Authenticator Class
Properties Methods Events Configuration Settings Errors
The Authenticator class specializes in user authentication.
Syntax
secureblackbox.authenticator()
Remarks
Authenticator provides capabilities for implementing the authenticating party (as opposed to the one being authenticated) of the authentication protocol.
Authenticator can be used in a variety of authentication scenarios, ranging from simple password checks to complicated multi-factor variants. It also supports authentication via a SBB-own DC protocol, which makes it a good pair for DCAuth control.
In default configuration the component uses the attached database of users to handle authentication requests. The authentication flow can be altered if needed to match specific authentication requirements.
In Authenticator's terms, the authentication process is divided into a sequence of atomic steps. Each step is characterized by a user providing an authentication token - such as a password or PIN - and the authenticator validating that token. Each validation step may result in one of the following outcomes:
- Authentication succeeded: the authentication has been completed with the positive outcome;
- Authentication failed: the authentication process has failed, the user didn't provide enough evidence to confirm they are who they claim they are;
- Further authentication is required: the authentication was partly successful, but the settings of the component or user details require further step(s) to be taken.
Use the following logic when integrating the Authenticator into your project:
- Whenever you receive an authentication request from a user, call the StartAuth method, passing the UserID as a parameter. This initiates the authentication procedure: the Authenticator control looks up the user in the Users database and picks the first authentication method. It then returns the Further authentication is required result and stores the details of the first authentication step in AuthInfo property. Apart from the information about the authentication method that is to be performed during this step, AuthInfo also contains a > value, which accumulates parameters and progress of the user's authentication flow. You can save the state value on this stage, and restore it later when a response from the user is received. With that in mind, class is stateless; you can save the current authentication state in a database, and return to it from a different context.
- Now that you have obtained Further authentication needed from StartAuth, it's time to check the > and request the corresponding token from the user. For example, if the method is 'password', you may present the user with a password dialog.
- Upon receiving a password (or other kind of authentication token) from the user, pass it to the ContinueAuth method, together with the state object
that you saved on the preceding step. The component will process the token and come up with one of the three results given above,
signifying the end of the first authentication step. If Further authentication is required result is returned, another authentication step
needs to be performed (either because a multi-factor authentication is configured for this user, or because an alternative authentication method
was chosen following failure of the previous attempt). If that is the case, follow the guidance for StartAuth-initiated step above.
Depending on the settings, many authentication steps may need to be performed, so your code may ultimately end up calling ContinueAuth many times.
class can be customized to use external user information sources instead of a predefined user database. AuthStart, AuthVerify, and AuthAttemptResult events provide an opportunity for your code to intervene into the authentication process by defining your own authentication procedures and validating authentication tokens manually.
Property List
The following is the full list of the properties of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
AuthInfoAuthLog | Contains the authentication log. |
AuthInfoAuthMethod | Contains the current authentication method. |
AuthInfoAuthMethodPars | Contains the authentication method parameters. |
AuthInfoCompletedMethods | Contains a comma-separated list of completed authentication methods. |
AuthInfoLastAuthMessage | Contains an uninterpreted authentication message to be displayed to the authenticating user. |
AuthInfoLastAuthResult | Contains the result of the last authentication token validation. |
AuthInfoRemainingMethods | Contains a comma-separated list of authentication methods yet to perform. |
AuthInfoState | Contains a state of the overall authentication process. |
AuthInfoUserID | Returns the ID of the user being authenticated, as passed to StartAuth . |
BlockedCertCount | The number of records in the BlockedCert arrays. |
BlockedCertBytes | Returns raw certificate data in DER format. |
BlockedCertHandle | Allows to get or set a 'handle', a unique identifier of the underlying property object. |
CertCount | The number of records in the Cert arrays. |
CertBytes | Returns raw certificate data in DER format. |
CertCA | Indicates whether the certificate has a CA capability (a setting in BasicConstraints extension). |
