JWT Authentication Plugin | Apache Solr Reference Guide 8.1

Solr can support JSON Web Token (JWT) based Bearer authentication with the use of the JWTAuthPlugin. This allows Solr to assert that a user is already authenticated with an external Identity Provider by validating that the JWT formatted access token is digitally signed by the Identity Provider. The typical use case is to integrate Solr with an OpenID Connect enabled IdP.

Enable JWT Authentication

To use JWT Bearer authentication, the security.json file must have an authentication part which defines the class being used for authentication along with configuration parameters.

The simplest possible security.json for registering the plugin without configuration is:

{
  "authentication": {
    "class":"solr.JWTAuthPlugin"
  }
}

The plugin will NOT block anonymous traffic in this mode, since the default for blockUnknown is false. It is then possible to start configuring the plugin using REST API calls, which is described below.

Configuration Parameters

Key Description Default

blockUnknown Set to true in order to block requests from users without a token false

wellKnownUrl URL to an OpenID Connect Discovery endpoint (no default)

clientId Client identifier for use with OpenID Connect (no default value) Required to authenticate with Admin UI

realm Name of the authentication realm to echo back in HTTP 401 responses. Will also be displayed in Admin UI login page 'solr-jwt'

scope Whitespace separated list of valid scopes. If configured, the JWT access token MUST contain a scope claim with at least one of the listed scopes. Example: solr:read solr:admin

jwkUrl An https URL to a JWK keys file. Auto configured if wellKnownUrl is provided

jwk As an alternative to jwkUrl you may provide a JSON object here containing the public key(s) of the issuer.

iss Validates that the iss (issuer) claim equals this string Auto configured if wellKnownUrl is provided

aud Validates that the aud (audience) claim equals this string If clientId is configured, require aud to match it

requireSub Makes sub (subject) claim mandatory true

requireExp Makes exp (expiry time) claim mandatory true

algWhitelist JSON array with algorithms to accept: HS256, HS384, HS512, RS256, RS384, RS512, ES256, ES384, ES512, PS256, PS384, PS512, `none Default is to allow all algorithms

jwkCacheDur Duration of JWK cache in seconds 3600 (1 hour)

principalClaim What claim id to pull principal from sub

claimsMatch JSON object of claims (key) that must match a regular expression (value). Example: { "foo" : "A|B" } will require the foo claim to be either "A" or "B". (none)

adminUiScope Define what scope is requested when logging in from Admin UI If not defined, the first scope from scope parameter is used

authorizationEndpoint The URL for the Id Provider’s authorization endpoint Auto configured if wellKnownUrl is provided

redirectUris Valid location(s) for redirect after external authentication. Takes a string or array of strings. Must be the base URL of Solr, e.g., https://solr1.example.com:8983/solr/ and must match the list of redirect URIs registered with the Identity Provider beforehand. Defaults to empty list, i.e., any node is assumed to be a valid redirect target.

Key	Description	Default
blockUnknown	Set to `true` in order to block requests from users without a token	`false`
wellKnownUrl	URL to an OpenID Connect Discovery endpoint	(no default)
clientId	Client identifier for use with OpenID Connect	(no default value) Required to authenticate with Admin UI
realm	Name of the authentication realm to echo back in HTTP 401 responses. Will also be displayed in Admin UI login page	'solr-jwt'
scope	Whitespace separated list of valid scopes. If configured, the JWT access token MUST contain a `scope` claim with at least one of the listed scopes. Example: `solr:read solr:admin`
jwkUrl	An https URL to a JWK keys file.	Auto configured if `wellKnownUrl` is provided
jwk	As an alternative to `jwkUrl` you may provide a JSON object here containing the public key(s) of the issuer.
iss	Validates that the `iss` (issuer) claim equals this string	Auto configured if `wellKnownUrl` is provided
aud	Validates that the `aud` (audience) claim equals this string	If `clientId` is configured, require `aud` to match it
requireSub	Makes `sub` (subject) claim mandatory	`true`
requireExp	Makes `exp` (expiry time) claim mandatory	`true`
algWhitelist	JSON array with algorithms to accept: `HS256`, `HS384`, `HS512`, `RS256`, `RS384`, `RS512`, `ES256`, `ES384`, `ES512`, `PS256`, `PS384`, `PS512`, `none	Default is to allow all algorithms
jwkCacheDur	Duration of JWK cache in seconds	`3600` (1 hour)
principalClaim	What claim id to pull principal from	`sub`
claimsMatch	JSON object of claims (key) that must match a regular expression (value). Example: `{ "foo" : "A\|B" }` will require the `foo` claim to be either "A" or "B".	(none)
adminUiScope	Define what scope is requested when logging in from Admin UI	If not defined, the first scope from `scope` parameter is used
authorizationEndpoint	The URL for the Id Provider’s authorization endpoint	Auto configured if `wellKnownUrl` is provided
redirectUris	Valid location(s) for redirect after external authentication. Takes a string or array of strings. Must be the base URL of Solr, e.g., https://solr1.example.com:8983/solr/ and must match the list of redirect URIs registered with the Identity Provider beforehand.	Defaults to empty list, i.e., any node is assumed to be a valid redirect target.

