Build, Sign and Encrypt JSON Web Tokens
According to RFC7519, JSON Web Token (JWT) is a compact, URL-safe means of representing claims which are encoded as a JSON object that is used as the payload of a JSON Web Signature (JWS) structure or as the plaintext of a JSON Web Encryption (JWE) structure, enabling the claims to be digitally signed or integrity protected with a Message Authentication Code(MAC) and/or encrypted.
Signing the claims is used most often to secure the claims. What is known today as a JWT token is typically produced by signing the claims in a JSON format using the steps described in the JSON Web Signature specification.
However, when the claims are sensitive, their confidentiality can be guaranteed by following the steps described in the JSON Web Encryption specification to produce a JWT token with the encrypted claims.
Finally, both the confidentiality and integrity of the claims can be further enforced by signing them first and then encrypting the nested JWT token.
SmallRye JWT Build provides an API for securing JWT claims using all of these options. Jose4J is used internally to support this API.
Dependency
<dependency>
<groupId>io.quarkus</groupId>
<artifactId>quarkus-smallrye-jwt-build</artifactId>
</dependency>
implementation("io.quarkus:quarkus-smallrye-jwt-build")
Note you can use Smallrye JWT Build API without having to create MicroProfile JWT endpoints supported by quarkus-smallrye-jwt
.
It can also be excluded from quarkus-smallrye-jwt
if MP JWT endpoints do not need to generate JWT tokens.
Create JwtClaimsBuilder and set the claims
The first step is to initialize a JwtClaimsBuilder
using one of the options below and add some claims to it:
import java.util.Collections;
import jakarta.json.Json;
import jakarta.json.JsonObject;
import io.smallrye.jwt.build.Jwt;
import io.smallrye.jwt.build.JwtClaimsBuilder;
import org.eclipse.microprofile.jwt.JsonWebToken;
...
// Create an empty builder and add some claims
JwtClaimsBuilder builder1 = Jwt.claims();
builder1.claim("customClaim", "custom-value").issuer("https://issuer.org");
// Or start typing the claims immediately:
// JwtClaimsBuilder builder1 = Jwt.upn("Alice");
// Builder created from the existing claims
JwtClaimsBuilder builder2 = Jwt.claims("/tokenClaims.json");
// Builder created from a map of claims
JwtClaimsBuilder builder3 = Jwt.claims(Collections.singletonMap("customClaim", "custom-value"));
// Builder created from JsonObject
JsonObject userName = Json.createObjectBuilder().add("username", "Alice").build();
JsonObject userAddress = Json.createObjectBuilder().add("city", "someCity").add("street", "someStreet").build();
JsonObject json = Json.createObjectBuilder(userName).add("address", userAddress).build();
JwtClaimsBuilder builder4 = Jwt.claims(json);
// Builder created from JsonWebToken
@Inject JsonWebToken token;
JwtClaimsBuilder builder5 = Jwt.claims(token);
The API is fluent so the builder initialization can be done as part of the fluent API sequence.
The builder will also set iat
(issued at) to the current time, exp
(expires at) to 5 minutes away from the current time (it can be customized with the smallrye.jwt.new-token.lifespan
property) and jti
(unique token identifier) claims if they have not already been set.
One can also configure smallrye.jwt.new-token.issuer
and smallrye.jwt.new-token.audience
properties and skip setting the issuer and audience directly with the builder API.
The next step is to decide how to secure the claims.
Sign the claims
The claims can be signed immediately or after the JSON Web Signature
headers have been set:
import io.smallrye.jwt.build.Jwt;
...
// Sign the claims using an RSA private key loaded from the location set with a 'smallrye.jwt.sign.key.location' property.
// No 'jws()' transition is necessary. Default algorithm is RS256.
String jwt1 = Jwt.claims("/tokenClaims.json").sign();
// Set the headers and sign the claims with an RSA private key loaded in the code (the implementation of this method is omitted).
// Note a 'jws()' transition to a 'JwtSignatureBuilder', Default algorithm is RS256.
String jwt2 = Jwt.claims("/tokenClaims.json").jws().keyId("kid1").header("custom-header", "custom-value").sign(getPrivateKey());
Note the alg
(algorithm) header is set to RS256
by default. Signing key identifier (kid
header) does not have to be set if a single JSON Web Key (JWK) containing a kid
property is used.
RSA and Elliptic Curve (EC) private keys as well as symmetric secret keys can be used to sign the claims.
ES256
and HS256
are the default algorithms for EC private and symmetric key algorithms respectively.
You can customize the signature algorithm, for example:
import io.smallrye.jwt.SignatureAlgorithm;
import io.smallrye.jwt.build.Jwt;
// Sign the claims using an RSA private key loaded from the location set with a 'smallrye.jwt.sign.key.location' property. Algorithm is PS256.
