HOTP Class

Properties Methods Events Config Settings Errors

The HOTP class allows creation of HMAC-Based One-Time passwords.

Syntax

ipworksauth.Hotp

Remarks

The HOTP class implements the HOTP algorithm defined in RFC 4226 (HMAC-Based One-Time Password). These types of passwords are commonly used as a second factor of authentication in multi-factor authentication scenarios.

To begin specify the shared secret in the Secret property.

Next, you may set Counter. If this property is not set, the class will use a default value.

To create the password call CreatePassword. The Password property will be populated with the new password.

To validate a password set the Password property and call ValidatePassword. The method will return True or False to indicate success or failure.

Property List

The following is the full list of the properties of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.


Counter	The counter used for HMAC-Based One Time Password creation or validation.
Password	The HMAC-Based One Time Password.
Secret	The Base32 encoded shared secret used when creating and validating a password.

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.
CreatePassword	Creates a HMAC-Based One Time Password.
Reset	Reset the variables to default value.
ValidatePassword	Validates a HMAC-Based One Time Password.

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.


Error	Information about errors during data delivery.

Config Settings

The following is a list of config settings for the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.


HashAlgorithm	The hash algorithm used to sign the password.
PasswordLength	The length of the generated password.
QRCodeURI	Returns a URI suitable for encoding as a QR code.
SecretLength	The length of secret to generate.
BuildInfo	Information about the product's build.
GUIAvailable	Tells the class whether or not a message loop is available for processing events.
LicenseInfo	Information about the current license.
MaskSensitive	Whether sensitive data is masked in log messages.
UseDaemonThreads	Whether threads created by the class are daemon threads.
UseFIPSCompliantAPI	Tells the class whether or not to use FIPS certified APIs.
UseInternalSecurityAPI	Tells the class whether or not to use the system security libraries or an internal implementation.

Counter Property (HOTP Class)

The counter used for HMAC-Based One Time Password creation or validation.

Syntax


public long getCounter();


public void setCounter(long counter);

Default Value

Remarks

This property holds the counter value used for HMAC-Based One Time Password creation or validation. This value must be specified before calling CreatePassword or ValidatePassword. The value should be incremented each time a password is created.

The default value is 0.

Password Property (HOTP Class)

The HMAC-Based One Time Password.

Syntax


public String getPassword();


public void setPassword(String password);

Default Value

Remarks

This property holds the HMAC-Based One Time Password. This property is populated after calling CreatePassword. This property must be set before calling ValidatePassword.

Secret Property (HOTP Class)

The Base32 encoded shared secret used when creating and validating a password.

Syntax


public String getSecret();


public void setSecret(String secret);

Default Value

Remarks

This property specifies the Base32 encoded shared secret used when creating and validating a password. This should be set before calling CreatePassword or ValidatePassword.

If this is not set before calling CreatePassword a random secret will be automatically generated. This functionality provides an easy way to create new secret values. The length of the secret is defined by SecretLength.

Config Method (Hotp Class)

Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.

Syntax

public String config(String configurationString);

Remarks

Config is a generic method available in every class. It is used to set and retrieve configuration settings for the class.

These settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the class, access to these internal properties is provided through the Config method.

To set a configuration setting named PROPERTY, you must call Config("PROPERTY=VALUE"), where VALUE is the value of the setting expressed as a string. For boolean values, use the strings "True", "False", "0", "1", "Yes", or "No" (case does not matter).

To read (query) the value of a configuration setting, you must call Config("PROPERTY"). The value will be returned as a string.

CreatePassword Method (Hotp Class)

Creates a HMAC-Based One Time Password.

Syntax

public void createPassword();

Remarks

This method creates a HMAC-Based One Time Password.

The following properties are applicable when calling CreatePassword.

Secret
Counter

Calling CreatePassword populates the Password property with the created password.

If Secret is not specified before calling this method a random secret will be automatically generated.

Reset Method (Hotp Class)

Reset the variables to default value.

