Help Center> Object Storage Service> API Reference> Calling APIs> Authentication> Authentication of Signature in a URL
Updated on 2024-04-22 GMT+08:00

Authentication of Signature in a URL

OBS allows users to construct a URL for a specific operation. The URL contains information such as the user's AK, signature, validity period, and resources. Any user who obtains the URL can perform the operation. After receiving the request, the OBS deems that the operation is performed by the user who issues the URL. For example, if the URL of an object download request carries signature information is constructed, the user who obtains the URL can download the object, but the URL is valid only within the expiration time specified by the parameter of Expires. The URL that carries the signature is used to allow others to use the pre-issued URL for identity authentication when the SK is not provided, and perform the predefined operation.

The format of the message where a signature is contained in the URL:

GET /ObjectKey?AccessKeyId=AccessKeyID&Expires=ExpiresValue&Signature=signature HTTP/1.1
Host: bucketname.obs.region.myhuaweicloud.com

The format of the message where a temporary AK/SK pair and a security token are used in the URL for downloading objects:

GET /ObjectKey?AccessKeyId=AccessKeyID&Expires=ExpiresValue&Signature=signature&x-obs-security-token=securitytoken HTTP/1.1
Host: bucketname.obs.region.myhuaweicloud.com

Table 1 describes the parameters.

Table 1 Request parameters

Parameter

Description

Mandatory

AccessKeyId

AK information of the issuer. OBS determines the identity of the issuer based on the AK and considers that the URL is accessed by the issuer.

Type: string

Yes

Expires

Indicates when the temporarily authorized URL expires, in seconds. The time must be in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) format and later than 00:00:00 on January 1, 1970.

Type: string

Yes

Signature

The signature generated using the SK and the expiration time.

Type: string

Yes

x-obs-security-token

During temporary authentication, the temporary AK/SK and security token must be used at the same time and the x-obs-security-token field must be added to the request header.

For details about how to obtain a temporary AK/SK pair and security token, see Obtaining a Temporary AK/SK Pair and Security Token.

No

The process of calculating a signature is as follows:

  1. Construct the StringToSign.
  2. Encode the result of 1 in UTF-8.
  3. Use the SK to calculate the HMAC-SHA1 signature on the result of 2.
  4. Encode the result of 3 in Base64.
  5. Encode the result of 4 in URL to obtain the signature.

The StringToSign is constructed according to the following rules. Table 2 describes the parameters.

StringToSign = 
     HTTP-Verb + "\n" +   
     Content-MD5 + "\n" +   
     Content-Type + "\n" +   
     Expires + "\n" +   
     CanonicalizedHeaders +   CanonicalizedResource; 
Table 2 Parameters required for constructing a StringToSign

Parameter

Description

HTTP-Verb

Indicates an HTTP request method supported by the OBS REST API. The value can be an HTTP verb such as PUT, GET, or DELETE.

Content-MD5

Base64-encoded 128-bit MD5 digest of the message according to RFC 1864. This parameter can be empty.

Content-Type

Specifies the message type, for example, text/plain.

If a request does not contain this header field, this parameter is deemed as an empty string.

Expires

Expiration time of the temporary authorization, that is, the value of parameter Expires in the request message: ExpiresValue.

CanonicalizedHeaders

OBS request header field in an HTTP request header, referring to header fields starting with x-obs-, such as, x-obs-date, x-obs-acl, and x-obs-meta-*.

  1. All characters of keywords in the header field must be converted to lower-case letters. If a request contains multiple header fields, these fields should be organized by keywords in the alphabetical order from a to z.
  2. If multiple header fields in a request have the same prefix, combine the header fields into one. For example, x-obs-meta-name:name1 and x-obs-meta-name:name2 should be reorganized into x-obs-meta-name:name1,name2. Use comma to separate the values.
  3. Keywords in the request header field cannot contain non-ASCII or unrecognizable characters, which are also not advisable for values in the request header field. If the two types of characters are necessary, they should be encoded and decoded on the client side. Either URL encoding or Base64 encoding is acceptable, but the server does not perform decoding.
  4. Delete meaningless spaces or tabs in a header field. For example, x-obs-meta-name: name (with a meaningless space before name) must be changed to x-obs-meta-name:name.
  5. Each header field occupies a separate line.

CanonicalizedResource

Indicates the OBS resource specified by an HTTP request. This parameter is constructed as follows:

<Bucket name + Object name> + [Subresource 1] + [Subresource 2] + ...

