Basic Authentication plugin

Add Basic Authentication to a Service or a Route with username and password protection. The plugin checks for valid credentials in the Proxy-Authorization and Authorization headers (in that order).

Configuration Reference

This plugin is partially compatible with DB-less mode.

In DB-less mode, you configure Kong Gateway declaratively. Therefore, the Admin API is mostly read-only. The only tasks it can perform are all related to handling the declarative config, including:

Setting a target's health status in the load balancer
Validating configurations against schemas
Uploading the declarative configuration using the /config endpoint

Consumers and Credentials can be created with declarative configuration.

Admin API endpoints which do POST, PUT, PATCH or DELETE on Credentials are not available on DB-less mode.

Example plugin configuration

Enable on a service

Enable on a route

Enable globally

The following examples provide some typical configurations for enabling the basic-auth plugin on a service.

Admin API

Kubernetes

Declarative (YAML)

Konnect Cloud

Kong Manager

Make the following request:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8001/services/SERVICE_NAME|SERVICE_ID/plugins \
    --data "name=basic-auth"  \
    --data "config.hide_credentials=true"

Replace SERVICE_NAME|SERVICE_ID with the id or name of the service that this plugin configuration will target.

First, create a KongPlugin resource:

apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongPlugin
metadata:
  name: basic-auth-example
config: 
  hide_credentials: true
plugin: basic-auth

Next, apply the KongPlugin resource to a service by annotating the service as follows:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: SERVICE_NAME|SERVICE_ID
  labels:
    app: SERVICE_NAME|SERVICE_ID
  annotations:
    konghq.com/plugins: basic-auth-example
spec:
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 80
    protocol: TCP
    name: SERVICE_NAME|SERVICE_ID
  selector:
    app: SERVICE_NAME|SERVICE_ID

Replace SERVICE_NAME|SERVICE_ID with the id or name of the service that this plugin configuration will target.

Note: The KongPlugin resource only needs to be defined once and can be applied to any service, consumer, or route in the namespace. If you want the plugin to be available cluster-wide, create the resource as a KongClusterPlugin instead of KongPlugin.

Add this section to your declarative configuration file:

plugins:
- name: basic-auth
  service: SERVICE_NAME|SERVICE_ID
  config: 
    hide_credentials: true

Replace SERVICE_NAME|SERVICE_ID with the id or name of the service that this plugin configuration will target.

You can configure this plugin through the Konnect UI.

From the Service Hub, select a service version, then set up the plugin:

In the Plugins section, click Add Plugin.
Find and select the Basic Authentication plugin.
Configure the plugin’s parameters.

You can test out the plugin with the following sample configuration:
- Config.Hide Credentials: select checkbox
Click Create.

You can configure this plugin through the Kong Manager UI.

In Kong Manager, select the workspace.
From the Services section, click View for the service row.
From the plugin section, click Add Plugin.
Find and select the Basic Authentication plugin.
If the option is available, select Scoped.
Add the service name and ID to the Service field if it is not already pre-filled.
Configure the plugin’s parameters.

You can test out the plugin with the following sample configuration:
- Config.Hide Credentials: select checkbox
Click Create.

The following examples provide some typical configurations for enabling the basic-auth plugin on a route.

Admin API

Kubernetes

Declarative (YAML)

Konnect Cloud

Kong Manager

Make the following request:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8001/routes/ROUTE_NAME|ROUTE_ID/plugins \
  --data "name=basic-auth"  \
    --data "config.hide_credentials=true"

Replace ROUTE_NAME|ROUTE_ID with the id or name of the route that this plugin configuration will target.

First, create a KongPlugin resource:

apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongPlugin
metadata:
  name: basic-auth-example
config: 
  hide_credentials: true
plugin: basic-auth

Then, apply it to an ingress (route or routes) by annotating the ingress as follows:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: ROUTE_NAME|ROUTE_ID
  annotations:
    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: kong
    konghq.com/plugins: basic-auth-example
spec:
  rules:
  - host: examplehostname.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /bar
        backend:
          service:
            name: echo
            port:
              number: 80

Replace ROUTE_NAME|ROUTE_ID with the id or name of the route that this plugin configuration will target.

Note: The KongPlugin resource only needs to be defined once and can be applied to any service, consumer, or route in the namespace. If you want the plugin to be available cluster-wide, create the resource as a KongClusterPlugin instead of KongPlugin.

Add this section to your declarative configuration file:

plugins:
- name: basic-auth
  route: ROUTE_NAME
  config: 
    hide_credentials: true

Replace ROUTE_NAME|ROUTE_ID with the id or name of the route that this plugin configuration will target.

You can configure this plugin through the Konnect UI.

