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  6. webRequest
  7. webRequest.onAuthRequired

webRequest.onAuthRequired

In This Article
  1. Syntax
  2. addListener syntax
    1. Parameters
  3. Additional objects
    1. details
  4. Browser compatibility
  5. Examples
    1. Example extensions

Fired when the server sends a 401 or 407 status code: that is, when the server is asking the client to provide authentication credentials such as a username and password.

The listener can respond in one of four different ways:

Take no action: the listener can do nothing, just observing the request. If this happens, it will have no effect on the handling of the request, and the browser will probably just ask the user to log in.

Cancel the request: the listener can cancel the request. If they do this, then authentication will fail, and the user will not be asked to log in. Extensions can cancel requests as follows:

  • in addListener, pass "blocking" in the extraInfoSpec parameter
  • in the listener itself, return an object with a cancel property set to true

Provide credentials synchronously: if credentials are available synchronously, the extension can supply them synchronously. If the extension does this, then the browser will attempt to log in with the given credentials. The listener can provide credentials synchronously as follows:

  • in addListener, pass "blocking" in the extraInfoSpec parameter
  • in the listener, return an object with an authCredentials property set to the credentials to supply

Provide credentials asynchronously: the extension might need to fetch credentials asynchronously. For example, the extension might need to fetch credentials from storage, or ask the user. In this case, the listener can supply credentials asynchronously as follows:

  • in addListener, pass "blocking" in the extraInfoSpec parameter
  • in the listener, return a Promise that is resolved with an object containing an authCredentials property, set to the credentials to supply

See Examples.

If you use "blocking" you must have the "webRequestBlocking" API permission in your manifest.json.

If your extension provides bad credentials, then the listener will be called again. For this reason, take care not to enter an infinite loop by repeatedly providing bad credentials.

Syntax

browser.webRequest.onAuthRequired.addListener(
  listener,                    // function
  filter,                      //  object
  extraInfoSpec                //  optional array of strings
)
browser.webRequest.onAuthRequired.removeListener(listener)
browser.webRequest.onAuthRequired.hasListener(listener)

Events have three functions:

addListener(callback, filter, extraInfoSpec)
Adds a listener to this event.
removeListener(listener)
Stop listening to this event. The listener argument is the listener to remove.
hasListener(listener)
Check whether listener is registered for this event. Returns true if it is listening, false otherwise.

addListener syntax

Parameters

callback

A function that will be called when this event occurs. The function will be passed the following arguments:

details
object. Details about the request. See details below.

Returns: webRequest.BlockingResponse or a Promise.

  • To handle the request synchronously, include "blocking" in the extraInfoSpec parameter and return a BlockingResponse object, with its cancel or its authCredentials properties set.
  • To handle the request asynchronously, include "blocking" in the extraInfoSpec parameter and return a Promise that is resolved with a  BlockingResponse object, with its cancel or its authCredentials properties set.
filter
webRequest.RequestFilter. A filter that restricts the events that will be sent to this listener.
extraInfoSpecOptional
array of string. Extra options for the event. You can pass any of the following values:
  • "blocking": make the request block, so you can cancel the request or supply authentication credentials
  • "responseHeaders": include responseHeaders in the details object passed to the listener

Additional objects

details

requestId
string. The ID of the request. Request IDs are unique within a browser session, so you can use them to relate different events associated with the same request.
url
string. Target of the request.
method
string. Standard HTTP method: for example, "GET" or "POST".
frameId
integer. Zero if the request happens in the main frame; a positive value is the ID of a subframe in which the request happens. If the document of a (sub-)frame is loaded (type is main_frame or sub_frame), frameId indicates the ID of this frame, not the ID of the outer frame. Frame IDs are unique within a tab.
parentFrameId
integer. ID of the frame that contains the frame which sent the request. Set to -1 if no parent frame exists.
tabId
integer. ID of the tab in which the request takes place. Set to -1 if the request isn't related to a tab.
type
webRequest.ResourceType. The type of resource being requested: for example, "image", "script", "stylesheet".
timeStamp
number. The time when this event fired, in milliseconds since the epoch.
scheme
string. The authentication scheme: "basic" or "digest".
realmOptional
string. The authentication realm provided by the server, if there is one.
challenger
object. The server requesting authentication. This is an object with the following properties:
host
string. The server's hostname.
port
integer. The server's port number.
isProxy
boolean. true for Proxy-Authenticate, false for WWW-Authenticate. Note: webRequest.onAuthRequired is only called for HTTP and HTTPS/SSL proxy servers requiring authentication, and not for SOCKS proxy servers requiring authenticaiton.
responseHeadersOptional
webRequest.HttpHeaders. The HTTP response headers that were received along with this response.
statusLine
string. HTTP status line of the response or the 'HTTP/0.9 200 OK' string for HTTP/0.9 responses (i.e., responses that lack a status line) or an empty string if there are no headers.
statusCode
integer. Standard HTTP status code returned by the server.

