ASP.NET Core Web API: Troubleshooting

If the configuration of your JSON Web Token (JWT) middleware does not match the JWT that was passed to the API, you get a 401 (Unauthorized) response from your API.

This document will help you troubleshoot your JWT middleware configuration.

There are 5 criteria for validating a JWT token.

1. Is the token formed properly? Check if the structure of the token matches the structure of a JSON Web Token. Read more about the JSON Web Token structure.

2. Has the token been tampered with? The last part of a JWT is the signature. The signature is used to verify that the token was signed by the sender and not altered in any way.

3. Has the token been received in its validity period? JWTs are only valid for a specified time, defined in the exp claim.

4. Is the token coming from the intended Authority? Check the following two criteria:

   • Signature verification: Check if the JWT is correctly signed with the key issued by the issuing authority.

   • Issuer value: The Issuer is defined in the iss claim. Check if this claim matches up with what your application expects.

5. Is the token intended for the current application? Check if the aud claim of the JWT matches with what your application expects.

You can inspect a JWT with the JWT.io website. Use the debugger on the website to check if your JWT is well formed. You can also inspect values of the various claims.

The screenshot below shows the following information:

• The token is signed with the RS256 algorithm
• The issuer of the token is https://jerrie.auth0.com/
• The audience of the token is https://rs256.test.api

Check if the values of the JWT token match exactly the values in your JWT middleware registration. This includes the trailing slash for the Issuer.

var options = new JwtBearerOptions
{
    Audience = "https://rs256.test.api",
    Authority = "https://jerrie.auth0.com/"
};
app.UseJwtBearerAuthentication(options);

If your token is signed with the HS256 algorithm, the debugger view is different.

The screenshot below shows the following information:

• The token is signed with the HS256 algorithm
• The issuer of the token is https://jerrie.auth0.com/
• The audience of the token is https://hs256.test.api

If your token is signed with the HS256 algorithm, the middleware needs to be configured in the following way:

var options = new JwtBearerOptions
{
    TokenValidationParameters =
    {
        ValidIssuer = "https://jerrie.auth0.com/",
        ValidAudience = "https://hs256.test.api",
        IssuerSigningKey = new SymmetricSecurityKey(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("your api secret"))
    }
};
app.UseJwtBearerAuthentication(options);

To debug potential configuration issues, inspect the log files for your application. For more information, refer to the Logging in ASP.NET Core document.

In this example, we run the application from the command line and inspect the console log output.

Check if you are passing the JWT as a Bearer token in the Authorization header of the HTTP request.

If you are not passing the token, you will see the following warning:

Look for the following warning message:

Authorization failed for the request at filter 'Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Authorization.AuthorizeFilter'

To resolve this issue, make sure you are passing the JWT as the Bearer token in the Authorization header of the HTTP request.

Make sure that the signing algorithm you used to sign your token matches the signing algorithm configured in your middleware.

The following screenshots show two messages:

• A warning message: "Authorization failed..."
• A message with more information

The following example shows that the JWT is signed with the HS256 algorithm and the middleware is configured to expect RS256 tokens:

Look for the following warning message:

System.ArgumentException: IDX10634: Unable to create the SignatureProvider.

SignatureAlgorithm: 'HS256', SecurityKey: 'Microsoft.IdentityModel.Tokens.RsaSecurityKey' is not supported.

The following example shows that the JWT is signed with the RS256 algorithm and the middleware is configured to expect HS256 tokens:

Look for the following warning message:

Bearer was not authenticated. Failure message: IDX10501: Signature validation failed. Unable to match 'kid': 'NTF...'

To resolve this issue, make sure that the algorithm for the JWT matches with the configuration of your middleware.

Each JSON Web Token is valid until the time defined in the exp claim runs out. If you send an expired token, the token will be rejected:

Look for the following error message:

IDX10223: Lifetime validation failed. The token is expired

To resolve this issue, check if the token you are sending has not expired.

The Issuer specified in your token must match exactly with your JWT middleware configuration.

Look for the following warning message:

IDX10205: Issuer validation failed.

To resolve this issue, make sure that you specify the correct issuer for your JWT middleware.

For HS256 signed tokens, specify the correct value for the ValidIssuer property of TokenValidationParameters.

Check if the audience specified in your token matches your JWT middleware configuration.

Look for the following error message:

IDX10214: Audience validation failed

To resolve this issue, make sure you specify the correct audience for your JWT middleware. Depending on how your JWT middleware was configured, do the following:

• Set the correct Audience property of JwtBearerOptions
• Set the ValidAudience property of TokenValidationParameters