Persist additional claims and tokens from external providers in ASP.NET Core

An ASP.NET Core app can establish additional claims and tokens from external authentication providers, such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter. Each provider reveals different information about users on its platform, but the pattern for receiving and transforming user data into additional claims is the same.

Prerequisites

Decide which external authentication providers to support in the app. For each provider, register the app and obtain a client ID and client secret. For more information, see Facebook and Google authentication in ASP.NET Core. The sample app uses the Google authentication provider.

Set the client ID and client secret

The OAuth authentication provider establishes a trust relationship with an app using a client ID and client secret. Client ID and client secret values are created for the app by the external authentication provider when the app is registered with the provider. Each external provider that the app uses must be configured independently with the provider's client ID and client secret. For more information, see the external authentication provider topics that apply:

• Facebook authentication
• Google authentication
• Microsoft authentication
• Twitter authentication
• Other authentication providers
• OpenIdConnect

Optional claims sent in the ID or access token from the authentication provider are usually configured in the provider's online portal. For example, Microsoft Entra ID permits assigning optional claims to the app's ID token in the app registration's Token configuration blade. For more information, see How to: Provide optional claims to your app (Azure documentation). For other providers, consult their external documentation sets.

The sample app configures the Google authentication provider with a client ID and client secret provided by Google:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using WebGoogOauth.Data;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
var configuration = builder.Configuration;

builder.Services.AddAuthentication().AddGoogle(googleOptions =>
{
    googleOptions.ClientId = configuration["Authentication:Google:ClientId"];
    googleOptions.ClientSecret = configuration["Authentication:Google:ClientSecret"];

    googleOptions.ClaimActions.MapJsonKey("urn:google:picture", "picture", "url");
    googleOptions.ClaimActions.MapJsonKey("urn:google:locale", "locale", "string");

    googleOptions.SaveTokens = true;

    googleOptions.Events.OnCreatingTicket = ctx =>
    {
        List<AuthenticationToken> tokens = ctx.Properties.GetTokens().ToList();

        tokens.Add(new AuthenticationToken()
        {
            Name = "TicketCreated",
            Value = DateTime.UtcNow.ToString()
        });

        ctx.Properties.StoreTokens(tokens);

        return Task.CompletedTask;
    };
});

var connectionString = builder.Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection");
builder.Services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>
    options.UseSqlServer(connectionString));
builder.Services.AddDatabaseDeveloperPageExceptionFilter();

builder.Services.AddDefaultIdentity<IdentityUser>(options => 
                                  options.SignIn.RequireConfirmedAccount = true)
                                 .AddEntityFrameworkStores<ApplicationDbContext>();
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();

var app = builder.Build();

// Remaining code removed for brevity.

Establish the authentication scope

Specify the list of permissions to retrieve from the provider by specifying the Scope. Authentication scopes for common external providers appear in the following table.

Provider	Scope
Facebook	https://www.facebook.com/dialog/oauth
Google	profile, email, openid
Microsoft	https://login.microsoftonline.com/common/oauth2/v2.0/authorize
Twitter	https://api.twitter.com/oauth/authenticate

In the sample app, Google's profile, email, and openid scopes are automatically added by the framework when AddGoogle is called on the AuthenticationBuilder. If the app requires additional scopes, add them to the options. In the following example, the Google https://www.googleapis.com/auth/user.birthday.read scope is added to retrieve a user's birthday:

options.Scope.Add("https://www.googleapis.com/auth/user.birthday.read");

Map user data keys and create claims

In the provider's options, specify a MapJsonKey or MapJsonSubKey for each key or subkey in the external provider's JSON user data for the app identity to read on sign in. For more information on claim types, see ClaimTypes.

The sample app creates locale (urn:google:locale) and picture (urn:google:picture) claims from the locale and picture keys in Google user data:

builder.Services.AddAuthentication().AddGoogle(googleOptions =>
{
    googleOptions.ClientId = configuration["Authentication:Google:ClientId"];
    googleOptions.ClientSecret = configuration["Authentication:Google:ClientSecret"];

    googleOptions.ClaimActions.MapJsonKey("urn:google:picture", "picture", "url");
    googleOptions.ClaimActions.MapJsonKey("urn:google:locale", "locale", "string");

    googleOptions.SaveTokens = true;

    googleOptions.Events.OnCreatingTicket = ctx =>
    {
        List<AuthenticationToken> tokens = ctx.Properties.GetTokens().ToList();

        tokens.Add(new AuthenticationToken()
        {
            Name = "TicketCreated",
            Value = DateTime.UtcNow.ToString()
        });

        ctx.Properties.StoreTokens(tokens);

        return Task.CompletedTask;
    };
});

In Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.UI.Pages.Account.Internal.ExternalLoginModel.OnPostConfirmationAsync, an IdentityUser (ApplicationUser) is signed into the app with SignInAsync. During the sign in process, the UserManager<TUser> can store an ApplicationUser claims for user data available from the Principal.

