribute : Attribute
{
public AllowWithoutSubscriptionAttribute() { }
}
--
public class SubscriptionFilter : IAuthorizationFilter
{
private bool AllowWithoutSubscription(AuthorizationFilterContext context)
{
var controllerActionDescriptor = context.ActionDescriptor as ControllerActionDescriptor;
bool allowWithoutSubscriptionForMethod = controllerActionDescriptor.MethodInfo.CustomAttributes.Any(x => x.AttributeType == typeof(AllowWithoutSubscriptionAttribute));
if (allowWithoutSubscriptionForMethod)
return true;
bool allowWithoutSubscriptionForController = controllerActionDescriptor.ControllerTypeInfo.CustomAttributes.Any(x => x.AttributeType == typeof(AllowWithoutSubscriptionAttribute));
if (allowWithoutSubscriptionForController)
return true;
return false;
}
public void OnAuthorization(AuthorizationFilterContext context)
{
if (AllowWithoutSubscription(context))
return;
var hasSubscription = context.HttpContext.User.Claims.First(x => x.Type == JwtClaimIdentifier.HasSubscription).Value.ToLower() == "true";
if (!hasSubscription)
context.Result = new BadRequestObjectResult(**ErrorCode**);
}
}
I added, an attribute that override subscription control.
For example; To use it in a controller or method that I need to override when checking subscriptions on base.
Use Controller
[SubscriptionRequired]
public class FooController
{
public async Task<IActionResult> FooMethodOne(){...}
public async Task<IActionResult> FooMethodTwo(){...}
[AllowWithoutSubscription]
public async Task<IActionResult> FooMethodThree(){...}
}
While FooMethodOne and FooMethodTwo above require subscription, FooMethodThree will work without subscription.
Likewise, all controls are called "AllowWithoutSubscription".
It can also be called "SubscriptionRequired" in methods.
Hopefully it benefits your business...

ServiceStack HasPermission in the context of the request

I am trying to harness the authentication and authorisation features of servicestack so that I don't need to pollute my service code with this, which should lead to cleaner tests etc.
In my application, a user has permission to do something in a certain context.
ie A user can only view products that are in their product set.
To accomplish this I thought about decorating my productViewRequest dto with a permission attribute called canView and then to create my own implementation of IAuthSession to check that the user is requesting a product within their allowed set.
Would this be a decent approach or am I barking up the wrong tree?
Assuming it is a correct approach, how do I go about getting the context ie the productViewRequest object in the HasPermission call on my session implementation?
Thanks for your help
First I would check the ServiceStack built-in auth options https://docs.servicestack.net/authentication-and-authorization
If that doesn't fit your requirements, a request filter attribute will give you access to the request context.
public class CanViewAttribute : RequestFilterAttribute {
private readonly string permission;
public CanViewAttribute(string permission) {
this.permission = permission;
}
public override void Execute(IHttpRequest req, IHttpResponse res, object responseDto) {
// todo: check permission
if (!hasPermission) {
res.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.Forbidden;
res.EndRequest();
}
}
}

