An optional login is still checked if supplied
06The permission note and the app’s credentials enter separate checks. Making login optional does not make bad credentials acceptable.
The grant and app credentials answer different questions.
Offline worked example. Only the public signature/MAC fixtures receive real local cryptographic checks. Other trust, grant, clock and permission inputs are selected teaching cases.
What happens if you change this?
Predict whether the request will pass. Change one choice to see why; use Restart to restore the original example.
Client-first checking is an example order. The error describes the failed job.
Key idea: Every supplied credential must pass its own check.
Terms
- assertion
- A statement another system can check; here it is carried as a JWT.
- authorization grant
- Evidence supporting a request for an access token.
- client authentication
- Checking which app made the request.
- token endpoint
- The server address where an app requests tokens.
- JWT
- JSON Web Token: a compact container for named statements.
- issuer
- The system that created the statement.
- subject
- Who or what the statement is about.
- audience
- The intended receiver of the statement.
- claim
- A named piece of information inside the JWT.
- signature
- A checkable result over bytes made with a secret signing key.
- MAC
- A check over bytes made with a key shared by the parties.
- RS256
- A secret signing key makes a checkable signature; a matching shareable key checks it.
- HS256
- A shared secret lets either party make and check a result over the bytes.
- exp
- Required ending time for using this JWT.
- nbf
- Optional time before which this JWT must not be accepted.
- iat
- Optional time when the JWT was issued.
- jti
- Optional identifier for this JWT; a server may remember it to detect reuse.
- scope
- The named permission requested, such as reading pictures.
- bearer assertion
- A statement usable by someone who possesses it, without proving possession of a separate signing key on each request.
Rules & examples
Every supplied credential must pass its own check.
These reference examples may differ from the selected experiment.
- An invalid JWT grant requires invalid_grant. An invalid client JWT requires invalid_client. Details in error_description or error_uri are optional. With two failures this example checks client credentials first; this order is a teaching choice, not an RFC7523 requirement. A required but absent client login also fails. Successful checks remain subject to authorization-server policy.
Bounded offline examples; crypto fixtures are separate from the selected trust and permission policy.
Sources
New to this? Start hereA quick picture + helpful background
A message needs an address.
Think of a packet as a small addressed envelope. Devices pass it onward; transport protocols decide what delivery promises an application gets.
Helpful first, if these ideas are unfamiliar
These pictures are analogies to help you learn. The linked RFC explains the actual rules.
Related RFCs and changes
“Updates” changes part of an earlier RFC. “Obsoletes” replaces it. This list shows selected related documents.