Security

Wave Server API Access Keys

Wave apps and scripts access the Wave server using access keys via HTTP Basic Authentication.

An application access key is a pair of strings: ID and Secret.

Development

The default ID and secret are the strings access_key_id/access_key_secret, which are set for development convenience, but are obviously not secure.

During development, you can change the default ID and secret when you start the Wave server like this:

$ ./waved -access-key-id <id> -access-key-secret <secret>

If you change the ID and secret, you'll need to ensure that your app or script uses the new credentials by setting the H2O_WAVE_ACCESS_KEY_ID and H2O_WAVE_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET environment variables accordingly.

Production

For production deployments, you should generate cryptographically secure random ID/secret pairs like this:

$ ./waved -create-access-key
SUCCESS!
Make sure to copy your new access key ID and secret now.
You won't be able to see it again!
H2O_WAVE_ACCESS_KEY_ID=ENHL90KR2HZD6X2ZIYLZ
H2O_WAVE_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET=dxQPcenUJJgLes8rxkp7rUj02t2y3hCqBteyvY2I
Your key was also added to the keychain located at
.wave-keychain

The above command also stores the credentials in a file named .wave-keychain in the current working directory. The file format is similar to a .htpasswd file, but always uses bcrypt hashes. Note that the access key secret displayed on the console is not stored anywhere, and cannot be recovered. If you lose the secret, simply generate a new one and reconfigure your app to use the new secret.

You can also make the -create-access-key command use a keychain file located elsewhere, like this:

$ ./waved -create-access-key -access-keychain /path/to/file.extension

The Wave server uses the keychain file to authenticate requests from apps and scripts. By default, it automatically loads the .wave-keychain file if present in the current working directory.

To make the Wave server use a specific keychain file, launch it like this:

$ ./waved -access-keychain /path/to/file.extension

To view a sorted list of all the keys in a keychain file, use -list-access-keys, like this:

$ ./waved -list-access-keys
ENHL90KR2HZD6X2ZIYLZ
IDID44ZK0L7NG8NDD7IC
N8CK63JT6OZIOX2SWALR
PCBTV5TNQKOSAU2EBD6D
VAKQY6QJN3RRQDU5LD0E

To remove a key from a keychain file, use -remove-access-key, like this:

$ ./waved -remove-access-key ENHL90KR2HZD6X2ZIYLZ

To remove a key from a keychain file located elsewhere, do this:

$ ./waved -remove-access-key ENHL90KR2HZD6X2ZIYLZ -access-keychain /path/to/file.extension

HTTPS

To enable HTTP over TLS to secure your Wave server, pass the following flags when starting the Wave server:

  • -tls-cert-file: path to certificate file.
  • -tls-key-file: path to private key file.

Self Signed Certificate

To enable TLS during development, use a self-signed certificate.

To create a private key and a self-signed certificate from scratch, use openssl:

$ openssl req \
-newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout domain.key \
-x509 -days 365 -out domain.crt

The above command creates a 2048-bit private key (domain.key) and a self-signed x509 certificate (domain.crt) valid for 365 days.

Single Sign On

Wave has built-in support for OpenID Connect.

To enable OpenID Connect, pass the following flags when starting the Wave server:

  • -oidc-provider-url: The URL for authentication (the identity provider's URL).
  • -oidc-redirect-url: The URL to redirect back to after authentication. This is typically /_auth/callback appended to the Wave server's address. For example, if the Wave server is running at https://192.168.42.42:80, set this to https://192.168.42.42:80/_auth/callback. If you're testing your app's authorization workflow during development and the Wave server is running at http://localhost:10101, you can set this argument to http://localhost:10101/_auth/callback.
  • -oidc-end-session-url: URL to log out (refer to your identity provider's documentation). This flag is optional and might not be supported by your identity provider.
  • -oidc-client-id: Client ID (refer to your identity provider's documentation).
  • -oidc-client-secret: Client secret (refer to your identity provider's documentation).

Once authenticated, you can access user's authentication and authorization information from your app using q.auth (see the Auth class for details):

from h2o_wave import Q, main, app
@app('/example')
async def serve(q: Q):
print(q.auth.username)
print(q.auth.access_token)
caution

Note that access token is not refreshed automatically and it's not suited for long running jobs. The lifespan of a token depends on a provider settings but usually it's short. Access token is refreshed each time user performs an action i.e. the query handler serve() is called.

App Server API Access Keys

Access to a Wave app is controlled via HTTP Basic Authentication. The basic authentication username/password pair is automatically generated on app launch, and is visible only to the Wave server. You can manually override this behavior by setting the $WAVE_APP_ACCESS_KEY_ID / $WAVE_APP_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET environment variables (for development/testing only - not recommended in production).

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