- Sep 2022
- Jan 2022
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www.freecodecamp.org www.freecodecamp.org
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The most obvious time you'd encounter a 401 error, on the other hand, is when you have not logged in at all, or have provided the incorrect password.
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www.rfc-editor.org www.rfc-editor.org
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The server generating a 401 response MUST send a WWW-Authenticate header field (Section 4.1) containing at least one challenge applicable to the target resource.
Meaning that 99% of the people use it are using it "wrong" because they're not using it for HTTP authentication and don't send a WWW-Authenticate header field with their 401 response?
Hmm. That's a tough one. On the one hand, the spec does say they must send it.
Initial opinion
But on the other hand, one could argue that that requirement only applies if using 401 for HTTP authentication. And that saying it's wrong to do so (as they claim at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3297048/403-forbidden-vs-401-unauthorized-http-responses/14713094#14713094 and https://hyp.is/JA45zHotEeybDdM_In4frQ/stackoverflow.com/questions/3297048/403-forbidden-vs-401-unauthorized-http-responses) is having a too strict/narrow/literal interpretation.
HTTP is meant to be used widely in many very different uses and contexts, most of which do not use this very specific HTTP authentication scheme; my opinion is that they shouldn't be denied from using it, just because they don't have anything useful WWW-Authenticate header field. (Or (which is also fine with me), just put something "emptyish" in the field, like "Unused". Unless that would trigger a Basic auth modal in the browser, in which case we shouldn't, for practical reasons.)
Why shouldn't we be able to repurpose this same status code for uses that are still authentication, but just not HTTP authentication per se?
Is it really wrong to repurpose this useful status code for other contexts, like cookie-based app-defined authentication systems?
I say that it's okay to repurpose/reuse 401 for any authentication system (that uses HTTP as a part of it, even though not using HTTP's own authentication system), as long as we try to maintain the same semantic as originally intended/described here. I think it's okay to use 401 as a response to a XHR request, and then have the client redirect to a login page, which provides a way to authenticate again (reattempt the authentication challenge), analogous to how it works for HTTP authentication.
Revised opinion
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3297048/403-forbidden-vs-401-unauthorized-http-responses/14713094#14713094 has made me change my mind and convinced me that...
Authentication by schemes outside of (not defined by) RFC7235: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Authentication should not use HTTP status 401, because 401 Unauthorized is only defined (by current RFCs) by RFC7235: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Authentication, and has semantics and requirements (such as the requirement that "A server generating a 401 (Unauthorized) response MUST send a WWW-Authenticate header field containing at least one challenge.") that simply don't make sense or cannot be fulfilled if using a non-HTTP authentication scheme.
403 Forbidden, on the other hand, is defined by the broader HTTP standard, in RFC7231: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content and RFC7235: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Authentication.
In conclusion, if you have your own roll-your-own login process and never use HTTP Authentication, 403 is always the proper response and 401 should never be used.
Couldn't a custom auth system use WWW-Authenticate header?
The question was asked:
Doesn't RFC7235 provide for "roll-your-own" or alternate auth challenges? Why can't my app's login flow present its challenge in the form of a WWW-Authenticate header? Even if a browser doesn't support it, my React app can...
And I would say sure, if you want (and if the browser doesn't automatically show a Basic auth modal in this case and thwart your plans).
They might be on to something here with that question!
But that should probably be the test of whether you can/should use 401: are you actually using WWW-Authenticate header?
Indeed I found an example where it is used for OAuth2.
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stackoverflow.com stackoverflow.com
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Authentication by schemes outside of RFC2617 is not supported in HTTP status codes and are not considered when deciding whether to use 401 or 403.
What does "are not considered when deciding whether to use 401 or 403" mean exactly? What exactly should not be considered, and what exactly should be considered instead? In other words, how did someone arrive at the conclusion that "if you have your own roll-your-own login process and never use HTTP Authentication, 403 is always the proper response and 401 should never be used."? Why is 403 okay to use for non-HTTP authentication, but not 401?
