Cannot set authorization rules in web.config for WCF Service

Question

I read on a post that you can use ASP.Net authorization in the web config to control access to a WCF web service to replace the following attribute:

[PrincipalPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, Role="Administrators")]

To test I have been using "Administrators" which is a valid role so should allow me access and "TEST" which isnt. This works fine when using the above attribute however when I comment that out and use this in my Web.Config file:

<authentication mode="Windows" />
<authorization>
  <allow roles=".\TEST"/>
  <deny roles="*"/>
</authorization>

It still allows me access.

So I was wondering if I have just got something wrong in the web.config or whether what I read was wrong saying to use that.

Just for reference this is the post I looked at:

Using Windows Role authentication in the App.config with WCF

and the following is my web.config:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>

  <system.web>
    <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0" />
    <authentication mode="Windows" />
    <authorization>
      <allow roles=".\TEST"/>
      <deny users="*"/>
    </authorization>
  </system.web>
  <system.serviceModel>
    <bindings>
      <basicHttpBinding>
        <binding name="BasicHttpEndpointBinding">
          <security mode="TransportCredentialOnly">
            <transport clientCredentialType="Windows" />
          </security>
        </binding>
      </basicHttpBinding>
    </bindings>
    <services>
      <service behaviorConfiguration="WcfService1.ServiceBehaviour1" name="WcfService1.Service1">
        <endpoint address="" binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpEndpointBinding"
                  name="BasicHttpEndpoint" contract="WcfService1.IService1">
          <identity>
            <dns value="localhost"/>
          </identity>
        </endpoint>
      </service>
    </services>
    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior name="WcfService1.ServiceBehaviour1">
          <!-- To avoid disclosing metadata information, set the value below to false and remove the metadata endpoint above before deployment -->
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"/>
          <!-- To receive exception details in faults for debugging purposes, set the value below to true.  Set to false before deployment to avoid disclosing exception information -->
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false"/>
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>
    <serviceHostingEnvironment multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" />
  </system.serviceModel>
 <system.webServer>
    <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true"/>
  </system.webServer>

</configuration>

Thanks.

Answer 1

ASP.NET authorization rules are not used for WCF services if WCF is hosted side-by-side with ASP.NET. To use them you must turn your WCF service to ASP.NET compatibility mode.