asp.net mvc - Adding authorization header with access token for every request using MvcHandler

Question

I'm trying to implement OAuth 2.0 resource access for the resource server. I have acquired a token and want to pass that token to the resource server so that resource server could validate with the authorization server for every request, passing the token in the http header (e.g. Authorization: Bearer mF_9.B5f-4.1JqM).

I'm using MVC 4, and I've been told MvcHandler should be used to achieve this However I'm not sure where to start. Can anyone point me to a general direction on what should be done? I already have bunch of actions and controllers and want to put this layer on top of those instead of going back to every action and changing and/or decorating each action.

Answer 1

Use Authentication filters

Authentication filters are a new kind of filter in ASP.NET MVC that run prior to authorization filters in the ASP.NET MVC pipeline and allow you to specify authentication logic per-action, per-controller, or globally for all controllers. Authentication filters process credentials in the request and provide a corresponding principal. Authentication filters can also add authentication challenges in response to unauthorized requests.

You just need to implement the IAuthenticationFilter for your needs register it and it's done.

public class YourAuthenticationAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute, IAuthenticationFilter
    {
        public void OnAuthentication(AuthenticationContext filterContext)
        {            
        }

        public void OnAuthenticationChallenge(AuthenticationChallengeContext filterContext)
        {   
            if (user.Identity.IsAuthenticated == false)
            {
                 filterContext.Result = new HttpUnauthorizedResult();
            }
        }
    }

If you want it to be global add it as a global filter in FilterConfig.cs

public static void RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilterCollection filters)
{
    filters.Add(new YourAuthenticationAttribute());
}

More info:

ASP.NET MVC 5 Authentication Filters

ASP.NET MVC 5 Authentication Filters

AUTHENTICATION FILTERS IN ASP.NET MVC 5

FINALLY THE NEW ASP.NET MVC 5 AUTHENTICATION FILTERS!