Authenticate users

IDM stores two types of users in its repository—internal users and managed users.

Internal users

Internal users are special user accounts that are stored separately from regular users to protect them from any reconciliation or synchronization processes. When IDM first starts up, it creates three internal users in the repository by default—openidm-admin, anonymous, and idm-provisioning:

openidm-admin: This user serves as the top-level administrator and has full access to all IDM resources. This account provides a fallback mechanism in the event that other users are locked out of their accounts. Do not use openidm-admin for regular tasks. Under normal circumstances, the openidm-admin account does not represent a regular user, so audit log records for this account do not represent the actions of any real person.

The default password for the openidm-admin user is openidm-admin. In production environments, you should change this password, as described in Change the Administrator User Password. The new password is symmetrically encrypted as it is changed.
anonymous: This user enables anonymous access to IDM. It is used to interact with IDM in limited ways without further authentication, such as when a user has not yet logged in and makes a login request. The anonymous user account also allows self-registration.

The default password for the anonymous user is anonymous.
idm-provisioning: The internal user idm-provisioning is a service account used by AM to provision accounts in IDM. It has no password, and isn’t meant to be logged in directly. If you are not planning to use AM and IDM together as a platform, you can safely remove this user.

Managed users

Regular user accounts that are stored in IDM’s repository are called managed users because IDM effectively manages these accounts.

Both internal and managed users must authenticate to gain access to the server. The way in which these user types are authenticated is defined in your project’s conf/authentication.json file.

Any request to IDM will authenticate the user and return a token. To improve tracing through logs, authenticate internal and managed users over REST by sending a POST request to the openidm/authentication endpoint, with _action=login. The following example authenticates the openidm-admin user:

curl \
--header "X-OpenIDM-Username: openidm-admin" \
--header "X-OpenIDM-Password: openidm-admin" \
--header "Accept-API-Version: resource=1.0" \
--cacert ca-cert.pem \
--request POST  \
"https://localhost:8443/openidm/authentication?_action=login"

Attributes used for authentication

By default, the attribute names that are used to authenticate managed and internal users are username and password. You can change the attributes that store authentication information with the propertyMapping object in the conf/authentication.json file. The following excerpt of the authentication.json file shows the default authentication attributes:

...
    "propertyMapping" : {
        "authenticationId" : "username",
        "userCredential" : "password",
        "userRoles" : "authzRoles"
    },
...

If you change the attributes that are used for authentication, you must also change any authentication queries that use those attributes. The following authentication queries are referenced in authentication.json:

credential-internaluser-query authenticates internal users.
credential-query authenticates managed users.
for-username

To change the authentication queries for a customized authentication attribute, create a queryFilters.json file in your project’s conf directory. Include the authentication query IDs and the amended query filter, taking into account your changed attributes. The default authentication queries are as follows:

{
  "credential-query": {
    "_queryFilter": "/userName eq \"${username}\" AND /accountStatus eq \"active\""
  },
  "credential-internaluser-query": {
    "_queryFilter": "/_id eq \"${username}\""
  },
  "for-userName": {
    "_queryFilter": "/userName eq \"${uid}\""
  }
}

The following example conf/queryFilters.json file shows the authentication queries adjusted to use the email attribute instead of the username attribute:

{
  "credential-query": {
    "_queryFilter": "/email eq \"${email}\" AND /accountStatus eq \"active\""
  },
  "credential-internaluser-query": {
    "_queryFilter": "/_id eq \"${email}\""
  },
  "for-userName": {
    "_queryFilter": "/email eq \"${uid}\""
  }
}

Internal users

Although internal users are considered to be special user accounts, you can manage them over the REST interface as you would any regular user in the repository.

