A common SO question, but no specific solid answers.
My setup:
I have a website running on Classic ASP with backed DB. Unfortunately, no SSL Certs are available
I have an Android application that will send a Google Volley to request data from the site using a bespoke but simple API
Currently:
I am still in testing, privately, so currently I just access the site as such:
On the app, the user enters a UserId and Password once.
User navigates to a Fragment which is associated with a specific ASP Page which will return some data
A Volley is sent to /mysite.com/_api/apage.asp?m=md5hashhereabcdefghijk
The server searches user records for a matching hash (built on UserID+SALT+pass). On matching record, it uses the found userid as the User's ID
apage.asp does some sql queries and returns a JSON object
app receives this JSON response and parses.
The problem:
Anyone packet sniffing, or MITM, would be able to plainly see the URLs being accessed (and server responses) and be able to replicate the query via their browser. This is what I'm trying to stop. Any SALTs or secret keys in the app would be easily seen by decompiling the APK.
Issues:
I've read all sorts of different solutions, but none of which really fit my environment. I can't use ASP session variables (RESTful being stateless), I cant use HTTPS(SSL/TLS) as there are no Certs on the Server. I can't use an App-based password as this can be decompiled and easily seen.
I appreciate that you will never get something 100% secure, but can only make people disinterested in hacking a system, or not make it worth while.
Proposed solution:
I want some feedback/thoughts on the following proposed method:
Each request will have its own handshake to authenticate the app
This will go as such:
User opens app for the first time and enters UserID/Password. This will remain with the app until it is uninstalled (or logged out), but I intend to keep the user's app logged in
User navigates in the app to a Fragment that corresponds with a specific page on the server
Volley is sent with :
UserAgent HTTP header 'some value'
generate the same authentication hash for (userid+salt+pass)
encrypt this hash with a public key
one query string /apage.asp?q=abcdefghijk.... sent to server
server decrypts using its private key
server checks this hash as I do currently.
page returns plaintext JSON values (not encrypted)
The same problem happens here whereby a MITM or sniffer could replicate the URL and get the same information back
A Second Proposed Solution:
Would it be better with every request actually starting with a whole handshake?
App sends volley to server requesting a handshake (HELO)
Server gross error check with UserAgent HTTP Header
Server logs the timestamp and IP of the request and generates a unique random code
App receives this code and builds a new hash using that unique code as a Salt
App sends second volley to /apage.asp?m=MD5(UserID+UniqueCode+Password)
Server Gross error check with originating IP, timestamp+-tolerance (30 seconds between the two requests?), UserAgent Request Header.
APage.asp uses this hash to authenticate the request, providing previous steps have successfully passed.
APage.asp returns a JSON object, as requested.
Server flags the log of originating IP/timestamp as EXPIRED, or, just remove the record.
This initial step would make it a lot harder for a sniffer or MITM to replicate the URL calls, as A) Each request would have a randomly returned code B) each code/hash combo can only be used once.
The only thing I can think of is someone decompiles the App, and sees the method of handshake, so could try to replicate this. However, the username/password hash would never match as that is the only thing they cannot get from the hash (as it is salted with the random code)
Thoughts? Could it be improved with some RSA public/private key cryptography? Could I generate my querystring apage.asp?m=abcdeghi..., Generate an MD5 Hash of that, append onto the end, then encrypt before sending?
Many thanks in advance
Related
I'm trying to make a request to the Walmart API here.
https://walmart.io/docs/affiliate/product-lookup
Here are the steps I'm following.
I create my application here on Walmart and uploaded my public key. I created my keys following these instructions on Mac.
https://walmart.io/key-tutorial
I followed this code to generate my signature.
https://walmart.io/docs/affiliate/onboarding-guide
I plug in all these values into the API explorer, but I keep getting the same error.
Is there an extra step I'm missing?
The 401 Unauthorized is an HTTP status code error that represents the request sent by the client to the server lacks valid authentication
Seems like one of the mandatory header params is missing while consuming api.
Request to please kindly cross check whether all of the mandatory header params are there as part of request.
We should have these below mentioned mandatory header params as part of the request.
One or more header params might be missing in the req.
WM_CONSUMER.ID
WM_SEC.KEY_VERSION
WM_CONSUMER.INTIMESTAMP
WM_SEC.AUTH_SIGNATURE
we need all of the header params and we can generate using below mentioned links.
Generating Auth Signature (WM_CONSUMER.INTIMESTAMP, WM_SEC.AUTH_SIGNATURE)
We can generate Auth Signature by using below mentioned link.
We will have to run below mentioned sample code to generate Auth Signature as seen below. This is going to generate timestamp and valid Auth Signature to consume APIs.
