Securing your app with signed headers

This page describes how to secure your app with signed IAP headers. When configured, Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP) uses JSON Web Tokens (JWT) to make sure that a request to your app is authorized. This protects your app from the following kind of risks:

  • IAP is accidentally disabled;
  • Misconfigured firewalls;
  • Access from within the project.

To properly secure your app, you must use signed headers for all app types.

Alternatively, if you have an App Engine standard environment app, the Users API can be used .

Note that Compute Engine and GKE health checks don't include JWT headers and IAP doesn't handle health checks. If your health check returns access errors, make sure that you have it configured correctly in the Google Cloud console and that your JWT header validation allows the health check path. For more information, see Create a health check exception .

Before you begin

To secure your app with signed headers, you'll need the following:

Securing your app with IAP headers

To secure your app with the IAP JWT, verify the header, payload, and signature of the JWT. The JWT is in the HTTP request header x-goog-iap-jwt-assertion . If an attacker bypasses IAP, they can forge the IAP unsigned identity headers, x-goog-authenticated-user-{email,id} . The IAP JWT provides a more secure alternative.

Signed headers provide secondary security in case someone bypasses IAP. Note that when IAP is turned on, it strips the x-goog-* headers provided by the client when the request goes through the IAP serving infrastructure.

Verifying the JWT header

Verify that the JWT's header conforms to the following constraints:

JWT Header Claims
alg
Algorithm
ES256
kid
Key ID
Must correspond to one of the public keys listed in the IAP key file, available in two different formats: https://www.gstatic.com/iap/verify/public_key and https://www.gstatic.com/iap/verify/public_key-jwk

Make sure that the JWT was signed by the private key that corresponds to the token's kid claim. To do this, first grab the public key from one of two places:

  • https://www.gstatic.com/iap/verify/public_key . This URL contains a JSON dictionary that maps the kid claims to the public key values.
  • https://www.gstatic.com/iap/verify/public_key-jwk . This URL contains the IAP public keys in JWK format.

Once you have the public key, use a JWT library to verify the signature.

Verifying the JWT payload

Verify the JWT's payload conforms to the following constraints:

JWT Payload Claims
exp
Expiration time
Must be in the future. The time is measured in seconds since the UNIX epoch. Allow 30 seconds for skew. The maximum lifetime of a token is 10 minutes + 2 * skew.
iat
Issued-at time
Must be in the past. The time is measured in seconds since the UNIX epoch. Allow 30 seconds for skew.
aud
Audience
Must be a string with the following values:
  • App Engine: /projects/ PROJECT_NUMBER /apps/ PROJECT_ID
  • Compute Engine and GKE: /projects/ PROJECT_NUMBER /global/backendServices/ SERVICE_ID
iss
Issuer
Must be https://cloud.google.com/iap .
hd
Account domain
If an account belongs to a hosted domain, the hd claim is provided to differentiate the domain the account is associated with.
google
Google claim
If one or more access levels apply to the request, their names are stored within the google claim's JSON object, under the access_levels key, as an array of strings.

When you specify a device policy and the Org has access to the device data, the DeviceId is also stored in the JSON object. Note that a request going to another Org might not have permission to view the device data.

You can get the values for the aud string mentioned above by accessing the Google Cloud console, or you can use the gcloud command-line tool.

To get aud string values from the Google Cloud console, go to the Identity-Aware Proxy settings for your project, click Morenext to the Load Balancer resource, and then select Signed Header JWT Audience. The Signed Header JWTdialog that appears displays the aud claim for the selected resource.

overflow menu with the Signed Header JWT Audience option

If you want to use the gcloud CLI gcloud command-line tool to get the aud string values, you'll need to know the project ID. You can find the project ID on the Google Cloud console Project infocard, then run the specified commands below for each value.

