Here is my problem if i can call it that way.I have implemented authentification with custom memebership provider in asp.net mvc 2.0.Everything works well but i have one problem.When user log in he provides its username and password and i check this through databse in MSSQL then i validate user and pass and use FormsAuthentication to set only UserName as profile information.
But when that user wants to create new item(lets say for sale or something) that belongs only to him and can be listed with other items that user created i can use this username(in FormsAuthentication) check it in database and connect that item to appropriate user with foreign key but that works if username is unique so i need additional informations like ID column from database table "user" to store and use it later so what is the most secure and "best practice" way to store additional information of user and use it later because username as i mentioned must be unique in database and it is not enough information about logged user.
Couldn't you store the User object (or whatever additional info you have) in the Session? or using a cookie at the client side (if you need to persist the login state even after the user closes his browser etc)? Let me know if you need specific examples.
EDIT: After reading your comments, if you are looking for a "secure cookie" solution have a look at this: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/13665/HttpSecureCookie-A-Way-to-Encrypt-Cookies-with-ASP
I use it to store the user's id (only his id). When I retrieve this cookie I load the user given his id. Some in-memory caching allows me to avoid loading the user on each request.
But just wanted to clarify that the session object seems great for what you are trying to do + you dont have to worry about security (for the average app that is).
Related
we are using ASP.Net MVC with the Asp.Net Identity.
We have around 100 user informations we save in the database with the identity model.
What I want is to save temporary information the identity. The Information is HOW the user is logged in right now (SMS code, password, email code etc.etc. we have a bunch of types to log in).
So that is not a database information, it is a simple temporary information as long as the auth cookie exists.
How to add this?
I would just add a new cookie that has that information. Something like this:
Response.Cookies["AdditionalInfo"]["LoginMethod"] = "SMS";
You can find more info here.
Be very careful how you use the information that is in there. A malicious user could modify the values in there to be whatever they want - so if you are using cookie values for security purposes you will get hacked.
You could also look at storing that info in the view state or the session state.
I am creating a new asp.net MVC 5 application. Authentication is handled by a third party using smart cards. Once a user is authenticated by the third party, I am sent the user's unique ID (inside the http header) which I match up against my database in order to find relevant information about said user (roles, display name, etc.).
Currently, on every page request, the sent user ID is compared against the database, and checks are performed to ensure the user has the proper permissions to view the requested page. While this works, it sure seems like a bunch of needless database hits when all the user information could just be stored in a cookie.
If I was using Individual User Accounts for authentication, what I am looking to do would simply be built in using Identity and OWIN. But since I am not handling the authentication, but merely the authorization, is there a way to use all the nice features of Identity and OWIN (claims and cookies specifically)? If not, how might one go about this?
Also, of particular interest to me is when a role is added or removed. Using OWIN with Individual User Accounts, updating the cookie is as simple as logging the user out, and then back in immediately in the background. That functionality would also be desired for any solution presented.
Any insight would be extremely helpful. Thanks for reading!
You could do what you're asking by directly storing values in a custom cookie, but for your purposes it sounds to me like you might be more interested in utilizing sessions to track that info. This will keep all of your actual data stored server-side, which is more secure as it isn't vulnerable to cookie modification and it allows you more freedom to control the state (for your role example, you wouldn't have to "update" the cookie at all, just update the session variable on the server side to add or remove the role as needed).
Figured it out. Found a great article that really helped:
http://www.khalidabuhakmeh.com/asp-net-mvc-5-authentication-breakdown-part-deux
I need to add some authorization/authentication logic to an existing web form. Essentially, a user will enter their email address, then I check that email address against an existing database, and if it exists I send an email to that address containing an activation link to the web application. Once the user clicks that link, I want their client to be considered "authorized" for a short amount of time (like their browser session, for instance). They can then access certain pages until their authentication expires.
This would be extremely easy to do using custom ASP.NET forms authentication, but after doing some research there seems to be many more options today in terms of authorization/authentication. Things like ASP.NET Identity 2, Katana/OWIN, and more, it is getting to be quite overwhelming.
I'm looking for suggestions on the simplest way to currently implement something like this in an MVC4 application. I should be able to upgrade the application to MVC5 if necessary.
This is essentially the same process most password resets use, so you can pretty much approach it the same way:
Create a table to track these "authentications". You pretty much just need a column for the token, a column for a datetime, a column for a boolean. The datetime can either track the creation date and time of the token, which you'd then use in your code to calculate if it's too old based on your desired time frame, or you can track the expire date and time of the token and then simply check in your code if that expire date has passed or not. The boolean would track whether the email address has been confirmed, via having followed the link with token in the email you send out.
In your initial form, you collect the email address and combine this with a salt and one-way encryption to produce a token. You send the email with a link that includes that token. Save the token and the appropriate datetime value in your table.
