API Key Authentication

API Key Authentication in Choreo Connect is a simple authentication scheme that accepts a valid self-contained JWT token issued for accessing APIs. Since self-contained tokens can have all authorization information, the token processing time is fast and more efficient. The common practice is to have a short expiration time for self-contained access tokens.

Select one of the methods given below to enable API Key Authentication for an API depending on the Choreo Connect mode you are using.

Mode Method
Choreo Connect with MWARE ESB as a Control Plane Secure APIs with API Keys via API-M
Choreo Connect as a Standalone Gateway Update the OpenAPI definition of the API

Tip

Following is the config added to Choreo Connect by default for API Key Authentication. To change the default settings, add this to config.toml and update as required.

[[enforcer.security.tokenService]]
# Provide unique name for the JWT issuer
name = "APIM APIkey"
validateSubscription = true
# Alias name given in Enforcer truststore for the public certificate of the JWT issuer
certificateAlias = "apikey_certificate_alias"
# Certificate Filepath within Enforcer
certificateFilePath = "/home/wso2/security/truststore/wso2carbon.pem"

More information can be found in Configure an External Key Manager.

Update the OpenAPI definition of the API

When deploying via MWARE ESB, the already existing API Key security schemes defined in the OpenAPI definition will be overridden as you configure API security from the Publisher Portal. Therefore, making changes via the ESB Publisher UI is sufficient. Use the following steps to enable API Key authentication when deploying an API using apictl, in other words, during standalone mode.

Step 1 - Define the API Key security scheme

Security schemes must be defined in the OpenAPI definition under securitySchemes. One or more API Key security schemes can be used simultaneously, similar to a logical OR operator. Define the API Key security scheme as follows:

Field Name Description
name Header name or query key for the APIKey.
in This can be either header or query.
type Specify apiKey as the type.

The following example defines an API Key security scheme named apiKeyAuth, which expects X-API-Key as a request header. Here, apiKeyAuth is the name provided for the security scheme and X-API-Key is the name for the header.

Note

The following example shows how to define API Key security schemes in OAS3. If you are using an OAS2 API definition, go to this Swagger document to get more information on defining API Key security in OAS2.

# step 1 - Define the API Key security scheme
components:
 securitySchemes:
   ApiKeyAuth:        # arbitrary name for the security scheme
     type: apiKey
     in: header       # can be "header" or "query" 
     name: X-API-KEY  # name of the header or query parameter
   appId:             # you can define several API Key security schemas
     type: apiKey
     in: header
     name: X-APP-ID

Step 2 - Apply the API Key Authentication security scheme

A security scheme can be specified at a resource level or to the whole API by using the security section as applicable. The following is an example of how to apply a security scheme to a resource. A resource-level security scheme will override an API-level security scheme. The ApiKeyAuth security scheme that has been defined has been referred to from the /pet/{petId}: resource by using the security section. For more information, refer to the Swagger documentation on API Keys.

  • Operation-specific security

The following code snippet is an example of how the API key can be applied to a specific resource.

 # step 2 - Specify the API Key security in operation level
 "/pet/{petId}":
   get:
     tags:
       - pet
     summary: Find pet by ID
     description: Returns a single pet
     operationId: getPetById
     parameters:
       - name: petId
         in: path
         description: ID of pet to return
         required: true
         schema:
           type: integer
           format: int64
     security:
       - ApiKeyAuth: []

  • API Level security

    The following code snippet is an example of how the API key can be applied globally to all operations.

    # step 2 - Specify the API Key security in api level
security:
 - ApiKeyAuth: []

Step 3 - Generate an API Key

Currently, only API Keys issued by MWARE ESB are allowed. Hence, you need a valid API Key issued for the particular API Name and the version from MWARE ESB. Follow the steps mentioned on generating the API Key documentation to generate an API Key from ESB.

Step 4 - Invoke the API using the API Key

Use one of the following options to invoke APIs using an API key based on the method that you used to define API Key Authentication in step 1.

