CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaoauth-2.0keycloakopenid-connectidp
Łukasz Torzyński
Łukasz Torzyński

Reputation: 171

Direct Access Grant with KeyCloak using external Identity Provider (IDP)

I would like to authenticate against KeyCloak using "Direct Access Grant": https://www.keycloak.org/docs/latest/server_admin/index.html#resource-owner-password-credentials-grant-direct-access-grants

I works like a charm when keycloak manages users and passwords on its own.

But, my scenario is different:

I would like keycloak to act a Broker to some external IDP. KeyCloak has identity brokering feature - but in only works in "Authorization Code flow" - redirecting user to external IDP login form. I have mobile app and would like ot use "direct access grant" - so that app comunicates with keycloak to authenticate user - and keycloak, as a broker, authenticates this user (using openid-connect) in external IDP

How to achieve such scenario ? I know that it is not possible out of the box - but maybe somebody could advice how write an extension to keycloak do make this scenario possible ?

Upvotes: 8

Views: 22911

Answers (3)

Santhosh
Santhosh

Reputation: 21

This is a real use case, unfortunately Keycloak doesn't have a direct way of solving this issue. AWS's "IAM Roles for Service Account" feature works based on token exchange with direct access grant using external IDP. I found this discussion on how to workaround this lack of support in Keycloak but not sure if it solves all the usecases - https://lists.jboss.org/pipermail/keycloak-user/2017-January/009272.html

Upvotes: 2

G_H
G_H

Reputation: 11999

Whatever it is you are trying to achieve this way, it goes directly against what OAuth and OpenID Connect were designed for. The whole idea of using access tokens is to allow some relying party (such as a mobile app) to interact with a service on behalf of the user without ever getting to see the user's credentials (like a password).

Think of it like this. Let's say you have some app on your mobile phone. It can make use of certain services by Google. In order to do so it offers you to log in with Google and grant the app access. Now, would you want to do so by putting your Google email and password directly into the app? Of course not. That could give it complete control over your Google account, other apps and sites using your Google identity, possibly services that allow you to pay through your Google wallet... It would be insane to simply hand some phone app your Google login.

So instead with OAuth2 or OpenID Connect you can use the authorization code flow or implicit flow to have the user redirected to the identity provider (Google in our example) where they will complete their login process, and then the identity provider redirects back to the app or a site with an authorization code that can be exchanged for tokens or, for the implicit flow, the tokens themselves.

Now, when it's your own app and your own identity provider (like Keycloak) which are under your control it doesn't really matter. You can use a direct grant to simply have the user input their username and password into the app because you know it's not trying to steal user credentials to maliciously use your service. They're both under your control. In that case OAuth or OIDC are a bit overkill, but you could have separate clients for direct grants (your own app) and authorization code flows (third-party apps using your service). When you want to use Keycloak identity brokering, however, an external identity provider like Google or Facebook is not going to offer a direct grant and invite apps to steal their user's credentials. So you won't be able to interact with them this way.

Depending on what you're trying to achieve you may find some use in the token exchange process. If however the idea is that you want your user to log in with their external identity provider credentials, in your app, without a redirect... Don't.

Upvotes: 13

unhurried
unhurried

Reputation: 11

Do you stick with Direct Access Grant as a method of user authentication in your mobile app? In my opinion, you need to use Authorization Code Flow when the IDP is a third party service as it won't provide an API to authenticate users, and even with your own (first party) IDP, it'd be better to use Authorization Code Flow as stated in OAuth 2.0 Security Best Current Practice section 2.4.

To implement Authorization Code Flow in mobile apps, you will need to use in-app browser tab to show login screen provided by the IDP. Please refer to RFC 8252: OAuth 2.0 for Mobile and Native Apps for details.

Upvotes: 1

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