OAuth API authorization - BlueCat Integrity - 9.4.0

Address Manager Administration Guide

Locale
English
Product name
BlueCat Integrity
Version
9.4.0

OAuth is an authorization protocol that secures API endpoints as part of machine-to-machine communication between API clients. Unlike SAML, which focuses on authentication of web clients, OAuth focuses on what actors have access to, not who the actor is. The OAuth 2.0 specification includes four actors: the Resource Owner (the user), the Client (an application or script that needs access to the Address Manager API), the Authorization Server (OAuth2 Server, Open ID Connect), and the Resource Server (Address Manager API). The authorization server issues access tokens (used to authenticate a request to an API endpoint) to the client and an authorization grant defines how the client obtains the access token. For more information on authorization grants, refer to https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6749.

How OAuth works with Address Manager

Address Manager allows the following authorization grants:
  • Authorization Code Grant
  • Implicit Grant
  • Resource Owner Password Credentials Grant

Authorization Code Grant

In this authorization grant, the user is authenticated through a login page (the user-agent) hosted by the authorization server.

The following diagram explains the Authorization Code grant:

  1. Client redirects user-agent to authorization server
  2. Authorization server authenticates the user through the user-agent
  3. If authentication of the user is successful and the user grants access to the requested resource, the authorization server returns an authorization code and redirects the user to the client
  4. Client requests an access token from authorization server by including authorization code
  5. Authorization server authenticates client
  6. Client uses access token to access the resource on the resource server

Implicit Grant

Similar to the Authorization Code grant, the user is authenticated through a login page (the user-agent) hosted by the authorization server, but instead of an authorization code, the access token is directly returned to the client.

The following diagram explains the Implicit grant:

  1. Client redirects user-agent to authorization server
  2. Authorization server authenticates the user through the user-agent
  3. If authentication of the user is successful and the user grants access to the requested resource, the authorization server returns an access token in fragment and redirects the user to the client
  4. User-agent makes a request to web-hosted client resource without fragment
  5. Web-hosted client returns a script to user-agent that can extract access token
  6. User-agent executes script to extract access token
  7. User-agent passes access token to the client
  8. Client uses access token to access the resource on the resource server

Resource Owner Password Credentials Grant

In this authorization grant, the client requires credentials from the user––this grant does not involve a login page hosted by the authorization server.

The following diagram explains the Resource Owner Password Credentials grant:

  1. User enters username and password in client application
  2. Client forwards credentials to authorization server
  3. Authorization server returns access token to client application
  4. Client application calls Address Manager with access token