Mixed authentication with WIF for multiple endpoints in a Windows service - wcf

We need to expose two WCF endpoints in a single Windows service. One endpoint should use claims based authentication (WIF), with the other using certificate authentication. Unfortunately all our attempts have failed because WIF configuration attaches to all WCF endpoints; the endpoint which should use certificate authentication requires a token.
I can’t find any solution to this particular issue. Is it possible to expose two endpoints within one windows service with two different authentication where only one of them is WIF, and if it’s possible, then how?

Read
How to mix WIF and non-WIF endpoints in a single WCF <service>?
There is no way to do it unless you use two different service contracts (this could be just marker interfaces though) or you do things manually without WCF (i.e.: create your own behavior and claims authorization manager using WIF). It's not that hard, but you need to understand how things work.

Related

ASP.NET Client Application Services Authentication and WCF

I have a WPF application that uses Client Application Services to allow authentication (username/password logon) against a related web application that uses Forms authentication and the SqlMembershipProvider/SqlProfileProvider/SqlRoleProvider. This all works and I can reliably validate a user/password combination.
The WPF application also calls a number of WCF services that are exposed by the same web application as is used for the CAS authentication. I now want to be able to pass through the authentication details (from Client Application Services) to the WCF services in order that I can identify the user that was authenticated within those services. I also need to be able to prevent the WCF services from being used if no authentication has taken place.
I have found a couple of .NET 3.5 examples where CAS authentication is used against .asmx web services, or authentication is provided against WCF Data Services which does not use ClientBase and has authentication facilities built in, but I cannot find any examples with pure WCF. Can anybody point me toward instruction that will enable this scenario? I am using .NET 4.0 for this project.
I have also found this stackoverflow question but again this is answered for .asmx web services and not for WCF.
The closest I have gotten involves the creation of an OperationContextScope and then copying the cookie header from the ClientFormsIdentity object to an HttpRequestMessageProperty and adding this to the OutgoingMessageProperties of the current OperationContext. I then call one or more methods of the service within the lifespan of the OperationContextScope. Thing is, when I then get to the WCF service, I still cannot see anything that resembles authentication in such a way as I can identify the original user. This methodology has been taken from various examples but I am obviously missing a step at the WCF end.
I think you need to switch to the Web API that Microsoft is now having people use for WCF Services. Check out Using Forms Authentication with Web API and http://aamirposwal.blogspot.com/2012/05/aspnet-web-api-custom-authorize-and.html
Found it.
In my binding, I specified allowCookies="true".
According to Wiktor Zychla, "setting the AllowCookies property on a BasicHttpBinding to true turns on the automatic cookie management" - this means that any attempt to set a cookie in code will be ignored and this is what I was doing.

how to secure Azure WebRole svc service with ACS

I'm struggling with securing IIS hosted svc WCF service hosted in Azure using WIF and ACS.
I found lot of how-tos here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg185939.aspx
I'm particularly interested in those describing how create secure WCF service and authenticate using certificate or username/password.
Now the ACS definition part is pretty clear. But when it comes to securing the service itself I struggle. I'm using WebRole and SVC file to expose the service and the configuration in how-to is done in code and I guess it won't work with azure webrole as well.
Any help on how to get this combination working would be much appreciated!
Just a small clarification: if you rely on ACS then the authentication (in whatever form: certs / username/password, etc) will happen in ACS, not in your app. Your WCF service will simply expect a token issued by ACS and will remain largely ignorant of the type of authentication used.
Also, the actual implementation depends on whether you are creating a SOAP service or a REST one. Typically you have different token formats and protocols involved (e.g. SAML vs SWT, etc.)
Besides the how-tos you mentioned, take a look at the samples in this guide. Especially these:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh446528.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh446531.aspx
Hope it helps
Most probably you need to use a HttpModule to secure your service. The primary responsibility of this module is to read the Authorization header and create the claims.
Also make sure in the web.config tag should contain
You can get the code for HttpModule from the below sample.
http://acs.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=ACS%20Windows%20Phone%20Sample
Look at the ProtectedResourceModule.cs
Joy

WCF Security - Client Authorization

I need help on securing my WCF Service so that only authorized users can make a call to service methods.
The WCF Service is configured with wsHttpBinding and is hosted under Windows Service.
The client application is an asp.net website. Also, the users making call to WCF service are already authorized by client application, so just need to make sure that they are authorized while handling the request on service side.
Please guide me on what are the different ways (along with their pros and cons, if possible) to achive above.
Thank you!
If you are using the ASP.NET role provider infrastructure, you could pass the user on and leverage the same provider via WCF. This would be nice as it would maintain logic across the process boundaries.
If you are using Windows groups for ASP.NET, the same would apply, just re-authorize.
Certificates are an option, but then you have to manage them.
Lastly you could issue an access token and validate it on the WCF side. This could be done by extending WCF(probably at the contract level). You would then have to manage the token via some other service to enforce expiration etc.

