[Openid-specs-mobile-profile] auth_req_id and client_notification_token seem redundant

Eric Fazendin efazendin at pingidentity.com
Sun Dec 23 15:32:04 UTC 2018


auth_req_id and client_notification_token seem redundant.  Unless we can
clarify why both are necessary, I suggest we remove
client_notification_token from the spec.


Based on 7.1, it's described as "It is a bearer token provided by the
Client that will be used by the OpenID Provider to authenticate the
callback request to the Client."

10.2 and 10.3.1 says, "The Client MUST verify the client_notification_token
used to authenticate the request is valid and is associated with the
auth_req_id received in the Ping callback."

There is no further elaboration of why it's needed or what additional value
it might provide the client.  Examples suggest it is in a GUID format.
Perhaps it could be a JWT and therefore reduce the state required to manage
by the client, but it's not cryptographically bound to the auth_req_id, so
the client is going to have to track the state of a given
client_notification_token as being associated to a given auth_req_id.


auth_req_id is described in 7.3 as "This is a unique identifier to identify
the authentication request made by the Client."

7.4 says, "The Client MUST keep the auth_req_id in order to validate the
callbacks received in Ping and Push modes or to use when making a token
request in Poll and Ping modes."


I don't understand the value of the client_notification_token when there is
also the auth_req_id.  The client_notification_token adds unnecessary
complexity to client implementations.  If the client wants to track
authentication requests and associate them to Ping and Push Callbacks, they
can do so with only the auth_req_id.

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