Grant types - PingFederate - 10.0

Primary grant types

OAuth defines several different access grant types. Each grant type reflects different authorization mechanisms.

Authorization code

authorization_code

An authorization code is returned to the client through a browser redirect after the resource owner gives consent to the AS. The client subsequently exchanges the authorization code for an access token (and often a refresh token). Resource owner credentials are never exposed to the client.

Resource owner password credentials

password

The client collects the resource owner's password and exchanges it at the AS for an access token, and often a refresh token. This grant type is suitable in cases where the RO has a trust relationship with the client, such as its computer operation system or a highly privileged application because the client must discard the password after using it to obtain the access token.

Refresh token

refresh_token

A refresh token is often returned with an access token. Once the original access token expires, the corresponding refresh token can be sent to the AS to obtain a fresh access token without requiring the resource owner to reauthenticate. This allows short-lived access tokens to exist between the client and the resource server, and long-lived tokens between the client and the AS.

The Refresh Token grant type can only be used in conjunction with either the Authorization Code or Resource Owner Password Credentials grant type.

Implicit

implicit

An access token is returned to the client through a browser redirect in response to the resource owner authorization request (rather than an intermediate authorization code). This grant type is suitable for clients incapable of keeping client credentials confidential (for use in authenticating with the AS) such as client applications implemented in a browser using a scripting language like JavaScript.

Client credentials

client_credentials

The client presents its own credentials to the AS in order to obtain an access token. This access token is either associated with the client's own resources, and not a particular resource owner, or is associated with a resource owner for whom the client is otherwise authorized to act.

Extension grant types

OAuth provides an extension mechanism for defining new extension grant types to support additional clients or to provide a bridge between OAuth and other trust frameworks. An OAuth client uses an extension grant type by specifying an absolute URI as the value of the grant_type parameter and by adding any additional parameters necessary when contacting the token endpoint at /as/token.oauth2.

PingFederate supports the following extension grant types:

Assertion grants

JWT Bearer

urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:jwt-bearer

The client obtains a JSON Web Token (JWT) and uses it to request an access token from the AS. This grant type allows a client to use an existing trust relationship, expressed through a JWT, without a direct user approval step at the AS.

SAML 2.0 Bearer

urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:saml2-bearer

The client obtains a SAML 2.0 bearer assertion and uses it to request an access token from the AS. Similar to the JWT Bearer grant type, this grant type allows a client to use an existing trust relationship, expressed through a SAML assertion, without a direct user approval step at the AS.

Note: The SAML assertion used for this grant type generally cannot be a browser-based SSO assertion. To ensure its validity, the assertion must be associated with WS-Trust STS processing.

Client-initiated backchannel authentication (CIBA) grant

urn:openid:params:grant-type:ciba

The client presents an identity hint (and optionally a user code) to the AS. The AS identifies the resource owner based on the hint provided and then authenticates and obtains authorization from the resource owner via an out-of-band flow. Depending on the setup, the client can either poll the AS for the authorization result or wait for a signal from the AS to return to the AS for the authorization result. If the resource owner approves the authorization request, the AS returns a access token to the client; otherwise, the AS returns an error message per the specification.

Device authorization grant

urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code

The client presents a device code and user code to the AS in order to identify the device-authorization session and obtain an access token. This access token is associated with a resource owner for whom the client is otherwise authorized to act.

Token exchange grant

urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:token-exchange

The client presents a security token to the AS. In exchange, the AS returns another kind of security token to the client. The new token might be an access token that is more narrowly scoped for a downstream service or it could be an entirely different kind of token. This grant type supports subject and actor tokens employing impersonation and delegation.

Validation grant

urn:pingidentity.com:oauth2:grant_type:validate_bearer

This proprietary PingFederate OAuth extension enables an RS to act as a client in the request/response exchange with PingFederate (the AS in this scenario). The grant type allows an RS to check with PingFederate on the validity of a bearer access token received from a client making a protected-resources call.