1.2. Limitations with using Basic authentication

Credentials are sent as plain text

Use HTTPS with Basic authentication to avoid exposing the credentials. The risk of exposing credentials as plain text increases if a load balancer terminates HTTPS because the request is forwarded to Quarkus over HTTP. Furthermore, in multi-hop deployments, the credentials can be exposed if HTTPS is used between the client and the first Quarkus endpoint only, and the credentials are propagated to the next Quarkus endpoint over HTTP.

Credentials are sent with each request

In Basic authentication, a username and password must be sent with each request, increasing the risk of exposing credentials.

Application complexity increases

The Quarkus application must validate that usernames, passwords, and roles are managed securely. This process, however, can introduce significant complexity to the application. Depending on the use case, other authentication mechanisms that delegate username, password, and role management to specialized services might be more secure.