.NET Tips and Tricks

Blog archive

Overriding Controller Authorization in ASP.NET MVC

You have a Contoller class called Adminstration that only admins should use. There's about a dozen Action methods in the Controller class and they all should only be accessed by users in the Admin or SuperAdmin roles. Rather than put an Authorize attribute on each method, you can put just one on the Controller class, like this:

<Authorize(Roles:="Admin,SuperAdmin")>
Public Class AdministrationController

Did I say that all of your methods in this controller should be accessed only by the Admin and SuperAdmin users? I lied. There's one really annoying method that doesn't require this level of authorization (it just displays a list of administrators with their contact information). You could try moving it to another Controller or you could put Authorize attributes on all the methods ... or you could use OverrideAuthentication.

The OverrideAuthentication attribute lets you discard the authorization set at the Controller level. You can then follow the OverrideAuthentication attribute with whatever Authorize attribute your method actually needs.

Here's an example that lets anyone in the User role use the ListAdmins method:

<OverrideAuthentication>
<Authorize(Roles:="User")>
Public Function ListAdmins() As ActionResult

There are four other Override* attributes including one called OverrideException that lets you discard HandleError attributes set at the Controller or Global Filters level.

Posted by Peter Vogel on 07/18/2018


comments powered by Disqus

Featured

  • Full Stack Hands-On Development with .NET

    In the fast-paced realm of modern software development, proficiency across a full stack of technologies is not just beneficial, it's essential. Microsoft has an entire stack of open source development components in its .NET platform (formerly known as .NET Core) that can be used to build an end-to-end set of applications.

  • .NET-Centric Uno Platform Debuts 'Single Project' for 9 Targets

    "We've reduced the complexity of project files and eliminated the need for explicit NuGet package references, separate project libraries, or 'shared' projects."

  • Creating Reactive Applications in .NET

    In modern applications, data is being retrieved in asynchronous, real-time streams, as traditional pull requests where the clients asks for data from the server are becoming a thing of the past.

  • AI for GitHub Collaboration? Maybe Not So Much

    No doubt GitHub Copilot has been a boon for developers, but AI might not be the best tool for collaboration, according to developers weighing in on a recent social media post from the GitHub team.

  • Visual Studio 2022 Getting VS Code 'Command Palette' Equivalent

    As any Visual Studio Code user knows, the editor's command palette is a powerful tool for getting things done quickly, without having to navigate through menus and dialogs. Now, we learn how an equivalent is coming for Microsoft's flagship Visual Studio IDE, invoked by the same familiar Ctrl+Shift+P keyboard shortcut.

Subscribe on YouTube