I'm using WS Federated (Claims Aware) authentication on an MVC 3 site and am having trouble keeping some of my API controllers that send JSON from returning a redirect when the authentication fails. I have an Area called API with several controllers that just return JSON, these controllers all inherit from the same base class. I want to send down legitimate 401 error responses instead of 302 redirects that are happening by default.
I followed some directions I found for creating a custom WSFederationAuthenticationModule
in concert with a filter I put on my API controller actions:
public class WSFederationServiceAuthenticationModule : WSFederationAuthenticationModule
{
private static Log4NetLoggingService logger = new Log4NetLoggingService();
public const string IsServiceIndicator = "ROIP.IsService";
protected override void OnAuthorizationFailed(AuthorizationFailedEventArgs e)
{
base.OnAuthorizationFailed(e);
var isService = HttpContext.Current.Items[IsServiceIndicator];
if (isService != null)
{
logger.Info("WSFedService: Found IsService");
e.RedirectToIdentityProvider = false;
}
else
{
logger.Info("WSFedService: Did not find IsService");
}
}
}
public class WSFederationServiceAuthAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
private static Log4NetLoggingService logger = new Log4NetLoggingService();
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
// Set an item that indicates this is a service request, do not redirect.
logger.Info("WSFedService: Setting IsService");
HttpContext.Current.Items[WSFederationServiceAuthenticationModule.IsServiceIndicator] = 1;
}
}
But my logging shows that I am never finding the IsService item in the Items:
{INFO}02/29 03:39:21 - WSFedService: Setting IsService
{INFO}02/29 03:39:32 - WSFedService: Setting IsService
{INFO}02/29 03:39:32 - WSFedService: Setting IsService
{INFO}02/29 03:50:39 - WSFedService: Did not find IsService
{INFO}02/29 03:53:16 - WSFedService: Did not find IsService
{INFO}02/29 03:53:29 - WSFedService: Did not find IsService
I think this may be a problem with the HttpContext.Current
not being the same between the filter and the module, but I'm not sure.
Another option I tried was to subscribe to the FederatedAuthentication.WSFederationAuthenticationModule.RedirectingToIdentityProvider
event in the Application_Start
event of my Global.asax.cs, but the WSFederationAuthenticationModule is null at that time.
private void ConfigureWSFederationAuthentication()
{
bool hasFederatedAuthentication = false;
try
{
if (FederatedAuthentication.WSFederationAuthenticationModule != null)
{
hasFederatedAuthentication = true;
}
}
catch
{
hasFederatedAuthentication = false;
}
if (hasFederatedAuthentication)
{
Logger.Info("WSFederation: Registering for Event Handler");
FederatedAuthentication.WSFederationAuthenticationModule.RedirectingToIdentityProvider += (s, e) =>
{
var msg = string.Empty;
try
{
if (HttpContext.Current.Request.Headers["X-Requested-With"] == "XMLHttpRequest")
{
e.Cancel = true;
msg = "Found XMLHttpRequest header";
}
else
{
msg = "Did not find XMLHttpRequest header";
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
msg = "WSFederation: Event Handler Error: " + ex.Message;
}
Logger.Info("WSFederation: Redirecting from Event Handler: " + msg);
};
}
else
{
Logger.Info("WSFederation: Null WSFederationAuthenticationModule");
}
}
I'd like to know either how to get the first option working, or where I should subscribe to the RedirectingToIdentityProvider
event.