Why is the Identity.IsAuthenticated property false in the new app of an incremental migration with .AddAuthenticationServer()

Question

Hello, I am trying to follow the documentation for the "Incremental ASP.NET to ASP.NET Core update" as demoe'd by Mike Rousos. I have implemented the steps found in this page: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/migration/inc/remote-authentication?view=aspnetcore-8.0 for remote authentication. When the new app handles a request, the ClaimsPrincipal.Identity is populated, and i have the user name in the "name" claim. However, the Identity.IsAutheticated is set to false. This is in my branch of our production app. I'm just trying to find someone who can help me diagnose my problem. I'm willing to pay a fee for an expert who can help me diagnose the root of the problem efficiently!

The legacy app is using asp.net full framework v4.8. The new "strangler" app is using .net 8. Below are the code samples of the remote server configuration: New .net 8 App Program.cs:

builder.Services.AddSystemWebAdapters()
            .AddRemoteAppClient(options =>
            {
                options.RemoteAppUrl = new Uri(builder.Configuration["ProxyTo"]);
                options.ApiKey = builder.Configuration["RemoteAppApiKey"];
            })
           .AddAuthenticationClient(true);

builder.Services.AddHttpForwarder();

Legacy app Global.asax:

  protected void Application_Start()
  {
      try
      {
          ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol |= SecurityProtocolType.Tls11 | SecurityProtocolType.Tls12;

          AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
          IdentityConfig.ConfigureIdentity();
          GlobalConfiguration.Configure(WebApiConfig.Register);
          FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
          RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
          BundleConfig.RegisterBundles(BundleTable.Bundles);
          LoupeConfig.RegisterAndStartLoupe(GlobalFilters.Filters);
          DocumentHelper.SetupCache(new DocumentNumberSeeds().GetSeeds());

          SystemWebAdapterConfiguration.AddSystemWebAdapters(this)
          .AddProxySupport(options => options.UseForwardedHeaders = true)
          .AddRemoteAppServer(options =>
          {
              options.ApiKey = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["RemoteAppApiKey"];
          })
          .AddAuthenticationServer();

      }
      catch (Exception ex)
      {
          ex.Publish();
          throw;
      }
  }

  protected void Application_AuthenticateRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
  {
      var security = IoC.Get<SecurityHelper>();
      security.CheckAndSetPrincipal();
  }
	

Answer 1

Thanks for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

The issue you're experiencing, where ClaimsPrincipal.Identity.IsAuthenticated is false even though the user's claims are present, might be related to the authentication process in your new .NET 8 app.

Here are a few things you can check:

1. Authentication State: Ensure that the authentication state is being properly maintained throughout the request lifecycle. You might want to check if the authentication middleware is correctly processing and validating the incoming tokens.
2. Claims Transformation: Verify that the claims transformation is correctly setting the authentication status. If you are manually transforming claims in the authentication pipeline, ensure that the IsAuthenticated property is set to true when appropriate.
3. Remote Authentication Middleware: Double-check the configuration and implementation of your remote authentication middleware. Ensure that it properly validates and sets the authentication status based on the provided credentials.
4. Logging: Introduce extensive logging throughout your authentication process. Log the relevant information such as incoming tokens, processed claims, and the final authentication state. This can help you trace where the issue is occurring.
5. Middleware Order: Ensure that the order of middleware in your new .NET 8 app is correct. Middleware order matters, and sometimes the authentication middleware needs to be placed in a specific order for it to work as expected.
6. Check for Exceptions: Look for any exceptions being thrown during the authentication process. Exceptions might provide clues about what is going wrong.
7. Token Validation: If you're using tokens for authentication, verify that the token validation process is successful and that it contains the necessary information to mark the user as authenticated.
8. Update to Latest Packages: Ensure that you are using the latest versions of the authentication-related packages. There might be bug fixes or improvements in newer versions that address the issue you're facing.

Please don't forget to close up the thread here by upvoting and accept it as an answer if it is helpful

Answer 2

This could be an authorization issue. To fix this issue you should override the IsAuthorized method from AuthorizeAttribute filter, call the claimprincipal and set it to httpctx current user.
var user = Request principal;
ClaimIdentity usrIdentity=Httpctx.Current.User.Identity;
var identity = new ClaimsIdentity(userIdentity.Claims, "Bearer");
var claimsPrincipal = ...............................;
HttpCtxt.Current.Usr = claimsPrincipal;