String jwt = Jwt.upn("Alice").jws().algorithm(SignatureAlgorithm.PS256).sign();
Alternatively you can use a smallrye.jwt.new-token.signature-algorithm
property:
smallrye.jwt.new-token.signature-algorithm=PS256
and write a simpler API sequence:
import io.smallrye.jwt.build.Jwt;
// Sign the claims using an RSA private key loaded from the location set with a 'smallrye.jwt.sign.key.location' property. Algorithm is PS256.
String jwt = Jwt.upn("Alice").sign();
Note the sign
step can be combined with the encrypt step to produce inner-signed and encrypted
tokens, see Sign the claims and encrypt the nested JWT token section.
Encrypt the claims
The claims can be encrypted immediately or after the JSON Web Encryption
headers have been set the same way as they can be signed.
The only minor difference is that encrypting the claims always requires a jwe()
JwtEncryptionBuilder
transition given that the API has been optimized to support signing and inner-signing of the claims.
import io.smallrye.jwt.build.Jwt;
...
// Encrypt the claims using an RSA public key loaded from the location set with a 'smallrye.jwt.encrypt.key.location' property. Default key encryption algorithm is RSA-OAEP.
String jwt1 = Jwt.claims("/tokenClaims.json").jwe().encrypt();
// Set the headers and encrypt the claims with an RSA public key loaded in the code (the implementation of this method is omitted). Default key encryption algorithm is A256KW.
String jwt2 = Jwt.claims("/tokenClaims.json").jwe().header("custom-header", "custom-value").encrypt(getSecretKey());
Note the alg
(key management algorithm) header is set to RSA-OAEP
and the enc
(content encryption header) is set to A256GCM
by default.
RSA and Elliptic Curve (EC) public keys as well as symmetric secret keys can be used to encrypt the claims.
ECDH-ES
and A256KW
are the default algorithms for EC public and symmetric key encryption algorithms respectively.
Note two encryption operations are done when creating an encrypted token:
1) the generated content encryption key is encrypted by the key supplied with the API using the key encryption algorithm such as RSA-OAEP
2) the claims are encrypted by the generated content encryption key using the content encryption algorithm such as A256GCM
.
You can customize the key and content encryption algorithms, for example:
import io.smallrye.jwt.KeyEncryptionAlgorithm;
import io.smallrye.jwt.ContentEncryptionAlgorithm;
import io.smallrye.jwt.build.Jwt;
// Encrypt the claims using an RSA public key loaded from the location set with a 'smallrye.jwt.encrypt.key.location' property.
// Key encryption algorithm is RSA-OAEP-256, content encryption algorithm is A256CBC-HS512.
String jwt = Jwt.subject("Bob").jwe()
.keyAlgorithm(KeyEncryptionAlgorithm.RSA_OAEP_256)
.contentAlgorithm(ContentEncryptionAlgorithm.A256CBC_HS512)
.encrypt();
Alternatively you can use smallrye.jwt.new-token.key-encryption-algorithm
and smallrye.jwt.new-token.content-encryption-algorithm
properties to customize the key and content encryption algorithms:
smallrye.jwt.new-token.key-encryption-algorithm=RSA-OAEP-256
smallrye.jwt.new-token.content-encryption-algorithm=A256CBC-HS512
and write a simpler API sequence:
import io.smallrye.jwt.build.Jwt;
// Encrypt the claims using an RSA public key loaded from the location set with a 'smallrye.jwt.encrypt.key.location' property.
// Key encryption algorithm is RSA-OAEP-256, content encryption algorithm is A256CBC-HS512.
String jwt = Jwt.subject("Bob").encrypt();
Note that when the token is directly encrypted by the public RSA or EC key it is not possible to verify which party sent the token. Therefore, the secret keys should be preferred for directly encrypting the tokens, for example, when using JWT as cookies where a secret key is managed by the Quarkus endpoint with only this endpoint being both a producer and a consumer of the encrypted token.
If you would like to use RSA or EC public keys to encrypt the token then it is recommended to sign the token first if the signing key is available, see the next Sign the claims and encrypt the nested JWT token section.
Sign the claims and encrypt the nested JWT token
The claims can be signed and then the nested JWT token encrypted by combining the sign and encrypt steps.
import io.smallrye.jwt.build.Jwt;
...
// Sign the claims and encrypt the nested token using the private and public keys loaded from the locations set with the 'smallrye.jwt.sign.key.location' and 'smallrye.jwt.encrypt.key.location' properties respectively. Signature algorithm is RS256, key encryption algorithm is RSA-OAEP-256.
String jwt = Jwt.claims("/tokenClaims.json").innerSign().encrypt();
Fast JWT Generation
If smallrye.jwt.sign.key.location
or/and smallrye.jwt.encrypt.key.location
properties are set then one can secure the existing claims (resources, maps, JsonObjects) with a single call:
// More compact than Jwt.claims("/claims.json").sign();
Jwt.sign("/claims.json");
// More compact than Jwt.claims("/claims.json").jwe().encrypt();
Jwt.encrypt("/claims.json");
// More compact than Jwt.claims("/claims.json").innerSign().encrypt();
Jwt.signAndEncrypt("/claims.json");
As mentioned above, iat
(issued at), exp
(expires at), jti
(token identifier), iss
(issuer) and aud
(audience) claims will be added if needed.