Time Stamp will be valid for couple of mins only. If it expires, we will have to regenerate the same
https://www.walmart.io/docs/affiliate/onboarding-guide
Generating consumer ID (WM_CONSUMER_ID)
Request to please kindly follow below steps to generate consumer ID
Create an account on Walmart IO platform - https://walmart.io by clicking on the user icon just before the search box.
Login to the account and accept "Terms of Use"
Click on "Create Your Application" to create a new application and fill in appropriate details.
Use this tutorial to generate two sets of public/private keys - https://walmart.io/key-tutorial
One set will be used for production.
Other set will be used for stage.
Upload both public keys using - https://walmart.io/key-upload?app_name=<your app name>
Consumer ID will be generated for both sets for prod and stage which can be seen on the dashboard - https://walmart.io/dashboard.
Regards,
Firdos
IOSupport
Team,
I have an requirement like i have to support to my partner (third party) portal to call us directly by making api call with credentials from their browser.
e.g.) Partner portal browser makes AJAX Call with below:
URL ---> https://example.com/request
HEADER ---> user_id : foo
HEADER ---> password : mypasswd
payload ---> {
"request_time" : 2232876435,
"request_name" : "get_user_info",
...
...
}
And their browser/portal is accessible/used by untrusted users of theirs. So now problem is since the call is from the front end; end user easily can inspect the browser to see the network api calls along with credential we have given to our partner to authorise at our side.
So i am planning to give suggestion to partner by asking them to encrypt the payload and headers in their portal backend server and render the encrypted information in the portal like below.
Encrypt (payload) using mypasswd.
Encrypt (password) using request_time <NOW OPTIONAL TO PASS>
So now,
e.g.) URL ---> https://example.com/request
HEADER ---> user_name : foo
HEADER ---> password : ENCRYPTED<mypasswd> <-- OPTIONAL
payload ---> ENCRYPTED<
{
"request_time" : 2232876435,
"request_name" : "get_user_info",
...
...
}
>
So in our system we will decrypt payload with mypasswd retrieved for user_id foo. so if decryption is successful, then the request is from valid resource.
Now the end portal user cannot understand the request from browser inspection.
NOTES:
I can't suggest my partner to call from their backend.
From the request payload i can identify repeated same request through unique transaction id, so they can't resubmit the same request. Hence avoiding replay attack.
Questions:
Q1) Any flaw or suggestion on this solution?
Q2) Is it possible to identify the decryption using passphrase is success or not in java? I am new to encryption, so could you please share any code or link to achieve this?
yours thoughts much valuable to me.
TLDR:
References:
Basic encryption details
https://blog.storagecraft.com/5-common-encryption-algorithms/
https://www.veracode.com/blog/research/encryption-and-decryption-java-cryptography
https://gooroo.io/GoorooTHINK/Article/13023/The-difference-between-encryption-hashing-and-salting/2085#.W2L_KdgzZD0
Java Encryption
How to encrypt and decrypt String with my passphrase in Java (Pc not mobile platform)?
Java Security: Illegal key size or default parameters?
Identifying decryption is successful through this exception:
Given final block not properly padded
EDIT: I misunderstood the question. If the information is encrypted by the third party before it reaches the end-user then this approach is generally safe. Replay attacks are the main thing to look out for. If the request being made is idempotent then you don't really need to worry, but otherwise you might need to implement a short-lived database for used tokens along with an expiry time or something similar.
You are solving this problem the wrong way. Having the end user make this request to you on behalf of the third party is silly - if the request comes from their browser then by definition they control the information they are sending and the way it is sent. Encryption does nothing to solve this since the encryption logic is also client side.
The solution to this problem is to eliminate the end-user. The request should come directly from the third party to you. This might be from the end-user making a request to the third party API or it might not - it doesn't matter.
I'm developing an application that requires a user to login. On the server side I'm using PBKDF2 algorithm to hash passwords, but currently I'm sending password to the server as a plain text - String. And I do not know how change it. Now it is prone is sniffing.
What should I do to make this more secure?
I've dealt with the same problem, here's how I solve it
the client hash the password (SHA3-512) and sent it to the server, the server get this and hash it again using random and changing salt function, all connection is done via SSL and with POST methods
user enter 1234 -> client send hduhd73y743fhiuj4u -> server store on the database 37y487f.f4u4uj4o3i5885 (not actual values)
by this approach, the server will never know the actual password, so a man in the middle will can't get this actual password, keep in mind it doesn't stop a man in the middle to imitate this hashed password and sent it to the server to login as the user
According to Foursquare's dev site, venue details do not require user auth:
HTTP Method GET
Requires Acting User No (learn more)
Modes supported foursquare, swarm (learn more)
But the example uses a oauth token and if you try searching with your client credentials, you get a 400 response.
https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/4b522afaf964a5200b6d27e3?client_id=MY_CLIENT_ID&client_secret=MY_CLIENT_SECRET&v=20140714
returns:
{"meta":{"code":400,"errorType":"invalid_auth","errorDetail":"Missing access credentials. See https:\/\/developer.foursquare.com\/docs\/oauth.html for details."},"response":{}}
Does anybody know of a way to get venue details without having user logged in?
