Question

Using Windows Azure’s Microsoft.Web.DistributedCache.DistributedCacheOutputCacheProvider as the outputCache provider for an MVC3 app. Here is the relevant action method:

[ActionName("sample-cached-page")]
[OutputCache(Duration = 300, VaryByCustom = "User", 
    Location = OutputCacheLocation.Server)]
[Authorize(Users = "[e-mail],[e-mail]")]
public virtual ActionResult SampleCachedPage()
{
    return View();
}

I get the following exception when loading this view from a web browser:

System.Configuration.Provider.ProviderException: When using a custom output cache provider like 'DistributedCache', only the following expiration policies and cache features are supported: file dependencies, absolute expirations, static validation callbacks and static substitution callbacks.

System.Configuration.Provider.ProviderException: When using a custom output cache provider like 'DistributedCache', only the following expiration policies and cache features are supported:  file dependencies, absolute expirations, static validation callbacks and static substitution callbacks.
   at System.Web.Caching.OutputCache.InsertResponse(String cachedVaryKey, CachedVary cachedVary, String rawResponseKey, CachedRawResponse rawResponse, CacheDependency dependencies, DateTime absExp, TimeSpan slidingExp)
   at System.Web.Caching.OutputCacheModule.OnLeave(Object source, EventArgs eventArgs)
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.SyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)

If I remove the [Authorize] attribute, the view caches as would be expected. Does this mean I cannot put [OutputCache] on an action method that must have [Authorize]? Or, do I need to override AuthorizeAttribute with a custom implementation that uses a static validation callback method for the cache?

Update 1

After Evan’s answer, I tested the above action method in IIS Express (outside of Azure). Here is my override for the VaryByCustom = “User” property on the OutputCache attribute:

public override string GetVaryByCustomString(HttpContext context, string custom)
{
    return "User".Equals(custom, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
        ? Thread.CurrentPrincipal.Identity.Name
        : base.GetVaryByCustomString(context, custom);
}

When I visit the sample cached page as [e-mail], the output of the page is cached, and the view displays “This page was cached at 12/31/2011 11:06:12 AM (UTC)”. If I then sign out and sign in as [e-mail] and visit the page, it displays “This page was cached at 12/31/2011 11:06:38 AM (UTC)”. Signing back in as [e-mail] and revisiting the page causes the cache to display “This page was cached at 12/31/2011 11:06:12 AM (UTC)” again. Further sign in/out attempts show that different output is being cached & returned depending on the user.

This is leading me to believe that the output is being cached separately based on the user, which is the intention with my VaryByCustom = “User” setting & override. The problem is that it doesn’t work with Azure’s distributed cache provider. Evan, does you answer about only caching public content still stand?

Update 2

I dug up the source, and found that the out-of-box AuthorizeAttribute does in fact have a non-static validation callback. Here is an excerpt from OnAuthorization:

if (AuthorizeCore(filterContext.HttpContext)) {
    // ** IMPORTANT **
    // Since we're performing authorization at the action level, the authorization code runs
    // after the output caching module. In the worst case this could allow an authorized user
    // to cause the page to be cached, then an unauthorized user would later be served the
    // cached page. We work around this by telling proxies not to cache the sensitive page,
    // then we hook our custom authorization code into the caching mechanism so that we have
    // the final say on whether a page should be served from the cache.

    HttpCachePolicyBase cachePolicy = filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Cache;
    cachePolicy.SetProxyMaxAge(new TimeSpan(0));
    cachePolicy.AddValidationCallback(CacheValidateHandler, null /* data */);
}
else {
    HandleUnauthorizedRequest(filterContext);
}

CacheValidationHandler delegates the cache validation to protected virtual HttpValidationStatus OnCacheAuthorization(HttpContextBase), which of course is not static. One reason why it is not static is because, as noted in the IMPORTANT comment above, it invokes protected virtual bool AuthorizeCore(HttpContextBase).

In order to do any of the AuthorizeCore logic from a static cache validation callback method, it would need to know the Users and Roles properties of the AuthorizeAttribute instance. However there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to plug in. I would have to override OnAuthorization to put these 2 values into the HttpContext (Items collection?) and then override OnCacheAuthorization to get them back out. But that smells dirty.

If we are careful to use the VaryByCustom = “User” property in the OutputCache attribute, can we just override OnCacheAuthorization to always return HttpValidationStatus.Valid? When the action method does not have an OutputCache attribute, we would not need to worry about this callback ever being invoked, correct? And if we do have an OutputCache attribute without VaryByCustom = “User”, then it should be obvious that the page could return any cached version regardless of which user request created the cached copy. How risky is this?

Answer 1

Caching happens before the Action. You will likely need to customize your authorization mechanics to handle cache scenarios.

Check out a question I posted a while back – MVC Custom Authentication, Authorization, and Roles Implementation.

The part I think would help you is a custom Authorize Attribute who’s OnAuthorize() method deals with caching.

Below is a code block for example:

/// <summary>
/// Uses injected authorization service to determine if the session user 
/// has necessary role privileges.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>As authorization code runs at the action level, after the 
/// caching module, our authorization code is hooked into the caching 
/// mechanics, to ensure unauthorized users are not served up a 
/// prior-authorized page. 
/// Note: Special thanks to TheCloudlessSky on StackOverflow.
/// </remarks>
public void OnAuthorization(AuthorizationContext filterContext)
{
    // User must be authenticated and Session not be null
    if (!filterContext.HttpContext.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated || filterContext.HttpContext.Session == null)
        HandleUnauthorizedRequest(filterContext);
    else {
        // if authorized, handle cache validation
        if (_authorizationService.IsAuthorized((UserSessionInfoViewModel)filterContext.HttpContext.Session["user"], _authorizedRoles)) {
            var cache = filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Cache;
            cache.SetProxyMaxAge(new TimeSpan(0));
            cache.AddValidationCallback((HttpContext context, object o, ref HttpValidationStatus status) => AuthorizeCache(context), null);
        }
        else
            HandleUnauthorizedRequest(filterContext);             
    }
}

/// <summary>
/// Ensures that authorization is checked on cached pages.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="httpContext"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public HttpValidationStatus AuthorizeCache(HttpContext httpContext)
{
    if (httpContext.Session == null)
        return HttpValidationStatus.Invalid;
    return _authorizationService.IsAuthorized((UserSessionInfoViewModel) httpContext.Session["user"], _authorizedRoles) 
        ? HttpValidationStatus.Valid 
        : HttpValidationStatus.IgnoreThisRequest;
}