To list the internal users over REST, query the internal/user endpoint as follows:

curl \
--header "X-OpenIDM-Username: openidm-admin" \
--header "X-OpenIDM-Password: openidm-admin" \
--header "Accept-API-Version: resource=1.0" \
--request GET  \
"http://localhost:8080/openidm/internal/user?_queryFilter=true&fields=_id"
{
  "result": [
    {
      "_id": "openidm-admin",
      "_rev": "00000000ec996921"
    },
    {
      "_id": "anonymous",
      "_rev": "00000000d95a68b1"
    },
    {
      "_id": "idm-provisioning",
      "_rev": "00000000817e3805"
    },
    {
      "_id": "connector-server-client",
      "_rev": "000000003f2a3a85"
    }
  ],
  ...
}

To query the details of an internal user, include the user ID in the request, for example:

curl \
--header "X-OpenIDM-Username: openidm-admin" \
--header "X-OpenIDM-Password: openidm-admin" \
--header "Accept-API-Version: resource=1.0" \
--request GET  \
"http://localhost:8080/openidm/internal/user/openidm-admin"
{
  "_id": "openidm-admin",
  "_rev": "00000000ec996921"
}

Internal users have specific authorization roles by default. These roles determine what the users can access in IDM. The anonymous user has only the openidm-reg role by default. This role grants only the resource access required to log in, register, and so forth. To identify the authorization roles for the openidm-admin internal user, and for information about creating and managing other administrative users, see Administrative Users.

Change the administrator user password

The password of the openidm-admin user is openidm-admin by default. This password is set in the following excerpt of the authentication.json file:

{
    "name" : "STATIC_USER",
    "properties" : {
        "queryOnResource" : "internal/user",
        "username" : "openidm-admin",
        "password" : "&{openidm.admin.password}",
        "defaultUserRoles" : [
            "internal/role/openidm-authorized",
            "internal/role/openidm-admin"
        ]
    },
    "enabled" : true
}

The password property references the openidm.admin.password property, set in resolver/boot.properties:

openidm.admin.password=openidm-admin

You can change the default administrator password in a number of ways:

Edit the resolver/boot.properties file before you start IDM (or restart IDM after you change this file).
Set the value directly in the conf/authentication.json file.

Update the authentication configuration over REST.

Show me how

Get the current authentication configuration:

curl \
--header "X-OpenIDM-Username: openidm-admin" \
--header "X-OpenIDM-Password: openidm-admin" \
--header "Accept-API-Version: resource=1.0" \
--cacert ca-cert.pem \
--request GET \
"https://localhost:8443/openidm/config/authentication"
{
  "_id": "authentication",
  "serverAuthContext": {
    ...
    "authModules": [
      ...
      {
        "name": "STATIC_USER",
        "properties": {
          "queryOnResource": "internal/user",
          "username": "openidm-admin",
          "password": "&{openidm.admin.password}",
          "defaultUserRoles": [
            "internal/role/openidm-authorized",
            "internal/role/openidm-admin"
          ]
        },
        "enabled": true
      },
      ...
    ]
  }
}

Change the password field of this STATIC_USER module and replace the authentication configuration:

