ASP.NET CORE Authentication & Authorization Flow | ASP.NET Core Identity Series | Episode #2

Summary

The video explains the process of authentication and authorization in web applications. It describes how a user interacts with a login page, submits credentials, and how the server verifies these credentials against a data store. Upon successful verification, a security context is generated, serialized into a cookie, and sent back to the browser. Each subsequent request carries this cookie, which the server decrypts to authenticate the user again. The video also clarifies that authentication verifies identity, while authorization checks if the user has permission to access certain resources.

Takeaways

• 🔐 **User Interaction**: The process begins with a user entering credentials on a login page.
• 🌐 **HTTP Request**: The entered credentials are sent to the server via an HTTP request.
• 🔍 **Verification Against Data Store**: The server verifies the credentials against a user data store, typically a database.
• 🆔 **Identity Verification**: If the credentials are correct, the server retrieves the user's identity information.
• 🛡️ **Security Context Generation**: The identity information is used to create a security context.
• 🍪 **Cookie Serialization**: The security context is serialized into a cookie, which is a piece of data stored in HTTP headers.
• 🔒 **Cookie's Domain Restriction**: Cookies are restricted to the same domain for security reasons, preventing cross-domain sharing.
• 🔄 **Subsequent Requests with Cookies**: Every subsequent HTTP request includes the cookie for authentication purposes.
• 🔑 **Cookie Decryption and Deserialization**: The server decrypts and deserializes the cookie to verify user authentication.
• ✅ **Authorization Check**: Once authenticated, the server checks if the user is authorized to access the requested information.
• 📄 **Data Delivery**: If authorized, the server returns the appropriate response containing the required data.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of the video?

The video primarily focuses on explaining the process of authentication and authorization in web applications in more detail than the previous video.

What is the first step a user takes to access a web page that requires login?

The first step a user takes is to enter their credentials into the login page through the browser.

How is the user's credentials sent to the server?

The user's credentials are sent to the server as part of an HTTP request.

What does the server do upon receiving the credentials?

Upon receiving the credentials, the server verifies them against a user store, typically a database, to ensure they are correct.

Why is a database symbol used in the explanation?

A database symbol is used to represent the data store where user information is stored, against which the credentials are verified.

What is the purpose of generating a security context after verification?

The purpose of generating a security context is to establish the identity of the user and prepare it for serialization into a cookie.

What is a cookie in the context of web applications?

A cookie is a piece of information stored in the header of HTTP requests and responses that is carried between the browser and the web server, and is specific to the same domain.

Why is the authentication process repeated after the initial login?

The authentication process is repeated to verify the user's identity with each subsequent request by deserializing the security context from the cookie.

How does the server know if the user is logged in?

The server knows if the user is logged in by deserializing the security context from the cookie, which indicates the user's authentication status.

What is the difference between authentication and authorization as explained in the video?

Authentication is the process of verifying the user's identity, while authorization is the process of determining whether the authenticated user has access to the requested information or page.

What happens if the user is authorized to access the requested information?

If the user is authorized, the web server returns the appropriate response containing the HTML and data required by the user.

Outlines

00:00

🔐 Web Application Security: Authentication Flow

This paragraph explains the process of user authentication in a web application. It begins with a user attempting to access a web page that requires login. The user enters credentials through a browser, which are then sent to the server via an HTTP request. The server receives these credentials and verifies them against a user store, typically a database. If the credentials are correct, the server generates a security context using the user's identity information. This security context is then serialized into a cookie, which is a piece of information stored in the HTTP request and response headers that is exchanged between the browser and the server. The cookie is domain-specific, ensuring security by not being shared across different web servers. The authentication process includes verifying the user's identity and generating the security context, which is then sent back to the browser in a serialized form as a cookie. Each subsequent HTTP request made by the browser will include this cookie, allowing the server to deserialize the security context and authenticate the user for access to the requested resources.

05:03

🔐 Web Application Security: Authentication and Authorization

The second paragraph delves into the concepts of authentication and authorization within web application security. Authentication is defined as the process of confirming a user's identity, which in this context is done by decrypting and deserializing a cookie stored in the browser. The security context, once obtained from the cookie, helps determine if the user is authenticated. Following authentication, authorization comes into play, which is the step that decides whether the authenticated user has the necessary permissions to access the requested information or page. The paragraph emphasizes that while authentication is about verifying who the user is, authorization is about determining what they are allowed to do. The process concludes with the server returning the appropriate response containing HTML and data if the user is both authenticated and authorized.

Keywords

💡Web Application Security

Web Application Security refers to the measures taken to protect web applications from attacks and vulnerabilities. In the video, this concept is central as it discusses how to secure user data and interactions within a web application environment. The script mentions securing login pages and verifying user credentials, which are key components of web application security.

💡HTTP Request

An HTTP Request is a message sent from a client to a server to request access to a resource. In the script, the user enters credentials which are then sent to the server via an HTTP request. This request is a fundamental part of the authentication flow, as it carries the user's login information to the server for verification.

💡Server

The server in this context is the system that hosts the web application and handles requests from clients. The script describes how the server receives credentials from an HTTP request and verifies them against a user store. The server plays a critical role in the authentication process by determining if the provided credentials are valid.

💡User Store

A user store is a database or data store that contains user information, including credentials. The script mentions the server verifying credentials against a user store to ensure they are correct. This is a vital step in the authentication process, as it confirms the user's identity against stored data.

💡Security Context

The security context is a set of information that defines the security state of a user or process. In the video script, once the user's credentials are verified, the server generates a security context. This context is then serialized into a cookie, which is used to maintain the user's authenticated state throughout their session.

