client-credentials.md

title	description
Client credentials in MSAL Java	MSAL Java supports two types of client credentials - application secrets and certificates.

Client credentials in MSAL Java

There are three types of client secrets in MSAL4J:

• Application Secrets
• Certificates
• Client assertions

Client Credentials with application secret in MSAL4J

During the registration of a the confidential client application with Microsoft Entra ID, a client secret is generated (a kind of application password). When the client wants to acquire a token in its own name it will:

• Create IClientCredential using the ClientCredentialFactory, passing in the client secret, which should be a string.

String CLIENT_SECRET; 
IClientCredential credential = ClientCredentialFactory.createFromSecret(CLIENT_SECRET)

Client Credentials with certificate

In this case, when the application is registered with Microsoft Entra ID, it uploads the public key of a certificate. When it wants to acquire a token, the client application will

• Create IClientCredential using the ClientCredentialFactory, passing in either both the public and private keys, or a InputStream of the pkcs12

PrivateKey privateKey;  
X509Certificate publicKey;  
IClientCredential credential = ClientCredentialFactory.createFromCertificate(privateKey, publicKey)

or

InputStream inputStream;  
String password;  
IClientCredential credential = ClientCredentialFactory.create(inputStream, password)

• You would then create a confidential client application and pass in the client credential.

ConfidentialClientApplication app =
                    ConfidentialClientApplication.builder(
                        CLIENT_ID,
                        credential)
                .build();