Some integrators render our videoconference inside an iframe, where
our cookie-based authentication does not work: our cookies are
SameSite=Lax/Strict, so the iframe drops them.
We looked at what Jitsi offers: a shared secret used to sign JWTs
that authenticate users coming from external services. Since we
already expose an external API where third parties authenticate as
a given user, it was simpler for us to add an exchange mechanism on
top of that.
Flow:
* Through the external API, mint a short-lived, single-use exchange
code for a user.
* The third party hands that code to the frontend as a URL fragment.
* The frontend exchanges the code for a longer-lived JWT that can be
used to query the regular API viewsets.
Known limitations and follow-ups:
* At some point it would be nice to shorten the JWT lifetime and
add a refresh mechanism. This will be handled in a follow-up PR
when actually needed.
* CSP rules to control which origins are allowed to embed the app
in an iframe still need to be added.
* This alternative authentication cannot easily be scoped to a
subset of endpoints without adding a lot of complexity, so it is
accepted globally on the API for now.
Currently users have no way to reliably test their connection before
joining a room. To address this, we plan to build a connection-test
page.
The testing requires a dedicated LiveKit token, issued without going
through the room API, which is tied to registered meetings, lobby
rules, and longer-lived access tokens.
Introduce a new viewset for all diagnostics-related features. The
first route issues a token for diagnostics, even for anonymous
users. Each request creates a new dedicated room so users never
share the same LiveKit room during tests. Tokens are short-lived
(default 10 minutes) to limit reuse, and the endpoint is throttled
to prevent abuse.
A Celery worker also schedules a callback that deletes the room
after a certain delay, in every case.
Introduce a new viewset that lets the roomkit start a room even when
no WebRTC participant has joined yet.
This is a first entry point that will be extended over time with
more actions a roomkit needs to be able to trigger.
Known limitations:
* The responsibility around SIP rules is currently split between
the telephony feature and the roomkit one. This may need a
refactor later on to consolidate ownership in a single place.
* The default throttle might be too low for production usage and
will likely need to be revisited.
Introduce a configuration flag to enable or disable the
application token exchange (service account) mechanism.
This allows activating alternative authentication backends
without requiring full application token configuration.
Required to support the upcoming add-ons authentication backend.
Add a new authentication backend for add-ons, with a core service
managing session state in cache and exposing three API endpoints.
Microsoft Add-ins recommend launching authentication from the
side panel via a dialog, then returning the JWT to the parent
context using postMessage. However, due to Django and SSO security
constraints (window.opener not preserved), this approach is not
viable.
Implement a three-step authentication flow:
- `/init`: create a session, return a short-lived transit token
and CSRF token. Store session ID in a secure HttpOnly cookie.
- `/poll`: allow the add-on to poll until authentication is
complete, then consume the session and clear the cookie.
- `/exchange`: exchange the transit token for a JWT, which is
later retrieved via the `/poll` endpoint.
The add-on opens an authentication dialog, stores the transit
token in sessionStorage, and performs the exchange after login.
This approach works within iframe constraints and provides a
sufficiently secure v0 despite known limitations.
Add FILE_UPLOAD_ENABLED setting (default to False, to avoid
a breaking change). Also adds a max_count_by_user sub setting
to restrict the number of uploaded files per user.
Refactor feature flag mechanism from Django permission classes to custom
decorator that returns 404 Not Found when features are disabled instead
of exposing API structure through permission errors.
Improves security by preventing information disclosure about disabled
features and provides more appropriate response semantics. Custom
decorator approach is better suited for feature toggling than Django's
permission system which is designed for authorization.
lebaudantoine