Project number

To get your project number using the gcloud command-line tool, run the following command:

gcloud projects describe PROJECT_ID

The command returns output like the following:

 createTime 
 : 
  
 ' 
 2016 
 - 
 10 
 - 
 13 
 T16 
 : 
 44 
 : 
 28.170 
 Z 
 ' 
 lifecycleState 
 : 
  
 ACTIVE 
 name 
 : 
  
 project_name 
 parent 
 : 
  
 id 
 : 
  
 ' 
 433637338589 
 ' 
  
 type 
 : 
  
 organization 
 projectId 
 : 
  
 PROJECT_ID 
  projectNumber 
 : 
  
 ' 
 PROJECT_NUMBER 
 ' 

Service ID

To get your service ID using the gcloud command-line tool, run the following command:

gcloud compute backend-services describe SERVICE_NAME --project= PROJECT_ID --global

The command returns output like the following:

 affinityCookieTtlSec 
 : 
  
 0 
 backends 
 : 
 - 
  
 balancingMode 
 : 
  
 UTILIZATION 
  
 capacityScaler 
 : 
  
 1.0 
  
 group 
 : 
  
 https 
 : 
 // 
 www 
 . 
 googleapis 
 . 
 com 
 / 
 compute 
 / 
 v1 
 / 
 projects 
 / 
 project_name 
 / 
 regions 
 / 
 us 
 - 
 central1 
 / 
 instanceGroups 
 / 
 my 
 - 
 group 
 connectionDraining 
 : 
  
 drainingTimeoutSec 
 : 
  
 0 
 creationTimestamp 
 : 
  
 '2017-04-03T14:01:35.687-07:00' 
 description 
 : 
  
 '' 
 enableCDN 
 : 
  
 false 
 fingerprint 
 : 
  
 zaOnO4k56Cw 
 = 
 healthChecks 
 : 
 - 
  
 https 
 : 
 // 
 www 
 . 
 googleapis 
 . 
 com 
 / 
 compute 
 / 
 v1 
 / 
 projects 
 / 
 project_name 
 / 
 global 
 / 
 httpsHealthChecks 
 / 
 my 
 - 
 hc 
  id 
 : 
  
 'SERVICE_ID' 
 kind 
 : 
  
 compute 
 #backendService 
 loadBalancingScheme 
 : 
  
 EXTERNAL 
 name 
 : 
  
 my 
 - 
 service 
 port 
 : 
  
 8443 
 portName 
 : 
  
 https 
 protocol 
 : 
  
 HTTPS 
 selfLink 
 : 
  
 https 
 : 
 // 
 www 
 . 
 googleapis 
 . 
 com 
 / 
 compute 
 / 
 v1 
 / 
 projects 
 / 
 project_name 
 / 
 global 
 / 
 backendServices 
 / 
 my 
 - 
 service 
 sessionAffinity 
 : 
  
 NONE 
 timeoutSec 
 : 
  
 3610 

Retrieving the user identity

If all of the above verifications are successful, retrieve the user identity. The ID token's payload contains the following user information:

ID Token Payload User Identity
sub
Subject
The unique, stable identifier for the user. Use this value instead of the x-goog-authenticated-user-id header.
email
User email
User email address.
  • Use this value instead of the x-goog-authenticated-user-email header.
  • Unlike that header and the sub claim, this value doesn't have a namespace prefix.

Here is some sample code to secure an app with signed IAP headers:

C#

  using 
  
  Google.Apis.Auth 
 
 ; 
 using 
  
  Google.Apis.Auth.OAuth2 
 
 ; 
 using 
  
 System 
 ; 
 using 
  
 System.Threading 
 ; 
 using 
  
 System.Threading.Tasks 
 ; 
 public 
  
 class 
  
 IAPTokenVerification 
 { 
  
 /// <summary> 
  
 /// Verifies a signed jwt token and returns its payload. 
  
 /// </summary> 
  
 /// <param name="signedJwt">The token to verify.</param> 
  
 /// <param name="expectedAudience">The audience that the token should be meant for. 
  