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

ChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefox for AndroidOpera
Basic supportYesYes54 154 1Yes
asyncBlockingYesYesNoNoYes
1. To handle a request asynchronously, return a Promise from the listener.

Examples

This code just observes authentication requests for the target URL:

var target = "https://intranet.company.com/";
function observe(requestDetails) {
  console.log("observing: " + requestDetails.requestId);
}
browser.webRequest.onAuthRequired.addListener(
  observe,
  {urls: [target]}
);

This code cancels authentication requests for the target URL:

var target = "https://intranet.company.com/";
function cancel(requestDetails) {
  console.log("canceling: " + requestDetails.requestId);
  return {cancel: true};
}
browser.webRequest.onAuthRequired.addListener(
  cancel,
  {urls: [target]},
  ["blocking"]
);

This code supplies credentials synchronously. It has to keep track of outstanding requests, to ensure that it doesn't repeatedly try to submit bad credentials:

var target = "https://intranet.company.com/";
var myCredentials = {
  username: "me@company.com",
  password: "zDR$ERHGDFy"
}
var pendingRequests = [];
// A request has completed.
// We can stop worrying about it.
function completed(requestDetails) {
  console.log("completed: " + requestDetails.requestId);
  var index = pendingRequests.indexOf(requestDetails.requestId);
  if (index > -1) {
    pendingRequests.splice(index, 1);
  }
}
function provideCredentialsSync(requestDetails) {
  // If we have seen this request before, then
  // assume our credentials were bad, and give up.
  if (pendingRequests.indexOf(requestDetails.requestId) != -1) {
    console.log("bad credentials for: " + requestDetails.requestId);
    return {cancel:true};
  }
  pendingRequests.push(requestDetails.requestId);
  console.log("providing credentials for: " + requestDetails.requestId);
  return {authCredentials: myCredentials};
}
browser.webRequest.onAuthRequired.addListener(
    provideCredentialsSync,
    {urls: [target]},
    ["blocking"]
  );
browser.webRequest.onCompleted.addListener(
  completed,
  {urls: [target]}
);
browser.webRequest.onErrorOccurred.addListener(
  completed,
  {urls: [target]}
);

This code supplies credentials asynchronously, fetching them from storage. It also has to keep track of outstanding requests, to ensure that it doesn't repeatedly try to submit bad credentials:

var target = "https://httpbin.org/basic-auth/*";
var pendingRequests = [];
/*
A request has completed. We can stop worrying about it.
*/
function completed(requestDetails) {
  console.log("completed: " + requestDetails.requestId);
  var index = pendingRequests.indexOf(requestDetails.requestId);
  if (index > -1) {
    pendingRequests.splice(index, 1);
  }
}
function provideCredentialsAsync(requestDetails) {
  // If we have seen this request before,
  // then assume our credentials were bad,
  // and give up.
  if (pendingRequests.indexOf(requestDetails.requestId) != -1) {
    console.log("bad credentials for: " + requestDetails.requestId);
    return {cancel: true};
  } else {
    pendingRequests.push(requestDetails.requestId);
    console.log("providing credentials for: " + requestDetails.requestId);
    // we can return a promise that will be resolved
    // with the stored credentials
    return browser.storage.local.get(null);
  }
}
browser.webRequest.onAuthRequired.addListener(
    provideCredentialsAsync,
    {urls: [target]},
    ["blocking"]
  );
browser.webRequest.onCompleted.addListener(
  completed,
  {urls: [target]}
);
browser.webRequest.onErrorOccurred.addListener(
  completed,
  {urls: [target]}
);

Example extensions

  • stored-credentials

Acknowledgements

This API is based on Chromium's chrome.webRequest API. This documentation is derived from web_request.json in the Chromium code.