Best practise for optional injecting of current user

In our ASP.NET MVC project we are using Ninject to resolve our dependencies needed by the controllers.
One of these dependencies is the current user HttpContext.Current.User.Identity. If the user is authenticated we would like to instantiate a user object and several services which relies on it. But we would like to do this not manually but let ninject inject these instances to the controller.
So we get into trouble now, since a url can be located without being authenticated of course. Then ninject tries to resolve the instances before asp.net can redirect to the login page.
I can think of the solution, that we configure ninject do just inject when user is authenticated:
kernel.Bind<User>().ToMethod(GetUser).When(context => HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated).InRequestScope();
The problem here is that even if the user is not authenticated ninject instantiates a default object, so my services crashes or needs to check the instance anyhow.
Null checks would me much more acceptable but I wouldn't like to activate AllowNullInjection setting of Ninject.
So my question is whats the best practise for doing such conditional things?
Are there Ninject features I could use in these cases or shouldn't I inject these dependencies anyway?
I assume you are talking about a situation where a non-authenticated user could try to navigate to a page that normally requires authentication, but without first going through the login process. Ninject would then be unable to inject the current user object into the controller because it's not yet known and will throw an exception.
I can see 2 options:
The first option is instead of injecting the current user, create a factory or provider that retrieves the current user details and inject this instead. The controller can then call the provider to get the current user and if the user is unavailable you can redirect to the login page.
public OrdersController(IUserProvider userProvider)
{
this.userProvider = userProvider
}
public void DoSomething()
{
var user = this.userProvider.GetCurrentUser();
if (user == null)
RedirectToLogin();
// continue doing something
}
public class UserProvider : IUserProvider
{
public User GetCurrentUser() { ... }
}
The problem with this option is that you'll need to do this potentially in many controllers (it's a "cross cutting concern") and you don't want to have to repeat the code that does the redirect over and over. Instead, a second option would be to use the Decorator design pattern to create an interceptor that checks for logged in users before forwarding on to the real controller.
The way I've done something similar in the past is using the Ninject Interception Extension to create an attribute that marks which controllers require authentication, like this (bit psuedo-codey):
public class AuthenticationInterceptor : IInterceptor
{
public void Intercept(IInvocation invocation)
{
bool authenticated = // ... get the current user ...
if (authenticated)
invocation.Proceed();
else
RedirectToLoginPage(); // however you want to do this
}
}
public class RequiresAuthenticationAttribute : InterceptAttribute
{
public override IInterceptor CreateInterceptor(IProxyRequest request)
{
return request.Context.Kernel.Get<AuthenticationInterceptor>();
}
}
[RequiresAuthentication]
public class OrdersController : IOrdersController
{
// assume you've already been authenticated
}
The interceptor will automatically be created whenever a class that's decorated with RequiresAuthentication is created and the current user credentials will be checked. If they are invalid, the request will be forwarded to the login page, otherwise it will continue as normal. This one interceptor can then be written and tested once whilst being used in many places without duplicating code.
Just as a simple auth and non auth answer that some may find useful.
kernel.Bind<ICustomUser>()
.To<User>()
.When(ctx => HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
.InRequestScope();
kernel.Bind<ICustomUser>()
.To<Guest>()
.When(ctx => !HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
.InRequestScope();
Otherwise anything more complex Adam Rodgers awnser is better :)

Controlling access to methods

Is there a way to control access to methods to certain roles in .net. Like
class A
{
//should only be called by Admins**
public void Method1() { }
//should only be called by Admins and PM's**
public void Method2() { }
}
I'm using windows authentication only for retrieving user names and nothing more.User roles are maintained in a different application. I think it's possible through attributes but I'm not really sure how
It it possible, I have used it on an web project that used asp.net and AzMan as the authentication.
Take a look at Code Access Security
From memory all of our methods looked something like
[Permission(SecurityAction.Demand, "Permission")]
public void Method1
It's been a while though so that might not be actually 100% correct.
I'd also highly suggest if you are going to put protection down to this level to look at a task orientated permission approach as this is much more flexible than role based permissions
You can do this as follows:
class A
{
//should only be called by Admins**
[PrincipalPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, Role="Admin")]
public void Method1()
{
}
//should only be called by Admins and PM's**
[PrincipalPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, Role="Admin")]
[PrincipalPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, Role="PM")]
public void Method2()
{
}
}
To do this Thread.CurrentPrincipal must be set to a principal that has the required roles. For example, if you enable roleManager in an ASP.NET application, Thread.CurrentPrincipal will be set to a RolePrincipal with roles from your configured RoleProvider. See this MSDN article for more info.
You can do it using custom validation.
1- Make a method in another public class which take login id as parameter and return roles in form of bits.
2- Call this method on the page_Load event of the required class and save returned bits in the view state.
3- Now validate required method on the basis of roles bits.

Will the static public variables in my app get shared with other users in the same app?