Sigh
The issue was with my code. I was putting my client ID in twice.
just so everybody knows, the above works :)
This question is in some way related to the below linked question. However, I need a little more clarity on some aspects and some additional information. Refer:
REST Web Service authentication token implementation
Background:
I need to implement security for a REST Web Service using token
The webservice is intended for use with Java client. Hence, form
authentication and popups for credentials are not useful.
I'm new to REST security and encryption
This is what I have understood till now:
For first request:
User establishes https connection (or container ensures https using
301)
User POSTs username and password to login service
If credentials are valid we:
Generate a random temporary token
Store the random token on server mapping it to actual username
Encrypt the token using a symmetric key only known to server
Hash the encrypted token
Send the encrypted token and the hash to the client
For subsequent requests:
Client sends this encrypted token and hash combination (using
username field of basic?)
We make sure the encrypted token is not tampered using the hash and
then decrypt it
We check the decrypted token in the session-tracking-table for a
not-expired entry and get the actual username (expiry to be managed
by code?)
If the username is found, based on allowed roles, allowed operations
are configured
More details:
Since client is a java client, the first request can be a POST
containing the credentials. However, this looks like it may expose
the credentials before the https gets established. Hence should
there be a dummy GET to a secured resource so that https is
established first?
Assuming above is required, the second request is a LoginAction POST
with credentials. This request is handled manually (not using
container's authorisation). Is this right?
The above LoginAction returns the user the combination of encrypted
token + hash
User sets it to the header that is used by BASIC authentication
mechanism (field username)
We implement a JAASRealm to decrypt and validate the token, and find
the roles allowed
The rest of authorisation process is taken care of by the container
with the WebResourceCollection defined in the web.xml
Is this the correct approach?
Why not simplify it to the following?
For first request:
User establishes HTTPS connection to server (service does not listen on any
other ports) and POSTs credentials to login service.
Server replies with HSTS header to ensure all further communication
is HTTPS.
If credentials are valid we:
Generate a random temporary token which is securely generated using a CSPRNG. Make this long enough to be secure (128 bit).
Store the random token on server mapping it to actual username.
Send the random token to the client
For subsequent requests:
Client sends token in a custom HTTP header over HTTPS.
Token is located in the DB and mapped to the username. If found access is configured based on allowed roles and allowed operations.
If not found user is considered unauthenticated and will have to authenticate with the login service again to get a new token.
On the server side the token will be stored with an expiry date. On each access to the service this date will be updated to create a sliding expiration. There will be a job that will run every few minutes to delete expired tokens and the query that checks the token for a valid session will only check those that have not deemed to have expired (to prevent permanent sessions if the scheduled job fails for any reason).
There is no need to hash and encrypt the tokens within the database - it adds no real value apart from a touch of security through obscurity. You could just hash though. This would prevent an attacker that managed to get at the session data table from hijacking existing user sessions.
The approach looks ok. Not very secure.
Let me highlight some of the attacks possible with the request.
Man-In-the-middle attack in a POST request, the user can tamper with the request and server does not have any way to ensure the data is not tampered.
Replay attack: In this, the attacker does not tamper with the request. The attacker taps the request and sends it to the server multiple times in a short duration, though it is a valid request, the server processes the request multiple times, which is not needed
Please read about Nonce.
In the first step, the user sends his credentials i.e username and password to the login service and if you have a web based application that also uses the same password it might be dangerous. If in case password in compromised, API and web everything is exposed, please use a different PIN for API access. Also, ensure decrypted token as specified by you, expires after a certain time.
Ensure the service (application server) tomcat. jboss never returns a server page in case of internal error, this gives the attacker extra information of the server where the app is deployed.
-- MODIFIED BASED ON SECOND POST --
Yes your correct if your using mutual SSL, but in case its a one way access you don't have the client certificates. It would be good if you just double ensured everything in the request, just like signed (signature) SOAP, one of the strong data transfer mechanism. But replay attack is a possibility with HTTPS, just handle that. Rest use tokens encryption is good. And why not ask the client to decrypt the token with the password and return the output of the decryption by this you can validate the output, if it is present in your database ? This approach the user does not send the password over the wire even if it is HTTPS ?