More Configuration Examples

With JWK URL

To start enforcing authentication for all users, requiring a valid JWT in the Authorization header, you need to configure the plugin with one or more JSON Web Keys (JWK). This is a JSON document containing the key used to sign/encrypt the JWT. It could be a symmetric or asymmetric key. The JWK can either be fetched (and cached) from an external HTTPS endpoint or specified directly in security.json. Below is an example of the former:

{
  "authentication": {
    "class": "solr.JWTAuthPlugin",
    "blockUnknown": true,
    "jwkUrl": "https://my.key.server/jwk.json"
  }
}

With Admin UI Support

The next example shows configuring using OpenID Connect Discovery with a well-known URI for automatic configuration of many common settings, including ability to use the Admin UI with an OpenID Connect enabled Identity Provider.

{
  "authentication": {
    "class": "solr.JWTAuthPlugin",
    "blockUnknown": true,
    "wellKnownUrl": "https://idp.example.com/.well-known/openid-configuration",
    "clientId": "xyz",
    "redirectUri": "https://my.solr.server:8983/solr/"
  }
}

In this case, jwkUrl, iss and authorizationEndpoint will be automatically configured from the fetched configuration.

Complex Example

Let’s look at a more complex configuration, this time with a static embedded JWK:

{
  "authentication": {
    "class": "solr.JWTAuthPlugin", 
    "blockUnknown": true, 
    "jwk": { 
      "e": "AQAB",
      "kid": "k1",
      "kty": "RSA",
      "n": "3ZF6wBGPMsLzsS1KLghxaVpZtXD3nTLzDm0c974i9-KNU_1rhhBeiVfS64VfEQmP8SA470jEy7yWcvnz9GvG-YAlm9iOwVF7jLl2awdws0ocFjdSPT3SjPQKzOeMO7G9XqNTkrvoFCn1YAi26fbhhcqkwZDoeTcHQdRN32frzccuPhZrwImApIedroKLlKWv2IvPDnz2Bpe2WWVc2HdoWYqEVD3p_BEy8f-RTSHK3_8kDDF9yAwI9jx7CK1_C-eYxXltm-6rpS5NGyFm0UNTZMxVU28Tl7LX8Vb6CikyCQ9YRCtk_CvpKWmEuKEp9I28KHQNmGkDYT90nt3vjbCXxw"
    },
    "clientId": "solr-client-12345", 
    "iss": "https://example.com/idp", 
    "aud": "https://example.com/solr", 
    "principalClaim": "solruid", 
    "claimsMatch": { "foo" : "A|B", "dept" : "IT" }, 
    "scope": "solr:read solr:write solr:admin", 
    "algWhitelist" : [ "RS256", "RS384", "RS512" ] 
  }
}

Let’s comment on this config:

1	Plugin class
2	Make sure to block anyone without a valid token
3	Here we pass the JWK inline instead of referring to a URL with `jwkUrl`
4	Set the client id registered with Identity Provider
5	The issuer claim must match "https://example.com/idp"
6	The audience claim must match "https://example.com/solr"
7	Fetch the user id from another claim than the default `sub`
8	Require that the `roles` claim is one of "A" or "B" and that the `dept` claim is "IT"
9	Require one of the scopes `solr:read`, `solr:write` or `solr:admin`
10	Only accept RSA algorithms for signatures

Editing JWT Authentication Plugin Configuration

All properties mentioned above can be set or changed using the Config Edit API. You can thus start with a simple configuration with only class configured and then configure the rest using the API.

Set a Configuration Property

Set properties for the authentication plugin. Each of the configuration keys in the table above can be used as parameter keys for the set-property command.

Example:

V1 API

curl http://localhost:8983/solr/admin/authentication -H 'Content-type:application/json' -H 'Authorization: Bearer xxx.yyy.zzz' -d '{"set-property": {"blockUnknown":true, "wellKnownUrl": "https://example.com/.well-knwon/openid-configuration", "scope": "solr:read solr:write"}}'

V2 API

curl http://localhost:8983/api/cluster/security/authentication -H 'Content-type:application/json' -H 'Authorization: Bearer xxx.yyy.zzz' -d -d '{"set-property": {"blockUnknown":true, "wellKnownUrl": "https://example.com/.well-knwon/openid-configuration", "scope": "solr:read solr:write"}}'

Insert a valid JWT access token in compact serialization format (xxx.yyy.zzz above) to authenticate with Solr once the plugin is active.

Using Clients with JWT Auth

SolrJ

SolrJ does not currently support supplying JWT tokens per request.

cURL

To authenticate with Solr when using the cURL utility, supply a valid JWT access token in an Authorization header, as follows (replace xxxxxx.xxxxxx.xxxxxx with your JWT compact token):

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer xxxxxx.xxxxxx.xxxxxx" http://localhost:8983/solr/admin/info/system

Admin UI

When this plugin is enabled, users will be redirected to a login page in the Admin UI once they attempt to do a restricted action. The page has a button that users will click and be redirected to the Identity Provider’s login page. Once authenticated, the user will be redirected back to Solr Admin UI to the last known location. The session will last as long as the JWT token expiry time and is valid for one Solr server only. That means you have to login again when navigating to another Solr node. There is also a logout menu in the left column where user can explicitly log out.

Using the Solr Control Script with JWT Auth

The control script (bin/solr) does not currently support JWT Auth.