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https://github.com/requests/requests-kerberos

An authentication handler for using Kerberos with Python Requests.
https://github.com/requests/requests-kerberos

kerberos-authentication python python-requests

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An authentication handler for using Kerberos with Python Requests.

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README 

        
requests Kerberos/GSSAPI authentication library

===============================================



.. image:: https://github.com/requests/requests-kerberos/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg

    :target: https://github.com/requests/requests-kerberos/actions/workflows/ci.yml



Requests is an HTTP library, written in Python, for human beings. This library

adds optional Kerberos/GSSAPI authentication support and supports mutual

authentication. Basic GET usage:



.. code-block:: python



    >>> import requests

    >>> from requests_kerberos import HTTPKerberosAuth

    >>> r = requests.get("http://example.org", auth=HTTPKerberosAuth())

    ...



The entire ``requests.api`` should be supported.



Setup

-----



Before installing this module, the underlying Kerberos C libraries and Python

development headers need to be installed. An example of how to do this for

some Linux distributions is shown below:



.. code-block:: bash



    # For Debian based distros

    apt-get install gcc python3-dev libkrb5-dev



    # For EL based distros

    dnf install gcc python3-devel krb5-devel



The names of the packages may vary across the distribution so use this as a

general guide. MacOS and Windows users should not need these development

libraries as the underlying Kerberos Python module for those platforms are

provided as a wheel and the C library is already preinstalled.



While it is possible to use Kerberos authentication with an explicit

``principal`` and ``password`` as an arg to ``HTTPKerberosAuth``, it is

recommended to use an existing credential cache to store the credentials

instead. The credential cache can store a Kerberos Ticket-Granting Ticket

(``TGT``) which is then used for authentication when no ``password`` is given

to ``HTTPKerberosAuth``. The credential cache can store a ``TGT`` by using the

``kinit`` command and ``klist`` can be used to view the contents of the cache.

The environment variable ``KRB5CCNAME`` can be used to specify the location of

a custom credential cache.



Authentication Failures

-----------------------



Client authentication failures will be communicated to the caller by returning

the 401 response. A 401 response may also come from an expired Ticket-Granting

Ticket.



Mutual Authentication

---------------------



REQUIRED

^^^^^^^^



By default, ``HTTPKerberosAuth`` will require mutual authentication from the

server, and if a server emits a non-error response which cannot be

authenticated, a ``requests_kerberos.errors.MutualAuthenticationError`` will

be raised. If a server emits an error which cannot be authenticated, it will

be returned to the user but with its contents and headers stripped. If the

response content is more important than the need for mutual auth on errors,

(eg, for certain WinRM calls) the stripping behavior can be suppressed by

setting ``sanitize_mutual_error_response=False``:



.. code-block:: python



    >>> import requests

    >>> from requests_kerberos import HTTPKerberosAuth, REQUIRED

    >>> kerberos_auth = HTTPKerberosAuth(mutual_authentication=REQUIRED, sanitize_mutual_error_response=False)

    >>> r = requests.get("https://windows.example.org/wsman", auth=kerberos_auth)

    ...



OPTIONAL

^^^^^^^^



If you'd prefer to not require mutual authentication, you can set your

preference when constructing your ``HTTPKerberosAuth`` object:



.. code-block:: python



    >>> import requests

    >>> from requests_kerberos import HTTPKerberosAuth, OPTIONAL

    >>> kerberos_auth = HTTPKerberosAuth(mutual_authentication=OPTIONAL)

    >>> r = requests.get("http://example.org", auth=kerberos_auth)

    ...



This will cause ``requests_kerberos`` to attempt mutual authentication if the

server advertises that it supports it, and cause a failure if authentication

fails, but not if the server does not support it at all.



DISABLED

^^^^^^^^



While we don't recommend it, if you'd prefer to never attempt mutual

authentication, you can do that as well:



.. code-block:: python



    >>> import requests

    >>> from requests_kerberos import HTTPKerberosAuth, DISABLED

    >>> kerberos_auth = HTTPKerberosAuth(mutual_authentication=DISABLED)

    >>> r = requests.get("http://example.org", auth=kerberos_auth)

    ...



