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React single-page application calling Node.js & Express web API using App Roles to implement Role-Based Access Control

  1. Overview
  2. Scenario
  3. Contents
  4. Prerequisites
  5. Setup
  6. Registration
  7. Running the sample
  8. Explore the sample
  9. About the code
  10. More information
  11. Community Help and Support
  12. Contributing

Overview

This sample demonstrates a cross-platform application suite involving an React single-page application (TodoListSPA) calling an Node.js & Express web API (TodoListAPI) secured with the Microsoft identity platform. In doing so, it implements Role-based Access Control (RBAC) by using Azure AD App Roles.

Access control in Azure AD can be done with Security Groups as well, as we will cover in the next tutorial. Security Groups and App Roles in Azure AD are by no means mutually exclusive - they can be used in tandem to provide even finer grained access control.

Scenario

In the sample, a dashboard component allows signed-in users to see the tasks assigned to users and is only accessible by users under an app role named TaskAdmin.

  • The TodoListSPA uses MSAL React to authenticate a user with the Microsoft identity platform.
  • The app then obtains an access token from Azure AD on behalf of the authenticated user for the TodoListAPI.
  • TodoListAPI uses passport-azure-ad to protect its endpoint and accept only authorized calls.

Topology

Contents

File/folder Description
SPA/src/authConfig.js Authentication parameters for SPA project reside here.
SPA/src/components/RouteGuard.jsx This component protects other components that require a user to be in a role.
SPA/src/index.js MSAL React is initialized here.
API/authConfig.json Authentication parameters for web API project.
API/utils/guard.js Custom middleware protecting app routes that require a user to be in a role.
API/app.js passport-azure-ad is initialized here.

Prerequisites

Setup

Using a command line interface such as VS Code integrated terminal, follow the steps below:

Step 1. Clone the repository

    git clone https://github.com/Azure-Samples/ms-identity-javascript-react-tutorial.git

or download and extract the repository .zip file.

⚠️ To avoid path length limitations on Windows, we recommend cloning into a directory near the root of your drive.

Step 2. Install Express web API dependencies

    cd ms-identity-javascript-react-tutorial
    cd 5-AccessControl/1-call-api-roles/API
    npm install

Step 3. Install React SPA dependencies

    cd ../
    cd SPA
    npm install

Registration

Register the sample application(s) with your Azure Active Directory tenant

There are two projects in this sample. Each needs to be separately registered in your Azure AD tenant. To register these projects, you can:

  • follow the steps below for manually register your apps
  • or use PowerShell scripts that:
    • automatically creates the Azure AD applications and related objects (passwords, permissions, dependencies) for you.
    • modify the projects' configuration files.
Expand this section if you want to use this automation:

⚠️ If you have never used Azure AD Powershell before, we recommend you go through the App Creation Scripts once to ensure that your environment is prepared correctly for this step.

  1. On Windows, run PowerShell as Administrator and navigate to the root of the cloned directory

  2. If you have never used Azure AD Powershell before, we recommend you go through the App Creation Scripts once to ensure that your environment is prepared correctly for this step.

  3. In PowerShell run:

    Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope Process -Force

  4. Run the script to create your Azure AD application and configure the code of the sample application accordingly.

  5. In PowerShell run:

    cd .\AppCreationScripts\
.\Configure.ps1

    Other ways of running the scripts are described in App Creation Scripts The scripts also provide a guide to automated application registration, configuration and removal which can help in your CI/CD scenarios.

Choose the Azure AD tenant where you want to create your applications

As a first step you'll need to:

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal.
  2. If your account is present in more than one Azure AD tenant, select your profile at the top right corner in the menu on top of the page, and then switch directory to change your portal session to the desired Azure AD tenant.

Register the service app (msal-node-api)

  1. Navigate to the Azure portal and select the Azure AD service.
  2. Select the App Registrations blade on the left, then select New registration.
  3. In the Register an application page that appears, enter your application's registration information:
    • In the Name section, enter a meaningful application name that will be displayed to users of the app, for example msal-node-api.
    • Under Supported account types, select Accounts in this organizational directory only.
  4. Select Register to create the application.
  5. In the app's registration screen, find and note the Application (client) ID. You use this value in your app's configuration file(s) later in your code.
  6. Select Save to save your changes.
  7. In the app's registration screen, select the Expose an API blade to the left to open the page where you can declare the parameters to expose this app as an API for which client applications can obtain access tokens for. The first thing that we need to do is to declare the unique resource URI that the clients will be using to obtain access tokens for this Api. To declare an resource URI, follow the following steps:
    • Select Set next to the Application ID URI to generate a URI that is unique for this app.
    • For this sample, accept the proposed Application ID URI (api://{clientId}) by selecting Save.
  8. All APIs have to publish a minimum of one scope for the client's to obtain an access token successfully. To publish a scope, follow the following steps:
    • Select Add a scope button open the Add a scope screen and Enter the values as indicated below:
      • For Scope name, use access_as_user.
      • Select Admins and users options for Who can consent?.
      • For Admin consent display name type Access msal-node-api.
      • For Admin consent description type Allows the app to access msal-node-api as the signed-in user.
      • For User consent display name type Access msal-node-api.
      • For User consent description type Allow the application to access msal-node-api on your behalf.
      • Keep State as Enabled.
      • Select the Add scope button on the bottom to save this scope.
  9. On the right side menu, select the Manifest blade.
    • Set accessTokenAcceptedVersion property to 2.
    • Click on Save.

