With OAuth 2.0 PKCE Flow for Installed App (e.g. a desktop app/cli/client library), it seems that nothing is preventing an attacker to:
client_id
by using the original app (client_id is public and can be easily copied from browser bar/source code)Without PKCE, it's hard to fake an app and obtain a refresh token because that would require an attacker to obtain client_secret
. It seems to me that, although PKCE offers security improvements over implicit flow, it makes it so much easier to masquerade authentic apps that use OAuth 2.0?
I'm using googlecloudsdk (gcloud), it seems that it has client_id (and even many client_id/client_secret pairs) hard coded into the source code, which is distributed to the client. I doubt there's anything to stop attackers to fake gcloud and thus gain access to user's GCP environment (for proof, run gcloud auth login
and it will show you the url in the console that an attacker needs.) Could anyone clarify/help me to understand what's going on?
Private URI schemes are probably the best you can do on desktop but are not perfect as you say. It is what I use for my Desktop Code Sample, but ideally I'd also like to resolve the above concern.
For mobile you can use Claimed HTTPS Schemes to solve the problem - see the answer I added to the post sllopis sent.
I would be aware of Updated OAuth 2.1 Guidance for Native Apps - see section 10 - but I don't think you can fully solve this problem.
It is expected that end users are careful about desktop apps they install, to reduce risks for this scenario. Hopefully operating system support will enable better cryptographic options in future.