documentation for token exchanges

content/docs/token-exchange.md

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+---
+title: "Machine Authentication to Dex"
+linkTitle: "Authentication for Machines"
+description: ""
+date: 2023-07-01
+draft: false
+toc: true
+weight: 1080
+---
+
+## Overview
+
+Most Dex connectors redirect users to the upstream identity provider as part of the authentication flow.
+While this works for human users,
+it is much harder for machines and automated processes (e.g., CI pipelines) to complete this interactive flow.
+This is where [OAuth2 Token Exchange][token-exchange] comes in:
+it allows clients to exchange an access or ID token they already have
+(obtained from their environment, though custom CLI commands, etc.)
+for a token issued by dex.
+
+This works like [GCP Workload Identity Federation][gcp-federation] and [AWS Web Identity Federation][aws-federation],
+allowing processes running in trusted execution environments that issue OIDC tokens,
+such as [Gtihub Actions][gh-actions], [Buildkite][buildkite], [CircleCI][circleci], [GCP][gcp], and others,
+to exchange them for a dex issued token to access protected resources.
+
+The authentication flow looks like this:
+
+1. Client independently obtains an access / id token from the upstream IDP.
+2. Client exchanges the upstream token for a dex access / id token via the token exchange flow.
+3. Use token to access dex protected resources.
+4. Repeat these steps when the token expires.
+
+## Configuring dex
+
+Currently, only the [OIDC Connector][oidc-connector] supports token exchanges.
+For this flow, `clientID`, `clientSecret`, and `redirectURI` aren't required.
+`getUserInfo` is required if you want to exchange from access tokens to dex issued tokens.
+
+As the user performing the token exchange will need the client secret,
+we configure the client as a [public client](./custom-scopes-claims-clients.md#public-clients).
+If you need to allow humans and machines to authenticate,
+consider creating a dedicated public client for token exchange
+and using [cross-client trust](./custom-scopes-claims-clients.md#cross-client-trust-and-authorized-party).
+
+```yaml
+issuer: https://dex.example.com
+storage:
+    type: sqlite3
+    config:
+        file: dex.db
+web:
+    http: 0.0.0.0:8001
+
+outh2:
+  grantTypes:
+    # ensure grantTypes includes the token-exchange grant (default)
+    - "urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:token-exchange"
+
+connectors:
+  - name: My Upstream
+    type: oidc
+    id: my-upstream
+    config:
+      # The client submitted subject token will be verified against the issuer given here.
+      issuer: https://token.example.com
+      # Additional scopes in token response, supported list at:
+      # https://dexidp.io/docs/custom-scopes-claims-clients/#scopes
+      scopes:
+        - groups
+        - federated:id
+      # mapping of fields from the submitted token
+      userNameKey: sub
+      # Access tokens are generally considered opaque.
+      # We check their validity by calling the user info endpoint if it's supported.
+      # getUserInfo: true
+
+staticClients:
+  # dex issued tokens are bound to clients.
+  # For the token exchange flow, the client id and secret pair must be submitted as the username:password
+  # via Basic Authentication.
+  - name: My App
+    id: my-app
+    secret: my-secret
+    # We set public to indicate we don't intend to keep the client secret actually secret.
+    # https://dexidp.io/docs/custom-scopes-claims-clients/#public-clients
+    public: true
+```
+
+## Performing a token exchange
+
+To exchange an upstream IDP token for a dex issued token,
+perform an `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` `POST` request
+to dex's `/token` endpoint following [RFC 8693 Section 2.1][token-exchange-2-1].
+Additionally, dex requires the connector to be specified with the `connector_id` parameter
+and a client id/secret to be included as the username/password via Basic Authentication.
+
+```sh
+$ export UPSTREAM_TOKEN=$(# get a token from the upstream IDP)
+
+$ curl https://dex.example.com/token \
+  --user my-app:my-secret \
+  --data-urlencode connector_id=my-upstream \
+  --data-urlencode grant_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:token-exchange \
+  --data-urlencode scope="openid groups federated:id" \
+  --data-urlencode requested_token_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:token-type:access_token \
+  --data-urlencode subject_token=$UPSTREAM_TOKEN \
+  --data-urlencode subject_token_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:token-type:access_token
+```
+
+Below is an example of a successful response.