 /// Validation will fail if that's not the case.</param> 
  
 /// <param name="cancellationToken">The cancellation token to propagate cancellation requests.</param> 
  
 /// <returns>A task that when completed will have as its result the payload of the verified token.</returns> 
  
 /// <exception cref="InvalidJwtException">If verification failed. The message of the exception will contain 
  
 /// information as to why the token failed.</exception> 
  
 public 
  
 async 
  
 Task<JsonWebSignature 
 . 
 Payload 
>  
 VerifyTokenAsync 
 ( 
  
 string 
  
 signedJwt 
 , 
  
 string 
  
 expectedAudience 
 , 
  
 CancellationToken 
  
 cancellationToken 
  
 = 
  
 default 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
  SignedTokenVerificationOptions 
 
  
 options 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
  SignedTokenVerificationOptions 
 
  
 { 
  
 // Use clock tolerance to account for possible clock differences 
  
 // between the issuer and the verifier. 
  
 IssuedAtClockTolerance 
  
 = 
  
 TimeSpan 
 . 
 FromMinutes 
 ( 
 1 
 ), 
  
 ExpiryClockTolerance 
  
 = 
  
 TimeSpan 
 . 
 FromMinutes 
 ( 
 1 
 ), 
  
 TrustedAudiences 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 expectedAudience 
  
 }, 
  
 TrustedIssuers 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 "https://cloud.google.com/iap" 
  
 }, 
  
 CertificatesUrl 
  
 = 
  
  GoogleAuthConsts 
 
 . 
  IapKeySetUrl 
 
 , 
  
 }; 
  
 return 
  
 await 
  
  JsonWebSignature 
 
 . 
  VerifySignedTokenAsync 
 
 ( 
 signedJwt 
 , 
  
 options 
 , 
  
 cancellationToken 
 : 
  
 cancellationToken 
 ); 
  
 } 
 } 
 

Go

  import 
  
 ( 
  
 "context" 
  
 "fmt" 
  
 "io" 
  
 "google.golang.org/api/idtoken" 
 ) 
 // validateJWTFromAppEngine validates a JWT found in the 
 // "x-goog-iap-jwt-assertion" header. 
 func 
  
 validateJWTFromAppEngine 
 ( 
 w 
  
 io 
 . 
 Writer 
 , 
  
 iapJWT 
 , 
  
 projectNumber 
 , 
  
 projectID 
  
 string 
 ) 
  
 error 
  
 { 
  
 // iapJWT := "YmFzZQ==.ZW5jb2RlZA==.and0" // req.Header.Get("X-Goog-IAP-JWT-Assertion") 
  
 // projectNumber := "123456789" 
  
 // projectID := "your-project-id" 
  
 ctx 
  
 := 
  
 context 
 . 
 Background 
 () 
  
 aud 
  
 := 
  
 fmt 
 . 
 Sprintf 
 ( 
 "/projects/%s/apps/%s" 
 , 
  
 projectNumber 
 , 
  
 projectID 
 ) 
  
 payload 
 , 
  
 err 
  
 := 
  
 idtoken 
 . 
 Validate 
 ( 
 ctx 
 , 
  
 iapJWT 
 , 
  
 aud 
 ) 
  
 if 
  
 err 
  
 != 
  
 nil 
  
 { 
  
 return 
  
 fmt 
 . 
 Errorf 
 ( 
 "idtoken.Validate: %w" 
 , 
  
 err 
 ) 
  
 } 
  
 // payload contains the JWT claims for further inspection or validation 
  
 fmt 
 . 
 Fprintf 
 ( 
 w 
 , 
  
 "payload: %v" 
 , 
  
 payload 
 ) 
  
 return 
  
 nil 
 } 
 // validateJWTFromComputeEngine validates a JWT found in the 
 // "x-goog-iap-jwt-assertion" header. 
 func 
  
 validateJWTFromComputeEngine 
 ( 
 w 
  
 io 
 . 
 Writer 
 , 
  
 iapJWT 
 , 
  
 projectNumber 
 , 
  
 backendServiceID 
  
 string 
 ) 
  
 error 
  
 { 
  
 // iapJWT := "YmFzZQ==.ZW5jb2RlZA==.and0" // req.Header.Get("X-Goog-IAP-JWT-Assertion") 
  
 // projectNumber := "123456789" 
  
