Web API OData Security per Entity

Question

Background:
I have a very large OData model that is currently using WCF Data Services (OData) to expose it. However, Microsoft has stated that WCF Data Services is dead and that Web API OData is the way they will be going.

So I am researching ways to get Web API OData to work as well as WCF Data Services.

Problem Setup:
Some parts of the model do not need to be secured but some do. For example, the Customers list needs security to restrict who can read it, but I have other lists, like the list of Products, that any one can view.

The Customers entity has many many associations that can reach it. If you count 2+ level associations, the are many hundreds of ways that Customers can be reached (via associations). For example Prodcuts.First().Orders.First().Customer. Since Customers are the core of my system, you can start with most any entity and eventually associate your way to the Customers list.

WCF Data Services has a way for me to put security on a specific entity via a method like this:

[QueryInterceptor("Customers")]
public Expression<Func<Customer, bool>> CheckCustomerAccess()
{
     return DoesCurrentUserHaveAccessToCustomers();
}

As I look at Web API OData, I am not seeing anything like this. Plus I am very concerned because the controllers I am making don't seem to get called when an association is followed. (Meaning I can't put security in the CustomersController.)

I am worried that I will have to try to somehow enumerate all the ways that associations can some how get to customers and put security on each one.

Question:
Is there a way to put security on a specific entity in Web API OData? (Without having to enumerate all the associations that could somehow expand down to that entity?)

Answer 1

UPDATE: At this point in time I would recommend that you follow the solution posted by vaccano, which is based on input from the OData team.

What you need to do is to create a new Attribute inheriting from EnableQueryAttribute for OData 4 (or QuerableAttribute depending on which version of Web API\OData you are talking with) and override the ValidateQuery (its the same method as when inheriting from QuerableAttribute) to check for the existence of a suitable SelectExpand attribute.

To setup a new fresh project to test this do the following:

1. Create a new ASP.Net project with Web API 2
2. Create your entity framework data context.
3. Add a new "Web API 2 OData Controller ..." controller.
4. In the WebApiConfigRegister(...) method add the below:

Code:

ODataConventionModelBuilder builder = new ODataConventionModelBuilder();

builder.EntitySet<Customer>("Customers");
builder.EntitySet<Order>("Orders");
builder.EntitySet<OrderDetail>("OrderDetails");

config.Routes.MapODataServiceRoute("odata", "odata", builder.GetEdmModel());

//config.AddODataQueryFilter();
config.AddODataQueryFilter(new SecureAccessAttribute());

In the above, Customer, Order and OrderDetail are my entity framework entities. The config.AddODataQueryFilter(new SecureAccessAttribute()) registers my SecureAccessAttribute for use.

5. SecureAccessAttribute is implemented as below:

Code:

public class SecureAccessAttribute : EnableQueryAttribute
{
    public override void ValidateQuery(HttpRequestMessage request, ODataQueryOptions queryOptions)
    {
        if(queryOptions.SelectExpand != null
            && queryOptions.SelectExpand.RawExpand != null
            && queryOptions.SelectExpand.RawExpand.Contains("Orders"))
        {
            //Check here if user is allowed to view orders.
            throw new InvalidOperationException();
        }

        base.ValidateQuery(request, queryOptions);
    }
}

Please note that I allow access to the Customers controller, but I limit access to Orders. The only Controller I have implemented is the one below:

public class CustomersController : ODataController
{
    private Entities db = new Entities();

    [SecureAccess(MaxExpansionDepth=2)]
    public IQueryable<Customer> GetCustomers()
    {
        return db.Customers;
    }

    // GET: odata/Customers(5)
    [EnableQuery]
    public SingleResult<Customer> GetCustomer([FromODataUri] int key)
    {
        return SingleResult.Create(db.Customers.Where(customer => customer.Id == key));
    }
}

6. Apply the attribute in ALL actions that you want to secure. It works exactly as the EnableQueryAttribute. A complete sample (including Nuget packages end everything, making this a 50Mb download) can be found here: http://1drv.ms/1zRmmVj

I just want to also comment a bit on some other solutions:

1. Leyenda's solution does not work simply because it is the other way around, but otherwise was super close! The truth is that the builder will look in the entity framework to expand properties and will not hit the Customers controller at all! I do not even have one, and if you remove the security attribute, it will still retrieve the orders just fine if you add the expand command to your query.
2. Setting the model builder will prohibit access to the entities you removed globally and from everyone, so it is not a good solution.
3. Feng Zhao's solution could work, but you would have to manually remove the items you wanted to secure in every query, everywhere, which is not a good solution.