For reasons I would rather not discuss, I need to create a custom authentication system for my app. I was just reviewing the system and am having some doubts if my solution is thread safe. My goal was to create a solution that would allow my app to authenticate a user one time and that users authentication info would be shared by all master pages, pages, classes, user controls, etc that are used. (But not share the same info between users)
Here is my setup:
PageHttpModule.cs - this is added to the web.config as a httpModule.
public class PageHttpModule : IHttpModule
{
public void Init(HttpApplication app)
{
app.AuthenticateRequest += new EventHandler(OnAuthenticateRequest);
}
public void OnAuthenticateRequest(Object s, EventArgs e)
{
CurrentUser.Initialize();
}
public void Dispose() { }
}
CurrentUser.cs
public static class CurrentUser
{
public static bool IsAuthenticated { get; private set; }
public static string Email {get; set;}
public static string RealName {get; set;
public static string UserId {get; set;}
public static void Initialize()
{
CurrentUser.AuthenticateUser();
}
Note: this is a scaled down version of my authentication code.
public static void AuthenticateUser()
{
UserAuthentication user = new UserAuthentication();
user.AuthenticateUser();
if (user.IsAuthenticated)
{
CurrentUser.IsAuthenticated = true;
CurrentUser.UserId = user.UserId;
CurrentUser.Email = user.Email;
CurrentUser.RealName = user.RealName;
}
}
}
UserAuthentication.cs
public class UserAuthentication
{
public string Email { get; set; }
public string RealName { get; set; }
public string UserId { get; set; }
public bool IsAuthenticated { get; private set; }
public UserAuthentication()
{
IsAuthenticated = false;
Email = String.Empty;
RealName = String.Empty;
UserId = String.Empty;
}
public void AuthenticateUser()
{
//do some logic here.. if the user is ok then
IsAuthenticated = true
Email = address from db
UserId = userid from db;
Realname = name from db;
}
}
I have tested between 3 different browsers and it seems to work fine, but I am still learning and don't want to make a huge mistake.
If my logic is totally wrong, then how should I do it so I dont have to put user lookups on every page directly?
No, this is not thread-safe. For instances of the application living in separate processes or AppDomains, this will be just fine. But if your ASP.NET server is going to serve multiple requests at once using threading, you are going to have some very bad side effects if two people try to use the application at the same time.
In the Init method, the HttpApplication parameter is described as:
An HttpApplication that provides access to the methods, properties, and events common to all application objects within an ASP.NET application
The key here is that there is one PageHttpModule for the lifetime of the app, and all static objects that exist in the lifetime of the app will share those variables.
BUT... the lifetime of CurrentUser is only within the scope of the OnAuthenticateRequest event, unless some other reference keeps the object alive. If it were a PageHttpModule member-level variable, you'd have issues that you would have noticed immediately. In your situation, however, you'll work fine so long as you don't get more than one simultaneously-processed OnAuthenticateRequest call.
The answer to your question is no, you're not guaranteed to be thread-safe. If two authentication requests come in simultaneously, you're not guaranteed to have one event complete before the other begins, in which case the second user can appear authenticated, when it's really the first user that was logged on.
Update
I think part of the problem is coming from a misunderstanding of AuthenticateRequest... By the time this event is called, the user has already been authenticated by either Windows or Forms authentication... you're just getting notified that it's happened. In fact, the property User.Identity.IsAuthenticated has already been set (I believe this event fires even if the user fails authentication, but I won't swear to that without double-checking).
If I understand what you are after, you're really trying to write your own custom membership provider. If you take this approach, you will have all the benefits of the built-in authentication... all of the standard properties related to authentication will be set and accessible, and will be isolated to a user's session in the manner you want.
Writing a custom provider is not a small feat, but it is doable, and you should be able to reuse a lot of the logic and code you're currently using for your classes.
Trying to completely re-write the authentication mechanism would be jumping through painful, complicated hoops.
Some links:
http://www.devx.com/asp/Article/29256/0/page/3
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/WSSecurityProvider.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f1kyba5e%28v=VS.90%29.aspx
The properties you must implement may look daunting, but unless you need a specific functionality (such as ResetPassword), you can simply throw a NotImplementedException. Code only what you'll use.
Why not just do it the way microsoft recommends?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/9wff0kyh.aspx
I've done custom authentication this way and it works fine.
Here is another link which should prove useful:
Link
What you have done with IHttpModule seems like a good path to tackle this kind of issue. One of the purposes of the http module as stated by microsoft is to enable for any kind of special authentication. When http module intializes it uses the same instance for new requests. Since you dont have any global variables I am not so sure how to address your thread safe question. It seems like you are onlu reading some data out, so please elaborate!

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