  1. Bucket name and object name
    • If the bucket is bound to a user domain name, use the user domain name as the bucket name, for example, /obs.ccc.com/object. obs.ccc.com is the user domain name bound to the bucket. If no object name is specified, the entire bucket is listed, for example, /obs.ccc.com/.
    • If you do not access OBS using a user domain name, this field is in the format of /bucket/object. If no object name is specified, for example, /bucket/, the entire bucket is listed. If bucket name is not specified either, the value of this field is /.
  2. If a subresource (such as ?acl and ?logging) exists, the subresource must be added.

    OBS supports a variety of sub-resources, including CDNNotifyConfiguration, acl, append, attname, backtosource, cors, customdomain, delete, deletebucket, directcoldaccess, encryption, inventory, length, lifecycle, location, logging, metadata, modify, name, notification, partNumber, policy, position, quota, rename, replication, response-cache-control, response-content-disposition, response-content-encoding, response-content-language, response-content-type, response-expires, restore, storageClass, storagePolicy, storageinfo, tagging, torrent, truncate, uploadId, uploads, versionId, versioning, versions, website, x-image-process, x-image-save-bucket, x-image-save-object, object-lock, retention, and x-obs-security-token.

  3. If there are multiple subresources, sort them in the alphabetical order from a to z, and use & to combine the subresources.
NOTE:
  • A subresource is unique. Do not add subresources with the same keyword (for example, key=value1&key=value2) in the same request URL. In this case, signature is computed only based on the first subresource, and only the value of the first subresource takes effect on the actual service.
  • Using the GetObject API as an example, assume there is a bucket named bucket-test and an object named object-test in the bucket, and the object version is xxx. When obtaining the object, you need to rewrite Content-Type to text/plain. Then, the CanonicalizedResource calculated by the signature is /bucket-test/object-test?response-content-type=text/plain&versionId=xxx.

The signature is generated as follows based on the StringToSign and SK. The hash-based message authentication code algorithm (HMAC algorithm) is used to generate the signature.

Signature = URL-Encode( Base64( HMAC-SHA1( YourSecretAccessKeyID, UTF-8-Encoding-Of( StringToSign ) ) ) )

The method for calculating the signature carried in the URL is different from that for calculating the authorization signature carried in a header.

  • The signature in the URL must be encoded using the URL after Base64 encoding.
  • Expires in StringToSign corresponds to Date in the Authorization header.

Generate a predefined URL instance for the browser by carrying the signature in the URL.

Table 3 Request that has the signature carried in the URL and the StringToSign

Request Header

StringToSign

GET /objectkey?AccessKeyId=MFyfvK41ba2giqM7Uio6PznpdUKGpownRZlmVmHc&Expires=1532779451&Signature=0Akylf43Bm3mD1bh2rM3dmVp1Bo%3D HTTP/1.1

Host: examplebucket.obs.region.myhuaweicloud.com

GET \n

\n

\n

1532779451\n

/examplebucket/objectkey

Table 4 Object download request that has the temporary AK/SK and security token carried in the URL and the StringToSign

Request Header

StringToSign

GET /objectkey?AccessKeyId=MFyfvK41ba2giqM7Uio6PznpdUKGpownRZlmVmHc&Expires=1532779451&Signature=0Akylf43Bm3mD1bh2rM3dmVp1Bo%3D&x-obs-security-token=YwkaRTbdY8g7q.... HTTP/1.1

Host: examplebucket.obs.region.myhuaweicloud.com

GET \n

\n

\n

1532779451\n

/examplebucket/objectkey?x-obs-security-token=YwkaRTbdY8g7q....

Calculation rule of the signature

Signature = URL-Encode( Base64( HMAC-SHA1( YourSecretAccessKeyID, UTF-8-Encoding-Of( StringToSign ) ) ) )

Calculate the signature and use the host as the prefix of the URL to generate a predefined URL:

http(s)://examplebucket.obs.region.myhuaweicloud.com/objectkey?AccessKeyId=AccessKeyID&Expires=1532779451&Signature=0Akylf43Bm3mD1bh2rM3dmVp1Bo%3D

If you enter the address in the browser, then the object objectkey in the examplebucket bucket can be downloaded. The validity period of this link is 1532779451 (indicating Sat Jul 28 20:04:11 CST 2018).

In the Linux operating system, when running the curl command, you need to add a forward slash (\) to escape the character (&). The following command can download the objectkey object to the output file:

curl http(s)://examplebucket.obs.region.myhuaweicloud.com/objectkey?AccessKeyId=AccessKeyID\&Expires=1532779451\&Signature=0Akylf43Bm3mD1bh2rM3dmVp1Bo%3D -X GET -o output

If you want to use the pre-defined URL generated by the signature carried in the URL in the browser, do not use Content-MD5, Content-Type, or CanonicalizedHeaders that can only be carried in the header to calculate the signature. Otherwise, the browser cannot carry these parameters. After the request is sent to the server, a message is displayed indicating that the signature is incorrect.