In the sample app, OnPostConfirmationAsync (Account/ExternalLogin.cshtml.cs) establishes the locale (urn:google:locale) and picture (urn:google:picture) claims for the signed in ApplicationUser, including a claim for GivenName:

public async Task<IActionResult> OnPostConfirmationAsync(string returnUrl = null)
{
    returnUrl = returnUrl ?? Url.Content("~/");
    // Get the information about the user from the external login provider
    var info = await _signInManager.GetExternalLoginInfoAsync();
    if (info == null)
    {
        ErrorMessage = "Error loading external login information during confirmation.";
        return RedirectToPage("./Login", new { ReturnUrl = returnUrl });
    }

    if (ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        var user = CreateUser();

        await _userStore.SetUserNameAsync(user, Input.Email, CancellationToken.None);
        await _emailStore.SetEmailAsync(user, Input.Email, CancellationToken.None);

        var result = await _userManager.CreateAsync(user);
        if (result.Succeeded)
        {
            result = await _userManager.AddLoginAsync(user, info);
            if (result.Succeeded)
            {
                _logger.LogInformation("User created an account using {Name} provider.", info.LoginProvider);

                // If they exist, add claims to the user for:
                //    Given (first) name
                //    Locale
                //    Picture
                if (info.Principal.HasClaim(c => c.Type == ClaimTypes.GivenName))
                {
                    await _userManager.AddClaimAsync(user,
                        info.Principal.FindFirst(ClaimTypes.GivenName));
                }

                if (info.Principal.HasClaim(c => c.Type == "urn:google:locale"))
                {
                    await _userManager.AddClaimAsync(user,
                        info.Principal.FindFirst("urn:google:locale"));
                }

                if (info.Principal.HasClaim(c => c.Type == "urn:google:picture"))
                {
                    await _userManager.AddClaimAsync(user,
                        info.Principal.FindFirst("urn:google:picture"));
                }

                // Include the access token in the properties
                // using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication;
                var props = new AuthenticationProperties();
                props.StoreTokens(info.AuthenticationTokens);
                props.IsPersistent = false;

                var userId = await _userManager.GetUserIdAsync(user);
                var code = await _userManager.GenerateEmailConfirmationTokenAsync(user);
                code = WebEncoders.Base64UrlEncode(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(code));
                var callbackUrl = Url.Page(
                    "/Account/ConfirmEmail",
                    pageHandler: null,
                    values: new { area = "Identity", userId = userId, code = code },
                    protocol: Request.Scheme);

                await _emailSender.SendEmailAsync(Input.Email, "Confirm your email",
                    $"Please confirm your account by <a href='{HtmlEncoder.Default.Encode(callbackUrl)}'>clicking here</a>.");

                // If account confirmation is required, we need to show the link if we don't have a real email sender
                if (_userManager.Options.SignIn.RequireConfirmedAccount)
                {
                    return RedirectToPage("./RegisterConfirmation", new { Email = Input.Email });
                }

                await _signInManager.SignInAsync(user, props, info.LoginProvider);
                return LocalRedirect(returnUrl);
            }
        }
        foreach (var error in result.Errors)
        {
            ModelState.AddModelError(string.Empty, error.Description);
        }
    }

    ProviderDisplayName = info.ProviderDisplayName;
    ReturnUrl = returnUrl;
    return Page();
}

By default, a user's claims are stored in the authentication cookie. If the authentication cookie is too large, it can cause the app to fail because:

• The browser detects that the cookie header is too long.
• The overall size of the request is too large.

If a large amount of user data is required for processing user requests:

• Limit the number and size of user claims for request processing to only what the app requires.
• Use a custom ITicketStore for the Cookie Authentication Middleware's SessionStore to store identity across requests. Preserve large quantities of identity information on the server while only sending a small session identifier key to the client.