Syntax

public void reset();

Remarks

This method will reset the variables to default value.

ValidatePassword Method (Hotp Class)

Validates a HMAC-Based One Time Password.

Syntax

public boolean validatePassword();

Remarks

This method validates a HMAC-Based One Time Password.

The following properties are applicable when calling ValidatePassword.

Password (required)
Secret (required)
Counter (required)

The method will return True if the password is validated, False otherwise.

Error Event (Hotp Class)

Information about errors during data delivery.

Syntax

public class DefaultHotpEventListener implements HotpEventListener {
  ...
  public void error(HotpErrorEvent e) {}
  ...
}

public class HotpErrorEvent {
  public int errorCode;
  public String description;
}

Remarks

The Error event is fired in case of exceptional conditions during message processing. Normally the class throws an exception.

ErrorCode contains an error code and Description contains a textual description of the error. For a list of valid error codes and their descriptions, please refer to the Error Codes section.

Config Settings (Hotp Class)

The class accepts one or more of the following configuration settings. Configuration settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the class, access to these internal properties is provided through the Config method.

HOTP Config Settings

HashAlgorithm: The hash algorithm used to sign the password.

This setting specifies the hash algorithm used to sign the password. Possible values are:

SHA1 (default)
SHA256
SHA512

PasswordLength: The length of the generated password.

This setting specifies the length of the generated password. Possible values are:

6 (default)
7
8

QRCodeURI: Returns a URI suitable for encoding as a QR code.

This setting provides a way to generate a URI which can be encoded into a QR code, suitable for using in any authenticator application. The URI format is well defined and is an easy way to transfer the secret key and other relevant parameters.

To use this setting first set Secret to a valid value, then execute code like:

string MyQRCodeURI = component.Config("QRCodeURI=MyServiceName:account@company.com");

In the above example the MyServiceName value is the issuer. This is typically used in authenticator applications to identify the service to which the account belongs. The account@company.com value is the account name and identifies the specific account with which the key is associated. The use of an issuer is not required but is recommended. An account name is required.

The return value from this operation is a URI in one of the following formats:

//TOTP
otpauth://totp/MyServiceName:account@company.com?secret=JBSWY3DPEHPK3PXP&digits=6&period=30

//HOTP
otpauth://hotp/MyServiceName:account@company.com?secret=JBSWY3DPEHPK3PXP&digits=6&counter=0

The following values are applicable when using this setting:

Secret
PasswordLength
HashAlgorithm
TimeStep (TOTP)
Counter (HOTP)

SecretLength: The length of secret to generate.

When Secret is empty and CreatePassword is called a random secret value will be generated. This setting determines the length of the randomly generated secret. The default value is 32.

Base Config Settings

BuildInfo: Information about the product's build.

When queried, this setting will return a string containing information about the product's build.

GUIAvailable: Tells the class whether or not a message loop is available for processing events.

In a GUI-based application, long-running blocking operations may cause the application to stop responding to input until the operation returns. The class will attempt to discover whether or not the application has a message loop and, if one is discovered, it will process events in that message loop during any such blocking operation.

In some non-GUI applications, an invalid message loop may be discovered that will result in errant behavior. In these cases, setting GUIAvailable to false will ensure that the class does not attempt to process external events.

LicenseInfo: Information about the current license.

When queried, this setting will return a string containing information about the license this instance of a class is using. It will return the following information:

Product: The product the license is for.
Product Key: The key the license was generated from.
License Source: Where the license was found (e.g., RuntimeLicense, License File).
License Type: The type of license installed (e.g., Royalty Free, Single Server).
Last Valid Build: The last valid build number for which the license will work.

MaskSensitive: Whether sensitive data is masked in log messages.

In certain circumstances it may be beneficial to mask sensitive data, like passwords, in log messages. Set this to true to mask sensitive data. The default is true.

