AUTH_JWT module

Admin Guide

Overview

The module implements authentication over JSON Web Tokens. In some cases ( ie. WebRTC ) the user authenticates on another layer ( other than SIP ), so it makes no sense to double-authenticate it on the SIP layer. Thus, the SIP client will simply present the JWT auth token it received from the server, and pass it on to OpenSIPS which will use that for authentication purposes.

It relies on two DB tables, one containing JWT profiles ( a profile name and it’s SIP username associated to it ) and one containing JWT secrets. Each secret has a corresponding profile, the KEY used for signing the JWT and two timestamps describing a validation interval. Multiple JWT secrets can point to the same JWT profile.

Dependencies

OpenSIPS Modules

The module depends on the following modules (in the other words the listed modules must be loaded before this module):

database — Any database module (currently mysql, postgres, dbtext) , in case the db_url parameter is set

External Libraries or Applications

The following libraries or applications must be installed before running OpenSIPS with this module loaded:

libjwt-dev
openssl-dev or libssl-dev

Exported Parameters

db_mode (int)

If set to 0, the module won’t connect to the Database for reading the Keys for decoding JWTs - only jwt_script_authorize will be usable from the script.

Default value is “0”.

modparam("auth_jwt", "db_mode", 0)

db_url (string)

This is URL of the database to be used. Value of the parameter depends on the database module used. For example for mysql and postgres modules this is something like mysql://username:password@host:port/database. For dbtext module (which stores data in plaintext files) it is directory in which the database resides.

Default value is “mysql://opensipsro:opensipsro@localhost/opensips”.

modparam("auth_jwt", "db_url", "dbdriver://username:password@dbhost/dbname")

profiles_table (string)

Name of the DB table containing the jwt profiles

Default value of this parameter is jwt_profiles.

modparam("auth_jwt", "profiles_table", "my_profiles")

secrets_table (string)

Name of the DB table containing the jwt secrets

Default value of this parameter is jwt_secrets.

modparam("auth_jwt", "secrets_table", "my_secrets")

tag_column (string)

Column holding the JWT profile tag.

Default value is “tag”.

...
modparam("auth_jwt", "tag_column", "my_tag_column")
...

username_column (string)

Column holding the JWT profile associated SIP username.

Default value is “sip_username”.

...
modparam("auth_jwt", "username_column", "my_username_column")
...

secret_tag_column (string)

Column holding the JWT secret associated tag.

Default value is “corresponding_tag”.

...
modparam("auth_jwt", "secret_tag_column", "my_secret_tag_column")
...

secret_column (string)

Column holding the actual jwt signing secret.

default value is “secret”.

...
modparam("auth_jwt", "secret_column", "my_secret_column")
...

start_ts_column (string)

Column holding the JWT secret start UNIX timestamp.

default value is “start_ts”.

...
modparam("auth_jwt", "start_ts", "my_start_ts_column")
...

end_ts_column (string)

column holding the jwt secret end unix timestamp.

default value is “end_ts”.

...
modparam("auth_jwt", "end_ts", "my_end_ts_column")
...

tag_claim (string)

The JWT claim which will be used to identify the JWT profile

default value is “tag”.

...
modparam("auth_jwt", "tag_claim", "my_tag_claim")
...

load_credentials (string)

This parameter specifies credentials to be fetched from the JWT profiles table when the authentication is performed. The loaded credentials will be stored in AVPs. If the AVP name is not specificaly given, it will be used a NAME AVP with the same name as the column name.

Parameter syntax:

load_credentials = credential (’;’ credential)*
credential = (avp_specification ’=’ column_name) | (column_name)
avp_specification = ‘$avp(’ + NAME + ’)’

Default value of this parameter is “none ( empty )”.

# load my_extra_column into $avp(extra_jwt_info)
modparam("auth_jwt", "load_credentials", "$avp(extra_jwt_info)=my_extra_column")

Exported Functions

jwt_db_authorize(jwt_token,out_decoded_token,out_sip_username)

The function will read the first param ( jwt_token ), extract the tag claim and then try to authenticate it against the DB secrets for the respective profile tag. In case of success, it populates the out_decoded_token pvar with the decoded JWT ( in plaintext format header_json.payload_json ) and the out_sip_username with the SIP username corresponding to that JWT profile.