  • API key defined in the OpenAPI definition security schemes

    Execute the following cURL command to invoke APIs when the API key is defined in the OpenAPI definition security schemes.

    curl -k -X GET "<API_URL>" -H  "accept: application/json" -H  "<Header name>: <API Key>"
    curl -k -X GET "https://localhost:9095/petstore/v1/pet/1" -H  "accept: application/json" -H  "X-API-KEY: eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsICJ0eXAiOiJqd3QiLCAia2lkIjoiYmFsbGVyaW5hIn0=.eyJzdWIiOiJhZG1pbiIsICJpc3MiOiJodHRwczovL2xvY2FsaG9zdDo5MDk1L2FwaWtleSIsICJpYXQiOjE1ODAxMDUzOTAsICJqdGkiOiI3OTFiNzAyMC1kN2U2LTRmYmEtYmMyMy1lMzk5YTVlNmYzYjciLCAiYXVkIjoiaHR0cDovL29yZy53c28yLmFwaW1ndC9nYXRld2F5IiwgImtleXR5cGUiOiJQUk9EVUNUSU9OIiwgImFsbG93ZWRBUElzIjpbXX0=.f-86LfD7lLq-0oM1V1u1dLW7fWcydH4MElWVxUfRTGGRiXHhh8VrS5q18LdCtH1E1jav5pPZpdDQgQUvhVYNXVqiipydfJFOMbDysA0Jdakmh_TVmeZRHhIYgzcVHQNnXMcYXg7Ns4QPBvJVONfbmDluuiU_uFnOPBiXj2N4HL2OTLgVXkEoVTEpL0mmaO2Ab4ZHqKW5xj32aeK8sEAtU5Nd3rQOGvfEwL7xvx4JAmza8ka0eYt7c4QCPVcDSVOkdas9njlsvEdtka5GRL9PAx3xg370phSD1cji6WSRlZhEGzuq6hjLbCqsf17KvZgK1zbrEbSypjgegEe-any3EQ=="
    {"id":1,"category":{"id":0},"name":"tested","photoUrls":[],"tags":[],"status":"tested"}

Additional Information

Choreo Connect API Key Authentication supports API key restriction for IP address and HTTP referrer.

1) IP address restriction

The IP address restriction allows only the clients with specific IP addresses to use the token. The IP addresses can be specified in the following formats.

  • IPv4 (e.g., 192.168.1.2)
  • IPv6 (e.g., 2002:eb8::2)
  • IP range in CIDR notation (e.g. 152.12.0.0/13, 1001:ab8::/14)

Generating an API key with an IP restriction

  1. Navigate to API key generation window of the specific application in the Developer Portal.

  2. Select IP Addresses, add the IP addresses in the text input as shown below, and generate the key.

IP Restricted API key

2) HTTP referrer restriction

When the HTTP referrer restriction has been enabled, only the specific HTTP referrers can use the token. Therefore, by using this restriction, when API clients run on web browsers, you can limit the access to an API through only specific web pages. The referrer can be specified in the following formats.

  • A specific URL with an exact path: www.example.com/path
  • Any URL in a single subdomain, using a wildcard asterisk (*): sub.example.com/*
  • Any subdomain or path URLs in a single domain, using wildcard asterisks (*): *.example.com/*

Generating an API key with the HTTP referrer restriction

  1. Navigate to API key generation window of that specific application in the Developer Portal.

  2. Select HTTP Referrers (Web Sites) and add the referrers in the text input as shown below and generate the key.

HTTP Referer Restricted API key

You may use the following to reconfigure API Authentication related configs.

[[enforcer.security.tokenService]]
name = "APIM APIkey"
validateSubscription = true
certificateAlias = "apikey_certificate_alias"
certificateFilePath = "/home/wso2/security/truststore/wso2carbon.pem"
Parameter Description
name Name of the token service and must not be changed
certificateAlias Alias name to be used by the internal Enforcer truststore for the public certificate of the JWT issuer
certificateFilePath Certificate file path within the Enforcer container
validateSubscription Whether to validate subscriptions. **If disabled**, a single API key may be used against any API in the same Choreo Connect instance since only the JWT signature would be validated procedure. When set to true, subscription validation is done as given below depending on the Choreo Connect mode.

- For Choreo Connect with MWARE ESB as a Control Plane - Check against the subscriptions received from the Control Plane in order to validate the mapping between the invoked API and application info in the API key JWT claims.

- For Choreo Connect as a Standalone Gateway - Check the metadata of the invoked API against the API details included in the API key claims.

During the absence of the above config section, the following will be referred if present to support backward compatibility.

[[enforcer.security.tokenService]]
name = "APIM Publisher"
issuer = "https://localhost:9443/publisher"
validateSubscription = true
certificateAlias = ""
certificateFilePath = "/home/wso2/security/truststore/wso2carbon.pem"

See also

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