Chapter 8. Securing CodeReady Workspaces

1. Request the OpenID settings service where clients can find all the necessary URLs and properties of the OpenId provider, such as jwks.endpoint, token.endpoint, logout.endpoint, realm.name, or client_id returned in the JSON format.

2. The service URL is https://codeready-<openshift_deployment_name>.<domain_name>/api/keycloak/settings, and it is only available in the CodeReady Workspaces multiuser mode. The presence of the service in the URL confirms that the authentication is enabled in the current deployment.

   Example output:

   {
       "che.keycloak.token.endpoint": "http://172.19.20.9:5050/auth/realms/che/protocol/openid-connect/token",
       "che.keycloak.profile.endpoint": "http://172.19.20.9:5050/auth/realms/che/account",
       "che.keycloak.client_id": "che-public",
       "che.keycloak.auth_server_url": "http://172.19.20.9:5050/auth",
       "che.keycloak.password.endpoint": "http://172.19.20.9:5050/auth/realms/che/account/password",
       "che.keycloak.logout.endpoint": "http://172.19.20.9:5050/auth/realms/che/protocol/openid-connect/logout",
       "che.keycloak.realm": "che"
   }

   The service allows downloading the JavaScript client library to interact with the provider using the https://codeready-<openshift_deployment_name>.<domain_name>/api/keycloak/OIDCKeycloak.js URL.

3. Redirect the user to the appropriate provider’s login page with all the necessary parameters, including client_id and the return redirection path. This can be done with any client library (JS or Java).
4. When the user is logged in to the provider, the client side-code is obtained, and the JWT token has validated the token, the creation of the subject begins.

1. Authentication: The token is extracted from the Authorization header or from the token query parameter and is parsed using the public key retrieved from the provider. In case of expired, invalid, or malformed tokens, a 403 error is sent to the user. The minimal use of the query parameter is recommended, due to its support limitations or complete removal in upcoming versions.

   If the validation is successful, the parsed form of the token is passed to the environment initialization step:

2. Environment initialization: The filter extracts data from the JWT token claims, creates the user in the local database if it is not yet available, and constructs the subject object and sets it into the per-request EnvironmentContext object, which is statically accessible everywhere.

   If the request was made using only a JWT token, the following single authentication filter is used:

   org.eclipse.che.multiuser.machine.authentication.server.MachineLoginFilter: The filter finds the user that the userId token belongs to, retrieves the user instance, and sets the principal to the session. The CodeReady Workspaces server-to-server requests are performed using a dedicated request factory that signs every request with the current subject token obtained from the EnvironmentContext object.

Procedure

1. Update the authentication configuration parameters that are stored in the multiuser.properties file (such as client ID, authentication URL, realm name).
2. Write a single filter or a chain of filters to validate tokens, create the user in the CodeReady Workspaces dashboard, and compose the subject object.
3. If the new authorization provider supports the OpenID protocol, use the OIDC JS client library available at the settings endpoint because it is decoupled from specific implementations.
4. If the selected provider stores additional data about the user (first and last name, job title), it is recommended to write a provider-specific ProfileDao implementation that provides this information.