Save the access token

SaveTokens defines whether access and refresh tokens should be stored in the AuthenticationProperties after a successful authorization. SaveTokens is set to false by default to reduce the size of the final authentication cookie.

The sample app sets the value of SaveTokens to true in GoogleOptions:

builder.Services.AddAuthentication().AddGoogle(googleOptions =>
{
    googleOptions.ClientId = configuration["Authentication:Google:ClientId"];
    googleOptions.ClientSecret = configuration["Authentication:Google:ClientSecret"];

    googleOptions.ClaimActions.MapJsonKey("urn:google:picture", "picture", "url");
    googleOptions.ClaimActions.MapJsonKey("urn:google:locale", "locale", "string");

    googleOptions.SaveTokens = true;

    googleOptions.Events.OnCreatingTicket = ctx =>
    {
        List<AuthenticationToken> tokens = ctx.Properties.GetTokens().ToList();

        tokens.Add(new AuthenticationToken()
        {
            Name = "TicketCreated",
            Value = DateTime.UtcNow.ToString()
        });

        ctx.Properties.StoreTokens(tokens);

        return Task.CompletedTask;
    };
});

When OnPostConfirmationAsync executes, store the access token (ExternalLoginInfo.AuthenticationTokens) from the external provider in the ApplicationUser's AuthenticationProperties.

The sample app saves the access token in OnPostConfirmationAsync (new user registration) and OnGetCallbackAsync (previously registered user) in Account/ExternalLogin.cshtml.cs:

public async Task<IActionResult> OnPostConfirmationAsync(string returnUrl = null)
{
    returnUrl = returnUrl ?? Url.Content("~/");
    // Get the information about the user from the external login provider
    var info = await _signInManager.GetExternalLoginInfoAsync();
    if (info == null)
    {
        ErrorMessage = "Error loading external login information during confirmation.";
        return RedirectToPage("./Login", new { ReturnUrl = returnUrl });
    }

    if (ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        var user = CreateUser();

        await _userStore.SetUserNameAsync(user, Input.Email, CancellationToken.None);
        await _emailStore.SetEmailAsync(user, Input.Email, CancellationToken.None);

        var result = await _userManager.CreateAsync(user);
        if (result.Succeeded)
        {
            result = await _userManager.AddLoginAsync(user, info);
            if (result.Succeeded)
            {
                _logger.LogInformation("User created an account using {Name} provider.", info.LoginProvider);

                // If they exist, add claims to the user for:
                //    Given (first) name
                //    Locale
                //    Picture
                if (info.Principal.HasClaim(c => c.Type == ClaimTypes.GivenName))
                {
                    await _userManager.AddClaimAsync(user,
                        info.Principal.FindFirst(ClaimTypes.GivenName));
                }

                if (info.Principal.HasClaim(c => c.Type == "urn:google:locale"))
                {
                    await _userManager.AddClaimAsync(user,
                        info.Principal.FindFirst("urn:google:locale"));
                }

                if (info.Principal.HasClaim(c => c.Type == "urn:google:picture"))
                {
                    await _userManager.AddClaimAsync(user,
                        info.Principal.FindFirst("urn:google:picture"));
                }

                // Include the access token in the properties
                // using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication;
                var props = new AuthenticationProperties();
                props.StoreTokens(info.AuthenticationTokens);
                props.IsPersistent = false;

                var userId = await _userManager.GetUserIdAsync(user);
                var code = await _userManager.GenerateEmailConfirmationTokenAsync(user);
                code = WebEncoders.Base64UrlEncode(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(code));
                var callbackUrl = Url.Page(
                    "/Account/ConfirmEmail",
                    pageHandler: null,
                    values: new { area = "Identity", userId = userId, code = code },
                    protocol: Request.Scheme);

                await _emailSender.SendEmailAsync(Input.Email, "Confirm your email",
                    $"Please confirm your account by <a href='{HtmlEncoder.Default.Encode(callbackUrl)}'>clicking here</a>.");

                // If account confirmation is required, we need to show the link if we don't have a real email sender
                if (_userManager.Options.SignIn.RequireConfirmedAccount)
                {
                    return RedirectToPage("./RegisterConfirmation", new { Email = Input.Email });
                }

                await _signInManager.SignInAsync(user, props, info.LoginProvider);
                return LocalRedirect(returnUrl);
            }
        }
        foreach (var error in result.Errors)
        {
            ModelState.AddModelError(string.Empty, error.Description);
        }
    }

    ProviderDisplayName = info.ProviderDisplayName;
    ReturnUrl = returnUrl;
    return Page();
}

Note

For information on passing tokens to the Razor components of a server-side Blazor app, see Server-side ASP.NET Core Blazor additional security scenarios.