On the page the user goes to after clicking the link, you use the token from the URL to lookup the matching row in your table, check the date value, and set the boolean to true for confirmed. Then, store the token in Session.
On each subsequent request, check 1) there's a token in Session and 2) that that token is still valid (lookup it up in the database and check the datetime and confirmed status). If the token doesn't exist or is no longer good, delete the row, remove the token from Session, and redirect the user to the original email address collection form. Otherwise, allow the user to view whatever content is there.
The simplest way, is to have a database table for the users, and do checking for user authentication and if it's use FormsAuthentication.RedirectFromLoginPage, The identity framework gives you more options for security and encryption also for group and role management.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ka5ffkce(v=vs.110).aspx
I am building a multi tenant MVC4 web application. I distinguish the tenant based on the url alias (customername.webapp.net). I have a database that stores the customer id which I can lookup using the customername.
Obviously I need this customer identification during the entire session that a user from that customer is using my webapp.
Is it acceptable to store this unique identifier in the session? Or are there better design choices for this kind of "session data"?
I'd rather store this information inside the UserData portion of the forms authentication cookie (if you are using Forms Authenticatoin) or simply add it as a claim if you are using claims based authentication. When the user logs-in you would extract the tenant name from the current request, query your database in order to obtain the tenant id and then persist this id. If you store the id in the UserData portion of the Forms Authentication cookie you could write a custom [Authorize] attribute which will read the FormsAuthenticationTicket, decrypt it, get the tenant id from the UserData portion and then build a custom principal. This way you will have it available everywhere in your application. If you use claims based authentication, you would simply add it as a new claim.
I wouldn't use Session at all inside my application.
Please don't be misguided by the answer. It is dangerous to use cookie.
Session in this case would be the valid option, not cookies. If you store your tenantId inside your cookie, and your application establishes database connection based on your cookie, then after you login as a user, you can tamper and change the cookie and now your application will make connection to another database thereby compromising security. Even if your cookie is encrypted, it's not 100% reliable.
Session in this case would be the reliable server information that keeps track of which tenant database should be connected to. Although session can be a performance drop compared to cookie, in this case you have no other good options. You are designing a multitenancy application and that's just something you have to sacrifice.
Yes, you may still able to use cookie if you REALLY want to. You just have to keep checking if the user is connected to the right database somehow, which to me is more of a performance drop than using session.
Don't hate session just because alot of people abuse it or hate it. You just have to use it in the right manner.
Bottom line is, if you are using any info for security purposes, don't use cookie.
I am writing a web app for a client. Users will have a one-time key that they will use to initially identify themselves to the app. Once the app verifies that the key is valid it will take them to a page where they can create a normal account to use for all subsequent logins. The create-account page should only be accessible after entering the key and shouldn't be accessible otherwise. I.e, it shouldn't be accessible to users logged in with a normal account.
This is asp.net 3.0 using a custom membership provider.
My plan is to create a temporary account based on the key and authenticate the user with that account. This allows them access to the create-user page (which is protected with a location tag ) where they can create the formal account. I then authenticate them with their new account and delete the temporary account.
The flow is: the user goes to a page where they enter the key. If the key is valid I create the temporary account, call FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie, and redirect to the create-account page. This all works, although it seems a little complicated.
The problem is that the create-user page is available to any authenticated user; I only want it available during the time between entering the key and creating the formal account. So I thought I'd create a special role for the temporary account and make the create-user page accessible only to that role and none other. I created my own Principal object with a special role and tried setting it when I authenticate the temporary account but I can't get that to work.
I'm really hoping I don't have to write a custom role provider just to do this.
How can I make this work? There's gotta be a simpler way!
Why not simply create the real account when they enter the key. Assign it some random name and then let them change the name and other details. Then you don't need the create user page, just the enter key page and an account details editing page. If you're concerned about getting the account details filled in, you could set it up (perhaps via code on a MasterPage) so that incomplete accounts always get redirected to the edit details page until the details are entered.
Or, you could have them enter the required details in addition to the key code on the enter key page and simply use those details when creating the account.
My advice would be to avoid the use of temporary accounts when validating the user. Instead, generate your own logic for validating the sign-up key. Then, at the head of the page, you can check whether the user is an authenticated user (SetAuthCookie has been called) and jump to a different page if this is true.
You may even be able to change the page access to forbid this page to authenticated users (I know you can disable accounts for unauthenticated users but I'm not sure if you can go the other direction).
The key, though, is to avoid relying on the membership provider when, in fact, the user is not yet a member!
Assign an "incomplete" role when authenticating against the temporary token, then restrict access to only that role... when the account is created, send them to a re-login page (terminating the authentication token). This will simplify your security model.