Two Factor Authentication

This article explains 2FA implementation in Aidbox

Two Factor Authentication is not supported for external OAuth 2.0 providers

Aidbox supports Two Factor Authentication with TOTP (time-based one-time passwords). This article explains how to enable 2FA for a user, login with one-time password, and get an access token for your application. Familiarity with OAuth 2.0 and TOTP is suggested.

Try demo app with 2FA implementation

We've prepared the demo Python/TypeScript app with Devbox, so you can run everything in your local environment. The implemented scenario includes signup and login user flows.

Clone the open-source application repository. Follow the instructions to see how does 2FA work.

First of all, you need to define 3 resources in the manifest.py file

1. AuthConfig

AuthConfig resource is required for 2FA process. In the demo app, we've generated the following AuthConfig with the name app.

AuthConfig app

twoFactor:
  webhook:
    headers:
      Authorization: Basic dHdvLWZhY3Rvci13ZWJob29rOnR3by1mYWN0b3Itd2ViaG9vaw==
    endpoint: 'http://devbox:8080/webhook/two-factor-confirmation'
  issuerName: Demo
  validPastTokensCount: 5
id: app
resourceType: AuthConfig

AuthConfig attribute	meaning
twoFactor.issuerName	Name of the TOTP token issuer that is shown in authenticator
twoFactor.validPastTokensCount	Number of previous tokens that are considered valid. Used to improve user experience if standard 30 seconds token lifetime is not enough.
twoFactor.webhook.endpoint	Endpoint to send the TOTP token to during login. Used to support scenarios when it's not possible to use the mobile authenticator. For instance, a service integrated with twilio may listen on this address.
twoFactor.webhook.timeout	Timeout for webhook in milliseconds
twoFactor.webhook.headers	Key-value headers for webhook
theme.styleUrl	URL to external stylesheet to customise how the authentication form looks like
theme.title	Title to use on the authentication form
theme.brand	URL for the brand image

2. Client

Client resource is required for 2FA process. In the demo app we've generated the following Client resource with the name "web"ya

auth:
  implicit:
    redirect_uri: 'http://localhost:3000/auth'
first_party: true
grant_types:
  - implicit
id: web
resourceType: Client

Read more about Client resource configuration here

3. Provider

Provider resource belongs to the AidboxConfig. It defines the transport for sending email notifications, which is part of the signup flow. Since we do not want to send real emails in the demo app, we'll send notifications to the Console output stream. You can find the generated Provider resource below

provider:
  console:
    type: console
  default: console
id: provider
resourceType: AidboxConfig

2FA Form

When the user scans the QR code and enters the token, he is redirected to the 2FA settings page. Aidbox saves that 2FA is enabled for this user into the User.twoFactor attribute.

Next time when the user logs into the system, the TOTP authentication page will be shown. Using the mobile authenticator (or any other transport) the user enters the code and gets redirected to the application. You can configure which OAuth 2.0 flow by changing Client configuration and login endpoint query parameters.

Disable 2FA

To disable 2FA for a particular user, redirect the user to the following URL. When the user enters a token, they get redirected to the 2FA settings page. Aidbox sets User.twoFactor.enabled to false.

GET /auth/two-factor/disable