update auth-method docs & support of www-authenticate header (fix #330,…

… relates to bird-house/twitcher#96)

CHANGES.rst

@@ -4,6 +4,14 @@
 Changes
 *******
 
+.. tmp "future 3.9" 
+
+* Add missing ``WWW-Authentication`` and ``Location-When-Unauthenticated`` headers when HTTP ``Unauthorized [401]``
+  response is returned (addresses `#96 <https://github.com/bird-house/twitcher/issues/96>`_ and
+  fixes `#330 <https://github.com/Ouranosinc/Magpie/issues/330>`_).
+* Add documentation details about ``Authentication`` and ``Authorization`` methods.
+
+
 `Unreleased <https://github.com/Ouranosinc/Magpie/tree/master>`_ (latest)
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -751,9 +759,9 @@ Features / Changes
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 * Refactoring of literal strings to corresponding ``Permission`` enum
   (`#167 <https://github.com/Ouranosinc/Magpie/issues/167>`_).
-* Change all incorrect usages of ``HTTPNotAcceptable [406]`` to ``HTTPBadRequest [400]``
+* Change all incorrect usages of HTTP ``Not Acceptable [406]`` to ``Bad Request [400]``
   (`#163 <https://github.com/Ouranosinc/Magpie/issues/163>`_).
-* Add ``Accept`` header type checking before requests and return ``HTTPNotAcceptable [406]`` if invalid.
+* Add ``Accept`` header type checking before requests and return HTTP ``Not Acceptable [406]`` if invalid.
 * Code formatting changes for consistency and cleanup of redundant/misguiding names
   (`#162 <https://github.com/Ouranosinc/Magpie/issues/162>`_).
 * Add option ``MAGPIE_UI_ENABLED`` allowing to completely disable all ``/ui`` route (enabled by default).
@@ -780,9 +788,9 @@ Features / Changes
 Features / Changes
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 * Logging requests and exceptions according to `MAGPIE_LOG_REQUEST` and `MAGPIE_LOG_EXCEPTION` values.
-* Better handling of ``HTTPUnauthorized [401]`` and ``HTTPForbidden [403]`` according to unauthorized view
+* Better handling of HTTP ``Unauthorized [401]`` and ``Forbidden [403]`` according to unauthorized view
   (invalid access token/headers or forbidden operation under view).
-* Better handling of ``HTTPNotFound [404]`` and ``HTTPMethodNotAllowed [405]`` on invalid routes and request methods.
+* Better handling of HTTP ``Not Found [404]`` and ``Method Not Allowed [405]`` on invalid routes and request methods.
 * Adjust ``Dockerfile`` copy order to save time if requirements did not change.
 
 `0.9.4 <https://github.com/Ouranosinc/Magpie/tree/0.9.4>`_ (2019-02-19)