Signature Calculation in Java

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import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.security.InvalidKeyException;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Base64;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Locale;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.TreeMap;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

import javax.crypto.Mac;
import javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec;

public class SignDemo {

    private static final String SIGN_SEP = "\n";

    private static final String OBS_PREFIX = "x-obs-";

    private static final String DEFAULT_ENCODING = "UTF-8";

    private static final List<String> SUB_RESOURCES = Collections.unmodifiableList(Arrays.asList(
            "CDNNotifyConfiguration", "acl", "append", "attname", "backtosource", "cors", "customdomain", "delete",
            "deletebucket", "directcoldaccess", "encryption", "inventory", "length", "lifecycle", "location", "logging",
            "metadata", "mirrorBackToSource", "modify", "name", "notification", "obscompresspolicy", 
            "partNumber", "policy", "position", "quota","rename", "replication", "response-cache-control", 
            "response-content-disposition","response-content-encoding", "response-content-language", "response-content-type", 
            "response-expires","restore", "storageClass", "storagePolicy", "storageinfo", "tagging", "torrent", "truncate",
            "uploadId", "uploads", "versionId", "versioning", "versions", "website", "x-image-process",
            "x-image-save-bucket", "x-image-save-object", "x-obs-security-token", "object-lock", "retention"));

    private String ak;

    private String sk;

    private boolean isBucketNameValid(String bucketName) {
        if (bucketName == null || bucketName.length() > 63 || bucketName.length() < 3) {
            return false;
        }

        if (!Pattern.matches("^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9.-]+$", bucketName)) {
            return false;
        }

        if (Pattern.matches("(\\d{1,3}\\.){3}\\d{1,3}", bucketName)) {
            return false;
        }

        String[] fragments = bucketName.split("\\.");
        for (int i = 0; i < fragments.length; i++) {
            if (Pattern.matches("^-.*", fragments[i]) || Pattern.matches(".*-$", fragments[i])
                    || Pattern.matches("^$", fragments[i])) {
                return false;
            }
        }

        return true;
    }

    public String encodeUrlString(String path) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
        return URLEncoder.encode(path, DEFAULT_ENCODING)
                .replaceAll("\\+", "%20")
                .replaceAll("\\*", "%2A")
                .replaceAll("%7E", "~");
    }

    public String encodeObjectName(String objectName) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
        StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
        String[] tokens = objectName.split("/");
        for (int i = 0; i < tokens.length; i++) {
            result.append(this.encodeUrlString(tokens[i]));
            if (i < tokens.length - 1) {
                result.append("/");
            }
        }
        return result.toString();
    }

    private String join(List<?> items, String delimiter) {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        for (int i = 0; i < items.size(); i++) {
            String item = items.get(i).toString();
            sb.append(item);
            if (i < items.size() - 1) {
                sb.append(delimiter);
            }
        }
        return sb.toString();
    }

    private boolean isValid(String input) {
        return input != null && !input.equals("");
    }

    public String hmacSha1(String input) throws NoSuchAlgorithmException, InvalidKeyException, UnsupportedEncodingException {
        SecretKeySpec signingKey = new SecretKeySpec(this.sk.getBytes(DEFAULT_ENCODING), "HmacSHA1");
        Mac mac = Mac.getInstance("HmacSHA1");
        mac.init(signingKey);
        return Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(mac.doFinal(input.getBytes(DEFAULT_ENCODING)));
    }

    private String stringToSign(String httpMethod, Map<String, String[]> headers, Map<String, String> queries,
                                String bucketName, String objectName, long expires) throws Exception { 
        String contentMd5 = ""; 
        String contentType = "";  
        TreeMap<String, String> canonicalizedHeaders = new TreeMap<String, String>(); 
        String key; 
        List<String> temp = new ArrayList<String>(); 
        for (Map.Entry<String, String[]> entry : headers.entrySet()) { 
            key = entry.getKey(); 
            if (key == null || entry.getValue() == null || entry.getValue().length == 0) { 
                continue; 
            } 
            key = key.trim().toLowerCase(Locale.ENGLISH); 
            if (key.equals("content-md5")) { 
                contentMd5 = entry.getValue()[0]; 
                continue; 
            } 
            if (key.equals("content-type")) { 
                contentType = entry.getValue()[0]; 
                continue; 
            } 
            if (key.startsWith(OBS_PREFIX)) { 
                for (String value : entry.getValue()) { 
                    if (value != null) { 
                        temp.add(value.trim()); 
                    } 
                } 
                canonicalizedHeaders.put(key, this.join(temp, ",")); 
                temp.clear(); 
            } 
        } 
        // handle method/content-md5/content-type
        StringBuilder stringToSign = new StringBuilder();
        stringToSign.append(httpMethod).append(SIGN_SEP)
                .append(contentMd5).append(SIGN_SEP)
                .append(contentType).append(SIGN_SEP)
                .append(expires).append(SIGN_SEP);