CertCAKeyID | A unique identifier (fingerprint) of the CA certificate's private key. |
CertCRLDistributionPoints | Locations of the CRL (Certificate Revocation List) distribution points used to check this certificate's validity. |
CertCurve | Specifies the elliptic curve of the EC public key. |
CertFingerprint | Contains the fingerprint (a hash imprint) of this certificate. |
CertFriendlyName | Contains an associated alias (friendly name) of the certificate. |
CertHandle | Allows to get or set a 'handle', a unique identifier of the underlying property object. |
CertHashAlgorithm | Specifies the hash algorithm to be used in the operations on the certificate (such as key signing) SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHA1 SHA1 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHA224 SHA224 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHA256 SHA256 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHA384 SHA384 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHA512 SHA512 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_MD2 MD2 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_MD4 MD4 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_MD5 MD5 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_RIPEMD160 RIPEMD160 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_CRC32 CRC32 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SSL3 SSL3 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_GOST_R3411_1994 GOST1994 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_WHIRLPOOL WHIRLPOOL SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_POLY1305 POLY1305 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHA3_224 SHA3_224 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHA3_256 SHA3_256 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHA3_384 SHA3_384 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHA3_512 SHA3_512 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_BLAKE2S_128 BLAKE2S_128 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_BLAKE2S_160 BLAKE2S_160 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_BLAKE2S_224 BLAKE2S_224 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_BLAKE2S_256 BLAKE2S_256 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_BLAKE2B_160 BLAKE2B_160 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_BLAKE2B_256 BLAKE2B_256 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_BLAKE2B_384 BLAKE2B_384 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_BLAKE2B_512 BLAKE2B_512 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHAKE_128 SHAKE_128 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHAKE_256 SHAKE_256 SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHAKE_128_LEN SHAKE_128_LEN SB_HASH_ALGORITHM_SHAKE_256_LEN SHAKE_256_LEN . |
CertIssuer | The common name of the certificate issuer (CA), typically a company name. |
CertIssuerRDN | A collection of information, in the form of [OID, Value] pairs, uniquely identifying the certificate issuer. |
CertKeyAlgorithm | Specifies the public key algorithm of this certificate. |
CertKeyBits | Returns the length of the public key. |
CertKeyFingerprint | Returns a fingerprint of the public key contained in the certificate. |
CertKeyUsage | Indicates the purposes of the key contained in the certificate, in the form of an OR'ed flag set. |
CertKeyValid | Returns True if the certificate's key is cryptographically valid, and False otherwise. |
CertOCSPLocations | Locations of OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol) services that can be used to check this certificate's validity, as recorded by the CA. |
CertPolicyIDs | Contains identifiers (OIDs) of the applicable certificate policies. |
CertPublicKeyBytes | Contains the certificate's public key in DER format. |
CertSelfSigned | Indicates whether the certificate is self-signed (root) or signed by an external CA. |
CertSerialNumber | Returns the certificate's serial number. |
CertSigAlgorithm | Indicates the algorithm that was used by the CA to sign this certificate. |
CertSubject | The common name of the certificate holder, typically an individual's name, a URL, an e-mail address, or a company name. |
CertSubjectKeyID | Contains a unique identifier (fingerprint) of the certificate's private key. |
CertSubjectRDN | A collection of information, in the form of [OID, Value] pairs, uniquely identifying the certificate holder (subject). |
CertValidFrom | The time point at which the certificate becomes valid, in UTC. |
CertValidTo | The time point at which the certificate expires, in UTC. |
ChainValidationDetails | The details of a certificate chain validation outcome. |
ChainValidationResult | The general outcome of a certificate chain validation routine. Use ChainValidationDetails to get information about the reasons that contributed to the validation result. |
DefaultAuthMethods | Contains the list of default authentication methods. |
ExternalCryptoCustomParams | Custom parameters to be passed to the signing service (uninterpreted). |
ExternalCryptoData | Additional data to be included in the async state and mirrored back by the requestor. |
ExternalCryptoExternalHashCalculation | Specifies whether the message hash is to be calculated at the external endpoint. |
