Question

I feel like I’m taking crazy pills here. Usually there’s always a million library and samples floating around the web for any given task. I’m trying to implement authentication with a Google “Service Account” by use of JSON Web Tokens (JWT) as described here.

However there is only client libraries in PHP, Python, and Java. Even searching for JWT examples outside of Google’s authentication, there is only crickets and drafts on the JWT concept. Is this really so new and possibly a Google proprietary system?

The java sample which is the closest I could manage to interpret looks pretty intensive and intimidating. There’s got to be something out there in C# that I could at least start with. Any help with this would be great!

Answer 1

I found a base implementation of a Json Web Token and expanded on it with the Google flavor. I still haven’t gotten it completely worked out but it’s 97% there. This project lost it’s steam, so hopefully this will help someone else get a good head-start:

Note:
Changes I made to the base implementation (Can’t remember where I found it,) are:

1. Changed HS256 -> RS256
2. Swapped the JWT and alg order in the header. Not sure who got it wrong, Google or the spec, but google takes it the way It is below according to their docs.

public enum JwtHashAlgorithm
{
    RS256,
    HS384,
    HS512
}
    
public class JsonWebToken
{
    private static Dictionary<JwtHashAlgorithm, Func<byte[], byte[], byte[]>> HashAlgorithms;

    static JsonWebToken()
    {
        HashAlgorithms = new Dictionary<JwtHashAlgorithm, Func<byte[], byte[], byte[]>>
            {
                { JwtHashAlgorithm.RS256, (key, value) => { using (var sha = new HMACSHA256(key)) { return sha.ComputeHash(value); } } },
                { JwtHashAlgorithm.HS384, (key, value) => { using (var sha = new HMACSHA384(key)) { return sha.ComputeHash(value); } } },
                { JwtHashAlgorithm.HS512, (key, value) => { using (var sha = new HMACSHA512(key)) { return sha.ComputeHash(value); } } }
            };
    }

    public static string Encode(object payload, string key, JwtHashAlgorithm algorithm)
    {
        return Encode(payload, Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(key), algorithm);
    }

    public static string Encode(object payload, byte[] keyBytes, JwtHashAlgorithm algorithm)
    {
        var segments = new List<string>();
        var header = new { alg = algorithm.ToString(), typ = "JWT" };

        byte[] headerBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(header, Formatting.None));
        byte[] payloadBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(payload, Formatting.None));
        //byte[] payloadBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(@"{"iss":"[e-mail]","scope":"https://www.googleapis.com/auth/prediction","aud":"https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token","exp":1328554385,"iat":1328550785}");

        segments.Add(Base64UrlEncode(headerBytes));
        segments.Add(Base64UrlEncode(payloadBytes));

        var stringToSign = string.Join(".", segments.ToArray());

        var bytesToSign = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(stringToSign);

        byte[] signature = HashAlgorithms[algorithm](keyBytes, bytesToSign);
        segments.Add(Base64UrlEncode(signature));

        return string.Join(".", segments.ToArray());
    }

    public static string Decode(string token, string key)
    {
        return Decode(token, key, true);
    }

    public static string Decode(string token, string key, bool verify)
    {
        var parts = token.Split('.');
        var header = parts[0];
        var payload = parts[1];
        byte[] crypto = Base64UrlDecode(parts[2]);

        var headerJson = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(Base64UrlDecode(header));
        var headerData = JObject.Parse(headerJson);
        var payloadJson = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(Base64UrlDecode(payload));
        var payloadData = JObject.Parse(payloadJson);

        if (verify)
        {
            var bytesToSign = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(string.Concat(header, ".", payload));
            var keyBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(key);
            var algorithm = (string)headerData["alg"];

            var signature = HashAlgorithms[GetHashAlgorithm(algorithm)](keyBytes, bytesToSign);
            var decodedCrypto = Convert.ToBase64String(crypto);
            var decodedSignature = Convert.ToBase64String(signature);

            if (decodedCrypto != decodedSignature)
            {
                throw new ApplicationException(string.Format("Invalid signature. Expected {0} got {1}", decodedCrypto, decodedSignature));
            }
        }

        return payloadData.ToString();
    }

    private static JwtHashAlgorithm GetHashAlgorithm(string algorithm)
    {
        switch (algorithm)
        {
            case "RS256": return JwtHashAlgorithm.RS256;
            case "HS384": return JwtHashAlgorithm.HS384;
            case "HS512": return JwtHashAlgorithm.HS512;
            default: throw new InvalidOperationException("Algorithm not supported.");
        }
    }

    // from JWT spec
    private static string Base64UrlEncode(byte[] input)
    {
        var output = Convert.ToBase64String(input);
        output = output.Split('=')[0]; // Remove any trailing '='s
        output = output.Replace('+', '-'); // 62nd char of encoding
        output = output.Replace('/', '_'); // 63rd char of encoding
        return output;
    }

    // from JWT spec
    private static byte[] Base64UrlDecode(string input)
    {
        var output = input;
        output = output.Replace('-', '+'); // 62nd char of encoding
        output = output.Replace('_', '/'); // 63rd char of encoding
        switch (output.Length % 4) // Pad with trailing '='s
        {
            case 0: break; // No pad chars in this case
            case 2: output += "=="; break; // Two pad chars
            case 3: output += "="; break; // One pad char
            default: throw new System.Exception("Illegal base64url string!");
        }
        var converted = Convert.FromBase64String(output); // Standard base64 decoder
        return converted;
    }
}

And then my google specific JWT class:

public class GoogleJsonWebToken
{
    public static string Encode(string email, string certificateFilePath)
    {
        var utc0 = new DateTime(1970,1,1,0,0,0,0, DateTimeKind.Utc);
        var issueTime = DateTime.Now;

        var iat = (int)issueTime.Subtract(utc0).TotalSeconds;
        var exp = (int)issueTime.AddMinutes(55).Subtract(utc0).TotalSeconds; // Expiration time is up to 1 hour, but lets play on safe side

        var payload = new
        {
            iss = email,
            scope = "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gan.readonly",
            aud = "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token",
            exp = exp,
            iat = iat
        };

        var certificate = new X509Certificate2(certificateFilePath, "notasecret");

        var privateKey = certificate.Export(X509ContentType.Cert);

        return JsonWebToken.Encode(payload, privateKey, JwtHashAlgorithm.RS256);
    }
}