Basic Authentication with WCF REST service to something other than windows accounts?

Is there a clean way to expose a WCF REST service that requires basic authentication, but where we handle the actual validation of the username/password ourselves? It seems that when you tell WCF in config that you want to use basic authentication, it forces you to turn on basic authentication in IIS and IIS can only do basic authentication against window accounts.
The only hack we have found is to lie to WCF and tell it there is no security on the service and then do authentication outside of the WCF stack using a generic IHttpModule (which has a proprietary config file to indicate which URLs have which authentication/authorization requirements).
It seems like there should be a better way. Anyone have one?
The WCF REST Contrib library enables this functionality:
http://github.com/mikeobrien/WcfRestContrib
It also allows you to secure individual operations.
is the username and password set on the client like:
cc.ClientCredentials.UserName.UserName = ReturnUsername();
cc.ClientCredentials.UserName.Password = ReturnPassword();
Or are they embedded in the body of the REST message?
If the former, you can use a custom UserNamePasswordValidator:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa702565.aspx
If the latter, you can set the service to no security, and use a custom ServiceAuthorizationManager to validate the contents of the message:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms731774.aspx
Hope one or the other helps! I'd try to post sample code & config, but I'm # home and dont have access to code, which is all # work.
See Custom Basic Authentication for RESTful services. Pablo's approach uses the interceptor functionality that is provided via the REST starter kit to solve the problem. If you do not want to depend on the REST starter kit, then you can create your own service host and use the inteceptor functionality provided.
If you host it on IIS, using custom http module is the way to go. You can bring over the principal over to WCF side to do code access security. See HTTP Basic Authentication against Non-Windows Accounts in IIS/ASP.NET (Part 3 - Adding WCF Support). Also see Custom HTTP Basic Authentication for ASP.NET Web Services on .NET 3.5/VS 2008.
If you are not using IIS, you should be able to implement userNameAuthentication. See Finally! Usernames over Transport Authentication in WCF.
Yes absolutely there is a way. You need to configuring a custom userNamePasswordValidationMode value for your service and point it to a class with an overridden method that can inspect and validate the credentials provided. When making a RESTful call, these credentials when using Basic authentication in its proper form should be in the request header. With this custom method you can inspect the credentials and then authenticate the client to your service. No Windows accounts or domain even needed.
The nice thing is you can then take that security context to the next level and provide fine-grained authrization at the method level. You might have instances where a large pool of clients are able to access the service, but not all methods within (i.e. paid clients vs. unpaid). In this case you can also provide authorization at the method level as well if needed.
Below is a step-by-step solution (with too many steps to embed) by me that contains both the needed configuration and security required to have a complete solution. The problem is often Basic authentication is used without securing the Transport with a SSL certificate and this is bad. Make sure to follow all the steps and you will implement Basic authentication without the need of any type of Windows accounts or configuration on your WCF RESTful based service.
RESTful Services: Authenticating Clients Using Basic Authentication

What are my binding options for a self hosted cross domain WCF service with remote thick clients?

I'm trying to build a WCF self hosted service (eventually in a windows service) that will receive binary and text base messages from remote thick clients that have no accounts on my hosted machine. I'm trying to figure out both my binding options and security options, and in reading the patterns and practices guides, my head has completely spun around at least once.
The clients would be authenticated against a custom SQL based method, so I'd like to be able to pass that info in the initial login request and then set an authorization token of some kind. (This part of the problem is probably outside the scope of the question, but I included it in case it might make a difference.)
Any thoughts at all would be very helpfull.
Ryan
The choice of binding and security option depends on the usage of your WCF service. Is it just for your rich client or are you planning to expose it to the world as API? If it's just for your rich app, does it run on LAN or over untrusted, unreliable Internet?
With WCF you can configure the service to expose multiple endpoints with different bindings, for example both SOAP and REST. In general, I'd start with something stateless and lightweight like basicHttpBinding and webHttpBinding, passing user and password on every request. Once you have that up and running you can optimize cache authentication, provide binary endpoint etc.. only if it actually helps.
There's no need to have just one binding. Having said that if it's self hosted you're "on your own" here. I've never looked at what's involved.