What’s the Difference Between OAuth 2.0 and OAuth 1.0? | Synopsys Blog (2024)

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What’s the Difference Between OAuth 2.0 and OAuth 1.0? | Synopsys Blog? ›

OAuth 1.0 enhanced security and user control. But it also presented certain complexities in terms of signature mechanisms and token management. Meanwhile, OAuth 2.0 offered a more adaptable authorization protocol that could be used with a broad range of applications, including non-browser clients and smart devices.

New systems that rely on server-to-server authorization could probably leverage OAuth1 for the additional security as well. On the other hand, use cases that could benefit from a separation of concerns, non-browser support, and ease of client development should go for OAuth2.

OAuth standard: OAuth 2.0 is the default now, but OAuth 1.0a is still used by some (and 2.1 is around the corner). Once you know which one your API uses, move on to: Grant type: Do you need `authorization_code`, `client_credentials`, or `device_code`?

Compared to OAuth 1.0a user context authentication, OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token does not involve any Twitter user(s). This authentication is typically used for read-only access to publicly available information (for example, accessing public Tweets).

Effective July 1, 2021, OAuth 1.0a will no longer be certified.

OAuth 2.0 is an authorization protocol and NOT an authentication protocol. As such, it is designed primarily as a means of granting access to a set of resources, for example, remote APIs or user data. OAuth 2.0 uses Access Tokens.

A real life example with a Web Page

The guys in Google made a webpage that contains some Javascript code. With this code they want to access, FROM THE WEB PAGE, to the list of the files in the Google Drive of an end-user. No server interaction is involved and this is the crucial part of the Implicit Grant flow.

If you want to enable other companies and developers to access the data of your users with their consent, then OAuth2 and OpenID Connect are essential. OAuth2 enables users to grant consent to third-party applications to access their data, providing a secure way to authenticate user requests.

OAuth authentication offers a number of advantages for users and developers alike. It is much more secure than traditional methods, as it uses tokens instead of credentials to authenticate access. This means that user data is protected from malicious activity on the server side.

OAuth 1.0 only handled web workflows, but OAuth 2.0 considers non-web clients as well. Better separation of duties. Handling resource requests and handling user authorization can be decoupled in OAuth 2.0. Basic signature workflow.

When to use SAML vs OAuth? ›

While SAML is better to secure information, it makes sense to use OAuth when user experience is a priority, for example, on mobile devices or for quick logins and temporary access. OIDC was designed to be used with OAuth to provide single-sign-on (SSO) access to HTTPS endpoints.

Modern Authentication, OAuth 2.0 allows all of these: "Modern authentication in Exchange Online enables authentication features like multi-factor authentication (MFA), smart cards, certificate-based authentication (CBA), and third-party SAML identity providers.

OAuth versions

There are two versions of OAuth authorization OAuth 1 (using HMAC-SHA signature strings) and OAuth 2 (using tokens over HTTPS).

In summary, SSO is used for authenticating users, while OAuth is used for granting access to resources. OAuth can be used as part of an SSO solution, but it is not a replacement for SSO.

When you use the OAuth 2.0 hybrid app token flow, you use scopes to request session IDs (SID) and domain values. You then use these SIDs and domain values to set browser cookies and establish sessions in your hybrid app. When you refresh your access token, you receive new SIDs and domains to reset the browser cookies.

OAuth is preferred when authorizing API access or enabling third-party apps. OpenID Connect combines the identity verification capabilities of OpenID with the delegated access features of OAuth. It builds on top of OAuth 2.0. Offers both single sign on for users and authorized access to user data for clients.

The OAuth 2.0 client credentials grant flow permits a web service (confidential client) to use its own credentials, instead of impersonating a user, to authenticate when calling another web service.

In conclusion, whether to use OAuth2 and OpenID Connect depends on the use case. If your project involves enabling third-party applications to access user data, machine-to-machine authorization, or a large variety of client applications on IoT devices, then you'll likely need OAuth2 and OpenID Connect.

Primarily, SAML 2.0 is designed to authenticate a user, so providing user identity data to a service. OAuth 2.0 is designed as an authorization protocol permitting a user to share access to specific resources with a service provider.