Allow re-using a UI auth validation for a period of time

changelog.d/8970.feature

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Allow re-using an user-interactive authentication session for a period of time.

docs/sample_config.yaml

@@ -2068,6 +2068,21 @@ password_config:
       #
       #require_uppercase: true
 
+ui_auth:
+    # The number of milliseconds to allow a user-interactive authentication
+    # session to be active.
+    #
+    # This defaults to 0, meaning the user is queried for their credentials
+    # before every action, but this can be overridden to alow a single
+    # validation to be re-used.  This weakens the protections afforded by
+    # the user-interactive authentication process, by allowing for multiple
+    # (and potentially different) operations to use the same validation session.
+    #
+    # Uncomment below to allow for credential validation to last for 15
+    # seconds.
+    #
+    #session_timeout: 15000
+
 
 # Configuration for sending emails from Synapse.
 #

synapse/config/_base.pyi

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from typing import Any, Iterable, List, Optional
 from synapse.config import (
     api,
     appservice,
+    auth,
     captcha,
     cas,
     consent_config,
@@ -14,7 +15,6 @@ from synapse.config import (
     logger,
     metrics,
     oidc_config,
-    password,
     password_auth_providers,
     push,
     ratelimiting,
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class RootConfig:
     sso: sso.SSOConfig
     oidc: oidc_config.OIDCConfig
     jwt: jwt_config.JWTConfig
-    password: password.PasswordConfig
+    auth: auth.AuthConfig
     email: emailconfig.EmailConfig
     worker: workers.WorkerConfig
     authproviders: password_auth_providers.PasswordAuthProviderConfig

synapse/config/password.py → synapse/config/auth.py

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 # Copyright 2015, 2016 OpenMarket Ltd
+# Copyright 2020 The Matrix.org Foundation C.I.C.
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -16,11 +17,11 @@
 from ._base import Config
 
 
-class PasswordConfig(Config):
-    """Password login configuration
+class AuthConfig(Config):
+    """Password and login configuration
     """
 
-    section = "password"
+    section = "auth"
 
     def read_config(self, config, **kwargs):
         password_config = config.get("password_config", {})
@@ -35,6 +36,10 @@ def read_config(self, config, **kwargs):
         self.password_policy = password_config.get("policy") or {}
         self.password_policy_enabled = self.password_policy.get("enabled", False)
 
+        # User-interactive authentication
+        ui_auth = config.get("ui_auth") or {}
+        self.ui_auth_session_timeout = ui_auth.get("session_timeout", 0)
+
     def generate_config_section(self, config_dir_path, server_name, **kwargs):
         return """\
         password_config:
@@ -87,4 +92,19 @@ def generate_config_section(self, config_dir_path, server_name, **kwargs):
               # Defaults to 'false'.
               #
               #require_uppercase: true
+
+        ui_auth:
+            # The number of milliseconds to allow a user-interactive authentication
+            # session to be active.
+            #
+            # This defaults to 0, meaning the user is queried for their credentials
+            # before every action, but this can be overridden to alow a single
+            # validation to be re-used.  This weakens the protections afforded by
+            # the user-interactive authentication process, by allowing for multiple
+            # (and potentially different) operations to use the same validation session.
+            #
+            # Uncomment below to allow for credential validation to last for 15
+            # seconds.
+            #
+            #session_timeout: 15000
         """

synapse/config/homeserver.py

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 from ._base import RootConfig
 from .api import ApiConfig
 from .appservice import AppServiceConfig
+from .auth import AuthConfig
 from .cache import CacheConfig
 from .captcha import CaptchaConfig
 from .cas import CasConfig
@@ -30,7 +31,6 @@
 from .logger import LoggingConfig
 from .metrics import MetricsConfig
 from .oidc_config import OIDCConfig
-from .password import PasswordConfig
 from .password_auth_providers import PasswordAuthProviderConfig
 from .push import PushConfig
 from .ratelimiting import RatelimitConfig
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ class HomeServerConfig(RootConfig):
         CasConfig,
         SSOConfig,
         JWTConfig,
-        PasswordConfig,
+        AuthConfig,
         EmailConfig,
         PasswordAuthProviderConfig,
         PushConfig,

synapse/handlers/auth.py

@@ -226,6 +226,9 @@ def __init__(self, hs: "HomeServer"):
             burst_count=self.hs.config.rc_login_failed_attempts.burst_count,
         )
 
+        # The number of seconds to keep a UI auth session active.
+        self._ui_auth_session_timeout = hs.config.ui_auth_session_timeout
+
         # Ratelimitier for failed /login attempts
         self._failed_login_attempts_ratelimiter = Ratelimiter(
             clock=hs.get_clock(),
@@ -283,7 +286,7 @@ async def validate_user_via_ui_auth(
         request_body: Dict[str, Any],
         clientip: str,
         description: str,
-    ) -> Tuple[dict, str]:
+    ) -> Tuple[dict, Optional[str]]:
         """
         Checks that the user is who they claim to be, via a UI auth.
 
@@ -310,7 +313,8 @@ async def validate_user_via_ui_auth(
                 have been given only in a previous call).
 
                 'session_id' is the ID of this session, either passed in by the
-                client or assigned by this call
+                client or assigned by this call. This is None if UI auth was
+                skipped (by re-using a previous validation).
 
