CODEWITHSUNDEEP
oauth-2.0
755
755

Reputation: 3081

How is authorization code different from the access token?

In OAuth 2.0 flows the authorization server sends the authorization code to the redirect endpoint and then the webpage has to hit the server again to get a separate access token to query the protected API with.

Why do there have to be two tokens? Specifically could someone provide example(s) of security attacks/vulnerabilities that emerge without this design.

There is this post Facebook OAuth 2.0 "code" and "token" but it doesn't really fully explain the reasoning behind the design.

Upvotes: 4

Views: 1493

Answers (1)

Hans Z.
Hans Z.

Reputation: 53928

One (the authorization code) is exchanged in the frontchannel, the other (the access token) in the backchannel. The end goal is obtaining the access token. Since the frontchannel is inherently more insecure it makes sense to send a very short-lived one-time-usage-only temporary credential (i.e the authorization code) in the front channel that the web server can use to obtain the longer-lived repeatedly-usable access token in the backchannel. That backchannel call would also allow for the web server (or: Client) to authenticate itself to the Authorization Server to increase the assurance about dealing with the right party.

Upvotes: 9

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