Dealing with the keys
smallrye.jwt.sign.key.location
and smallrye.jwt.encrypt.key.location
properties can be used to point to signing and encryption key locations. The keys can be located on the local file system, classpath, or fetched from the remote endpoints and can be in PEM
or JSON Web Key
(JWK
) formats. For example:
smallrye.jwt.sign.key.location=privateKey.pem
smallrye.jwt.encrypt.key.location=publicKey.pem
You can also use MicroProfile ConfigSource
to fetch the keys from the external services such as HashiCorp Vault or other secret managers and use smallrye.jwt.sign.key
and smallrye.jwt.encrypt.key
properties instead:
smallrye.jwt.sign.key=${private.key.from.vault}
smallrye.jwt.encrypt.key=${public.key.from.vault}
where both private.key.from.vault
and public.key.from.vault
are the PEM
or JWK
formatted key values provided by the custom ConfigSource
.
smallrye.jwt.sign.key
and smallrye.jwt.encrypt.key
can also contain only the Base64-encoded private or public keys values.
However, please note, directly inlining the private keys in the configuration is not recommended. Use the smallrye.jwt.sign.key
property only if you need to fetch a signing key value from the remote secret manager.
The keys can also be loaded by the code which builds the token and supplied to JWT Build API.
If you need to sign and/or encrypt the token using the symmetric secret key then consider using io.smallrye.jwt.util.KeyUtils
to generate a SecretKey of the required length.
For example, one needs to have a 64 byte key to sign using the HS512
algorithm (512/8
) and a 32 byte key to encrypt the content encryption key with the A256KW
algorithm (256/8
):
import javax.crypto.SecretKey;
import io.smallrye.jwt.KeyEncryptionAlgorithm;
import io.smallrye.jwt.SignatureAlgorithm;
import io.smallrye.jwt.build.Jwt;
import io.smallrye.jwt.util.KeyUtils;
SecretKey signingKey = KeyUtils.generateSecretKey(SignatureAlgorithm.HS512);
SecretKey encryptionKey = KeyUtils.generateSecretKey(KeyEncryptionAlgorithm.A256KW);
String jwt = Jwt.claim("sensitiveClaim", getSensitiveClaim()).innerSign(signingKey).encrypt(encryptionKey);
You can also consider using a JSON Web Key
(JWK) or JSON Web Key Set
(JWK Set) format to store a secret key on a secure file system and refer to it using either smallrye.jwt.sign.key.location
or smallrye.jwt.encrypt.key.location
properties, for example:
{
"kty":"oct",
"kid":"secretKey",
"k":"Fdh9u8rINxfivbrianbbVT1u232VQBZYKx1HGAGPt2I"
}
or
{
"keys": [
{
"kty":"oct",
"kid":"secretKey1",
"k":"Fdh9u8rINxfivbrianbbVT1u232VQBZYKx1HGAGPt2I"
},
{
"kty":"oct",
"kid":"secretKey2",
"k":"AyM1SysPpbyDfgZld3umj1qzKObwVMkoqQ-EstJQLr_T-1qS0gZH75aKtMN3Yj0iPS4hcgUuTwjAzZr1Z9CAow"
}
]
}
io.smallrye.jwt.util.KeyUtils
can also be used to generate a pair of asymmetric RSA or EC keys. These keys can be stored using a JWK
, JWK Set
or PEM
format.
SmallRye JWT Builder configuration
SmallRye JWT supports the following properties which can be used to customize the way claims are signed and/or encrypted:
Property Name | Default | Description |
---|---|---|
|
|
Location of a private key which will be used to sign the claims when either a no-argument |
|
|
Key value which will be used to sign the claims when either a no-argument |
|
|
Signing key identifier which is checked only when JWK keys are used. |
|
|
Location of a public key which will be used to encrypt the claims or inner JWT when a no-argument |
|
|
Relax the validation of the signing keys. |
|
|
Key value which will be used to encrypt the claims or inner JWT when a no-argument encrypt() method is called. |
|
|
Encryption key identifier which is checked only when JWK keys are used. |
|
|
Relax the validation of the encryption keys. |
|
|
Signature algorithm. This property will be checked if the JWT signature builder has not already set the signature algorithm. |
|
|
Key encryption algorithm. This property will be checked if the JWT encryption builder has not already set the key encryption algorithm. |
|
|
Content encryption algorithm. This property will be checked if the JWT encryption builder has not already set the content encryption algorithm. |
|
|
Token lifespan in seconds which will be used to calculate an |
|
|
Token issuer which can be used to set an |
|
|
Token audience which can be used to set an |
|
|
Set this property to |
|
|
This property can be used to customize a keystore type if either |
|
This property can be used to customize a |
|
|
Keystore password. If |
|
|
This property has to be set to identify a public encryption key which will be extracted from |
|
|
This property has to be set to identify a private signing key if |
|
|
This property may be set if a private signing key’s password in |