ExternalCryptoHashAlgorithm | Specifies the request's signature hash algorithm. |
ExternalCryptoKeyID | The ID of the pre-shared key used for DC request authentication. |
ExternalCryptoKeySecret | The pre-shared key used for DC request authentication. |
ExternalCryptoMethod | Specifies the asynchronous signing method. |
ExternalCryptoMode | Specifies the external cryptography mode. |
ExternalCryptoPublicKeyAlgorithm | Provide public key algorithm here if the certificate is not available on the pre-signing stage. |
IgnoreChainValidationErrors | Makes the class tolerant to chain validation errors. |
KnownCertCount | The number of records in the KnownCert arrays. |
KnownCertBytes | Returns raw certificate data in DER format. |
KnownCertHandle | Allows to get or set a 'handle', a unique identifier of the underlying property object. |
KnownCRLCount | The number of records in the KnownCRL arrays. |
KnownCRLBytes | Returns raw CRL data in DER format. |
KnownCRLHandle | Allows to get or set a 'handle', a unique identifier of the underlying property object. |
KnownOCSPCount | The number of records in the KnownOCSP arrays. |
KnownOCSPBytes | Buffer containing raw OCSP response data. |
KnownOCSPHandle | Allows to get or set a 'handle', a unique identifier of the underlying property object. |
OfflineMode | Switches the class to the offline mode. |
ProxyAddress | The IP address of the proxy server. |
ProxyAuthentication | The authentication type used by the proxy server. |
ProxyPassword | The password to authenticate to the proxy server. |
ProxyPort | The port on the proxy server to connect to. |
ProxyProxyType | The type of the proxy server. |
ProxyRequestHeaders | Contains HTTP request headers for WebTunnel and HTTP proxy. |
ProxyResponseBody | Contains the HTTP or HTTPS (WebTunnel) proxy response body. |
ProxyResponseHeaders | Contains response headers received from an HTTP or HTTPS (WebTunnel) proxy server. |
ProxyUseIPv6 | Specifies whether IPv6 should be used when connecting through the proxy. |
ProxyUseProxy | Enables or disables proxy-driven connection. |
ProxyUsername | Specifies the username credential for proxy authentication. |
RevocationCheck | Specifies the kind(s) of revocation check to perform. |
SigningCertBytes | Returns raw certificate data in DER format. |
SigningCertHandle | Allows to get or set a 'handle', a unique identifier of the underlying property object. |
SocketDNSMode | Selects the DNS resolver to use: the class's (secure) built-in one, or the one provided by the system. |
SocketDNSPort | Specifies the port number to be used for sending queries to the DNS server. |
SocketDNSQueryTimeout | The timeout (in milliseconds) for each DNS query. |
SocketDNSServers | The addresses of DNS servers to use for address resolution, separated by commas or semicolons. |
SocketDNSTotalTimeout | The timeout (in milliseconds) for the whole resolution process. |
SocketIncomingSpeedLimit | The maximum number of bytes to read from the socket, per second. |
SocketLocalAddress | The local network interface to bind the socket to. |
SocketLocalPort | The local port number to bind the socket to. |
SocketOutgoingSpeedLimit | The maximum number of bytes to write to the socket, per second. |
SocketTimeout | The maximum period of waiting, in milliseconds, after which the socket operation is considered unsuccessful. |
SocketUseIPv6 | Enables or disables IP protocol version 6. |
TLSAutoValidateCertificates | Specifies whether server-side TLS certificates should be validated automatically using internal validation rules. |
TLSBaseConfiguration | Selects the base configuration for the TLS settings. |
TLSCiphersuites | A list of ciphersuites separated with commas or semicolons. |
TLSECCurves | Defines the elliptic curves to enable. |
TLSForceResumeIfDestinationChanges | Whether to force TLS session resumption when the destination address changes. |
TLSPreSharedIdentity | Defines the identity used when the PSK (Pre-Shared Key) key-exchange mechanism is negotiated. |
TLSPreSharedKey | Contains the pre-shared for the PSK (Pre-Shared Key) key-exchange mechanism, encoded with base16. |
TLSPreSharedKeyCiphersuite | Defines the ciphersuite used for PSK (Pre-Shared Key) negotiation. |
TLSRenegotiationAttackPreventionMode | Selects renegotiation attack prevention mechanism. |
TLSRevocationCheck | Specifies the kind(s) of revocation check to perform. |
TLSSSLOptions | Various SSL (TLS) protocol options, set of cssloExpectShutdownMessage 0x001 Wait for the close-notify message when shutting down the connection cssloOpenSSLDTLSWorkaround 0x002 (DEPRECATED) Use a DTLS version workaround when talking to very old OpenSSL versions cssloDisableKexLengthAlignment 0x004 Do not align the client-side PMS by the RSA modulus size. |
TLSTLSMode | Specifies the TLS mode to use. |
TLSUseExtendedMasterSecret | Enables Extended Master Secret Extension, as defined in RFC 7627. |
TLSUseSessionResumption | Enables or disables TLS session resumption capability. |
TLSVersions | Th SSL/TLS versions to enable by default. |
TrustedCertCount | The number of records in the TrustedCert arrays. |
TrustedCertBytes | Returns raw certificate data in DER format. |