How to add additional custom tokens

To demonstrate how to add a custom token, which is stored as part of SaveTokens, the sample app adds an AuthenticationToken with the current DateTime for an AuthenticationToken.Name of TicketCreated:

builder.Services.AddAuthentication().AddGoogle(googleOptions =>
{
    googleOptions.ClientId = configuration["Authentication:Google:ClientId"];
    googleOptions.ClientSecret = configuration["Authentication:Google:ClientSecret"];

    googleOptions.ClaimActions.MapJsonKey("urn:google:picture", "picture", "url");
    googleOptions.ClaimActions.MapJsonKey("urn:google:locale", "locale", "string");

    googleOptions.SaveTokens = true;

    googleOptions.Events.OnCreatingTicket = ctx =>
    {
        List<AuthenticationToken> tokens = ctx.Properties.GetTokens().ToList();

        tokens.Add(new AuthenticationToken()
        {
            Name = "TicketCreated",
            Value = DateTime.UtcNow.ToString()
        });

        ctx.Properties.StoreTokens(tokens);

        return Task.CompletedTask;
    };
});

Create and add claims

The framework provides common actions and extension methods for creating and adding claims to the collection. For more information, see the ClaimActionCollectionMapExtensions and ClaimActionCollectionUniqueExtensions.

Users can define custom actions by deriving from ClaimAction and implementing the abstract Run method.

For more information, see Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication.OAuth.Claims.

Add and update user claims

Claims are copied from external providers to the user database on first registration, not on sign in. If additional claims are enabled in an app after a user registers to use the app, call SignInManager.RefreshSignInAsync on a user to force the generation of a new authentication cookie.

In the Development environment working with test user accounts, delete and recreate the user account. For production systems, new claims added to the app can be backfilled into user accounts. After scaffolding the ExternalLogin page into the app at Areas/Pages/Identity/Account/Manage, add the following code to the ExternalLoginModel in the ExternalLogin.cshtml.cs file.

Add a dictionary of added claims. Use the dictionary keys to hold the claim types, and use the values to hold a default value. Add the following line to the top of the class. The following example assumes that one claim is added for the user's Google picture with a generic headshot image as the default value:

private readonly IReadOnlyDictionary<string, string> _claimsToSync =
     new Dictionary<string, string>()
     {
             { "urn:google:picture", "https://localhost:5001/headshot.png" },
     };

Replace the default code of the OnGetCallbackAsync method with the following code. The code loops through the claims dictionary. Claims are added (backfilled) or updated for each user. When claims are added or updated, the user sign-in is refreshed using the SignInManager<TUser>, preserving the existing authentication properties (AuthenticationProperties).

private readonly IReadOnlyDictionary<string, string> _claimsToSync =
     new Dictionary<string, string>()
     {
             { "urn:google:picture", "https://localhost:5001/headshot.png" },
     };

public async Task<IActionResult> OnGetCallbackAsync(string returnUrl = null, string remoteError = null)
{
    returnUrl = returnUrl ?? Url.Content("~/");
    if (remoteError != null)
    {
        ErrorMessage = $"Error from external provider: {remoteError}";
        return RedirectToPage("./Login", new { ReturnUrl = returnUrl });
    }
    var info = await _signInManager.GetExternalLoginInfoAsync();
    if (info == null)
    {
        ErrorMessage = "Error loading external login information.";
        return RedirectToPage("./Login", new { ReturnUrl = returnUrl });
    }