Define Application Roles

  1. Still on the same app registration, select the App roles blade to the left.
  2. Select Create app role:
    • For Display name, enter a suitable name, for instance TaskAdmin.
    • For Allowed member types, choose User.
    • For Value, enter TaskAdmin.
    • For Description, enter Admins can read any user's todo list.
  3. Select Create app role:
    • For Display name, enter a suitable name, for instance TaskUser.
    • For Allowed member types, choose User.
    • For Value, enter TaskUser.
    • For Description, enter Users can read and modify their todo lists.
  4. Select Apply to save your changes.

To add users to this app role, follow the guidelines here: Assign users and groups to roles.

💡 Important security tip

You can configure Azure AD to make sure that only users assigned to your application in the Users and groups blade are able to sign-in to your app. To enable this, follow the instructions here to set User assignment required? to Yes. You can assign users directly or by assigning security groups they belong to.

ℹ️ The number of App Roles that can be created for an app are limited by the App Manifest limits.

Configure the service app (msal-node-api) to use your app registration

Open the project in your IDE (like Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code) to configure the code.

In the steps below, "ClientID" is the same as "Application ID" or "AppId".

  1. Open the API\authConfig.json file.
  2. Find the key TenantId and replace the existing value with your Azure AD tenant ID.
  3. Find the key ClientId and replace the existing value with the application ID (clientId) of msal-node-api app copied from the Azure portal.

Register the client app (msal-react-spa)

  1. Navigate to the Azure portal and select the Azure AD service.
  2. Select the App Registrations blade on the left, then select New registration.
  3. In the Register an application page that appears, enter your application's registration information:
    • In the Name section, enter a meaningful application name that will be displayed to users of the app, for example msal-react-spa.
    • Under Supported account types, select Accounts in this organizational directory only.
    • In the Redirect URI (optional) section, select Single-page application in the combo-box and enter the following redirect URI: http://localhost:3000/.
  4. Select Register to create the application.
  5. In the app's registration screen, find and note the Application (client) ID. You use this value in your app's configuration file(s) later in your code.
  6. Select Save to save your changes.
  7. In the app's registration screen, select the API permissions blade in the left to open the page where we add access to the APIs that your application needs.
    • Select the Add a permission button and then,
    • Ensure that the My APIs tab is selected.
    • In the list of APIs, select the API msal-node-api.
    • In the Delegated permissions section, select the Access 'msal-node-api' in the list. Use the search box if necessary.
    • Select the Add permissions button at the bottom.

Define Application Roles

  1. Still on the same app registration, select the App roles blade to the left.
  2. Select Create app role:
    • For Display name, enter a suitable name, for instance TaskAdmin.
    • For Allowed member types, choose User.
    • For Value, enter TaskAdmin.
    • For Description, enter Admins can read any user's todo list.
  3. Select Create app role:
    • For Display name, enter a suitable name, for instance TaskUser.
    • For Allowed member types, choose User.
    • For Value, enter TaskUser.
    • For Description, enter Users can read and modify their todo lists.
  4. Select Apply to save your changes.

To add users to this app role, follow the guidelines here: Assign users and groups to roles.

Configure the client app (msal-react-spa) to use your app registration

Open the project in your IDE (like Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code) to configure the code.

In the steps below, "ClientID" is the same as "Application ID" or "AppId".

  1. Open the SPA\src\authConfig.js file.
  2. Find the key clientId and replace the existing value with the application ID (clientId) of msal-react-spa app copied from the Azure portal.
  3. Find the key tenantId and replace the existing value with your Azure AD tenant ID copied from the Azure portal.
  4. Find the key protectedResources.apiTodoList.scopes and replace the existing value with scope you created during the app registration of TodoListAPI e.g. api://{clientId_of_service_app}/access_as_user.

Running the sample

Using a command line interface such as VS Code integrated terminal, locate the application directory. Then:

   cd SPA
   npm start

In a separate console window, execute the following commands:

   cd ../
   cd API
   npm start

Explore the sample

  1. Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000.
  2. Sign-in using the button on top-right:

login

  1. Click on the TodoList button to access your (the signed-in user's) todo list:

todolist

  1. If the signed-in user has the right privileges (i.e. in the right "role"), click on the Dashboard button to access every users' todo list:

dashboard

  1. If the signed-in user does not have the right privileges, clicking on the Dashboard will give an error:

error

We'd love your feedback!

