Implementing passport-http-bearer token with sails.js

Question

I am trying to implement passport's passport-http-bearer strategy, but it found no user with info Bearer realm="Users".

My request is a post request:

{'token':'simple_access_token',} 

Any one has any idea why this error occurs? Also I know here req should be https or ssl instead of http. How do I do that?

The code I am using is:

bearerPassportToken: function(req,res){
        passport.authenticate('bearer', function(err, user, info){
          if ((err) || (!user)) {
            if (err) return;
            if (!user)  
                console.log("info");//Info: Bearer realm="Users"
            res.redirect('/login');
            return;
          }
          req.logIn(user, function(err){
            if (err){
                res.redirect('/login');
            }
            //Need to write code for redirection
            ;
          });
        })(req, res);
    },

Answer 1

We had to implement securing the Sails-based API with bearer tokens recently, and here's what we did (tested with 0.9.x):

1) Connect passport as a custom middleware in config/passport.js (or it can be config/express.js, depending on your taste):

/**
 * Passport configuration
 */
var passport = require('passport');

module.exports.express = {
  customMiddleware: function(app)
  {
    app.use(passport.initialize());
    app.use(passport.session());
  }
};

2) Secure necessary controllers/actions with a policy in config/policies.js:

module.exports.policies = {
  // Default policy for all controllers and actions
  '*': 'authenticated'
};

3) Create the policy that checks the bearer in api/policies/authenticated.js:

/**
 * Allow any authenticated user.
 */
var passport = require('passport');

module.exports = function (req, res, done) {
  passport.authenticate('bearer', {session: false}, function(err, user, info) {
    if (err) return done(err);
    if (user) return done();

    return res.send(403, {message: "You are not permitted to perform this action."});
  })(req, res);
};

4) Define the bearer strategy for passport in services/passport.js (or wherever else you find it more appropriate for your specific application):

var passport = require('passport'),
  BearerStrategy = require('passport-http-bearer').Strategy;

/**
 * BearerStrategy
 *
 * This strategy is used to authenticate either users or clients based on an access token
 * (aka a bearer token).  If a user, they must have previously authorized a client
 * application, which is issued an access token to make requests on behalf of
 * the authorizing user.
 */
passport.use('bearer', new BearerStrategy(
  function(accessToken, done) {
    Tokens.findOne({token: accessToken}, function(err, token) {
      if (err) return done(err);
      if (!token) return done(null, false);
      if (token.userId != null) {
        Users.find(token.userId, function(err, user) {
          if (err) return done(err);
          if (!user) return done(null, false);
          // to keep this example simple, restricted scopes are not implemented,
          // and this is just for illustrative purposes
          var info = { scope: '*' }
          done(null, user, info);
        });
      }
      else {
        //The request came from a client only since userId is null
        //therefore the client is passed back instead of a user
        Clients.find({clientId: token.clientId}, function(err, client) {
          if (err) return done(err);
          if (!client) return done(null, false);
          // to keep this example simple, restricted scopes are not implemented,
          // and this is just for illustrative purposes
          var info = { scope: '*' }
          done(null, client, info);
        });
      }
    });
  }
));

This way you'll be able to access the API by having your bearer in the Authorization header: Bearer 8j4s36....

In this example a separate server was used to request/issue tokens, but you might as well do it within the same app (then you'll have to apply the policy to selected controllers only).