1.8. Challenger Service API ¶

The challenger service validates that a user is able to receive challenges at an address (such as e-mail or SMS) and allows an OAuth 2.0 client to obtain access to these validated addresses.

The high-level flow is that an OAuth 2.0 client is first registered with the challenger service (via command-line). Using the command-line tool will print the resulting client ID to the console.

Note

The current service mandates that redirection URIs start with “http://” or “https://”. See issue #7838 for what should be done to lift this restriction.

Note

Right now, registration of a unique redirection URI is mandatory for each client. If multiple redirection URIs are needed, it is suggested to just register additional clients. (While OAuth 2.0 would support not registering fixed redirection URIs with a client, this is not recommended as it would create an open redirector.)

Once a client is registered, that client can use the challenger service when it needs a user to prove that the user is able to receive messages at a particular address. However, asking a user to prove access to a particular address can be expensive as it may involve sending an SMS or even postal mail depending on the type of address. Thus, challenger does not allow a user agent to begin an address validation process without prior approval by a registered client. Thus, the process begins with a /setup/$CLIENT_ID request where a client requests challenger to begin an address validation request. The /setup/$CLIENT_ID response contains a nonce which is then used to construct the URL of the endpoint to which the client must redirect the user-agent to begin the address validation and authorization process.

The client then redirects the user-agent to the /authorize/$NONCE endpoint of the challenger service, adding its state, client_id and redirect_uri as query parameters. The redirect_uri must match the redirect URI registered with the client. From this endpoint, the challenger service will return a Web page asking the user to provide its address.

Note

Challenger is a bit unusual in that the $NONCE in the endpoint URL makes the authorization endpoint URL (deliberately) unpredictable, while for many other OAuth 2.0 APIs this endpoint is static. However, this is compliant with OAuth 2.0 as determining the authorization URL is left out of the scope of the standard.

When the user has filled in the form with their address, it will be submitted to the /challenge/$NONCE endpoint and the challenger service will send a challenge to the user’s address and generate an HTML form asking the user to enter the received challenge value.

The user can then enter the answer to the challenge which is then submitted to the /solve/$NONCE endpoint. If the answer is correct, the user agent will be redirected to the client redirect URI that was specified by the OAuth 2.0 client upon /authorize, together with an authorization grant encoded in the redirection URI.

Given this authorization grant, the OAuth 2.0 client can then use the /token endpoint to obtain an access token which will grant it access to the resource.

Using the /info endpoint the client can then finally obtain the (now) verified address of the user.

1.8.1. Terms of service API ¶

These APIs allow clients to obtain the terms of service and the privacy policy of a service.

GET /terms¶

Get the terms of service of the service. The endpoint will consider the “Accept” and “Accept-Language” and “Accept-Encoding” headers when generating a response. Specifically, it will try to find a response with an acceptable mime-type, then pick the version in the most preferred language of the user, and finally apply compression if that is allowed by the client and deemed beneficial.

The endpoint will set an “Etag”, and subsequent requests of the same client should provide the tag in an “If-None-Match” header to detect if the terms of service have changed. If not, a “304 Not Modified” response will be returned. Note that the “304 Not Modified” will also be returned if the client changed the “Accept-Language” or “Accept-Encoding” header. Thus, if the client would like to download the resource in a different language or format, the “If-None-Match” header must be omitted.

If the “Etag” is missing, the client should not cache the response and instead prompt the user again at the next opportunity. This is usually only the case if the terms of service were not configured correctly.

When returning a full response (not a “304 Not Modified”), the server should also include a “Avail-Languages” header which includes a comma-separated list of the languages in which the terms of service are available in (see availability hints specification). Clients can use this to generate a language switcher for users that may not have expressed a proper language preference.

GET /privacy¶: Get the privacy policy of the service. Behaves the same way as The “/terms” endpoint, except that it returns the privacy policy instead of the terms of service.

1.8.2. Receiving Configuration ¶

GET /config¶

Obtain the key configuration settings of the storage service.

Response:

Returns a ChallengerTermsOfServiceResponse.

interface ChallengerTermsOfServiceResponse {
  // Name of the service
  name: "challenger";

  // libtool-style representation of the Challenger protocol version, see
  // https://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/manual/html_node/Versioning.html#Versioning
  // The format is "current:revision:age".
  version: string;

}

1.8.3. Setup ¶

POST /setup/$CLIENT_ID¶

This endpoint is used by the client to authorize the execution of an address validation on its behalf. An Authorization header (for now always using a Bearer token) should be included to provide the client’s credentials to authorize access to the challenger service. This token must match the client_secret from the registration of the client with the challenger service (which will also be used in the later /token request).