From the Service Hub, select a service version, then set up the plugin:

Select a route.
In the Plugins section, click Add Plugin.
Find and select the Basic Authentication plugin.
Configure the plugin’s parameters.

You can test out the plugin with the following sample configuration:
- Config.Hide Credentials: select checkbox
Click Create.

You can configure this plugin through the Kong Manager UI.

In Kong Manager, select the workspace.
Open Routes from the menu, then click View for the route row.
From the plugin section, click Add Plugin.
Find and select the Basic Authentication plugin.
If the option is available, select Scoped.
Add the route ID if it is not already prefilled.
Configure the plugin’s parameters.

You can test out the plugin with the following sample configuration:
- Config.Hide Credentials: select checkbox
Click Create.

A plugin which is not associated to any service, route, or consumer is considered global, and will be run on every request. Read the Plugin Reference and the Plugin Precedence sections for more information.

The following examples provide some typical configurations for enabling the basic-auth plugin globally.

Admin API

Kubernetes

Declarative (YAML)

Kong Manager

Make the following request:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8001/plugins/ \
  --data "name=basic-auth"  \
    --data "config.hide_credentials=true"

Create a KongClusterPlugin resource and label it as global:

apiVersion: configuration.konghq.com/v1
kind: KongClusterPlugin
metadata:
  name: <global-basic-auth>
  annotations:
    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: kong
  labels:
    global: \"true\"
config: 
  hide_credentials: true
plugin: basic-auth

Add a plugins entry in the declarative configuration file:

plugins:
- name: basic-auth
  config: 
    hide_credentials: true

You can configure this plugin through the Kong Manager UI.

In Kong Manager, select the workspace.
Open Plugins from the menu, then click New Plugin.
Find and select the Basic Authentication plugin.
If the option is available, set the plugin scope to Global.
Configure the plugin’s parameters.

You can test out the plugin with the following sample configuration:
- Config.Hide Credentials: select checkbox
Click Create.

Parameters

Here's a list of all the parameters which can be used in this plugin's configuration:

Form Parameter	Description
`name` required Type: string	The name of the plugin, in this case `basic-auth`.
`service.name` or `service.id` Type: string	The name or ID of the service the plugin targets. Set one of these parameters if adding the plugin to a service through the top-level `/plugins` endpoint. Not required if using `/services/SERVICE_NAME\|SERVICE_ID/plugins`.
`route.name` or `route.id` Type: string	The name or ID of the route the plugin targets. Set one of these parameters if adding the plugin to a route through the top-level `/plugins` endpoint. Not required if using `/routes/ROUTE_NAME\|ROUTE_ID/plugins`.
`enabled` Type: boolean Default value: `true`	Whether this plugin will be applied.
`config.hide_credentials` required Type: boolean Default value: `false`	An optional boolean value telling the plugin to show or hide the credential from the upstream service. If `true`, the plugin will strip the credential from the request (i.e. the `Authorization` header) before proxying it.
`config.anonymous` optional Type: string	An optional string (consumer uuid) value to use as an “anonymous” consumer if authentication fails. If empty (default), the request will fail with an authentication failure `4xx`. Please note that this value must refer to the Consumer `id` attribute which is internal to Kong, and not its `custom_id`.

Once applied, any user with a valid credential can access the Service. To restrict usage to only some of the authenticated users, also add the ACL plugin (not covered here) and create allowed or denied groups of users.

Usage

To use the plugin, you first need to create a Consumer to associate one or more credentials to. The Consumer represents a developer or an application consuming the upstream service.

Create a Consumer

You need to associate a credential to an existing Consumer object. A Consumer can have many credentials.

With a Database

Without a Database

To create a Consumer, you can execute the following request:

curl -d "username={USER123}&custom_id={SOME_CUSTOM_ID}" http://kong:8001/consumers/

Your declarative configuration file needs to have one or more Consumers. You can create them using a consumers: YAML section:

consumers:
- username: {USER123}
  custom_id: {SOME_CUSTOM_ID}

Consumer parameters:

Parameter	Description
`username` semi-optional	The username of the consumer. Either this field or `custom_id` must be specified.
`custom_id` semi-optional	A custom identifier used to map the consumer to another database. Either this field or `username` must be specified.

If you are also using the ACL plugin and allow lists with this service, you must add the new consumer to the allowed group. See ACL: Associating Consumers for details.

Create a Credential

With a Database

Without a Database

You can provision new username/password credentials by making the following HTTP request:

curl -X POST http://kong:8001/consumers/{CONSUMER}/basic-auth \
  --data "username=Aladdin" \
  --data "password=OpenSesame"

You can add credentials on your declarative config file with the basicauth_credentials YAML entry:

basicauth_credentials:
- consumer: {CONSUMER}
  username: Aladdin
  password: OpenSesame

Consumer credential parameters:

field/parameter	description
`consumer`	The `id` or `username` property of the Consumer entity to associate the credentials to.
`username`	The username to use in the basic authentication credential.
`password`	The password to use in the basic authentication credential.