 // backendServiceID := "backend-service-id" 
  
 ctx 
  
 := 
  
 context 
 . 
 Background 
 () 
  
 aud 
  
 := 
  
 fmt 
 . 
 Sprintf 
 ( 
 "/projects/%s/global/backendServices/%s" 
 , 
  
 projectNumber 
 , 
  
 backendServiceID 
 ) 
  
 payload 
 , 
  
 err 
  
 := 
  
 idtoken 
 . 
 Validate 
 ( 
 ctx 
 , 
  
 iapJWT 
 , 
  
 aud 
 ) 
  
 if 
  
 err 
  
 != 
  
 nil 
  
 { 
  
 return 
  
 fmt 
 . 
 Errorf 
 ( 
 "idtoken.Validate: %w" 
 , 
  
 err 
 ) 
  
 } 
  
 // payload contains the JWT claims for further inspection or validation 
  
 fmt 
 . 
 Fprintf 
 ( 
 w 
 , 
  
 "payload: %v" 
 , 
  
 payload 
 ) 
  
 return 
  
 nil 
 } 
 

Java

  import 
  
 com.google.api.client.http. HttpRequest 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.client.json.webtoken. JsonWebToken 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.auth.oauth2. TokenVerifier 
 
 ; 
 /** Verify IAP authorization JWT token in incoming request. */ 
 public 
  
 class 
 VerifyIapRequestHeader 
  
 { 
  
 private 
  
 static 
  
 final 
  
 String 
  
 IAP_ISSUER_URL 
  
 = 
  
 "https://cloud.google.com/iap" 
 ; 
  
 // Verify jwt tokens addressed to IAP protected resources on App Engine. 
  
 // The project *number* for your Google Cloud project via 'gcloud projects describe $PROJECT_ID' 
  
 // The project *number* can also be retrieved from the Project Info card in Cloud Console. 
  
 // projectId is The project *ID* for your Google Cloud Project. 
  
 boolean 
  
 verifyJwtForAppEngine 
 ( 
  HttpRequest 
 
  
 request 
 , 
  
 long 
  
 projectNumber 
 , 
  
 String 
  
 projectId 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 Exception 
  
 { 
  
 // Check for iap jwt header in incoming request 
  
 String 
  
 jwt 
  
 = 
  
 request 
 . 
  getHeaders 
 
 (). 
  getFirstHeaderStringValue 
 
 ( 
 "x-goog-iap-jwt-assertion" 
 ); 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 jwt 
  
 == 
  
 null 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 return 
  
 false 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 return 
  
 verifyJwt 
 ( 
  
 jwt 
 , 
  
 String 
 . 
 format 
 ( 
 "/projects/%s/apps/%s" 
 , 
  
 Long 
 . 
 toUnsignedString 
 ( 
 projectNumber 
 ), 
  
 projectId 
 )); 
  
 } 
  
 boolean 
  
 verifyJwtForComputeEngine 
 ( 
  HttpRequest 
 
  
 request 
 , 
  
 long 
  
 projectNumber 
 , 
  
 long 
  
 backendServiceId 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 Exception 
  
 { 
  
 // Check for iap jwt header in incoming request 
  
 String 
  
 jwtToken 
  
 = 
  
 request 
 . 
  getHeaders 
 
 (). 
  getFirstHeaderStringValue 
 
 ( 
 "x-goog-iap-jwt-assertion" 
 ); 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 jwtToken 
  
 == 
  
 null 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 return 
  
 false 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 return 
  
 verifyJwt 
 ( 
  
 jwtToken 
 , 
  
 String 
 . 
 format 
 ( 
  
 "/projects/%s/global/backendServices/%s" 
 , 
  
 Long 
 . 
 toUnsignedString 
 ( 
 projectNumber 
 ), 
  
 Long 
 . 
 toUnsignedString 
 ( 
 backendServiceId 
 ))); 
  
 } 
  
 private 
  
 boolean 
  
 verifyJwt 
 ( 
 String 
  
 jwtToken 
 , 
  
 String 
  
 expectedAudience 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
  TokenVerifier 
 
  
 tokenVerifier 
  
 = 
  
  TokenVerifier 
 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 (). 
 setAudience 
 ( 
 expectedAudience 
 ). 
 setIssuer 
 ( 
 IAP_ISSUER_URL 
 ). 
 build 
 (); 
  
 try 
  
 { 
  
  JsonWebToken 
 
  
 jsonWebToken 
  
 = 
  
 tokenVerifier 
 . 
  verify 
 
 ( 
 jwtToken 
 ); 
  