        // handle canonicalizedHeaders
        for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : canonicalizedHeaders.entrySet()) {
            stringToSign.append(entry.getKey()).append(":").append(entry.getValue()).append(SIGN_SEP);
        }


        // handle CanonicalizedResource
        stringToSign.append("/");
        if (this.isValid(bucketName)) {
            stringToSign.append(bucketName).append("/");
            if (this.isValid(objectName)) {
                stringToSign.append(this.encodeObjectName(objectName));
            }
        }

        TreeMap<String, String> canonicalizedResource = new TreeMap<String, String>();
        for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : queries.entrySet()) {
            key = entry.getKey();
            if (key == null) {
                continue;
            }

            if (SUB_RESOURCES.contains(key)) {
                canonicalizedResource.put(key, entry.getValue());
            }
        }

        if (canonicalizedResource.size() > 0) {
            stringToSign.append("?");
            for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : canonicalizedResource.entrySet()) {
                stringToSign.append(entry.getKey());
                if (this.isValid(entry.getValue())) {
                    stringToSign.append("=").append(entry.getValue());
                }
                stringToSign.append("&");
            }
            stringToSign.deleteCharAt(stringToSign.length() - 1);
        }
        //		System.out.println(String.format("StringToSign:%s%s", SIGN_SEP, stringToSign.toString()));

        return stringToSign.toString();
    }

    public String querySignature(String httpMethod, Map<String, String[]> headers, Map<String, String> queries, 
                                  String bucketName, String objectName, long expires) throws Exception { 
         if (!isBucketNameValid(bucketName)) { 
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("the bucketName is illegal"); 
         } 
         //1. stringToSign 
         String stringToSign = this.stringToSign(httpMethod, headers, queries, bucketName, objectName, expires); 
  
         //2. signature 
         return this.encodeUrlString(this.hmacSha1(stringToSign)); 
     } 

    public String getURL(String endpoint, Map<String, String> queries,
                         String bucketName, String objectName, String signature, long expires) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
        StringBuilder URL = new StringBuilder();
        URL.append("https://").append(bucketName).append(".").append(endpoint).append("/").
                append(this.encodeObjectName(objectName)).append("?");
        String key;
        for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : queries.entrySet()) {
            key = entry.getKey();
            if (key == null) {
                continue;
            }
            if (SUB_RESOURCES.contains(key)) {
                String value = entry.getValue();
                URL.append(key);
                if (value != null) {
                    URL.append("=").append(value).append("&");
                } else {
                    URL.append("&");
                }
            }
        }
        URL.append("AccessKeyId=").append(this.ak).append("&Expires=").append(expires).
                append("&Signature=").append(signature);
        return URL.toString();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        SignDemo demo = new SignDemo();

        /* Hard-coded or plaintext AK and SK are risky. For security purposes, encrypt your AK and SK and store them in the configuration file or environment variables.
        In this example, the AK and SK are stored in environment variables for identity authentication. Before running the code in this example, configure environment variables HUAWEICLOUD_SDK_AK and HUAWEICLOUD_SDK_SK. */
	demo.ak = System.getenv("HUAWEICLOUD_SDK_AK");
	demo.sk = System.getenv("HUAWEICLOUD_SDK_SK");
        String endpoint = "<your-endpoint>";

        String bucketName = "bucket-test";
        String objectName = "hello.jpg";

        // A header cannot be included if you want to use a URL to access OBS with a browser. If a header is added to headers, the signature does not match. To use headers, it must be processed by the client.
        Map<String, String[]> headers = new HashMap<String, String[]>();
        Map<String, String> queries = new HashMap<String, String>();

        // Expiration time. Set it to expire in 24 hours.
        long expires = (System.currentTimeMillis() + 86400000L) / 1000;
        String signature = demo.querySignature("GET", headers, queries, bucketName, objectName, expires);
        System.out.println(signature);
        String URL = demo.getURL(endpoint, queries, bucketName, objectName, signature, expires);
        System.out.println(URL);
    }
}

Signature Algorithm in the C Programming Language

Download the sample code for calculating the signature in the C programming language.

  1. The API for calculating the signature is contained in the sign.h header file.
  2. The sample code for calculating the signature is contained in the main.c header file.

Signature Mismatch Error Handling

During an OBS API call, if the following error is reported:

Status code: 403 Forbidden

Error code: SignatureDoesNotMatch

Error message: The request signature we calculated does not match the signature you provided. Check your key and signing method.

Handle the problem by referring to Why Don't the Signatures Match?