Preemptive Authentication

-------------------------



``HTTPKerberosAuth`` can be forced to preemptively initiate the Kerberos

GSS exchange and present a Kerberos ticket on the initial request (and all

subsequent). By default, authentication only occurs after a

``401 Unauthorized`` response containing a Kerberos or Negotiate challenge

is received from the origin server. This can cause mutual authentication

failures for hosts that use a persistent connection (eg, Windows/WinRM), as

no Kerberos challenges are sent after the initial auth handshake. This

behavior can be altered by setting  ``force_preemptive=True``:



.. code-block:: python



    >>> import requests

    >>> from requests_kerberos import HTTPKerberosAuth, REQUIRED

    >>> kerberos_auth = HTTPKerberosAuth(mutual_authentication=REQUIRED, force_preemptive=True)

    >>> r = requests.get("https://windows.example.org/wsman", auth=kerberos_auth)

    ...



Hostname Override

-----------------



If communicating with a host whose DNS name doesn't match its

kerberos hostname (eg, behind a content switch or load balancer),

the hostname used for the Kerberos GSS exchange can be overridden by

setting the ``hostname_override`` arg:



.. code-block:: python



    >>> import requests

    >>> from requests_kerberos import HTTPKerberosAuth, REQUIRED

    >>> kerberos_auth = HTTPKerberosAuth(hostname_override="internalhost.local")

    >>> r = requests.get("https://externalhost.example.org/", auth=kerberos_auth)

    ...



Explicit Principal

------------------



``HTTPKerberosAuth`` normally uses the default principal (ie, the user for

whom you last ran ``kinit`` or ``kswitch``, or an SSO credential if

applicable). However, an explicit principal can be specified, which will

cause Kerberos to look for a matching credential cache for the named user.

This feature depends on OS support for collection-type credential caches.

An explicit principal can be specified with the ``principal`` arg:



.. code-block:: python



    >>> import requests

    >>> from requests_kerberos import HTTPKerberosAuth, REQUIRED

    >>> kerberos_auth = HTTPKerberosAuth(principal="user@REALM")

    >>> r = requests.get("http://example.org", auth=kerberos_auth)

    ...



Password Authentication

-----------------------



``HTTPKerberosAuth`` can be used with an explicit principal and password

instead of using a credential stored in the credential cache. An explicit

username and password can be specified with the ``principal`` and ``password``

arg respectively:



.. code-block:: python



    >>> import requests

    >>> from requests_kerberos import HTTPKerberosAuth, REQUIRED

    >>> kerberos_auth = HTTPKerberosAuth(

    ...     principal="user@REALM",

    ...     password="SecretPassword",

    ...)

    >>> r = requests.get("http://example.org", auth=kerberos_auth)



When specifing a custom principal and password, the underlying Kerberos

library will request a TGT from the KDC before using that TGT to retrieve the

service ticket for authentication.



Delegation

----------



``requests_kerberos`` supports credential delegation (``GSS_C_DELEG_FLAG``).

To enable delegation of credentials to a server that requests delegation, pass

``delegate=True`` to ``HTTPKerberosAuth``:



.. code-block:: python



    >>> import requests

    >>> from requests_kerberos import HTTPKerberosAuth

    >>> r = requests.get("http://example.org", auth=HTTPKerberosAuth(delegate=True))

    ...



Be careful to only allow delegation to servers you trust as they will be able

to impersonate you using the delegated credentials.



Logging

-------



This library makes extensive use of Python's logging facilities.



Log messages are logged to the ``requests_kerberos`` and

``requests_kerberos.kerberos_`` named loggers.



If you are having difficulty we suggest you configure logging. Issues with the

underlying kerberos libraries will be made apparent. Additionally, copious debug

information is made available which may assist in troubleshooting if you

increase your log level all the way up to debug.



Channel Binding

---------------



Since ``v0.12.0`` this library automatically attempts to bind the

authentication token with the channel binding data when connecting over a TLS

connection. Channel Binding is also known as Extended Protection for

Authentication (``EPA``) from Microsoft. This should be ignored by servers

which do not implement support for CB but in the rare case this still fails it

can be disabled by setting ``send_cbt=False``.