curl \
--header "X-OpenIDM-Username: openidm-admin" \
--header "X-OpenIDM-Password: openidm-admin" \
--header "Accept-API-Version: resource=1.0" \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--cacert ca-cert.pem \
--request PUT \
--data '{
  "_id": "authentication",
  "serverAuthContext": {
    "sessionModule": {
      "name": "JWT_SESSION",
      "properties": {
        "maxTokenLifeMinutes": 120,
        "tokenIdleTimeMinutes": 30,
        "sessionOnly": true,
        "isHttpOnly": true,
        "enableDynamicRoles": false
      }
    },
    "authModules": [
      {
        "name": "STATIC_USER",
        "properties": {
          "queryOnResource": "internal/user",
          "username": "anonymous",
          "password": {
            "$crypto": {
              "type": "x-simple-encryption",
              "value": {
                "cipher": "AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding",
                "stableId": "openidm-sym-default",
                "salt": "xBlTp67ze4Ca5LTocXOpoA==",
                "data": "mdibV6UabU2M+M5MK7bjFQ==",
                "keySize": 16,
                "purpose": "idm.config.encryption",
                "iv": "36D2+FumKbaUsndNQ+/5w==",
                "mac": "ZM8GMnh0n80QwtSH6QsNmA=="
              }
            }
          },
          "defaultUserRoles": [
            "internal/role/openidm-reg"
          ]
        },
        "enabled": true
      },
      {
        "name": "STATIC_USER",
        "properties": {
          "queryOnResource": "internal/user",
          "username": "openidm-admin",
          "password": "newAdminPassword",
          "defaultUserRoles": [
            "internal/role/openidm-authorized",
            "internal/role/openidm-admin"
          ]
        },
        "enabled": true
      },
      {
        "name": "MANAGED_USER",
        "properties": {
          "augmentSecurityContext": {
            "type": "text/javascript",
            "source": "require('auth/customAuthz').setProtectedAttributes(security)"
          },
          "queryId": "credential-query",
          "queryOnResource": "{managed_user}",
          "propertyMapping": {
            "authenticationId": "username",
            "userCredential": "password",
            "userRoles": "authzRoles"
          },
          "defaultUserRoles": [
            "internal/role/openidm-authorized"
          ]
        },
        "enabled": true
      },
      {
        "name": "SOCIAL_PROVIDERS",
        "properties": {
          "defaultUserRoles": [
            "internal/role/openidm-authorized"
          ],
          "augmentSecurityContext": {
            "type": "text/javascript",
            "globals": {},
            "file": "auth/populateAsManagedUserFromRelationship.js"
          },
          "propertyMapping": {
            "userRoles": "authzRoles"
          }
        },
        "enabled": true
      }
    ]
  }
}' \
"{secureHostname}/openidm/config/authentication"
{
  "_id": "authentication",
  "serverAuthContext": {
    "sessionModule": {
      "name": "JWT_SESSION",
      "properties": {
        "maxTokenLifeMinutes": 120,
        "tokenIdleTimeMinutes": 30,
        "sessionOnly": true,
        "isHttpOnly": true,
        "enableDynamicRoles": false
      }
    },
    "authModules": [
      {
        "name": "STATIC_USER",
        "properties": {
          "queryOnResource": "internal/user",
          "username": "anonymous",
          "password": {
            "$crypto": {
              "type": "x-simple-encryption",
              "value": {
                "cipher": "AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding",
                "stableId": "openidm-sym-default",
                "salt": "xBlTp67ze4Ca5LTocXOpoA==",
                "data": "mdibV6UabU2M+M5MK7bjFQ==",
                "keySize": 16,
                "purpose": "idm.config.encryption",
                "iv": "36D2+FumKbaUsndNQ/+5w==",
                "mac": "ZM8GMnh0n80QwtSH6QsNmA=="
              }
            }
          },
          "defaultUserRoles": [
            "internal/role/openidm-reg"
          ]
        },
        "enabled": true
      },
      {
        "name": "STATIC_USER",
        "properties": {
          "queryOnResource": "internal/user",
          "username": "openidm-admin",
          "password": {
            "$crypto": {
              "type": "x-simple-encryption",
              "value": {
                "cipher": "AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding",
                "stableId": "openidm-sym-default",
                "salt": "l0trJWBzg5JKcWLzNq8QDA==",
                "data": "MKAkL9FVEq/FnWq+8a90+QcjfkEbrK7W4tIc3ORD1ck=",
                "keySize": 16,
                "purpose": "idm.config.encryption",
                "iv": "UMjU6crk332MZtEjo+wEmw==",
                "mac": "7EvTqjpmuS9PmY1aCT2s+g=="
              }
            }
          },
          "defaultUserRoles": [
            "internal/role/openidm-authorized",
            "internal/role/openidm-admin"
          ]
        },
        "enabled": true
      },
      {
        "name": "MANAGED_USER",
        "properties": {
          "augmentSecurityContext": {
            "type": "text/javascript",
            "source": "require(auth/customAuthz).setProtectedAttributes(security)"
          },
          "queryId": "credential-query",
          "queryOnResource": "managed/user",
          "propertyMapping": {
            "authenticationId": "username",
            "userCredential": "password",
            "userRoles": "authzRoles"
          },
          "defaultUserRoles": [
            "internal/role/openidm-authorized"
          ]
        },
        "enabled": true
      },
      {
        "name": "SOCIAL_PROVIDERS",
        "properties": {
          "defaultUserRoles": [
            "internal/role/openidm-authorized"
          ],
          "augmentSecurityContext": {
            "type": "text/javascript",
            "globals": {},
            "file": "auth/populateAsManagedUserFromRelationship.js"
          },
          "propertyMapping": {
            "userRoles": "authzRoles"
          }
        },
        "enabled": true
      }
    ]
  }
}

IDM 7.2.1

Authenticate users

Attributes used for authentication

Internal users

Change the administrator user password