Security in ASP.NET Core MVC 5

Create ASP.NET Core MVC 5 Project

On the Visual Studio, select Create a new project from Get Started

Select ASP.NET Core Web Application

Input Project Name and select Location for new project

Select ASP.NET Core 5.0 Version and select ASP.NET Core Empty Template. Click Create button to finish

Add Configurations

Open Startup.cs file and add new configurations as below:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication.Cookies;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;

namespace LearnASPNETCoreMVC5
{
    public class Startup
    {

        public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
        {
            services.AddAuthentication(CookieAuthenticationDefaults.AuthenticationScheme)
                    .AddCookie(options =>
                    {
                        options.LoginPath = "/Account/Index";
                        options.LogoutPath = "/Account/SignOut";
                        options.AccessDeniedPath = "/Account/AccessDenied";
                    });

            services.AddControllersWithViews();
        }


        public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)
        {
            if (env.IsDevelopment())
            {
                app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
            }

            app.UseStaticFiles();

            app.UseRouting();

            app.UseAuthentication();
			
            app.UseAuthorization();

            app.UseEndpoints(endpoints =>
            {
                endpoints.MapControllerRoute(
                    name: "default",
                    pattern: "{controller=Account}/{action=Index}/{id?}");
            });
        }
    }
}

Entities Class

Create new folder named Models. In this folder, create new class named Account.cs as below:

Account Entity

Create new class named Account.cs as below:

namespace LearnASPNETCoreMVC5.Models
{
    public class Account
    {
        public string Username { get; set; }

        public string Password { get; set; }

        public string[] Roles { get; set; }
    }
}

Models Class

In Models folder, create new class named AccountModel.cs as below:

AccountModel.cs

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

namespace LearnASPNETCoreMVC5.Models
{
    public class AccountModel
    {
        private List<Account> accounts;

        public AccountModel()
        {
            accounts = new List<Account>();

            accounts.Add(new Account()
            {
                Username = "acc1",
                Password = "123",
                Roles = new string[] { "superadmin", "admin", "employee" }
            });

            accounts.Add(new Account()
            {
                Username = "acc2",
                Password = "123",
                Roles = new string[] { "admin", "employee" }
            });

            accounts.Add(new Account()
            {
                Username = "acc3",
                Password = "123",
                Roles = new string[] { "employee" }
            });
        }

        public Account find(string username)
        {
            return accounts.SingleOrDefault(a => a.Username.Equals(username));
        }

        public Account login(string username, string password)
        {
            return accounts.SingleOrDefault(a => a.Username.Equals(username) && a.Password.Equals(password));
        }

    }
}

Security Manager

Create Security folder in project. This folder contains class need for security in ASP.NET Core MVC 5 as below:

SecurityManager Class

using LearnASPNETCoreMVC5.Models;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication.Cookies;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Security.Claims;

namespace LearnASPNETCoreMVC5.Security
{
    public class SecurityManager
    {
        public async void SignIn(HttpContext httpContext, Account account)
        {
            ClaimsIdentity claimsIdentity = new ClaimsIdentity(getUserClaims(account), CookieAuthenticationDefaults.AuthenticationScheme);
            ClaimsPrincipal claimsPrincipal = new ClaimsPrincipal(claimsIdentity);
            await httpContext.SignInAsync(CookieAuthenticationDefaults.AuthenticationScheme, claimsPrincipal);
        }

        public async void SignOut(HttpContext httpContext)
        {
            await httpContext.SignOutAsync();
        }

        private IEnumerable<Claim> getUserClaims(Account account)
        {
            List<Claim> claims = new List<Claim>();
            claims.Add(new Claim(ClaimTypes.Name, account.Username));
            foreach (var role in account.Roles)
            {
                claims.Add(new Claim(ClaimTypes.Role, role));
            }
            return claims;
        }
    }
}

Create Controllers

Create new folder named Controllers. In this folder, create new controllers as below:

Demo Controller

Create new controller named DemoController.cs as below:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authorization;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace LearnASPNETCoreMVC5.Controllers
{
    public class DemoController : Controller
    {
        [AllowAnonymous]
        public IActionResult Index()
        {
            return View();
        }

        [Authorize(Roles = "superadmin")]
        public IActionResult Work1()
        {
            return View("Work1");
        }

        [Authorize(Roles = "superadmin,admin")]
        public IActionResult Work2()
        {
            var user = User.FindFirst(ClaimTypes.Name);
            Debug.WriteLine(user.Value);
            return View("Work2");
        }

