It’s amazing to see that the DarkLoop.Azure.Functions.Authorize (now DarkLoop.Azure.Functions.Authorization.InProcess) NuGet package has received over 160K downloads in almost three years since its publication.
Since then, Microsoft has introduced another way of hosting Azure Function applications: the Isolated worker model. This mode was launched with a new set of APIs, moving away from the well-known HttpRequest and HttpRequestMessage bindings that HTTP-triggered functions have in the In-Proc hosting model. Unfortunately, this change prevented my package from utilizing the ASP.NET Core Authorization infrastructure for handling authorization in Azure Functions.
More recently ASP.NET Core integration has been added to the Isolated worker hosting model. It was time to bring the AuthorizeAttribue behavior to Isolated worker Function apps.
I’ve been working on refactoring the solution to provide common shared functionality for both In-Proc and Isolated models.
DarkLoop.Azure.Functions.Authorization.InProcess will remain as the package used for In-Proc model hosted applications.DarkLoop.Azure.Functions.Authorization.Isolated will become the package for Isolated model hosted applications.One significant improvement when transitioning from In-Proc to Isolated model is the support for a true middleware framework. Previously, DarkLoop.Azure.Functions.Authorize relied on invocation filters, which remained in preview. To notify the function consumer of an authorization failure, the function had to throw an exception, preventing the stack from reaching the function logic. The new module for the Isolated model leverages middleware, behaving as expected. The application will not log exceptions, but users will receive communication about authorization failures.
dotnet add package DarkLoop.Azure.Functions.Authorization.Isolated
// Instrument your application for authorization
var host = new HostBuilder()
.ConfigureFunctionsWebAppliction(builder =>
{
builder.UseFunctionsAuthorization(); // Explicit middleware registration
})
.ConfigureServices(services =>
{
// Add authorization services
services
.AddFunctionsAuthentication(JwtBearerDefaults.AuthenticationScheme)
// or just ASP.NET Core's .AddAuthentication(...
.AddJwtBearer(options =>
{
options.Authority = "https://login.microsoftonline.com/your-tenant-id";
options.Audience = "your-client-id";
// Other JWT configuration options...
});
// Define custom authorization policies
services.AddFunctionsAuthorization(options =>
{
options.AddPolicy("OnlyAdmins", policy => policy.RequireRole("Admin"));
});
// Add other services as needed
})
.Build();
host.Run();
Notice the UseFunctionsAuthorization() explicit middleware registration for the application. This instructs the function app to place this middleware right before the function execution middleware.
The authentication and authorization services are added in the same way as before for any ASP.NET Core web application. You’ll notice that we’ve retained the methods introduced for the In-Proc model. While these methods have no effect for Isolated model hosted apps, we’ve kept them in place for compatibility during migrations from In-Proc to Isolated mode.
Just as with In-Proc, securing your triggers involves decorating them with the authorization attribute.
[FunctionAuthorize]
public class Functions
{
[FunctionName("get-record")]
public async Task<IActionResult> GetRecord(
[HttpTrigger("get")] HttpRequest req, ILogger log)
{
var user = req.HttpContext.User;
var record = GetUserData(user.Identity.Name);
return new OkObjectResult(record);
}
[Authorize(Policy = "OnlyAdmins")]
[FunctionName("get-all-records")]
public async Task<IActionResult> GetAllRecords(
[HttpTrigger("get")] HttpRequest req, ILogger log)
{
var records = GetAllData();
return new OkObjectResult(records);
}
}
Notice how the second function, get-all-records, is using ASP.NET Core’s AuthorizeAttribute. Now that we don’t rely on invocation filters, we can use either FunctionAuthorizeAttribute or AuthorizeAttribute. The former attribute, which was introduced for this framework, has been kept to make it easy to migrate applications running on the In-Proc to the Isolated mode. Notably, FunctionAuthorizeAttribute in the Isolated module is simply an inheriting class of AuthorizeAttribute.
Additionally, is nice that for the Isolated model, the default authentication level is Anonymous; making it really simple to just declare the trigger attribute along with the authorization one.
All this functionality is in preview, and I’m actively working on adding more test coverage to the modules.
Working on different ideas to empower consumers to implement more specific scenarios tailored to their needs.
I’m working on allowing the definition of authorzation for functions without relying solely attributes. This will envolve exposing interfaces for greater flexibility.
Generating code based on how classes and functions are decorated and remove need for reflection to consume the authorization metadata. Having source generators will optimize function startup time by avoiding runtime reflection operations.
It’s important to note that the module currently performs JIT metadata generation only the first time a function is invoked.
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, and don’t hesitate to open any issues in the project’s repository. Your feedback is valuable!