    // Sign in the user with this external login provider if the user already has a login.
    var result = await _signInManager.ExternalLoginSignInAsync(info.LoginProvider, info.ProviderKey, isPersistent: false, bypassTwoFactor: true);
    if (result.Succeeded)
    {
        _logger.LogInformation("{Name} logged in with {LoginProvider} provider.", info.Principal.Identity.Name, info.LoginProvider);
        if (_claimsToSync.Count > 0)
        {
            var user = await _userManager.FindByLoginAsync(info.LoginProvider,
                info.ProviderKey);
            var userClaims = await _userManager.GetClaimsAsync(user);
            bool refreshSignIn = false;

            foreach (var addedClaim in _claimsToSync)
            {
                var userClaim = userClaims
                    .FirstOrDefault(c => c.Type == addedClaim.Key);

                if (info.Principal.HasClaim(c => c.Type == addedClaim.Key))
                {
                    var externalClaim = info.Principal.FindFirst(addedClaim.Key);

                    if (userClaim == null)
                    {
                        await _userManager.AddClaimAsync(user,
                            new Claim(addedClaim.Key, externalClaim.Value));
                        refreshSignIn = true;
                    }
                    else if (userClaim.Value != externalClaim.Value)
                    {
                        await _userManager
                            .ReplaceClaimAsync(user, userClaim, externalClaim);
                        refreshSignIn = true;
                    }
                }
                else if (userClaim == null)
                {
                    // Fill with a default value
                    await _userManager.AddClaimAsync(user, new Claim(addedClaim.Key,
                        addedClaim.Value));
                    refreshSignIn = true;
                }
            }

            if (refreshSignIn)
            {
                await _signInManager.RefreshSignInAsync(user);
            }
        }

        return LocalRedirect(returnUrl);
    }
    if (result.IsLockedOut)
    {
        return RedirectToPage("./Lockout");
    }
    else
    {
        // If the user does not have an account, then ask the user to create an account.
        ReturnUrl = returnUrl;
        ProviderDisplayName = info.ProviderDisplayName;
        if (info.Principal.HasClaim(c => c.Type == ClaimTypes.Email))
        {
            Input = new InputModel
            {
                Email = info.Principal.FindFirstValue(ClaimTypes.Email)
            };
        }
        return Page();
    }
}

A similar approach is taken when claims change while a user is signed in but a backfill step isn't required. To update a user's claims, call the following on the user:

• UserManager.ReplaceClaimAsync on the user for claims stored in the identity database.
• SignInManager.RefreshSignInAsync on the user to force the generation of a new authentication cookie.

Remove claim actions and claims

ClaimActionCollection.Remove(String) removes all claim actions for the given ClaimType from the collection. ClaimActionCollectionMapExtensions.DeleteClaim(ClaimActionCollection, String) deletes a claim of the given ClaimType from the identity. DeleteClaim is primarily used with OpenID Connect (OIDC) to remove protocol-generated claims.

Sample app output

Run the sample app and select the MyClaims link:

User Claims

http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/nameidentifier
    9b342344f-7aab-43c2-1ac1-ba75912ca999
http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/name
    someone@gmail.com
AspNet.Identity.SecurityStamp
    7D4312MOWRYYBFI1KXRPHGOSTBVWSFDE
http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/givenname
    Judy
urn:google:locale
    en
urn:google:picture
    https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-XXXXXX/XXXXXX/XXXXXX/XXXXXX/photo.jpg

Authentication Properties

.Token.access_token
    yc23.AlvoZqz56...1lxltXV7D-ZWP9
.Token.token_type
    Bearer
.Token.expires_at
    2019-04-11T22:14:51.0000000+00:00
.Token.TicketCreated
    4/11/2019 9:14:52 PM
.TokenNames
    access_token;token_type;expires_at;TicketCreated
.persistent
.issued
    Thu, 11 Apr 2019 20:51:06 GMT
.expires
    Thu, 25 Apr 2019 20:51:06 GMT

Forward request information with a proxy or load balancer

If the app is deployed behind a proxy server or load balancer, some of the original request information might be forwarded to the app in request headers. This information usually includes the secure request scheme (https), host, and client IP address. Apps don't automatically read these request headers to discover and use the original request information.

The scheme is used in link generation that affects the authentication flow with external providers. Losing the secure scheme (https) results in the app generating incorrect insecure redirect URLs.

Use Forwarded Headers Middleware to make the original request information available to the app for request processing.

For more information, see Configure ASP.NET Core to work with proxy servers and load balancers.

View or download sample code (how to download)

Additional resources

• dotnet/AspNetCore engineering SocialSample app: The linked sample app is on the dotnet/AspNetCore GitHub repo's main engineering branch. The main branch contains code under active development for the next release of ASP.NET Core. To see a version of the sample app for a released version of ASP.NET Core, use the Branch drop down list to select a release branch (for example release/{X.Y}).