MVC Custom Authentication, Authorization, and Roles Implementation

Question

Bear with me as I provide details for the issue...

I've got an MVC site, using FormsAuthentication and custom service classes for Authentication, Authorization, Roles/Membership, etc.

Authentication

There are three ways to sign-on: (1) Email + Alias, (2) OpenID, and (3) Username + Password. All three get the user an auth cookie and start a session. The first two are used by visitors (session only) and the third for authors/admin with db accounts.

public class BaseFormsAuthenticationService : IAuthenticationService
{
    // Disperse auth cookie and store user session info.
    public virtual void SignIn(UserBase user, bool persistentCookie)
    {
        var vmUser = new UserSessionInfoViewModel { Email = user.Email, Name = user.Name, Url = user.Url, Gravatar = user.Gravatar };

        if(user.GetType() == typeof(User)) {
            // roles go into view model as string not enum, see Roles enum below.
            var rolesInt = ((User)user).Roles;
            var rolesEnum = (Roles)rolesInt;
            var rolesString = rolesEnum.ToString();
            var rolesStringList = rolesString.Split(',').Select(role => role.Trim()).ToList();
            vmUser.Roles = rolesStringList;
        }

        // i was serializing the user data and stuffing it in the auth cookie
        // but I'm simply going to use the Session[] items collection now, so 
        // just ignore this variable and its inclusion in the cookie below.
        var userData = "";

        var ticket = new FormsAuthenticationTicket(1, user.Email, DateTime.UtcNow, DateTime.UtcNow.AddMinutes(30), false, userData, FormsAuthentication.FormsCookiePath);
        var encryptedTicket = FormsAuthentication.Encrypt(ticket);
        var authCookie = new HttpCookie(FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName, encryptedTicket) { HttpOnly = true };
        HttpContext.Current.Response.Cookies.Add(authCookie);
        HttpContext.Current.Session["user"] = vmUser;
    }
}

Roles

A simple flags enum for permissions:

[Flags]
public enum Roles
{
    Guest = 0,
    Editor = 1,
    Author = 2,
    Administrator = 4
}

Enum extension to help enumerate flag enums (wow!).

public static class EnumExtensions
{
    private static void IsEnumWithFlags<T>()
    {
        if (!typeof(T).IsEnum)
            throw new ArgumentException(string.Format("Type '{0}' is not an enum", typeof (T).FullName));
        if (!Attribute.IsDefined(typeof(T), typeof(FlagsAttribute)))
            throw new ArgumentException(string.Format("Type '{0}' doesn't have the 'Flags' attribute", typeof(T).FullName));
    }

    public static IEnumerable<T> GetFlags<T>(this T value) where T : struct
    {
        IsEnumWithFlags<T>();
        return from flag in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)).Cast<T>() let lValue = Convert.ToInt64(value) let lFlag = Convert.ToInt64(flag) where (lValue & lFlag) != 0 select flag;
    }
}

Authorization

Service offers methods for checking an authenticated user's roles.

public class AuthorizationService : IAuthorizationService
{
    // Convert role strings into a Roles enum flags using the additive "|" (OR) operand.
    public Roles AggregateRoles(IEnumerable<string> roles)
    {
        return roles.Aggregate(Roles.Guest, (current, role) => current | (Roles)Enum.Parse(typeof(Roles), role));
    }

    // Checks if a user's roles contains Administrator role.
    public bool IsAdministrator(Roles userRoles)
    {
        return userRoles.HasFlag(Roles.Administrator);
    }

    // Checks if user has ANY of the allowed role flags.
    public bool IsUserInAnyRoles(Roles userRoles, Roles allowedRoles)
    {
        var flags = allowedRoles.GetFlags();
        return flags.Any(flag => userRoles.HasFlag(flag));
    }

    // Checks if user has ALL required role flags.
    public bool IsUserInAllRoles(Roles userRoles, Roles requiredRoles)
    {
        return ((userRoles & requiredRoles) == requiredRoles);
    }

    // Validate authorization
    public bool IsAuthorized(UserSessionInfoViewModel user, Roles roles)
    {
        // convert comma delimited roles to enum flags, and check privileges.
        var userRoles = AggregateRoles(user.Roles);
        return IsAdministrator(userRoles) || IsUserInAnyRoles(userRoles, roles);
    }
}

I chose to use this in my controllers via an attribute:

public class AuthorizationFilter : IAuthorizationFilter
{
    private readonly IAuthorizationService _authorizationService;
    private readonly Roles _authorizedRoles;

    /// <summary>
    /// Constructor
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>The AuthorizedRolesAttribute is used on actions and designates the 
    /// required roles. Using dependency injection we inject the service, as well 
    /// as the attribute's constructor argument (Roles).</remarks>
    public AuthorizationFilter(IAuthorizationService authorizationService, Roles authorizedRoles)
    {
        _authorizationService = authorizationService;
        _authorizedRoles = authorizedRoles;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Uses injected authorization service to determine if the session user 
    /// has necessary role privileges.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>As authorization code runs at the action level, after the 
    /// caching module, our authorization code is hooked into the caching 
    /// mechanics, to ensure unauthorized users are not served up a 
    /// prior-authorized page. 
    /// Note: Special thanks to TheCloudlessSky on StackOverflow.
    /// </remarks>
    public void OnAuthorization(AuthorizationContext filterContext)
    {
        // User must be authenticated and Session not be null
        if (!filterContext.HttpContext.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated || filterContext.HttpContext.Session == null)
            HandleUnauthorizedRequest(filterContext);
        else {
            // if authorized, handle cache validation
            if (_authorizationService.IsAuthorized((UserSessionInfoViewModel)filterContext.HttpContext.Session["user"], _authorizedRoles)) {
                var cache = filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Cache;
                cache.SetProxyMaxAge(new TimeSpan(0));
                cache.AddValidationCallback((HttpContext context, object o, ref HttpValidationStatus status) => AuthorizeCache(context), null);
            }
            else
                HandleUnauthorizedRequest(filterContext);             
        }
    }

I decorate Actions in my Controllers with this attribute, and like Microsoft's [Authorize] no params means let in anyone authenticated (for me it is Enum = 0, no required roles).

That about wraps up the background info (phew)... and writing all this out I answered my first question. At this point I am curious about the appropriateness of my setup:

1. Do I need to manually snag the auth cookie and populate the FormsIdentity principal for the HttpContext or should that be automatic?

2. Any issues with checking authentication within the attribute/filter OnAuthorization()?

3. What are tradeoffs in using Session[] to store my view model vs. serializing it within the auth cookie?

4. Does this solution seem to follow the 'separation of concerns' ideals well enough? (Bonus as it is more opinion-oriented question)

Answer 1

While I think you're doing a fine job with this, I question why you are recreating the wheel. Since microsoft provides a system for this, called Membership and Role Providers. Why not just write a custom membership and role provider, then you don't have to create your own authization attribute and/or filters and can just use the inbuilt one.