This setting only works on these classes: AS3Receiver, AS3Sender, Atom, Client(3DS), FTP, FTPServer, IMAP, OFTPClient, SSHClient, SCP, Server(3DS), Sexec, SFTP, SFTPServer, SSHServer, TCPClient, TCPServer.

UseDaemonThreads: Whether threads created by the class are daemon threads.

If set to True (default), when the class creates a thread, the thread's Daemon property will be explicitly set to True. When set to False, the class will not set the Daemon property on the created thread. The default value is True.

UseFIPSCompliantAPI: Tells the class whether or not to use FIPS certified APIs.

When set to true, the class will utilize the underlying operating system's certified APIs. Java editions, regardless of OS, utilize Bouncy Castle FIPS, while all the other Windows editions make use of Microsoft security libraries.

The Java edition requires installation of the FIPS certified Bouncy Castle library regardless of the target operating system. This can be downloaded from https://www.bouncycastle.org/fips-java/. Only the "Provider" library is needed. The jar file should then be installed in a JRE search path.

In the application where the component will be used the following classes must be imported:

import java.security.Security; import org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.BouncyCastleFipsProvider;

The Bouncy Castle provider must be added as a valid provider and must also be configured to operate in FIPS mode:

System.setProperty("org.bouncycastle.fips.approved_only","true"); Security.addProvider(new BouncyCastleFipsProvider());

When UseFIPSCompliantAPI is true, SSL enabled classes can optionally be configured to use the TLS Bouncy Castle library. When SSLProvider is set to sslpAutomatic (default) or sslpInternal an internal TLS implementation is used, but all cryptographic operations are offloaded to the BCFIPS provider in order to achieve FIPS compliant operation. If SSLProvider is set to sslpPlatform the Bouncy Castle JSSE will be used in place of the internal TLS implementation.

To enable the use of the Bouncy Castle JSSE take the following steps in addition to the steps above. Both the Bouncy Castle FIPS provider and the Bouncy Castle JSSE must be configured to use the Bouncy Castle TLS library in FIPS mode. Obtain the Bouncy Castle TLS library from https://www.bouncycastle.org/fips-java/. The jar file should then be installed in a JRE search path.

In the application where the component will be used the following classes must be imported:

import java.security.Security; import org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.BouncyCastleFipsProvider; //required to use BCJSSE when SSLProvider is set to sslpPlatform import org.bouncycastle.jsse.provider.BouncyCastleJsseProvider;

The Bouncy Castle provider must be added as a valid provider and must also be configured to operate in FIPS mode:

System.setProperty("org.bouncycastle.fips.approved_only","true"); Security.addProvider(new BouncyCastleFipsProvider()); //required to use BCJSSE when SSLProvider is set to sslpPlatform Security.addProvider(new BouncyCastleJsseProvider("fips:BCFIPS")); //optional - configure logging level of BCJSSE Logger.getLogger("org.bouncycastle.jsse").setLevel(java.util.logging.Level.OFF); //configure the class to use BCJSSE component.setSSLProvider(1); //platform component.config("UseFIPSCompliantAPI=true"); Note: TLS 1.3 support requires the Bouncy Castle TLS library version 1.0.14 or later.

FIPS mode can be enabled by setting the UseFIPSCompliantAPI configuration setting to true. This is a static setting which applies to all instances of all classes of the toolkit within the process. It is recommended to enable or disable this setting once before the component has been used to establish a connection. Enabling FIPS while an instance of the component is active and connected may result in unexpected behavior.

For more details please see the FIPS 140-2 Compliance article.

Note: Enabling FIPS-compliance requires a special license; please contact sales@nsoftware.com for details.

UseInternalSecurityAPI: Tells the class whether or not to use the system security libraries or an internal implementation.

When set to false, the class will use the system security libraries by default to perform cryptographic functions where applicable.

Setting this setting to true tells the class to use the internal implementation instead of using the system security libraries.

This setting is set to false by default on all platforms.

Trappable Errors (Hotp Class)

HOTP Errors


	114 Can't create password.
	115 Can't validate password.