TrustedCertHandle | Allows to get or set a 'handle', a unique identifier of the underlying property object. |
UserCount | The number of records in the User arrays. |
UserAssociatedData | Contains the user's Associated Data when SSH AEAD (Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data) algorithm is used. |
UserBasePath | Base path for this user in the server's file system. |
UserCert | Contains the user's certificate. |
UserData | Contains uninterpreted user-defined data that should be associated with the user account, such as comments or custom settings. |
UserHandle | Allows to get or set a 'handle', a unique identifier of the underlying property object. |
UserHashAlgorithm | Specifies the hash algorithm used to generate TOTP (Time-based One-Time Passwords) passwords for this user. |
UserIncomingSpeedLimit | Specifies the incoming speed limit for this user. |
UserOtpAlgorithm | The algorithm used to generate one-time passwords (OTP) for this user, either HOTP (Hash-based OTP) or TOTP (Time-based OTP). |
UserOtpValue | The user's time interval (TOTP) or Counter (HOTP). |
UserOutgoingSpeedLimit | Specifies the outgoing speed limit for this user. |
UserPassword | The user's authentication password. |
UserPasswordLen | Specifies the length of the user's OTP password. |
UserSharedSecret | Contains the user's secret key, which is essentially a shared secret between the client and server. |
UserSSHKey | Contains the user's SSH key. |
UserUsername | The registered name (login) of the user. |
ValidationLog | Contains the complete log of the certificate validation routine. |
ValidationMoment | The time point at which signature validity is to be established. |
Method List
The following is the full list of the methods of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
Config | Sets or retrieves a configuration setting. |
ContinueAuth | Call this method to process an authentication token and proceed to the next authentication step. |
StartAuth | Initiates an authentication process. |
Event List
The following is the full list of the events fired by the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
AuthAttemptResult | Reports the outcome of an authentication attempt. |
AuthAttemptStart | Signifies the start of an authentication attempt. |
AuthStart | Signifies the start of an authentication process. |
AuthVerify | Requests the application to validate an authentication token. |
CustomAuthStart | Reports the beginning of a custom authentication method. |
Error | Reports information about errors during authentication. |
Notification | This event notifies the application about an underlying control flow event. |
Configuration Settings
The following is a list of configuration settings for the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.
ForceCompleteChainValidationForTrusted | Whether to continue with the full validation up to the root CA certificate for mid-level trust anchors. |
IgnoreOCSPNoCheckExtension | Whether OCSP NoCheck extension should be ignored. |
IgnoreSystemTrust | Whether trusted Windows Certificate Stores should be treated as trusted. |
ImplicitlyTrustSelfSignedCertificates | Whether to trust self-signed certificates. |
PromoteLongOCSPResponses | Whether long OCSP responses are requested. |
TolerateMinorChainIssues | Whether to tolerate minor chain issues. |
UseMicrosoftCTL | Enables or disables automatic use of Microsoft online certificate trust list. |
UseSystemCertificates | Enables or disables the use of the system certificates. |
CheckKeyIntegrityBeforeUse | Enables or disable private key integrity check before use. |
CookieCaching | Specifies whether a cookie cache should be used for HTTP(S) transports. |
Cookies | Gets or sets local cookies for the class (supported for HTTPClient, RESTClient and SOAPClient only). |
DefDeriveKeyIterations | Specifies the default key derivation algorithm iteration count. |
EnableClientSideSSLFFDHE | Enables or disables finite field DHE key exchange support in TLS clients. |
GlobalCookies | Gets or sets global cookies for all the HTTP transports. |
HttpUserAgent | Specifies the user agent name to be used by all HTTP clients. |
LogDestination | Specifies the debug log destination. |
LogDetails | Specifies the debug log details to dump. |
LogFile | Specifies the debug log filename. |
LogFilters | Specifies the debug log filters. |
LogFlushMode | Specifies the log flush mode. |
LogLevel | Specifies the debug log level. |
LogMaxEventCount | Specifies the maximum number of events to cache before further action is taken. |
LogRotationMode | Specifies the log rotation mode. |
MaxASN1BufferLength | Specifies the maximal allowed length for ASN.1 primitive tag data. |
MaxASN1TreeDepth | Specifies the maximal depth for processed ASN.1 trees. |
OCSPHashAlgorithm | Specifies the hash algorithm to be used to identify certificates in OCSP requests. |
UseOwnDNSResolver | Specifies whether the client classes should use own DNS resolver. |
UseSharedSystemStorages | Specifies whether the validation engine should use a global per-process copy of the system certificate stores. |
UseSystemOAEPAndPSS | Enforces or disables the use of system-driven RSA OAEP and PSS computations. |
UseSystemRandom | Enables or disables the use of the OS PRNG. |