 // Verify that the token contain subject and email claims 
  
  JsonWebToken 
 
 . 
  Payload 
 
  
 payload 
  
 = 
  
 jsonWebToken 
 . 
  getPayload 
 
 (); 
  
 return 
  
 payload 
 . 
  getSubject 
 
 () 
  
 != 
  
 null 
 && 
 payload 
 . 
 get 
 ( 
 "email" 
 ) 
  
 != 
  
 null 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 catch 
  
 ( 
  TokenVerifier 
 
 . 
  VerificationException 
 
  
 e 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 e 
 . 
 getMessage 
 ()); 
  
 return 
  
 false 
 ; 
  
 } 
  
 } 
 } 
 

Node.js

  /** 
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment these variables before running the sample. 
 */ 
 // const iapJwt = 'SOME_ID_TOKEN'; // JWT from the "x-goog-iap-jwt-assertion" header 
 let 
  
 expectedAudience 
  
 = 
  
 null 
 ; 
 if 
  
 ( 
 projectNumber 
 && 
 projectId 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // Expected Audience for App Engine. 
  
 expectedAudience 
  
 = 
  
 `/projects/ 
 ${ 
 projectNumber 
 } 
 /apps/ 
 ${ 
 projectId 
 } 
 ` 
 ; 
 } 
  
 else 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 projectNumber 
 && 
 backendServiceId 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // Expected Audience for Compute Engine 
  
 expectedAudience 
  
 = 
  
 `/projects/ 
 ${ 
 projectNumber 
 } 
 /global/backendServices/ 
 ${ 
 backendServiceId 
 } 
 ` 
 ; 
 } 
 const 
  
 oAuth2Client 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 OAuth2Client 
 (); 
 async 
  
 function 
  
 verify 
 () 
  
 { 
  
 // Verify the id_token, and access the claims. 
  
 const 
  
 response 
  
 = 
  
 await 
  
 oAuth2Client 
 . 
 getIapPublicKeys 
 (); 
  
 const 
  
 ticket 
  
 = 
  
 await 
  
 oAuth2Client 
 . 
 verifySignedJwtWithCertsAsync 
 ( 
  
 iapJwt 
 , 
  
 response 
 . 
 pubkeys 
 , 
  
 expectedAudience 
 , 
  
 [ 
 'https://cloud.google.com/iap' 
 ], 
  
 ); 
  
 // Print out the info contained in the IAP ID token 
  
 console 
 . 
 log 
 ( 
 ticket 
 ); 
 } 
 verify 
 (). 
 catch 
 ( 
 console 
 . 
 error 
 ); 
 

