| -Prev | -Chapter 7. Kernel Documentation | -Next - | -
|---|
-
+
The security system was designed for security. Thus, decisions requiring trade-offs between ease-of-use and security tend to result in a system that may not be as easy to use but is more secure. -
-+
If a user switches to HTTPS after logging into the system via HTTP, the user -must obtain a secure token. To insure security, the only way to +must obtain a secure token. To insure security, the only way to obtain a secure token in the security system is to authenticate yourself via password over an HTTPS connection. Thus, users may need to log on again to a system when switching from HTTP to HTTPS. Note that logging on to a system via HTTPS gives the user both insecure and secure authentication tokens, so switching from HTTPS to HTTP does not require reauthentication. -
-This method of authentication is important in order to establish, in as +
This method of authentication is important in order to establish, in as strong a manner as possible, the identity of the owner of the secure token. In order for the security system to offer stronger guarantees of someone who issues a secure token, the method of authentication must be as strong as the -method of transmission.
-If a developer truly does not want such a level of protection, this system +method of transmission.
If a developer truly does not want such a level of protection, this system can be disabled via source code modification only. This can be accomplished by commenting out the following lines in the sec_handler -procedure defined in security-procs.tcl:
-+procedure defined in security-procs.tcl:if { [ad_secure_conn_p] && ![ad_login_page] } { set s_token_cookie [ns_urldecode [ad_get_cookie "ad_secure_token"]] @@ -65,11 +34,9 @@ } } --The source code must also be edited if the user login pages have been +
The source code must also be edited if the user login pages have been moved out of an OpenACS system. This information is contained by the -ad_login_page procedure in security-procs.tcl:
-+ad_login_page procedure in security-procs.tcl:ad_proc -private ad_login_page {} { @@ -85,38 +52,10 @@ return 0 } --+
The set of string match expressions in the procedure above should be extended appropriately for other registration pages. This procedure does not use ad_parameter or regular expressions for performance reasons, as -it is called by the request processor.
-