Using the Credential

The authorization header must be base64 encoded. For example, if the credential uses Aladdin as the username and OpenSesame as the password, then the field’s value is the base64-encoding of Aladdin:OpenSesame, or QWxhZGRpbjpPcGVuU2VzYW1l.

The Authorization (or Proxy-Authorization) header must appear as:

Authorization: Basic QWxhZGRpbjpPcGVuU2VzYW1l

Make a request with the header:

curl http://kong:8000/{PATH_MATCHING_CONFIGURED_ROUTE} \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic QWxhZGRpbjpPcGVuU2VzYW1l'

gRPC clients are supported too:

grpcurl -H 'Authorization: Basic QWxhZGRpbjpPcGVuU2VzYW1l' ...

Upstream Headers

When a client has been authenticated, the plugin appends some headers to the request before proxying it to the upstream service, so that you can identify the consumer in your code:

X-Consumer-ID: The ID of the consumer in Kong.
X-Consumer-Custom-ID: The custom_id of the consumer (if set).
X-Consumer-Username: The username of the consumer (if set).
X-Credential-Identifier: The identifier of the credential (only if the consumer is not the anonymous consumer).
X-Anonymous-Consumer: Is set to true if authentication fails, and the anonymous consumer is set instead.

You can use this information on your side to implement additional logic. You can use the X-Consumer-ID value to query the Kong Admin API and retrieve more information about the consumer.

Paginate through the basic-auth Credentials

You can paginate through the basic-auth Credentials for all Consumers using the following request:

      Request
    

      Response
    
curl -X GET http://kong:8001/basic-auths
{
    "total": 3,
    "data": [
        {
            "created_at": 1511379926000,
            "id": "805520f6-842b-419f-8a12-d1de8a30b29f",
            "password": "37b1af03d3860acf40bd9c681aa3ef3f543e49fe",
            "username": "baz",
            "consumer": { "id": "5e52251c-54b9-4c10-9605-b9b499aedb47" }
        },
        {
            "created_at": 1511379863000,
            "id": "8edfe5c7-3151-4d92-971f-3faa5e6c5d7e",
            "password": "451b06c564a06ce60874d0ea2f542fa8ed26317e",
            "username": "foo",
            "consumer": { "id": "89a41fef-3b40-4bb0-b5af-33da57a7ffcf" }
        },
        {
            "created_at": 1511379877000,
            "id": "f11cb0ea-eacf-4a6b-baea-a0e0b519a990",
            "password": "451b06c564a06ce60874d0ea2f542fa8ed26317e",
            "username": "foobar",
            "consumer": { "id": "89a41fef-3b40-4bb0-b5af-33da57a7ffcf" }
        }
    ]
}

You can filter the list by Consumer with the following endpoint:

      Request
    

      Response
    
curl -X GET http://kong:8001/consumers/{USERNAME_OR_ID}/basic-auth
{
    "total": 1,
    "data": [
        {
            "created_at": 1511379863000,
            "id": "8edfe5c7-3151-4d92-971f-3faa5e6c5d7e",
            "password": "451b06c564a06ce60874d0ea2f542fa8ed26317e",
            "username": "foo",
            "consumer": { "id": "89a41fef-3b40-4bb0-b5af-33da57a7ffcf" }
        }
    ]
}

username or id: The username or id of the consumer whose credentials need to be listed.

Retrieve the Consumer associated with a Credential

It is possible to retrieve a Consumer associated with a basic-auth Credential using the following request:

      Request
    

      Response
    
curl -X GET http://kong:8001/basic-auths/{USERNAME_OR_ID}/consumer
{
   "created_at":1507936639000,
   "username":"foo",
   "id":"c0d92ba9-8306-482a-b60d-0cfdd2f0e880"
}

username or id: The id or username property of the basic-auth Credential for which to get the associated Consumer. Note that the username accepted here is not the username property of a Consumer.

Changelog

Kong Gateway 3.0.x

The deprecated X-Credential-Username header has been removed.

Kong Gateway 2.7.x

Starting with Kong Gateway 2.7.0.0, if keyring encryption is enabled and you are using basic authentication, the basicauth_credentials.password field will be encrypted.

About this Plugin
Plugin Version	3.0.x
Made by	Kong Inc.
Categories	Authentication
DB-less compatible?	Partially
Konnect Cloud compatible?	Yes
Compatible protocols	`http` `https` `grpc` `grpcs`