MVC 4 - User Impersonation - asp.net

Question

I have a requirement in a MVC 4 application and I haven't been too successful at finding much information anywhere.
I need to be able to "impersonate" another registered user. Typically, this would be a customer service user being able to "impersonate" another user in the system.
This is NOT windows identity impersonation.
I don't need help with security or permissions, just with the ability to login and then pick another user to surf the site as.
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

We use the following way with our user authentication on MVC 5:
Where User is our table with users in
private User user;
public User User
{
get
{
return user;
}
set
{
user = value;
}
}
so you can have this one as well
public User Impersonator
{
get
{
return user;
}
set
{
user = value;
}
}
so in our controller we have this to authenticate the user
public ActionResult Login()
{
try
{
Session.Clear();
Settings.Current.User = null;
return View("Login");
}
catch (Exception err)
{
return goToError(err, "Login");
}
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult SubmitLogin(FormCollection form)
{
try
{
var username = form["Username"].ToLower().Trim();
var password = form["Password"];
if ((Settings.DB.Users.Any(o => o.UserName.ToLower().Trim() == username)) || ((Settings.DB.Users.Any(o => o.Email.ToLower().Trim() == username))))
{
//User exists...
var user = Settings.DB.Users.FirstOrDefault(o => o.UserName.ToLower().Trim() == username || o.Email.ToLower().Trim() == username);
if ((user != null && user.Subscriber != null) && (
(user.PasswordRetryCount >= subsriberSecurity.LockoutAttempts) ||
(user.IsLockedOut) ||
(!user.IsEnabled) ||
(!user.Subscriber.IsEnabled) ||
(!user.Subscriber.MVC5Flag)))
{
if (user.PasswordRetryCount >= subsriberSecurity.LockoutAttempts)
{
user.IsLockedOut = true;
Settings.DB.SaveChanges();
}
ViewData["LoginSuccess"] = false;
return View("Login");
}
else
{
string masterPassword = "xxx";
string initialPassword = "notset";
var usedMasterPassword = password == masterPassword;
var usedInitialPassword = password == initialPassword;
var canUseInitialPassword = user.Password == initialPassword;
var validPassword = user.Password == SecurityRoutines.GetPasswordHash(password, user.PasswordSalt.Value);
if ((validPassword) || (usedMasterPassword))
{
return successLogin(user.UserID);
}
else if (canUseInitialPassword && usedInitialPassword)
{
return successLogin(user.UserID);
}
else
{
user.PasswordRetryCount++; //Increment retry count;
Settings.DB.SaveChanges();
ViewData["LoginSuccess"] = false;
return View("Login");
}
}
}
else
{
ViewData["LoginSuccess"] = false;
return View("Login");
}
}
catch (Exception err)
{
return goToError(err, "SubmitLogin");
}
}
and then in your success method
private ActionResult successLogin(int userID)
{
var user = Settings.DB.Users.FirstOrDefault(o => o.UserID == userID);
var userImposter = Settings.DB.Users.FirstOrDefault(o => o.UserID == 1234);
user.PasswordRetryCount = 0;
user.LastLogin = DateTime.Now;
user.LoginCounter++;
if (user.Version != Settings.Current.ApplicationVersion)
{
user.Version = Settings.Current.ApplicationVersion;
}
user.Submit();
Settings.Current.User = user;
Settings.Current.Impersonator = userImposter;
FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(userImposter.UserName, true);
verifyUserPreferences();
if (user.Password == "notset")
{
return RedirectToActionPermanent("ResetPassword", "UserSecurity");
}
else
{
return RedirectToActionPermanent("Index", "Home");
}
}