         Raises:
             InteractiveAuthIncompleteError if the client has not yet completed
@@ -324,6 +328,16 @@ async def validate_user_via_ui_auth(
 
         """
 
+        if self._ui_auth_session_timeout:
+            last_validated = await self.store.get_access_token_last_validated(
+                requester.access_token_id
+            )
+            if self.clock.time_msec() - last_validated < self._ui_auth_session_timeout:
+                # Return the input parameters, minus the auth key, which matches
+                # the logic in check_ui_auth.
+                request_body.pop("auth", None)
+                return request_body, None
+
         user_id = requester.user.to_string()
 
         # Check if we should be ratelimited due to too many previous failed attempts
@@ -359,6 +373,9 @@ async def validate_user_via_ui_auth(
         if user_id != requester.user.to_string():
             raise AuthError(403, "Invalid auth")
 
+        # Note that the access token has been validated.
+        await self.store.update_access_token_last_validated(requester.access_token_id)
+
         return params, session_id
 
     async def _get_available_ui_auth_types(self, user: UserID) -> Iterable[str]:
@@ -452,13 +469,10 @@ async def check_ui_auth(
                 all the stages in any of the permitted flows.
         """
 
-        authdict = None
         sid = None  # type: Optional[str]
-        if clientdict and "auth" in clientdict:
-            authdict = clientdict["auth"]
-            del clientdict["auth"]
-            if "session" in authdict:
-                sid = authdict["session"]
+        authdict = clientdict.pop("auth", {})
+        if "session" in authdict:
+            sid = authdict["session"]
 
         # Convert the URI and method to strings.
         uri = request.uri.decode("utf-8")
@@ -563,6 +577,8 @@ async def check_ui_auth(
 
         creds = await self.store.get_completed_ui_auth_stages(session.session_id)
         for f in flows:
+            # If all the required credentials have been supplied, the user has
+            # successfully completed the UI auth process!
             if len(set(f) - set(creds)) == 0:
                 # it's very useful to know what args are stored, but this can
                 # include the password in the case of registering, so only log

synapse/rest/client/v2_alpha/account.py

@@ -254,14 +254,18 @@ async def on_POST(self, request):
                 logger.error("Auth succeeded but no known type! %r", result.keys())
                 raise SynapseError(500, "", Codes.UNKNOWN)
 
-        # If we have a password in this request, prefer it. Otherwise, there
-        # must be a password hash from an earlier request.
+        # If we have a password in this request, prefer it. Otherwise, use the
+        # password hash from an earlier request.
         if new_password:
             password_hash = await self.auth_handler.hash(new_password)
-        else:
+        elif session_id is not None:
             password_hash = await self.auth_handler.get_session_data(
                 session_id, "password_hash", None
             )
+        else:
+            # UI validation was skipped, but the request did not include a new
+            # password.
+            password_hash = None
         if not password_hash:
             raise SynapseError(400, "Missing params: password", Codes.MISSING_PARAM)
 

synapse/storage/databases/main/registration.py

@@ -943,6 +943,42 @@ async def del_user_pending_deactivation(self, user_id: str) -> None:
             desc="del_user_pending_deactivation",
         )
 
+    async def get_access_token_last_validated(self, token_id: int) -> int:
+        """Retrieves the time (in milliseconds) of the last validation of an access token.
+
+        Args:
+            token_id: The ID of the access token to update.
+        Raises:
+            StoreError if the access token was not found.
+
+        Returns:
+            The last validation time.
+        """
+        result = await self.db_pool.simple_select_one_onecol(
+            "access_tokens", {"id": token_id}, "last_validated"
+        )
+
+        # If this token has not been validated (since starting to track this),
+        # return 0 instead of None.
+        return result or 0
+
+    async def update_access_token_last_validated(self, token_id: int) -> None:
+        """Updates the last time an access token was validated.
+
+        Args:
+            token_id: The ID of the access token to update.
+        Raises:
+            StoreError if there was a problem updating this.
+        """
+        now = self._clock.time_msec()
+
+        await self.db_pool.simple_update_one(
+            "access_tokens",
+            {"id": token_id},
+            {"last_validated": now},
+            desc="update_access_token_last_validated",
+        )
+
 
 class RegistrationBackgroundUpdateStore(RegistrationWorkerStore):
     def __init__(self, database: DatabasePool, db_conn: Connection, hs: "HomeServer"):
@@ -1150,6 +1186,7 @@ async def add_access_token_to_user(
             The token ID
         """
         next_id = self._access_tokens_id_gen.get_next()
+        now = self._clock.time_msec()
 
         await self.db_pool.simple_insert(
             "access_tokens",
@@ -1160,6 +1197,7 @@ async def add_access_token_to_user(
                 "device_id": device_id,
                 "valid_until_ms": valid_until_ms,
                 "puppets_user_id": puppets_user_id,
+                "last_validated": now,
             },
             desc="add_access_token_to_user",
         )

synapse/storage/databases/main/schema/delta/58/26access_token_last_validated.sql

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+/* Copyright 2020 The Matrix.org Foundation C.I.C
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+-- The last time this access token was "validated" (i.e. logged in or succeeded
+-- at user-interactive authentication).
+ALTER TABLE access_tokens ADD COLUMN last_validated BIGINT;