PHP

  namespace Google\Cloud\Samples\Iap; 
 # Imports Google auth libraries for IAP validation 
 use Google\Auth\AccessToken; 
 /** 
 * Validate a JWT passed to your App Engine app by Identity-Aware Proxy. 
 * 
 * @param string $iapJwt The contents of the X-Goog-IAP-JWT-Assertion header. 
 * @param string $cloudProjectNumber The project *number* for your Google 
 *     Cloud project. This is returned by 'gcloud projects describe $PROJECT_ID', 
 *     or in the Project Info card in Cloud Console. 
 * @param string $cloudProjectId Your Google Cloud Project ID. 
 */ 
 function validate_jwt_from_app_engine( 
 string $iapJwt, 
 string $cloudProjectNumber, 
 string $cloudProjectId 
 ): void { 
 $expectedAudience = sprintf( 
 '/projects/%s/apps/%s', 
 $cloudProjectNumber, 
 $cloudProjectId 
 ); 
 validate_jwt($iapJwt, $expectedAudience); 
 } 
 /** 
 * Validate a JWT passed to your Compute / Container Engine app by Identity-Aware Proxy. 
 * 
 * @param string $iapJwt The contents of the X-Goog-IAP-JWT-Assertion header. 
 * @param string $cloudProjectNumber The project *number* for your Google 
 *     Cloud project. This is returned by 'gcloud projects describe $PROJECT_ID', 
 *     or in the Project Info card in Cloud Console. 
 * @param string $backendServiceId The ID of the backend service used to access the 
 *     application. See https://cloud.google.com/iap/docs/signed-headers-howto 
 *     for details on how to get this value. 
 */ 
 function validate_jwt_from_compute_engine( 
 string $iapJwt, 
 string $cloudProjectNumber, 
 string $backendServiceId 
 ): void { 
 $expectedAudience = sprintf( 
 '/projects/%s/global/backendServices/%s', 
 $cloudProjectNumber, 
 $backendServiceId 
 ); 
 validate_jwt($iapJwt, $expectedAudience); 
 } 
 /** 
 * Validate a JWT passed to your app by Identity-Aware Proxy. 
 * 
 * @param string $iapJwt The contents of the X-Goog-IAP-JWT-Assertion header. 
 * @param string $expectedAudience The expected audience of the JWT with the following formats: 
 *     App Engine:     /projects/{PROJECT_NUMBER}/apps/{PROJECT_ID} 
 *     Compute Engine: /projects/{PROJECT_NUMBER}/global/backendServices/{BACKEND_SERVICE_ID} 
 */ 
 function validate_jwt(string $iapJwt, string $expectedAudience): void 
 { 
 // Validate the signature using the IAP cert URL. 
 $token = new AccessToken(); 
 $jwt = $token->verify($iapJwt, [ 
 'certsLocation' => AccessToken::IAP_CERT_URL 
 ]); 
 if (!$jwt) { 
 print('Failed to validate JWT: Invalid JWT'); 
 return; 
 } 
 // Validate token by checking issuer and audience fields. 
 assert($jwt['iss'] == 'https://cloud.google.com/iap'); 
 assert($jwt['aud'] == $expectedAudience); 
 print('Printing user identity information from ID token payload:'); 
 printf('sub: %s', $jwt['sub']); 
 printf('email: %s', $jwt['email']); 
 } 
 

Python

  from 
  
 google.auth.transport 
  
 import 
 requests 
 from 
  
 google.oauth2 
  
 import 
 id_token 
 def 
  
 validate_iap_jwt 
 ( 
 iap_jwt 
 , 
 expected_audience 
 ): 
  
 """Validate an IAP JWT. 
 Args: 
 iap_jwt: The contents of the X-Goog-IAP-JWT-Assertion header. 
 expected_audience: The Signed Header JWT audience. See 
 https://cloud.google.com/iap/docs/signed-headers-howto 
 for details on how to get this value. 
 Returns: 
 (user_id, user_email, error_str). 
 """ 
 try 
 : 
 decoded_jwt 
 = 
 id_token 
 . 
 verify_token 
 ( 
 iap_jwt 
 , 
 requests 
 . 
 Request 
 (), 
 audience 
 = 
 expected_audience 
 , 
 certs_url 
 = 
 "https://www.gstatic.com/iap/verify/public_key" 
 , 
 ) 
 return 
 ( 
 decoded_jwt 
 [ 
 "sub" 
 ], 
 decoded_jwt 
 [ 
 "email" 
 ], 
 "" 
 ) 
 except 
 Exception 
 as 
 e 
 : 
 return 
 ( 
 None 
 , 
 None 
 , 
 f 
 "**ERROR: JWT validation error 
 { 
 e 
 } 
 **" 
 ) 
 

Ruby

  # iap_jwt = "The contents of the X-Goog-Iap-Jwt-Assertion header" 
 # project_number = "The project *number* for your Google Cloud project" 
 # project_id = "Your Google Cloud project ID" 
 # backend_service_id = "Your Compute Engine backend service ID" 
 require 
  
 "googleauth" 
 audience 
  
 = 
  
 nil 
 if 
  
 project_number 
 && 
 project_id 
  
 # Expected audience for App Engine 
  
 audience 
  
 = 
  
 "/projects/ 
 #{ 
 project_number 
 } 
 /apps/ 
 #{ 
 project_id 
 } 
 " 
 elsif 
  
 project_number 
 && 
 backend_service_id 
  
 # Expected audience for Compute Engine 
  
 audience 
  
 = 
  
 "/projects/ 
 #{ 
 project_number 
 } 
 /global/backendServices/ 
 #{ 
 backend_service_id 
 } 
 " 
 end 
 # The client ID as the target audience for IAP 
 payload 
  