Response:

200 OK:: Response is a ChallengeSetupResponse.
404 Not found:: The backup service is unaware of a matching client. or the credentials of the client are invalid.

Details::

interface ChallengeSetupResponse {
  // Nonce to use when constructing /authorize endpoint.
  nonce: string;
}

1.8.4. Login ¶

GET /authorize/$NONCE¶

POST /authorize/$NONCE¶

This is the “authorization” endpoint of the OAuth 2.0 protocol. This endpoint is used by the user-agent. It will return a form to enter the address.

Request:

Query Parameters:

response_type – Must be code
client_id – Identifier of the client.
redirect_uri – URI-encoded redirection URI to use upon authorization.
state – Arbitrary client state to associate with the request.
scope – Not supported, any value is accepted.

Response:

200 OK:: The body contains a form to be submitted by the user-agent. The form will ask the user to specify their address.
404 Not found:: The backup service is unaware of a matching $NONCE.

1.8.5. Challenge ¶

POST /challenge/$NONCE¶

This endpoint is used by the user-agent to submit the address to which a challenge should be sent by the challenger service.

Request:

Body should use the mime-type “application/x-www-form-urlencoded”. The posted form data must contain an “address”.

Response:

200 OK:: The body contains a form asking for the answer to the challenge to be entered by the user.
404 Not found:: The challenger service is unaware of a matching nonce.
429 Too Many Requests:: There have been too many attempts to request challenge transmissions for this $NONCE. The user-agent should wait and (eventually) request a fresh nonce to be set up by the client.

1.8.6. Solve ¶

POST /solve/$NONCE¶

Used by the user-agent to submit an answer to the challenge. If the answer is correct, the user will be redirected to the client’s redirect URI, otherwise the user may be given another chance to complete the process.

Request:

Depends on the form from /challenge. TBD.

Response:

302 Found:: The user is redirected to the redirect URI of the client to pass the grant to the client. The target will be the redirect URI specified by the client (during registration and again upon /authorize), plus a code argument with the authorization code, and the state argument from the /authorize endpoint.
403 Forbidden:: The solution of the user to the challenge is invalid.
404 Not found:: The service is unaware of a matching challenge.
429 Too Many Requests:: There have been too many attempts to solve the challenge for this address (and $NONCE). The user-agent should either try a different address (or wait and (eventually) request a fresh nonce to be set up by the client).

1.8.7. Auth ¶

POST /token¶

This is the token endpoint of the OAuth 2.0 specification. This endpoint is used by the client to provide its authorization code, demonstrating that it has the right to learn a particular user’s validated address. In return, the challenger service returns the access token. Renewal is not supported.

Request:

The request must include an application/www-form-urlencoded body specifying the client_id, redirect_uri, client_secret, code and grant_type. The grant_type must be set to authorization_code. The redirect_uri must match the URI from /authorize. The code must be the authorization code that /solve returned to the user. The client_id and client_secret must match the usual client credentials.

Response:

Error responses follow RFC 6749, section 5.2 with an “error” field in JSON, as well as also returning GNU Taler style error messages.

200 OK:: The body will be a ChallengerAuthResponse
403 Forbidden:: The credentials of the client are invalid.
404 Not found:: The service is unaware of a matching login process.

Details::

interface ChallengerAuthResponse {
  // Token used to authenticate access in /info.
  access_token: string;

  // Type of the access token.
  token_type: "Bearer";

  // Amount of time that an access token is valid (in seconds).
  expires_in: Integer;

}

1.8.8. Info ¶

GET /info¶

This userinfo endpoint of the OAuth 2.0 specification. This endpoint is used by the client to obtain the user’s validated address.

Request:

Must include the token returned to the client from the /token endpoint as a Bearer token in an Authorization header.

Response:

200 OK:: The body contains the address as a ChallengerInfoResponse.
403 Forbidden:: The bearer token is missing or invalid (malformed).
404 Not found:: The bearer token is invalid (includes unknown or expired).

Details::

interface ChallengerInfoResponse {

  // Unique ID of the record within Challenger
  // (identifies the rowid of the token).
  id: Integer;

  // Address that was validated.
  // Key-value pairs, details depend on the
  // address_type.
  address: Object;

  // Type of the address.
  address_type: string;

  // How long do we consider the address to be
  // valid for this user.
  expires: Timestamp;

}

1.7. Backup and Synchronization RESTful API

1.9. The TalDir RESTful API