# OAuth2.0 Client Credentials Grant Flow

## Overview

OAuth2.0 Client Credentials Grant based on RFC6749 is implemented as an extension of Keystone. This extension uses the application credentials as its back-end because they have some similar features. Users can use `application_credentials_id` and `application_credentials_secret` as client credentials to obtain the OAuth2.0 access token. The access token can then be used to access the protected resources of the OpenStack API using Keystonemiddleware that supports receiving access tokens in the Authorization header. See the Identity API reference for more information on generating OAuth2.0 access token.

## Guide

Enable Keystone identity server to support OAuth2.0 Client Credentials Grant by the following steps in this guide. In this example, `keystone.host` is the domain name used by the Keystone identity server.

Warning

It is strongly recommended that HTTPS be enabled in Keystone when using OAuth2.0 Client Credentials. See Configure HTTPS in Identity Service for details. According to RFC6749 , HTTPS must be enabled in the authorization server since requests include sensitive information, e.g., a client secret, in plain text. Note that you might have to enable both HTTP and HTTPS as some other OpenStack services or third-party applications don’t use OAuth2.0 and need HTTP for the authentication with the Keystone identity server.

### Enable application credentials authentication

Due to the design of the current implementation, the application credentials must be enabled in Keystone as it is used for the management of OAuth2.0 client credentials.

1. Modify `keystone.conf` to support application credentials authentication.

    stack@oauth2-0-server:/$ vi /etc/keystone/keystone.conf
    [auth]
    methods = external,password,token,application_credential

2. Restart Keystone service so that the modified configuration information takes effect.

    stack@oauth2-0-server:/$ sudo systemctl restart devstack@keystone.service

### Try to access the Keystone APIs

At last, try to access the Keystone APIs to confirm that the server is working properly.

1. Create OAuth2.0 client credentials through the application credentials API.

    stack@oauth2-0-server:/$ openstack application credential create sample_001
    +--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
    | Field        | Value                                                                                  |
    +--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
    | description  | None                                                                                   |
    | expires_at   | None                                                                                   |
    | id           | a7850381222a4e2cb595664dfd57d083                                                       |
    | name         | sample_001                                                                             |
    | project_id   | 2b90a96668694041a640a2ef84be6de7                                                       |
    | roles        | admin reader member                                                                    |
    | secret       | GVm33KC6AqpDZj_ZzKhZClDqnCpNDMNh66Mvait8Dxw7Kc8kwVj7ImkwnRWvovs437f2aftbW46wEMtH0cyBQA |
    | system       | None                                                                                   |
    | unrestricted | False                                                                                  |
    | user_id      | 0b8426bb83d944bc8d0fe4c3b9a3f635                                                       |
    +--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

2. Obtain oauth2.0 access tokens through the “Basic” HTTP authentication with OAuth2.0 client credentials.

    stack@oauth2-0-server:/$ curl -sik -u "$a7850381222a4e2cb595664dfd57d083:GVm33KC6AqpDZj_ZzKhZClDqnCpNDMNh66Mvait8Dxw7Kc8kwVj7ImkwnRWvovs437f2aftbW46wEMtH0cyBQA" \
    -X POST https://keystone.host/identity/v3/OS-OAUTH2/token
    -H "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" -d "grant_type=client_credentials"
    HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    Date: Tue, 01 Mar 2022 00:56:59 GMT
    Server: Apache/2.4.41 (Ubuntu)
    Content-Type: application/json
    Content-Length: 264
    Vary: X-Auth-Token
    x-openstack-request-id: req-a8358f51-2e0f-45a7-bb1e-7d29c6a793f4
    Connection: close

    {"access_token":"gAAAAABhi1cMynG89h8t6TJrxNiZuNzjcIUIxNctoVfuqTw7BpUedLKxjPymClVEnj9GhIT5u2mpjaJATlEAtaa3D6_t8jk_fV-mqo2IUlsmTPTnMwkcjh5FSHQVRdqvDxgY3nSqLA_Hfv-zPmjS5KWX3hmyDE5YWO1ztX6QNVQb4wTPyNL1-7I","expires_in":3600,"token_type":"Bearer"}

this page last updated: 2026-06-11 21:50:20

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