docs/authentication.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
+.. include:: references.rst
+
+.. _auth_methods:
+
+Authentication and Authorization Methods
+==========================================
+
+In order to perform :term:`Authentication` in `Magpie`, multiple :term:`Providers` and methods are supported.
+By default, the :term:`Internal Provider` named ``ziggurat`` is employed, which corresponds to the package used
+internally to manage all `Magpie` elements. Login procedure is covered in :ref:`Authentication Requests` section.
+
+Supported :term:`External Providers` are presented in the table below in section :ref:`authn_providers`, although more
+could be added later on.
+
+.. note::
+    Terms :term:`Authentication` :term:`Providers`, :term:`External Providers` and :term:`External Providers` in this
+    chapter must not be confused with ``providers`` employed in :ref:`config_providers`. In this chapter, providers
+    refer to user-identity resolvers, in contrast to :term:`Service` definitions from the configuration files.
+
+.. _authn_requests:
+
+Authentication Requests
+---------------------------
+
+The most convenient way sign-in with `Magpie` is to employ the user interface provided on path
+``{MAGPIE_URL}/ui/login``. This page will present fields that allow both :term:`Internal Provider` and
+:term:`External Provider` login methods.
+
+Alternatively, API requests can be employed to define your own interface, or to obtain request tokens needed to
+accomplish further requests interactions toward `Magpie` or obtain :term:`Authorization` from the :term:`Proxy` using
+`Magpie` to enforce policies.
+
+Following are the supported request formats.
+
+.. _authn_req_method:
+
+Request Method
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Both ``GET`` and ``POST`` are supported. This is in order to allow resolution of credentials for some
+applications that do not correctly handle or purposely prohibit use of ``POST`` method. Also, ``GET`` helps quickly
+accomplishing a login from a web browser using the ``{MAGPIE_URL}/signin`` endpoint with query parameters
+(see :ref:`authn_login_query`).
+
+.. note::
+    Whenever possible, prefer ``POST`` request with :ref:`authn_login_body` or the UI endpoint.
+    See also warning in :ref:`authn_login_query` for details.
+
+
+.. _authn_login_query:
+
+Query Parameters
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This method employs the query string parameters in the URL to provide the credentials. The format is as follows.
+
+.. code-block::
+
+    GET {MAGPIE_URL}/signin?user_name=<usr>&password=<pwd>
+
+
+The response will contain :ref:`Authentication Headers` detail needed for user identification.
+
+
+.. warning::
+    Whenever possible, it is **strongly** recommended to instead use another one of the methods which offers
+    better support for different ``Content-Type`` responses to interact with `Magpie` as an API.
+
+    Furthermore, using the ``POST`` method with content body and/or headers reduces risks of credential leaks that
+    would be visible in plain text via query parameters using ``GET`` request. Most servers and applications log path
+    and query parameters profusely, or even caches them, which can lead to easier identity theft or hacking of servers.
+    The ``GET`` method remains available for backward compatibility and quick testing purposes only.
+
+
+.. _authn_login_body:
+
+Body Content
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Body content requests allow multiple variants, based on the specified ``Content-Type`` header.
+All variants employ a similar structure, but indicate the format of the body to be parsed.
+By default, ``application/json`` is employed if none was specified.
+
+.. code-block::
+
+    POST {MAGPIE_URL}/signin
+    Headers
+        Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=<boundary-string>
+    Body
+        user_name: "<usr>"
+        password: "<pwd>"
+        provider_name: "<provider>"     # optional
+
+
+.. code-block::
+
+    POST {MAGPIE_URL}/signin
+    Headers
+        Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
+    Body
+        user_name=<usr>&password=<pwd>&provider_name=<provider>
+
+
+.. code-block::
+
+    POST {MAGPIE_URL}/signin
+    Headers
+        Content-Type: application/json
+    Body
+        {
+            "user_name": "<usr>",
+            "password": "<pwd>",
+            "provider_name": "<provider>"
+        }
+
+
+The response will contain :ref:`Authentication Headers` detail needed for user identification.
+
+
+.. _authn_providers:
+
+Authentication Providers
+---------------------------
+
+For any of the :term:`Authentication` requests, omitting the ``provider_name`` identifier
+(or explicitly using value ``ziggurat``) will default to employ :term:`Internal Provider` method.
+This means that :term:`User` identity resolution will be attempted against locally registered users in `Magpie`
+database.
+
+To instead use one of the :term:`External Providers`, the corresponding provider identifier must be provided within
+the sign-in request contents with ``provider_name``. The value of that field must be one of the available provider in
+the below table.
+
+Each provider has different configuration parameters as defined in `Magpie Security`_ module and use various protocols
+amongst ``OpenID``, ``ESGF``-flavored ``OpenID`` and ``OAuth2``. Further :term:`External Providers` can be defined
+using this module's dictionary configuration style following parameter specification of `Authomatic`_ package used for
+managing this :term:`Authentication` procedure.
+
++--------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| Category                       | Provider                                                              |
++================================+=======================================================================+
+| Open Identity (``OpenID``)     | `OpenID`_                                                             |
++--------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| *Earth System Grid Federation* | *German Climate Computing Centre* (`DKRZ`_)                           |
+| (`ESGF`_) :sup:`(1)`           |                                                                       |
+|                                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                | *French Research Institute for Environment Science* (`IPSL`_)         |
