/ 
Catalyst-Authentication-Credential-Upstream-Headers-0.02
River stage zero No dependents
/ Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::Upstream::Headers

NAME

Catalyst::Authentication::Credential::Upstream::Headers

SYNOPSIS

use Catalyst qw(Authentication);

__PACKAGE__->config(
    authentication => {
        default_realm => 'upstream',
        realms => {
            upstream => {
                credential => {
                    class => 'Upstream::Headers',

                    # name of header containing the user id
                    user_header => 'X-Catalyst-Credential-Upstream-User',

                    # name of header containing a delimited list of user roles
                    role_header => 'X-Catalyst-Credential-Upstream-Roles',

                    # the delimiter to use when parsing roles
                    role_delimiter => '|',

                    # boolean value indicating whether or not to attempt to
                    # parse roles as X.500 distinguished names
                    use_x500_cn => 1
                }
            }
        }
    }
);

DESCRIPTION

The Upstream::Headers credential class provides for passing identity metadata to the application via HTTP headers. These headers might be appended by an HTTP front-end that performs authentication services before reverse proxying to the application.

In addition to the username, a list of delimited roles may be passed. The delimiter is configurable by setting the role_delimiter property in the config. By default, the pipe character ('|') is used for the delimiter.

By default, roles are crudely checked to see if they look like X.501 distinguished names. If so, the commonName (cn) component of the DN is returned instead of the full DN. This behavior may be disabled by setting use_x500_cn to false in the config.

HISTORY

This authentication credential for Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication was originally implemented to support OpenAM in a way that fit into the framework provided by C::P::A.

OpenAM (formerly Sun's OpenSSO) is a federated identity management platform. It is a complex product supporting SAML and integration with Microsoft's Active Directory. OpenAM provides authentication and authorization services to web applications by utilizing agents that run in front of the application. The agents are implemented as plugins for popular HTTP servers, injecting logic into the request handler and applying policy based upon upstream configuration.

One of the methods of passing identity information back down to the application is by including the information in the request headers. This is similar in scope to the Credential::Remote implementation, but using headers instead of environment variables.

CAVEATS

  • I really hope I don't have to say it, but don't let users bypass your authentication mechanisms by passing the headers themselves.

  • This is a pretty crappy way of passing identity metadata around.

AUTHOR

Mike Eldridge <diz@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2012 by Infinity Interactive, Inc.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.