Oh, I think I understand the difference now.
They should have said:
Authentication by schemes outside of (not defined by) RFC7235: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Authentication should not use HTTP status 401, because 401 Unauthorized is only defined (by current RFCs) by RFC7235: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Authentication, and has semantics and requirements (such as the requirement that "A server generating a 401 (Unauthorized) response MUST send a WWW-Authenticate header field containing at least one challenge.") that simply don't make sense or cannot be fulfilled if using a non-HTTP authentication scheme.
403 Forbidden, on the other hand, is defined by the broader HTTP standard, in RFC7231: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Semantics and Content and RFC7235: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Authentication.
In conclusion, if you have your own roll-your-own login process and never use HTTP Authentication, 403 is always the proper response and 401 should never be used.
See also my comments in https://hyp.is/p1iCnnowEeyUPl9PxO8BuQ/www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7235
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Meaning if you have your own roll-your-own login process and never use HTTP Authentication, 403 is always the proper response and 401 should never be used.
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If HTTP authentication is not in use and the service has a cookie-based authentication scheme as is the norm nowadays, then a 403 or a 404 should be returned.
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The statement is "If the request already included Authorization credentials". That means if this is a response from a request which provided the credential (e.g. the response from a RFC2617 Authentication attempt). It is essentially to allow the server to say, "Bad account/password pair, try again". In the posed question, the user is presumably authenticated but not authorized. 401 is never the appropriate response for those circumstances.
See my comments in https://hyp.is/p1iCnnowEeyUPl9PxO8BuQ/www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7235
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401 is only appropriate for HTTP Authentication
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I'm using both - the 401 for unauthenticated users, the 403 for authenticated users with insufficient permissions.
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From your use case, it appears that the user is not authenticated. I would return 401.
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There's a problem with 401 Unauthorized, the HTTP status code for authentication errors. And that’s just it: it’s for authentication, not authorization. Receiving a 401 response is the server telling you, “you aren’t authenticated–either not authenticated at all or authenticated incorrectly–but please reauthenticate and try again.” To help you out, it will always include a WWW-Authenticate header that describes how to authenticate.
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So, for authorization I use the 403 Forbidden response. It’s permanent, it’s tied to my application logic, and it’s a more concrete response than a 401. Receiving a 403 response is the server telling you, “I’m sorry. I know who you are–I believe who you say you are–but you just don’t have permission to access this resource. Maybe if you ask the system administrator nicely, you’ll get permission. But please don’t bother me again until your predicament changes.”
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401 'Unauthorized' should be 401 'Unauthenticated', problem solved !
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UNAUTHORIZED: Status code (401) indicating that the request requires authentication, usually this means user needs to be logged-in (session). User/agent unknown by the server. Can repeat with other credentials. NOTE: This is confusing as this should have been named 'unauthenticated' instead of 'unauthorized'.
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+----------------------- | RESOURCE EXISTS ? (if private it is often checked AFTER auth check) +----------------------- | | NO | v YES v +----------------------- 404 | IS LOGGED-IN ? (authenticated, aka user session) or +----------------------- 401 | | 403 NO | | YES 3xx v v 401 +----------------------- (404 no reveal) | CAN ACCESS RESOURCE ? (permission, authorized, ...) or +----------------------- redirect | | to login NO | | YES | | v v 403 OK 200, redirect, ... (or 404: no reveal) (or 404: resource does not exist if private) (or 3xx: redirection)
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I would expect that 401 to be named "Unauthenticated" and 403 to be named "Unauthorized". It is very confusing that 401, which has to do with Authentication,
Tags
- easy to confuse (mix up)
- good point
- important point
- I disagree
- system architecture/design diagram/illustration
- I agree
- clear (easy to understand)
- HTTP 401: only use it for HTTP authentication
- HTTP 401 vs 403
- +0.9
- definition
- authentication
- HTTP authentication
- misnomer
- HTTP status codes
- flowchart
- important distinction
- confusing
- flow diagram
- HTTP 403
- simple explanation
- strict/narrow/literal interpretation
- HTTP 401
Annotators
URL
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datatracker.ietf.org datatracker.ietf.orgrfc72351
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The server generating a 401 response MUST send a WWW-Authenticate header field (Section 4.1) containing at least one challenge applicable to the target resource.