ℹ️ Consider taking a moment to share your experience with us

About the code

React RouteGuard component

The client application React SPA has a RouteGuard component that checks whether a user has the right privileges to access a protected route. It does this by checking roles claim in the ID token of the signed-in user:

export const RouteGuard = ({ Component, ...props }) => {

    const { instance } = useMsal();
    const [isAuthorized, setIsAuthorized] = useState(false);

    const onLoad = async () => {
        const currentAccount = instance.getActiveAccount();

        if (currentAccount && currentAccount.idTokenClaims['roles']) {
            let intersection = props.roles
                .filter(role => currentAccount.idTokenClaims['roles'].includes(role));

            if (intersection.length > 0) {
                setIsAuthorized(true);
            }
        }
    }

    useEffect(() => {
        onLoad();
    }, [instance]);

    return (
        <>
            {
                isAuthorized
                    ?
                    <Route {...props} render={routeProps => <Component {...routeProps} />} />
                    :
                    <div className="data-area-div">
                        <h3>You are unauthorized to view this content.</h3>
                    </div>
            }
        </>
    );
};

We then enable RouteGuard in App.jsx as follows:

const Pages = () => {
  return (
    <Switch>
      <RouteGuard
        exact
        path='/todolist'
        roles={[appRoles.TaskUser, appRoles.TaskAdmin]}
        Component={TodoList}
      />
      <RouteGuard
        exact
        path='/dashboard'
        roles={[appRoles.TaskAdmin]}
        Component={Dashboard}
      />
    </Switch>
  )
}

However, it is important to be aware of that no content on the front-end application can be truly secure. That is, our RouteGuard component is primarily responsible for rendering the correct pages and other UI elements for a user in a particular role; in the example above, we allow only users in the TaskAdmin role to see the Dashboard component. In order to truly protect data and expose certain REST operations to a selected set of users, we enable RBAC on the back-end/web API as well in this sample. This is shown next.

Express routeGuard middleware

As mentioned before, in order to truly implement RBAC and secure data, we allow only authorized calls to our web API. We do this by defining an access matrix and protecting our routes with a routeGuard custom middleware:

const routeGuard = (accessMatrix) => {
    return (req, res, next) => {

        if (req.authInfo.roles === undefined) {
            return res.status(403).json({error: 'No roles claim found!'});
        } else {
            const roles = req.authInfo['roles'];

            if (req.path === accessMatrix.todolist.path) {
                if (accessMatrix.todolist.methods.includes(req.method)) {

                    let intersection = accessMatrix.todolist.roles
                        .filter(role => roles.includes(role));

                    if (intersection.length < 1) {
                        return res.status(403).json({error: 'User does not have the role'});
                    }
                } else {
                    return res.status(403).json({error: 'Method not allowed'});
                }
            } else if (req.path === accessMatrix.dashboard.path) {
                if (accessMatrix.dashboard.methods.includes(req.method)) {

                    let intersection = accessMatrix.dashboard.roles
                        .filter(role => roles.includes(role));

                    if (intersection.length < 1) {
                        return res.status(403).json({error: 'User does not have the role'});
                    }   
                } else {
                    return res.status(403).json({error: 'Method not allowed'});
                }
            } else {
                return res.status(403).json({error: 'Unrecognized path'});
            }
        }
    
        next();
    }
}

We defined these roles in authConfig.json as follows:

    "accessMatrix": {
        "todolist": {
            "path": "/todolist",
            "methods": [
                "GET",
                "POST",
                "PUT",
                "DELETE"
            ],
            "roles": [
                "TaskUser",
                "TaskAdmin"
            ]
        },
        "dashboard": {
            "path": "/dashboard",
            "methods": [
                "GET"
            ],
            "roles": [
                "TaskAdmin"
            ]
        }
    }

Finally, in app.js, we add the routeGuard middleware to /api route:

const bearerStrategy = new BearerStrategy(options, (token, done) => {
    // Send user info using the second argument
    done(null, {}, token);
});

const app = express();

app.use(passport.initialize());

passport.use(bearerStrategy);

app.use('/api',
    passport.authenticate('oauth-bearer', { session: false }),
    roleGuard(config.accessMatrix),
    router
);

app.listen(port, () => {
    console.log('Listening on port ' + port);
});

ℹ️ Did the sample not work for you as expected? Then please reach out to us using the GitHub Issues page.

More information

For more information about how OAuth 2.0 protocols work in this scenario and other scenarios, see Authentication Scenarios for Azure AD.

Community Help and Support

Use Stack Overflow to get support from the community. Ask your questions on Stack Overflow first and browse existing issues to see if someone has asked your question before. Make sure that your questions or comments are tagged with [azure-active-directory ms-identity adal msal].

If you find a bug in the sample, raise the issue on GitHub Issues.

To provide feedback on or suggest features for Azure Active Directory, visit User Voice page.

Contributing

If you'd like to contribute to this sample, see CONTRIBUTING.MD.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information, see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.