Authenticate Java apps to Azure services during local development by using brokered authentication

Applies to: Windows

Brokered authentication collects user credentials using the system authentication broker to authenticate an app. A system authentication broker is an app running on a user's machine that manages the authentication handshakes and token maintenance for all connected accounts.

Brokered authentication offers the following benefits:

Enables Single Sign-On (SSO): Enables apps to simplify how users authenticate with Microsoft Entra ID and protects Microsoft Entra ID refresh tokens from exfiltration and misuse.
Enhanced security: Many security enhancements are delivered with the broker, without needing to update the app logic.
Enhanced feature support: With the help of the broker, developers can access rich OS and service capabilities.
System integration: Applications that use the broker plug-and-play with the built-in account picker, allowing the user to quickly pick an existing account instead of reentering the same credentials over and over.
Token Protection: Ensures that the refresh tokens are device bound and enables apps to acquire device bound access tokens. See Token Protection.

Windows provides an authentication broker called Web Account Manager (WAM). WAM enables identity providers such as Microsoft Entra ID to natively plug into the OS and provide secure login services to apps. Brokered authentication enables the app for all operations allowed by the interactive login credentials.

Personal Microsoft accounts and work or school accounts are supported. On supported Windows versions, the default browser-based UI is replaced with a smoother authentication experience, similar to built-in Windows apps.

Configure the app for brokered authentication

To enable brokered authentication in your application, follow these steps:

In the Azure portal, navigate to Microsoft Entra ID and select App registrations on the left-hand menu.
Select the registration for your app, then select Authentication.
Add the appropriate redirect URI to your app registration via a platform configuration:
1. Under Platform configurations, select + Add a platform.
2. Under Configure platforms, select the tile for your application type (platform) to configure its settings, such as mobile and desktop applications.
3. In Custom redirect URIs, enter the following redirect URI:
  
  ms-appx-web://Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin/{your_client_id}
  
  Replace {your_client_id} with the Application (client) ID from the app registration's Overview pane.
4. Select Configure.
To learn more, see Add a redirect URI to an app registration.
Back on the Authentication pane, under Advanced settings, select Yes for Allow public client flows.
Select Save to apply the changes.
To authorize the application for specific resources, navigate to the resource in question, select API Permissions, and enable Microsoft Graph and other resources you want to access.

Important

You must also be the admin of your tenant to grant consent to your application when you sign in for the first time.

Assign roles

To run your app code successfully with brokered authentication, grant your user account permissions using Azure role-based access control (RBAC). Assign an appropriate role to your user account for the relevant Azure service. For example:

Azure Blob Storage: Assign the Storage Account Data Contributor role.
Azure Key Vault: Assign the Key Vault Secrets Officer role.

If an app is specified, it must have API permissions set for user_impersonation Access Azure Storage (step 6 in the previous section). This API permission allows the app to access Azure storage on behalf of the signed-in user after consent is granted during sign-in.

Implement the code

The Azure Identity library supports brokered authentication by using InteractiveBrowserCredential. The azure-identity-broker library provides InteractiveBrowserBrokerCredentialBuilder, which creates an InteractiveBrowserCredential capable of using the system authentication broker. For example, to use brokered authentication in a Java console app to authenticate to Azure Key Vault with the SecretClient, follow these steps:

Add the azure-identity-broker dependency to your pom.xml file:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.azure</groupId>
    <artifactId>azure-identity-broker</artifactId>
</dependency>

Get a reference to the parent window on top of which the account picker dialog should appear. For examples, see Get a window handle.

Create an instance of InteractiveBrowserCredential using InteractiveBrowserBrokerCredentialBuilder:

import com.azure.identity.InteractiveBrowserCredential;
import com.azure.identity.broker.InteractiveBrowserBrokerCredentialBuilder;
import com.azure.security.keyvault.secrets.SecretClient;
import com.azure.security.keyvault.secrets.SecretClientBuilder;
import com.azure.security.keyvault.secrets.models.KeyVaultSecret;

long windowHandle = getWindowHandle(); // See examples below

InteractiveBrowserCredential credential = new InteractiveBrowserBrokerCredentialBuilder()
    .setWindowHandle(windowHandle)
    .useDefaultBrokerAccount()
    .build();

SecretClient client = new SecretClientBuilder()
    .vaultUrl("https://<your-key-vault-name>.vault.azure.net")
    .credential(credential)
    .buildClient();

KeyVaultSecret secret = client.getSecret("MySecret");
System.out.println("Retrieved secret: " + secret.getName());

In the preceding example, useDefaultBrokerAccount opts into a silent, brokered authentication flow with the default system account. In this way, the user doesn't have to repeatedly select the same account. If silent, brokered authentication fails, InteractiveBrowserCredential falls back to interactive, brokered authentication.

The following screenshot shows the alternative interactive, brokered authentication experience:

Get a window handle

When you authenticate interactively by using InteractiveBrowserCredential, you need a parent window handle to make sure the authentication dialog appears correctly over the window that sends the request.

JavaFX application

For a JavaFX application, use JNA (Java Native Access) to get the window handle:

import com.sun.jna.Pointer;
import com.sun.jna.platform.win32.User32;
import com.sun.jna.platform.win32.WinDef;

public long getWindowHandle(Stage stage) {
    WinDef.HWND hwnd = User32.INSTANCE.FindWindow(null, stage.getTitle());
    return Pointer.nativeValue(hwnd.getPointer());
}

Console application

For a console application on Windows, use JNA to get the console window handle:

import com.sun.jna.Pointer;
import com.sun.jna.platform.win32.Kernel32;
import com.sun.jna.platform.win32.WinDef;

WinDef.HWND hwnd = Kernel32.INSTANCE.GetConsoleWindow();
long windowHandle = Pointer.nativeValue(hwnd.getPointer());

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Last updated on 2026-03-04