 = 
  
 Google 
 :: 
 Auth 
 :: 
  IDTokens 
 
 . 
  verify_iap 
 
  
 iap_jwt 
 , 
  
 aud 
 : 
  
 audience 
 puts 
  
 payload 
 if 
  
 audience 
 . 
 nil? 
  
 puts 
  
 "Audience not verified! Supply a project_number and project_id to verify" 
 end 
 

Testing your validation code

If you visit your app using the secure_token_test query parameters , IAP will include an invalid JWT. Use this to make sure your JWT-validation logic is handling all of the various failure cases, and to see how your app behaves when it receives an invalid JWT.

Creating a health check exception

As mentioned previously, Compute Engine and GKE health checks don't use JWT headers and IAP doesn't handle health checks. You'll need to configure your health check and app to allow the health check access.

Configuring the health check

If you haven't already set a path for your health check, use the Google Cloud console to set a non-sensitive path for the health check. Make sure this path isn't shared by any other resource.

  1. Go to the Google Cloud console Health checks page.
    Go to the Health checks page
  2. Click the health check you're using for your app, then click Edit.
  3. Under Request pathadd a non-sensitive path name. This specifies the URL path that Google Cloud uses when sending health check requests. If omitted, the health check request is sent to / .
  4. Click Save.

Configuring the JWT validation

In your code that calls the JWT validation routine, add a condition to serve an 200 HTTP status for your health check request path. For example:

if HttpRequest.path_info = '/ HEALTH_CHECK_REQUEST_PATH 
'
  return HttpResponse(status=200)
else VALIDATION_FUNCTION 

JWTs for external identities

If you're using IAP with external identities, IAP will still issue a signed JWT on every authenticated request, just as it does with Google identities. However, there are a few differences.

Provider information

When using external identities, the JWT payload will contain a claim named gcip . This claim contains information about the user, such as their email and photo URL, as well as any additional provider-specific attributes.

The following is an example of a JWT for a user who logged in with Facebook:

  "gcip" 
 : 
  
 '{ 
 "auth_time": 1553219869, 
 "email": "facebook_user@gmail.com", 
 "email_verified": false, 
 "firebase": { 
 "identities": { 
 "email": [ 
 "facebook_user@gmail.com" 
 ], 
 "facebook.com": [ 
 "1234567890" 
 ] 
 }, 
 "sign_in_provider": "facebook.com", 
 }, 
 "name": "Facebook User", 
 "picture: "https://graph.facebook.com/1234567890/picture", 
 "sub": "gZG0yELPypZElTmAT9I55prjHg63" 
 }' 
 , 
 

The email and sub fields

If a user was authenticated by Identity Platform, the email and sub fields of the JWT will be prefixed with the Identity Platform token issuer and the tenant ID used (if any). For example:

 "email" 
 : 
  
 "securetoken.google.com/ PROJECT-ID 
/ TENANT-ID 
:demo_user@gmail.com" 
 , 
 "sub" 
 : 
  
 "securetoken.google.com/ PROJECT-ID 
/ TENANT-ID 
:gZG0yELPypZElTmAT9I55prjHg63" 

IAM isn't supported for use with external identities, but you can use claims embedded in the sign_in_attributes field to control access instead. For example, consider a user signed in using a SAML provider:

  { 
  
 "aud" 
 : 
  
 "/projects/project_number/apps/my_project_id" 
 , 
  
 "gcip" 
 : 
  
 '{ 
 "auth_time": 1553219869, 
 "email": "demo_user@gmail.com", 
 "email_verified": true, 
 "firebase": { 
 "identities": { 
 "email": [ 
 "demo_user@gmail.com" 
 ], 
 "saml.myProvider": [ 
 "demo_user@gmail.com" 
 ] 
 }, 
 "sign_in_attributes": { 
 "firstname": "John", 
 "group": "test group", 
 "role": "admin", 
 "lastname": "Doe" 
 }, 
 "sign_in_provider": "saml.myProvider", 
 "tenant": "my_tenant_id" 
 }, 
 "sub": "gZG0yELPypZElTmAT9I55prjHg63" 
 }' 
 , 
  