        [Authorize(Roles = "superadmin,admin,employee")]
        public IActionResult Work3()
        {
            return View("Work3");
        }
    }
}

Account Controller

Create new controller named AccountController.cs as below:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using LearnASPNETCoreMVC5.Models;
using LearnASPNETCoreMVC5.Security;

namespace LearnASPNETCoreMVC5.Controllers
{
    public class AccountController : Controller
    {
        private SecurityManager securityManager = new SecurityManager();

        public IActionResult Index()
        {
            return View();
        }

        [HttpPost]
        public IActionResult Login(string username, string password)
        {
            AccountModel accountModel = new AccountModel();
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(username) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(password) || accountModel.login(username, password) == null)
            {
                ViewBag.error = "Invalid";
                return View("Index");
            }
            else
            {
                securityManager.SignIn(this.HttpContext, accountModel.find(username));
                return RedirectToAction("Welcome");
            }
        }

        public IActionResult Welcome()
        {
            return View("Welcome");
        }

        public IActionResult AccessDenied()
        {
            return View("AccessDenied");
        }

        public IActionResult SignOut()
        {
            securityManager.SignOut(this.HttpContext);
            return RedirectToAction("Index");
        }
    }
}

Create View

Create new folder named Views. In this folder, create new views as below:

Account Views

Create new folder named Account folder. In this folder, create new views as below:

Index View

Create new view named Index.cshtml as below:

<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <title>Login</title>
</head>
<body>

    <h3>Login Page</h3>
    @ViewBag.error
    <form method="post" asp-controller="account" asp-action="login">
        <table>
            <tr>
                <td>Username</td>
                <td>
                    <input type="text" name="username" />
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Password</td>
                <td>
                    <input type="password" name="password" />
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>&nbsp;</td>
                <td>
                    <input type="submit" value="Login" />
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    </form>

</body>
</html>

Welcome View

Create new view named Welcome.cshtml as below:

@using System.Security.Claims;
@{
    var userId = User.FindFirst(ClaimTypes.Name);
}

<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <title>Welcome</title>
</head>
<body>

    <h3>Welcome Page</h3>
    Welcome @userId.Value
    <br />
    <a asp-controller="account" asp-action="SignOut">Logout</a>

</body>
</html>

Access Denied View

Create new view named AccessDenied.cshtml as below:

<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <title>Access Denied</title>
</head>
<body>

    <h3>Access Denied Page</h3>

</body>
</html>

Demo Views

Createw new folder named Demo. In this folder, create new views as below:

Index View

Create new view named Index.cshtml as below:

<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <title>Index</title>
</head>
<body>

    <h3>Index Page</h3>

</body>
</html>

Work1 View

Create new view named Work1.cshtml as below:

<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <title>Work 1</title>
</head>
<body>

    <h3>Work 1 Page</h3>

</body>
</html>

Work2 View

Create new view named Work2.cshtml as below:

<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <title>Work 2</title>
</head>
<body>

    <h3>Work 2 Page</h3>

</body>
</html>

Work3 View

Create new view named Work3.cshtml as below:

<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
    <title>Work 3</title>
</head>
<body>

    <h3>Work 3 Page</h3>

</body>
</html>

Create Razor View Imports

Select Views folder and right click to select Add\New Item Menu

Select Web\ASP.NET in left side. Select Razor View Imports item and click Add button to Finish

In _ViewImports.cshtml file and TagHelpers library as below:

@addTagHelper *, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.TagHelpers

Structure of ASP.NET Core MVC 5 Project

Run Application

• Access Index action in Account controller with following url: http://localhost:49328/Account/Index

  Output

  

• Test access Index action in Demo controller without account with url: http://localhost:49328/Demo/Index

  Output

  

• Test access Work1 action in Demo controller without account with url: http://localhost:49328/Demo/Work1

  Output

  

• Test access Work2 action in Demo controller without account with url: http://localhost:49328/Demo/Work2

  Output

  

• Test access Work3 action in Demo controller without account with url: http://localhost:49328/Demo/Work3

  Output

  

• Test login with invalid account: username is abc and password is 456

  Output

  

  

• Test login with valid account: username is acc2 and password is 123. This account have roles: admin and employee

  Output

  

  

• Use acc2 has logged access Work1 action in Demo controller with url: http://localhost:49328/Demo/Work1

  Output

  

• Use acc2 has logged access Work2 action in Demo controller with url: http://localhost:49328/Demo/Work2

  Output

  

• Use acc2 has logged access Work3 action in Demo controller with url: http://localhost:49328/Demo/Work3

  Output