Microsoft Edge compatibility data is supplied by Microsoft Corporation and is included here under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

// Copyright 2015 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved.
//
// Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
// modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
// met:
//
//    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
// notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
//    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
// copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer
// in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
// distribution.
//    * Neither the name of Google Inc. nor the names of its
// contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
// this software without specific prior written permission.
//
// THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
// "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
// LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
// A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
// OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
// SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
// LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
// DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
// THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
// (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
// OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Document Tags and Contributors

Tags: 
  • Add-ons
  • API
  • Event
  • Extensions
  • Non-standard
  • onAuthRequired
  • Reference
  • WebExtensions
  • webRequest
 Contributors to this page: andrewtruongmoz, ericjung, wbamberg, Makyen, rolfedh, billmccloskey
 Last updated by: andrewtruongmoz, Jul 14, 2017, 11:13:36 AM
See also
  1. Browser extensions
  2. Getting started
    1. What are extensions?
    2. Your first extension
    3. Your second extension
    4. Anatomy of an extension
    5. Example extensions
  3. How to
    1. Intercept HTTP requests
    2. Modify a web page
    3. Add a button to the toolbar
    4. Implement a settings page
  4. User interface
    1. Introduction
    2. Toolbar button
    3. Address bar button
    4. Sidebar
    5. Context menu items
    6. Options page
    7. Bundled web pages
    8. Notifications
    9. Address bar suggestions
    10. Developer tools panels
  5. Concepts
    1. Using the JavaScript APIs
    2. Content scripts
    3. Match patterns
    4. Internationalization
    5. Content Security Policy
    6. Native messaging
  6. Porting
    1. Porting a Google Chrome extension
    2. Porting a legacy Firefox extension
    3. Embedded WebExtensions
    4. Comparison with the Add-on SDK
    5. Comparison with XUL/XPCOM extensions
    6. Chrome incompatibilities
    7. Differences between desktop and Android
  7. Firefox workflow
    1. Temporary Installation in Firefox
    2. Debugging
    3. Developing for Firefox for Android
    4. Getting started with web-ext
    5. web-ext command reference
    6. Extensions and the Add-on ID
    7. Publishing your extension
  8. JavaScript APIs
    1. Browser support for JavaScript APIs
    2. alarms
    3. bookmarks
    4. browserAction
    5. browsingData
    6. commands
    7. contextMenus
    8. contextualIdentities
    9. cookies
    10. devtools.inspectedWindow
    11. devtools.network
    12. devtools.panels
    13. downloads
    14. events
    15. extension
    16. extensionTypes
    17. history
    18. i18n
    19. identity
    20. idle
    21. management
    22. notifications
    23. omnibox
    24. pageAction
    25. permissions
    26. privacy
    27. proxy
    28. runtime
    29. sessions
    30. sidebarAction
    31. storage
    32. tabs
    33. topSites
    34. types
    35. webNavigation
    36. webRequest
      1. Methods
        1. handlerBehaviorChanged()
      2. Properties
        1. MAX_HANDLER_BEHAVIOR_CHANGED_CALLS_PER_10_MINUTES
      3. Types
        1. BlockingResponse
        2. HttpHeaders
        3. RequestFilter
        4. ResourceType
        5. UploadData
      4. Events
        1. onAuthRequired
        2. onBeforeRedirect
        3. onBeforeRequest
        4. onBeforeSendHeaders
        5. onCompleted
        6. onErrorOccurred
        7. onHeadersReceived
        8. onResponseStarted
        9. onSendHeaders
    37. windows
  9. Manifest keys
    1. applications
    2. author
    3. background
    4. browser_action
    5. chrome_settings_overrides
    6. chrome_url_overrides
    7. commands
    8. content_scripts
    9. content_security_policy
    10. default_locale
    11. description
    12. developer
    13. devtools_page
    14. homepage_url
    15. icons
    16. incognito
    17. manifest_version
    18. name
    19. omnibox
    20. optional_permissions
    21. options_ui
    22. page_action
    23. permissions
    24. protocol_handlers
    25. short_name
    26. sidebar_action
    27. version
    28. web_accessible_resources
  10. Themes
  11. Publishing add-ons
  12. Guides
    1. Signing and distribution overview
    2. Submit an add-on
    3. Creating an appealing listing
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    5. Developer agreement
    6. Featured add-ons
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  13. Community and support
  14. Channels
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    3. Stack Overflow
    4. Development newsgroup
    5. IRC Channel
  15. Legacy add-ons
  16. Legacy technologies
    1. Add-on SDK
    2. Legacy Firefox for Android
    3. Bootstrapped extensions
    4. Overlay extensions