+Note that regardless of the `requested_token_type`,
+the token will always be in the `access_token` field,
+with the type indicated by the `issued_token_type` field.
+See [RFC 8693 Section 2.2.1][token-exchange-2-2-1] for details.
+
+```json
+{
+  "access_token":"eyJhbGciOi....aU5oA",
+  "issued_token_type":"urn:ietf:params:oauth:token-type:access_token",
+  "token_type":"bearer",
+  "expires_in":86399
+}
+```
+
+### Full example with GitHub Actions
+
+Here is an example of running dex as a service during a Github Actions workflow
+and getting an access token from it, exchanged from a Github Actions OIDC token.
+
+Dex config:
+
+```yaml
+issuer: http://127.0.0.1:5556/
+storage:
+  type: sqlite3
+  config:
+    file: dex.db
+web:
+  http: 0.0.0.0:8080
+connectors:
+- type: oidc
+  id: github-actions
+  name: github-actions
+  config:
+    issuer: https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com
+    scopes:
+      - openid
+      - groups
+    userNameKey: sub
+staticClients:
+  - name: My app
+    id: my-app
+    secret: my-secret
+    public: true
+```
+
+Github actions workflow.
+Replace the service image with one that has the config included.
+
+```yaml
+name: workflow1
+
+on: [push]
+
+permissions:
+  id-token: write # This is required for requesting the JWT
+
+jobs:
+  job:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    services:
+      dex:
+        # replace with an image that has the config above
+        image: ghcr.io/dexidp/dex:latest
+        ports:
+          - 80:8080
+    steps:
+      # Actions have access to two special environment variables ACTIONS_CACHE_URL and ACTIONS_RUNTIME_TOKEN.
+      # Inline step scripts in workflows do not see these variables.
+      - uses: actions/github-script@v6
+        id: script
+        timeout-minutes: 10
+        with:
+          debug: true
+          script: |
+            const token = process.env['ACTIONS_RUNTIME_TOKEN']
+            const runtimeUrl = process.env['ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_URL']
+            core.setOutput('TOKEN', token.trim())
+            core.setOutput('IDTOKENURL', runtimeUrl.trim())
+      - run: |
+          # get an token from github
+          GH_TOKEN_RESPONSE=$(curl \
+            "${{steps.script.outputs.IDTOKENURL}}" \
+            -H "Authorization: bearer  ${{steps.script.outputs.TOKEN}}" \
+            -H "Accept: application/json; api-version=2.0" \
+            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+            -d "{}" \
+          )
+          GH_TOKEN=$(jq -r .value <<< $GH_TOKEN_RESPONSE)
+
+          # exchange it for a dex token
+          DEX_TOKEN_RESPONSE=$(curl \
+              http://127.0.0.1/token \
+              --user my-app:my-secret \
+              --data-urlencode "connector_id=github-actions" \
+              --data-urlencode "grant_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:token-exchange" \
+              --data-urlencode "scope=openid groups federated:id" \
+              --data-urlencode "requested_token_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:token-type:access_token" \
+              --data-urlencode "subject_token=$GH_TOKEN" \
+              --data-urlencode "subject_token_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:token-type:access_token")
+          DEX_TOKEN=$(jq -r .access_token <<< $DEX_TOKEN_RESPONSE)
+
+          # use $DEX_TOKEN
+
+        id: idtoken
+```
+
+[token-exchange]: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8693.html
+[token-exchange-2-1]: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8693.html#name-request
+[token-exchange-2-2-1]: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8693.html#name-successful-response
+[gcp-federation]: https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/workload-identity-federation
+[aws-federation]: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_providers_oidc.html
+[gh-actions]: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/deployment/security-hardening-your-deployments/about-security-hardening-with-openid-connect
+[buildkite]: https://badge.buildkite.com/docs/agent/v3/cli-oidc
+[circleci]: https://circleci.com/docs/openid-connect-tokens/
+[gcp]: https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/auth/print-access-token
+[oidc-connector]: https://dexidp.io/docs/connectors/oidc/