Moved this comment to: https://hyp.is/p1iCnnowEeyUPl9PxO8BuQ/www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7235
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flaviabastos.ca flaviabastos.ca
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If the ticket is incorrect or damaged, you cannot even go through the airport security: when they check your ticket, it will be refused. You are Forbidden to enter the boarding area of the airport.
It depends what we mean by "incorrect"/damaged "credentials ("ticket")...
A. If they are invalid or incorrect in the sense that we can't authenticate them as anyone (as it sounds like you mean with "incorrect" or "damaged") (they're not a user in our database or the password doesn't match a user in our database), then you should actually use 401, meaning that the client can/should try (again) to authenticate with different credentials.
B. But if by "incorrect" you mean (as it sounds like you mean with "you cannot even go through the airport security: when they check your ticket, it will be refused") that the credentials were valid enough to authenticate you as someone (a user in our database), but that (known( user has insufficient credentials, then correct, it should be a 403 forbidden.
It's even easier to explain / think about if you just think of 401 as being used for any missing or failed authentication. See:
- https://hyp.is/3fuPiHooEeyZc5cn4Q1uXg/stackoverflow.com/questions/3297048/403-forbidden-vs-401-unauthorized-http-responses
- https://hyp.is/oxI0uHonEeyZYvdQFZIEUQ/stackoverflow.com/questions/3297048/403-forbidden-vs-401-unauthorized-http-responses
- https://hyp.is/pB2XuHomEeyax28Y6vxcOg/stackoverflow.com/questions/3297048/403-forbidden-vs-401-unauthorized-http-responses
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These two sound pretty similar to me. And to make things even more confusing, 403 “Forbidden” says that the server refuses to “authorize” the request but it’s code 401 that is called “Unauthorized”. 😵
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www.loggly.com www.loggly.com
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Indicates that though the request was valid, the server refuses to respond to it. Unlike the 401 status code, providing authentication will not change the outcome.
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401 Unauthorized The requestor is not authorized to access the resource. This is similar to 402 but is used in cases where authentication is expected but has failed or has not been provided.
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guides.rubyonrails.org guides.rubyonrails.org
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401 :unauthorized
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blog.mestwin.net blog.mestwin.net
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You’d like to access the content of the resource but you’re not logged in (so not authenticated yet). The server will return you a 401 error. You need to log in to be able to access the resource.
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- Jun 2021
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disqus.com disqus.com
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Handling 401s well is important for the user's experience. They won't happen often (though more often than I expected), but really do break everything if you're not careful. Getting a good authentication abstraction library for Vue or Ember or whatever you are using should help with a lot of the boring parts. You'll probably need to define some extra strategies/rules for this cookie session approach, but if it's anything like in ember-simple-auth they're so simple it feels like cheating, because the Rails app is doing all of the hard work and you just need the js part to spot a 401 and handle logging in and retrying whatever it was doing before.
Tags
Annotators
URL
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developer.mozilla.org developer.mozilla.org
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This status is sent with a WWW-Authenticate header that contains information on how to authorize correctly.
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The HTTP 401 Unauthorized client error status response code indicates that the request has not been applied because it lacks valid authentication credentials for the target resource.
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en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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Similar to 403 Forbidden, but specifically for use when authentication is required and has failed or has not yet been provided. The response must include a WWW-Authenticate header field containing a challenge applicable to the requested resource.
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