How to get error message returned by DotNetOpenAuth.OAuth2 on client side?

Question

I'm using ExchangeUserCredentialForToken function to get the token from the Authorization server. It's working fine when my user exists in my databas, but when the credentials are incorect I would like to send back a message to the client. I'm using the following 2 lines of code to set the error message:

context.SetError("Autorization Error", "The username or password is incorrect!");
context.Rejected();

But on the client side I'm getting only protocol error (error 400). Can you help me how can I get the error message set on the server side on the authorization server?

The full app config from the Authorization server:

using Constants;
using Microsoft.Owin;
using Microsoft.Owin.Security;
using Microsoft.Owin.Security.Cookies;
using Microsoft.Owin.Security.Infrastructure;
using Microsoft.Owin.Security.OAuth;
using Owin;
using System;
using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using System.Linq;
using System.Security.Claims;
using System.Security.Principal;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using AuthorizationServer.Entities;
using AuthorizationServer.Entities.Infrastructure.Abstract;
using AuthorizationServer.Entities.Infrastructure.Concrete;

namespace AuthorizationServer
{
    public partial class Startup
    {
        private IEmployeeRepository Repository;  
        public void ConfigureAuth(IAppBuilder app)
        {
            //instanciate the repository
            Repository = new EmployeeRepository();

            // Enable Application Sign In Cookie
            app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions
            {
                AuthenticationType = "Application",
                AuthenticationMode = AuthenticationMode.Passive,
                LoginPath = new PathString(Paths.LoginPath),
                LogoutPath = new PathString(Paths.LogoutPath),
            });

            // Enable External Sign In Cookie
            app.SetDefaultSignInAsAuthenticationType("External");
            app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions
            {
                AuthenticationType = "External",
                AuthenticationMode = AuthenticationMode.Passive,
                CookieName = CookieAuthenticationDefaults.CookiePrefix + "External",
                ExpireTimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5),
            });

            // Enable google authentication
            app.UseGoogleAuthentication();

            // Setup Authorization Server
            app.UseOAuthAuthorizationServer(new OAuthAuthorizationServerOptions
            {
                AuthorizeEndpointPath = new PathString(Paths.AuthorizePath),
                TokenEndpointPath = new PathString(Paths.TokenPath),
                ApplicationCanDisplayErrors = true,
#if DEBUG
                AllowInsecureHttp = true,
#endif
                // Authorization server provider which controls the lifecycle of Authorization Server
                Provider = new OAuthAuthorizationServerProvider
                {
                    OnValidateClientRedirectUri = ValidateClientRedirectUri,
                    OnValidateClientAuthentication = ValidateClientAuthentication,
                    OnGrantResourceOwnerCredentials = GrantResourceOwnerCredentials,
                    OnGrantClientCredentials = GrantClientCredetails
                },

                // Authorization code provider which creates and receives authorization code
                AuthorizationCodeProvider = new AuthenticationTokenProvider
                {
                    OnCreate = CreateAuthenticationCode,
                    OnReceive = ReceiveAuthenticationCode,
                },

                // Refresh token provider which creates and receives referesh token
                RefreshTokenProvider = new AuthenticationTokenProvider
                {
                    OnCreate = CreateRefreshToken,
                    OnReceive = ReceiveRefreshToken,
                }
            });

            // indicate our intent to use bearer authentication
            app.UseOAuthBearerAuthentication(new OAuthBearerAuthenticationOptions
            {
                AuthenticationType = "Bearer",
                AuthenticationMode = Microsoft.Owin.Security.AuthenticationMode.Active
            });
        }

        private Task ValidateClientRedirectUri(OAuthValidateClientRedirectUriContext context)
        {
            if (context.ClientId == Clients.Client1.Id)
            {
                context.Validated(Clients.Client1.RedirectUrl);
            }
            else if (context.ClientId == Clients.Client2.Id)
            {
                context.Validated(Clients.Client2.RedirectUrl);
            }
            return Task.FromResult(0);
        }

        private Task ValidateClientAuthentication(OAuthValidateClientAuthenticationContext context)
        {

            string clientname;
            string clientpassword;


            if (context.TryGetBasicCredentials(out clientname, out clientpassword) ||
                context.TryGetFormCredentials(out clientname, out clientpassword))
            {
                employee Employee = Repository.GetEmployee(clientname, clientpassword);

                if (Employee != null)
                {
                    context.Validated();
                }
                else
                {
                    context.SetError("Autorization Error", "The username or password is incorrect!");
                    context.Rejected();
                }
            }
            return Task.FromResult(0);
        }

        private Task GrantResourceOwnerCredentials(OAuthGrantResourceOwnerCredentialsContext context)
        {
            var identity = new ClaimsIdentity(new GenericIdentity(context.UserName, OAuthDefaults.AuthenticationType), context.Scope.Select(x => new Claim("urn:oauth:scope", x)));

            context.Validated(identity);

            return Task.FromResult(0);
        }

        private Task GrantClientCredetails(OAuthGrantClientCredentialsContext context)
        {
            var identity = new ClaimsIdentity(new GenericIdentity(context.ClientId, OAuthDefaults.AuthenticationType), context.Scope.Select(x => new Claim("urn:oauth:scope", x)));

            context.Validated(identity);

            return Task.FromResult(0);
        }


        private readonly ConcurrentDictionary<string, string> _authenticationCodes =
            new ConcurrentDictionary<string, string>(StringComparer.Ordinal);

        private void CreateAuthenticationCode(AuthenticationTokenCreateContext context)
        {
            context.SetToken(Guid.NewGuid().ToString("n") + Guid.NewGuid().ToString("n"));
            _authenticationCodes[context.Token] = context.SerializeTicket();
        }

        private void ReceiveAuthenticationCode(AuthenticationTokenReceiveContext context)
        {
            string value;
            if (_authenticationCodes.TryRemove(context.Token, out value))
            {
                context.DeserializeTicket(value);
            }
        }

        private void CreateRefreshToken(AuthenticationTokenCreateContext context)
        {
            context.SetToken(context.SerializeTicket());
        }

        private void ReceiveRefreshToken(AuthenticationTokenReceiveContext context)
        {
            context.DeserializeTicket(context.Token);
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

After hours of searching the web and reading blobs, and the owin documentation, I have found a way to return a 401 for a failed login attempt.

I realize adding the header below is a bit of a hack, but I could not find any way to read the IOwinContext.Response.Body stream to look for the error message.

First of all, In the OAuthAuthorizationServerProvider.GrantResourceOwnerCredentials I used SetError() and added a Headers to the response

context.SetError("Autorization Error", "The username or password is incorrect!");
context.Response.Headers.Add("AuthorizationResponse", new[] { "Failed" });

Now, you have a way to differentiate between a 400 error for a failed athentication request, and a 400 error caused by something else.

The next step is to create a class that inherits OwinMiddleware. This class checks the outgoing response and if the StatusCode == 400 and the Header above is present, it changes the StatucCode to 401.

public class InvalidAuthenticationMiddleware : OwinMiddleware
{
    public InvalidAuthenticationMiddleware(OwinMiddleware next) 
        : base(next)
    {
    }

    public override async Task Invoke(IOwinContext context)
    {
        await Next.Invoke(context);

        if (context.Response.StatusCode == 400 && context.Response.Headers.ContainsKey("AuthorizationResponse"))
        {
            context.Response.Headers.Remove("AuthorizationResponse");
            context.Response.StatusCode = 401;
        }
    }
}

The last thing to do is in your Startup.Configuration method, register the class you just created. I registered it before I did anything else in the method.

app.Use<InvalidAuthenticationMiddleware>();