💡Cookie

A cookie is a small piece of data stored on the user's computer by the web browser. The script explains that after a user is authenticated, a cookie is sent back to the browser. This cookie is then included in every subsequent HTTP request, allowing the server to recognize the user's authenticated state.

💡Authentication

Authentication is the process of verifying the identity of a user. The script describes authentication as the process of checking the user's credentials and generating a security context. It is a critical step in ensuring that only legitimate users can access certain parts of a web application.

💡Authorization

Authorization is the process of determining whether an authenticated user has permission to access a specific resource. The script mentions that after authentication, the server decides if the user is authorized to access the requested information. This step ensures that users can only access resources they are permitted to see.

💡Credentials

Credentials are pieces of information used to authenticate an identity. In the script, the user enters their credentials, which are then sent to the server for verification. Credentials typically include a username and password, and are essential for determining if a user is who they claim to be.

💡Data Store

A data store is a repository for storing and managing data. In the context of the video, the data store is where user information, including credentials, is kept. The server verifies the credentials against this data store to authenticate the user. The data store is a key component in maintaining the integrity and security of user data.

💡Encryption

Encryption is the process of encoding information in such a way that only authorized parties can access it. The script mentions that the cookie, which contains the security context, is encrypted. This ensures that even if the cookie is intercepted during transmission, the information it contains cannot be read without the proper decryption key.

Highlights

The video discusses security in web applications with a focus on user authentication and authorization.

The user accesses a login page to enter credentials for secure information access.

Credentials are sent to the server via an HTTP request.

The server verifies credentials against a user store, typically a database.

Verification process is represented by a rectangle in the flow diagram.

If credentials are correct, identity information is used to generate a security context.

Security context is represented by a second rectangle in the flow diagram.

The security context is serialized into a cookie for storage and transmission.

Cookies are pieces of information stored in the HTTP request and response headers.

Cookies are limited to sharing within the same domain due to security reasons.

The authentication process involves verifying the user and generating a security context.

The authentication process also includes deserializing the security context from the cookie.

Authorization follows authentication to determine access rights to information or pages.

The video emphasizes that both authentication and authorization are crucial for secure web application access.

Decrypting and deserializing the cookie is part of the ongoing authentication process.

The security context, contained in the HTTP context object, determines user authorization.

The video concludes by explaining the conceptual simplicity of authorization compared to authentication.

Transcripts

in the previous video i covered a little

bit about

security in web application in this

video i want to cover

still on high level but i want to

provide a little bit more detail

in terms of the flow so if

we have a user here trying to access a

web page

right let's imagine this login page is

already loaded

because the the user wants to access

some information that requires uh

login right so the user would interact

with

this browser to enter the the

credentials

right so once the credential is entered

a http request and then it's sent to the

to the server okay so let's use this

arrow to

represent the http request that is sent

to the server

when the server receives the credentials

from the http request body

it's going to then verify against

a user store to make sure the

credentials

are correct why do i draw

a database symbol here that's because

the user information is stored

usually in the data store right so

the credentials need to be verified

against the user's

data store right so this part this step

will happen and if the verification is

completed correctly that means the

credentials are correct the identity

will come back

the identity information will be used to

generate

the security context so let's use this

rectangle to represent this verification

process

verify credentials

and then we're going to use this second

rectangle to represent the process

of generating the security

context so after the verification

the identities will be pulled into

the web server and store those

identities in the security context and

then serialize that

into a cookie if you're not very

familiar with the concept of cookie

i just want to add a little bit

information here a cookie can

be considered as a piece of information

that is

stored in the header of the http request

and http response right that information

is

going to be carried back and forth

between the browser and the web server

and there is a feature

with this piece of information because

in the header you can contain

lots of information but the cookie is a

special type of information

because it can only be shared within the

same

domain right you cannot

uh send a request to a different web

server

that carries the same cookie because

because there is

a security problems all right let's go

back to this

authentication and authorization flow so

let's imagine this is a cookie a normal

cookie authentication which is very

suitable for this

application right so then this

serialized cookie will be contained in

the http response

and then will be returned back

to the to the browser the browser

will then redirect the user

to a different

page right and including that

redirection

every single subsequent http request

will contain that cookie right so let's

use another arrow

to represent one of the subsequent

requests and then this rectangle

will represent the authentication

process so you may ask why this is

authentication where this

is already the verification process is

already

authentication right so yes this

part this whole part here the both of

the

these rectangles are part of

authentication

right uh to verify the user is

who they say they are and then generate

the security context

serialize that into a cookie sends that

back

to the browser so this is all

authentication process

why would we have this authentication

process again well here

we have it in the cookie right we have

these security contacts in the cookie

uh the the web server will have to

deserialize that into the security

context

and then the the web server will

actually know whether the user is is

actually logged in or not

right so this part of deserializing uh

the security context from the cookie

is also part of authentication right so

so basically

in one statement authentication is the

process

to know who you are okay so

because the security context is already

stored in the cookie

so in order to know at this step in

order to know who you are

it only needs to decrypt that cookie and

deserialize that cookie

because the cookie is encrypted so once

those happens immediately we know

whether the user is authenticated

or not so this is still the

authentication

process where we decrypt the cookie we

deserialize the cookie to get the

security context

and then once we have the security

context

which is actually contained in the http

context object

right once we have that information then

we can tell whether

the user is authorized

to access the information or the page

it wants to see right so that's the

second step which is

authorized authorization okay so

authorization

will happen right afterwards

and then and then if everything is okay

then the web server will decide to

return the proper response that contains

the

html and all of the data that the user

requires

from this video i wanted to show you

that

both these steps as well as these

are part of authentication

and then the authorization process is

relatively

simpler from at least conceptual level