Negative codes may be interpreted as follows:

-1 ( error) - JWT authentication failed

Meaning of the parameters is as follows:

jwt_token (string) - The JWT token to perform auth on The string may contain pseudo variables.
out_decoded_token (pvar) - PVAR used to store the decoded JWT upon succesful auth
out_sip_username (pvar) - PVAR used to store the SIP username corresponding to the JWT profile, upon succesful auth

This function can be used from REQUEST_ROUTE.

...
if (!jwt_db_authorize("$avp(my_jwt_token)", $avp(decoded_token), $avp(sip_username) )) {
  send_reply("401","Unauthorized");
  exit;
} else {
  xlog("Succesful JWT auth - $avp(decoded_token) \n");
  if ($fU != $avp(sip_username)) {
    send_reply("403","Forbidden AUTH ID");
    exit;
  }
}
...

jwt_script_authorize(jwt_token,key, out_decoded_token)

The function will read the first param ( jwt_token ), decode it and then try to validate it against the provided key. If the JWT decoding is succesful, the out_decoded_token pvar will be populated. Return codes are :

-2 : Failure in decoding the JWT ( out_decoded_token will not be populated )
-1 : Failure in validating the JWT ( out_decoded_token will be populated )
1 : JWT succesfully validated with the key ( out_decoded_token will be populated )

Meaning of the parameters is as follows:

jwt_token (string) - The JWT token to perform auth on The string may contain pseudo variables.
key (string) - The key to be used for validating the JWT.
out_decoded_token (pvar) - PVAR used to store the decoded JWT

This function can be used from REQUEST_ROUTE.

...
if (!jwt_script_authorize("$avp(my_jwt_token)",$avp(pub_key), $avp(decoded_token))) {
  send_reply("401","Unauthorized");
  exit;
} else {
  xlog("Succesful JWT auth - $avp(decoded_token) \n");
}
...

extract_pub_key_from_cert(certificate,out_public_key)

The function will read the first param ( certificate ), decode it and then try to extract the public key with the certificate. If the extraction is succesful, the out_public_key will be populated. Useful to be used in conjuction with the jwt_script_authorize function, since most providers make their certificates public, but the JWTs are signed with the actual public key embeded in the certificate. Return codes are :

-1 : Failure in extracting the pub key
1 : out_public_key succesfully populated

Meaning of the parameters is as follows:

certificate (string) - The certificate to read and from which to extract the public key The string may contain pseudo variables.
out_public_key (pvar) - PVAR used to store the extracted public key

This function can be used from REQUEST_ROUTE.

...
if (extract_pub_key_from_cert("$avp(my_certificate)",$avp(my_pub_key))) {
    xlog("Succesfully extracted public key - $avp(my_pub_key) \n");
}
...

Contributors

By Commit Statistics

Top contributors by DevScore⁽¹⁾, authored commits⁽²⁾ and lines added/removed⁽³⁾

#	Name	DevScore	Commits	Lines++	Lines—
1.	Vlad Paiu (@vladpaiu)	21	6	1556	51
2.	Stefan Darius (@dariusstefan)	9	4	392	33
3.	Bogdan-Andrei Iancu (@bogdan-iancu)	4	2	8	9
4.	Razvan Crainea (@razvancrainea)	3	1	2	2

(1) DevScore = author_commits + author_lines_added / (project_lines_added / project_commits) + author_lines_deleted / (project_lines_deleted / project_commits)

(2) including any documentation-related commits, excluding merge commits

(3) ignoring whitespace edits, renamed files and auto-generated files

By Commit Activity

#	Name	Commit Activity
1.	Stefan Darius (@dariusstefan)	Jun 2026 - Jul 2026
2.	Razvan Crainea (@razvancrainea)	Jun 2026 - Jun 2026
3.	Vlad Paiu (@vladpaiu)	Mar 2020 - Jul 2023
4.	Bogdan-Andrei Iancu (@bogdan-iancu)	Mar 2020 - Dec 2021

(1) including any documentation-related commits, excluding merge commits

Documentation

Contributors

Last edited by: Razvan Crainea (@razvancrainea), Vlad Paiu (@vladpaiu).

License

All documentation files (i.e. .md extension) are licensed under the Creative Common License 4.0