 "email" 
 : 
  
 "securetoken.google.com/my_project_id/my_tenant_id:demo_user@gmail.com" 
 , 
  
 "exp" 
 : 
  
 1553220470 
 , 
  
 "iat" 
 : 
  
 1553219870 
 , 
  
 "iss" 
 : 
  
 "https://cloud.google.com/iap" 
 , 
  
 "sub" 
 : 
  
 "securetoken.google.com/my_project_id/my_tenant_id:gZG0yELPypZElTmAT9I55prjHg63" 
 } 
 

You could add logic to your application similar to the code below to restrict access to users with a valid role:

  const 
  
 gcipClaims 
  
 = 
  
 JSON 
 . 
 parse 
 ( 
 decodedIapJwtClaims 
 . 
 gcip 
 ); 
 if 
  
 ( 
 gcipClaims 
  
&&  
 gcipClaims 
 . 
 firebase 
  
&&  
 gcipClaims 
 . 
 firebase 
 . 
 sign_in_attributes 
  
&&  
 gcipClaims 
 . 
 firebase 
 . 
 sign_in_attribute 
 . 
 role 
  
 === 
  
 'admin' 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // 
  
 Allow 
  
 access 
  
 to 
  
 admin 
  
 restricted 
  
 resource 
 . 
 } 
  
 else 
  
 { 
  
 // 
  
 Block 
  
 access 
 . 
 } 
 

Additional user attributes from Identity Platform SAML and OIDC providers can be accessed using the gcipClaims.gcip.firebase.sign_in_attributes nested claim.

IdP claims size limitations

After a user signs in with Identity Platform, the additional user attributes will be propagated to the stateless Identity Platform ID token payload which will be securely passed to IAP. IAP will then issue its own stateless opaque cookie which also contains the same claims. IAP will generate the signed JWT header based on the cookie content.

As a result, if a session is initiated with a large number of claims, it might exceed the maximum allowed cookie size which is typically ~4KB in most browsers. This will cause the sign-in operation to fail.

You should ensure that only the necessary claims are propagated in the IdP SAML or OIDC attributes. Another option is to use blocking functions to filter out claims that are not required for the authorization check.

  const 
  
 gcipCloudFunctions 
  
 = 
  
 require 
 ( 
 'gcip-cloud-functions' 
 ); 
 const 
  
 authFunctions 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 gcipCloudFunctions 
 . 
 Auth 
 () 
 . 
 functions 
 (); 
 // 
  
 This 
  
 function 
  
 runs 
  
 before 
  
 any 
  
 sign 
 - 
 in 
  
 operation 
 . 
 exports 
 . 
 beforeSignIn 
  
 = 
  
 authFunctions 
 . 
 beforeSignInHandler 
 (( 
 user 
 , 
  
 context 
 ) 
  
 = 
>  
 { 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 context 
 . 
 credential 
  
&&  
 context 
 . 
 credential 
 . 
 providerId 
  
 === 
  
 'saml.my-provider' 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // 
  
 Get 
  
 the 
  
 original 
  
 claims 
 . 
  
 const 
  
 claims 
  
 = 
  
 context 
 . 
 credential 
 . 
 claims 
 ; 
  
 // 
  
 Define 
  
 this 
  
 function 
  
 to 
  
 filter 
  
 out 
  
 the 
  
 unnecessary 
  
 claims 
 . 
  
 claims 
 . 
 groups 
  
 = 
  
 keepNeededClaims 
 ( 
 claims 
 . 
 groups 
 ); 
  
 // 
  
 Return 
  
 only 
  
 the 
  
 needed 
  
 claims 
 . 
  
 The 
  
 claims 
  
 will 
  
 be 
  
 propagated 
  
 to 
  
 the 
  
 token 
  
 // 
  
 payload 
 . 
  
 return 
  
 { 
  
 sessionClaims 
 : 
  
 claims 
 , 
  
 }; 
  
 } 
 }); 
 
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