Access system interface

• US 7,458,096 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2006
• Issued: 11/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gupta, Minoo, Knouse, Charles W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Song; Hosuk
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dada; Beemnet W
• Application Number:
  US11/588,604
• Publication Number:
  US 20070044144A1
• Time in Patent Office: 760 Days
• Field of Search: 726 4- 8, 726 17- 19, 713/168, 709/225, 709/226, 709/229
• US Class Current: 726/8
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding

Abstract

An access system provides identity management and/or access management services for a network. An application program interface for the access system enables an application without a web agent front end to read and use contents of an existing encrypted cookie to bypass authentication and proceed to authorization. A web agent is a component (usually software, but can be hardware or a combination of hardware and software) that plugs into (or otherwise integrates with) a web server (or equivalent) in order to participate in providing access services.

Claims

1. A method for providing access services, the method comprising:

receiving user session state information for a first user, the user session state information is from an application without a web agent front end, the user session state information is from a cookie stored on a client for the first user, the user session state information is encrypted, and receiving the user session state information includes decrypting the user session state information;

receiving a request to authorize the first user to access a first resource, the request to authorize is from the application without a web agent front end;

providing authorization services to the application without a web agent front end in an attempt to authorize the first user to access the first resource without requiring the first user to re-submit authentication credentials;

receiving a request from the application without a web agent front end for unencrypted data from the user session state information; and

providing the unencrypted data from the user session state information to the application without a web agent front end, the application without a web agent front end does not have access to a key to decrypt the user session state information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the unencrypted data includes an identity for the first user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the session state information was created by an access system; and

the access system performs attempting to authorize.

4. The method of claim 1,wherein:

the user session state information was created by an access system and provided to the application without a web agent front end by the access system;

the application without a web agent front end caused the session token to be stored in the cookie; and

the access system attempts to authorize the first user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user session state information includes:

an identity for the first user;

an authentication level for the first user; and

a session start time for the first user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource request information includes:

an identification of a resource type;

an identification of a resource; and

an identification of an operation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource request information includes:

an identification of a resource type;

an identification of a resource;

an identification of an operation; and

query string information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource request information includes:

an identification of a resource type;

an identification of a resource;

an identification of an operation; and

post data information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the attempt to authorize is based on the user session state information and the resource request information.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a resource request object, the resource request object represents a request to access the first resource; and

creating a user session object, the user session object represents the first user after the first user has been authenticated.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the first resource is protected;

determining an authentication scheme for the first resource; and

determining whether the authentication scheme is satisfied based on the user session state information.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

making available to the application without a web agent front end an indication of whether the first resource is protected; and

making available to the application without a web agent front end an indication of the authentication scheme.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more authentication actions for the first resource.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising making available to the application without a web agent front end an indication of the one or more authentication actions for the first resource.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising performing at least one of the authentication actions for the first resource.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more authorization actions for the first resource.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising making available to the application without a web agent front end an indication of the one or more authorization actions for the first resource.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising performing at least one of the authorization actions for the first resource.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining one or more audit rules for the first resource.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising making available to the application without a web agent front end an indication of the one or more audit rules for the first resource.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising performing at least one of the audit rules for the first resource.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising allowing the first user to access the first resource if the first user is authorized to access the first resource.

23. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on the processor readable storage devices, the processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

receiving user session state information for a first user, the user session state information is from an application without a web agent front end, the user session state information is from a cookie stored on a client for the first user, the user session state information is encrypted, and receiving the user session state information includes decrypting the user session state information;

receiving a request to authorize the first user to access a first resource, the request to authorize is from the application without a web agent front end;

providing authorization services to the application without a web agent front end in an attempt to authorize the first user to access the first resource without requiring the first user to re-submit authentication credentials;

receiving a request from the application without a web agent front end for unencrypted data from the user session state information; and

providing the unencrypted data from the user session state information to the application without a web agent front end, the application without a web agent front end does not have access to a key to decrypt the user session state information.

24. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 23, wherein:

the session state information was created by an access system; and

the access system attempts to authorize the first user.

25. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 23, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether the first resource is protected;

determining an authentication scheme for the first resource;

determining whether the authentication scheme is satisfied based on the user session state information;

making available to the application without a web agent front end an indication of whether the first resource is protected; and

making available to the application without a web agent front end an indication of the authentication scheme.

26. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 23, wherein the method further comprises:

determining one or more authorization actions for the first resource; and

making available to the application without a web agent front end an indication of the one or more authorization actions for the first resource.

27. One or more processor readable storage devices according to claim 23, further comprising:

allowing the first user to access the first resource if the first user is authorized to access the first resource.

28. A system comprising:

a client;

at least one application without a web agent front end adapted to receive a request from the client for a first user to access a first resource, the request includes information from a cookie wherein the information from the cookie is encrypted and the application without a web agent front end does not have access to a key for decrypting the information from the cookie;

an access sewer adapted to provide authorization services for requests to access the first resource wherein the access server is adapted to receive the information from the cookie and a request from the at least one application without a web agent front end to authorize the first user to access the first resource, provide the authorization services to the at least one application without a web agent front end by attempting to authorize the first user to access the first resource based on information from the request from the first user and based on the information from the cookie wherein the application without a web agent front end requests unencrypted data from the information from the cookie and the application without a web agent front end receives the unencrypted data uses the unencrypted data for an access system service.