• Documentation >
• Users >
• User authentication >
• User authentication

User authentication

Authenticate user with multiple user providers

Symfony provides native support for multiple user providers. This makes it easier to integrate any kind of login handlers, including SSO and existing third party bundles (for example, FR3DLdapBundle, HWIOauthBundle, FOSUserBundle, or BeSimpleSsoAuthBundle).

However, to be able to use external user providers with Ibexa DXP, a valid Platform user needs to be injected into the repository. This is mainly for the kernel to be able to manage content-related permissions (but not limited to this).

Depending on your context, you either want to create a Platform user, return an existing user, or even always use a generic user.

Whenever an external user is matched (i.e. one that doesn't come from Platform repository, like coming from LDAP), Ibexa DXP kernel initiates an MVCEvents::INTERACTIVE_LOGIN event. Every service listening to this event receives an Ibexa\Core\MVC\Symfony\Event\InteractiveLoginEvent object which contains the original security token (that holds the matched user) and the request.

Then, it's up to the listener to retrieve a Platform user from the repository and to assign it back to the event object. This user is injected into the repository and used for the rest of the request.

If no Ibexa DXP user is returned, the Anonymous user is used.

User exposed and security token

When an external user is matched, a different token is injected into the security context, the InteractiveLoginToken. This token holds a UserWrapped instance which contains the originally matched user and the API user (the one from the Ibexa DXP repository).

The API user is mainly used for permission checks against the repository and thus stays under the hood.

Customize the user class

It's possible to customize the user class used by extending Ibexa\Core\MVC\Symfony\Security\EventListener\SecurityListener service, which defaults to Ibexa\Core\MVC\Symfony\Security\EventListener\SecurityListener.

You can override getUser() to return whatever user class you want, as long as it implements Ibexa\Core\MVC\Symfony\Security\UserInterface.

The following is an example of using the in-memory user provider:

# config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    providers:
        # Chaining in_memory and ibexa user providers
        chain_provider:
            chain:
                providers: [in_memory, ibexa]
        ibexa:
            id: ibexa.security.user_provider
        in_memory:
            memory:
                users:
                    # You will then be able to login with username "user" and password "userpass"
                    user:  { password: userpass, roles: [ 'ROLE_USER' ] }
    # The "in memory" provider requires an encoder for Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\User
    encoders:
        Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\User: plaintext

Implement the listener

In the config/services.yaml file:

services:
    App\EventListener\InteractiveLoginListener:
        arguments: ['@ibexa.api.service.user']
        tags:
            - { name: kernel.event_subscriber } 

Don't mix MVCEvents::INTERACTIVE_LOGIN event (specific to Ibexa DXP) and SecurityEvents::INTERACTIVE_LOGIN event (fired by Symfony security component).

<?php

namespace App\EventListener;

use Ibexa\Contracts\Core\Repository\UserService;
use eIbexa\Core\MVC\Symfony\Event\InteractiveLoginEvent;
use Ibexa\Core\MVC\Symfony\MVCEvents;
use Symfony\Component\EventDispatcher\EventSubscriberInterface;

class InteractiveLoginListener implements EventSubscriberInterface
{
    /**
     * @var \Ibexa\Contracts\Core\Repository\UserService
     */
    private $userService;

    public function __construct(UserService $userService)
    {
        $this->userService = $userService;
    }

    public static function getSubscribedEvents()
    {
        return [
            MVCEvents::INTERACTIVE_LOGIN => 'onInteractiveLogin'
        ];
    }

    public function onInteractiveLogin(InteractiveLoginEvent $event)
    {
        // This loads a generic User and assigns it back to the event.
        // You may want to create Users here, or even load predefined Users depending on your own rules.
        $event->setApiUser($this->userService->loadUserByLogin( 'lolautruche' ));
    }
}