+|                                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                | *British Centre for Environmental Data Analysis* (`CEDA`_) :sup:`(2)` |
+|                                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                | *US Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory* (`LLNL`_) :sup:`(3)`      |
+|                                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                | *Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute* (`SMHI`_)         |
++--------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+| ``OAuth2``                     | `GitHub_AuthN`_ Authentication                                        |
+|                                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+|                                | `WSO2`_ Open Source Identity Server                                   |
++--------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+| :sup:`(1)` extended variant of ``OpenID``
+| :sup:`(2)` formerly identified as *British Atmospheric Data Centre* (`BADC`_)
+| :sup:`(3)` formerly identified as *Program for Climate Model Diagnosis & Intercomparison* (`PCMDI`_)
+
+.. note::
+    Please note that due to the constantly changing nature of multiple of these external providers (APIs and moved
+    Websites), rarely used authentication bridges by the developers could break without prior notice. If this is the
+    case and you use one of the broken connectors, summit a new `issue`_.
+
+Using any of the :term:`External Providers` will tell `Magpie` to interrogate the configured identity URL of that
+provider and use the credentials to attempt :term:`Authentication`. If successful, the response returned by that
+:term:`Provider` should be parsed by `Magpie` in order to determine which corresponding local :term:`User` profile
+it refers to. After validation, the :term:`Logged User` will be :term:`Authenticated` and following requests will be
+applicable using the same ``Cookie`` methodology as when using normal local provider procedure.
+See :ref:`Authentication Headers` for more details on that matter.
+
+
+.. _authn_headers:
+
+Authentication Headers
+---------------------------
+
+.. versionadded:: 3.8
+
+    The ``WWW-Authentication`` and ``Location-When-Unauthenticated`` headers are returned whenever the
+    HTTP ``Unauthorized [401]`` response is the result of a request. This is done in order to help requesting
+    users or applications identify the endpoint where it can attempt :term:`Authentication` with credentials.
+
+
+After execution of an :term:`Authentication` request, a ``Set-Cookie`` header with `Magpie` user identification token
+named according to :ref:`config_security` should be set in the response. Web browsers and libraries for HTTP requests
+handling should automatically detect that header and register the ``Cookie`` for subsequent requests. Alternatively,
+the ``Cookie`` can be provided directly in the request using the following format::
+
+    {MAGPIE_COOKIE_NAME}=<auth-token>!userid_type:int; [Domain=<domain>; Path=<path>; HttpOnly; SameSite=Lax]
+
+
+All additional parameters are optional and can be provided to refine control of the scope the `Magpie` cookie applies
+to, notably to avoid conflicts with other potential cookies employed by the request. The only mandatory parts are the
+``MAGPIE_COOKIE_NAME`` value, the actual token value, and the indication ``!userid_type:int`` that tells `Magpie` the
+provided token information is employed to resolve the :term:`Logged User` by ID.
+
+As for most of the other API request endpoints offered by `Magpie`, the ``Accept`` header can be provided to select the
+format of the desired returned content. Following valid :term:`Authentication`, the body should contain a basic message
+indicating as such, and returning ``OK [200]`` status. Otherwise, the appropriate HTTP error code will be returned with
+a description message of the error cause. By default, header definition ``Accept: */*`` or completely omitted value for
+``Accept`` will employ ``application/json`` for the returned ``Content-Type``.
+
+
+.. _authz_headers:
+
+Authorization Headers
+---------------------------
+
+Following any successful :term:`Authentication` request as presented in the previous section, the obtained ``Cookie``
+defines which :term:`Logged User` attempts to accomplish an operation against a given protected URI. `Magpie` employs
+the same ``Cookie`` both for operations provided by its API and for accessing the real :term:`Resource` protected
+according to resolution of :term:`Effective Permissions` based on :term:`Applied Permissions` definitions.
+
+Access to Magpie Operations
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+When the :term:`Logged User` has sufficient :term:`Permissions`
+
+:ref:`perm_access`
+
+Access to Protected Resources
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+When sending requests to the Policy Enforcement Point (PEP) (e.g.: `Twitcher`_ :term:`Proxy`), appropriate ``Cookie``
+headers must be defined for it to identify the :term:`Logged User` and resolve its :term:`Effective Permissions`
+accordingly. Not providing those tokens will default to using ``MAGPIE_ANONYMOUS_USER``, which will result into either
+one of HTTP ``Unauthorized [401]`` or ``Forbidden [403]``, depending on how the PEP interprets and returns the response
+indicated by `Magpie`, unless the corresponding :term:`Resource` was allowed for :ref:`perm_public`.
+
+When appropriately authenticated, access to the targeted :term:`Resource` will be granted or denied depending on the
+:term:`Effective Permissions` that :term:`Logged User` has for it. This decision is extensively explained in section
+:ref:`perm_resolution`.
+
+Another alternative to obtain :term:`Authorization` (only when using the :ref:`utilities_adapter<Magpie Adapter>`) is
+by providing the ``Authorization`` header in the request with appropriate credentials. In this situation, the adapter
+will attempt a login operation inline to that original request, and if successful, will update the ``Cookie`` headers
+accordingly. Although this method saves the need for the client to explicitly do an :term:`Authentication` request
+toward `Magpie`'s signin path prior to :term:`Resource` access attempt, it