Implement SMART App Launch v2 asymmetric client authentication using private_key_jwt to obtain an access token without transmitting a client secret

domain: hl7.org/fhir/smart-app-launch · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗

Steps

  1. Generate an RSA or EC key pair; publish the public key as a JWKS at a stable URL and register it with the authorization server during app registration
  2. At token request time, build a JWT with iss=client_id, sub=client_id, aud=token_endpoint, jti (unique per request), and exp (short-lived, max 5 minutes)
  3. Sign the JWT with the private key using RS384 or ES384; include the kid header matching the registered JWKS entry
  4. POST to the token endpoint with grant_type=authorization_code, client_assertion_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:client-assertion-type:jwt-bearer, and client_assertion=<signed JWT>
  5. Parse the token response and store the access_token and refresh_token securely; handle token_type=Bearer

Known gotchas

Related routes

Authenticate OAuth clients with private_key_jwt instead of client secrets
identity-general · 6 steps · unrated
Implement SMART App Launch v2 token introspection to validate an access token issued by an authorization server and extract the scopes and patient context at a resource server
hl7.org/fhir/smart-app-launch · 5 steps · unrated
Obtain a SMART Backend Services access token using the system-level client credentials flow with a signed JWT client assertion and use it to access a FHIR server as a backend service
hl7.org/fhir/smart-app-launch · 5 steps · unrated

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