Authenticate Using the Resource Owner Password Flow with MFA

You can use the Auth0 MFA API to complete the authentication flow using the Resource Owner Password Flow (sometimes called Resource Owner Password Grant or ROPG) when MFA is enabled.

Prerequisites

Before you can use the MFA APIs, you'll need to enable the MFA grant type for your application. Go to Auth0 Dashboard > Applications > Advanced Settings > Grant Types and select MFA.

Authenticate user

When you use the Resource Owner Password Flow to authenticate, you call the /oauth/token endpoint with the user's username and password.




  

    
  


  
  

    
      

        
curl --request POST \
  --url 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token' \
  --header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
  --data grant_type=password \
  --data username=user@example.com \
  --data password=pwd \
  --data 'client_id={yourClientId}' \
  --data 'client_secret={yourClientSecret}' \
  --data audience=https://someapi.com/api \
  --data 'scope=openid profile read:sample'
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var client = new RestClient("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST);
request.AddHeader("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
request.AddParameter("application/x-www-form-urlencoded", "grant_type=password&username=user%40example.com&password=pwd&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&audience=https%3A%2F%2Fsomeapi.com%2Fapi&scope=openid%20profile%20read%3Asample", ParameterType.RequestBody);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
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package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io/ioutil"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token"

	payload := strings.NewReader("grant_type=password&username=user%40example.com&password=pwd&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&audience=https%3A%2F%2Fsomeapi.com%2Fapi&scope=openid%20profile%20read%3Asample")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}
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HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")
  .header("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
  .body("grant_type=password&username=user%40example.com&password=pwd&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&audience=https%3A%2F%2Fsomeapi.com%2Fapi&scope=openid%20profile%20read%3Asample")
  .asString();
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var axios = require("axios").default;

var options = {
  method: 'POST',
  url: 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token',
  headers: {'content-type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'},
  data: new URLSearchParams({
    grant_type: 'password',
    username: 'user@example.com',
    password: 'pwd',
    client_id: '{yourClientId}',
    client_secret: '{yourClientSecret}',
    audience: 'https://someapi.com/api',
    scope: 'openid profile read:sample'
  })
};

axios.request(options).then(function (response) {
  console.log(response.data);
}).catch(function (error) {
  console.error(error);
});
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#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

NSDictionary *headers = @{ @"content-type": @"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" };

NSMutableData *postData = [[NSMutableData alloc] initWithData:[@"grant_type=password" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&username=user@example.com" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&password=pwd" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&client_id={yourClientId}" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&client_secret={yourClientSecret}" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&audience=https://someapi.com/api" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&scope=openid profile read:sample" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token"]
                                                       cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
                                                   timeoutInterval:10.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
[request setAllHTTPHeaderFields:headers];
[request setHTTPBody:postData];

NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request
                                            completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
                                                if (error) {
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", error);
                                                } else {
                                                    NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse *) response;
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", httpResponse);
                                                }
                                            }];
[dataTask resume];
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$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => "grant_type=password&username=user%40example.com&password=pwd&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&audience=https%3A%2F%2Fsomeapi.com%2Fapi&scope=openid%20profile%20read%3Asample",
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}
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import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("")

payload = "grant_type=password&username=user%40example.com&password=pwd&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&audience=https%3A%2F%2Fsomeapi.com%2Fapi&scope=openid%20profile%20read%3Asample"

headers = { 'content-type': "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" }

conn.request("POST", "/{yourDomain}/oauth/token", payload, headers)

res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()

print(data.decode("utf-8"))
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require 'uri'
require 'net/http'
require 'openssl'

url = URI("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true
http.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["content-type"] = 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
request.body = "grant_type=password&username=user%40example.com&password=pwd&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=%7ByourClientSecret%7D&audience=https%3A%2F%2Fsomeapi.com%2Fapi&scope=openid%20profile%20read%3Asample"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
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import Foundation

let headers = ["content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"]

let postData = NSMutableData(data: "grant_type=password".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&username=user@example.com".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&password=pwd".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&client_id={yourClientId}".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&client_secret={yourClientSecret}".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&audience=https://someapi.com/api".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&scope=openid profile read:sample".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers
request.httpBody = postData as Data

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()
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When MFA is enabled, the response includes an mfa_required error and a mfa_token.
{
    "error": "mfa_required",
    "error_description": "Multifactor authentication required",
    "mfa_token": "Fe26...Ha"
}
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Retrieve enrolled authenticators
After getting the error above, you need to find out if the user has an MFA factor enrolled or not. Call the MFA Authenticators endpoint, using the MFA token obtained in the previous section.



  

    
  


  
  

    
      

        
curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://{yourDomain}/mfa/authenticators' \
  --header 'authorization: Bearer MFA_TOKEN' \
  --header 'content-type: application/json'
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var client = new RestClient("https://{yourDomain}/mfa/authenticators");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.GET);
request.AddHeader("authorization", "Bearer MFA_TOKEN");
request.AddHeader("content-type", "application/json");
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
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package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"io/ioutil"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://{yourDomain}/mfa/authenticators"

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)

	req.Header.Add("authorization", "Bearer MFA_TOKEN")
	req.Header.Add("content-type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}
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HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.get("https://{yourDomain}/mfa/authenticators")
  .header("authorization", "Bearer MFA_TOKEN")
  .header("content-type", "application/json")
  .asString();
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var axios = require("axios").default;

var options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://{yourDomain}/mfa/authenticators',
  headers: {authorization: 'Bearer MFA_TOKEN', 'content-type': 'application/json'}
};

axios.request(options).then(function (response) {
  console.log(response.data);
}).catch(function (error) {
  console.error(error);
});
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#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

NSDictionary *headers = @{ @"authorization": @"Bearer MFA_TOKEN",
                           @"content-type": @"application/json" };

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"https://{yourDomain}/mfa/authenticators"]
                                                       cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
                                                   timeoutInterval:10.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"GET"];
[request setAllHTTPHeaderFields:headers];

NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request
                                            completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
                                                if (error) {
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", error);
                                                } else {
                                                    NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse *) response;
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", httpResponse);
                                                }
                                            }];
[dataTask resume];
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$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://{yourDomain}/mfa/authenticators",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET",
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "authorization: Bearer MFA_TOKEN",
    "content-type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}
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import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("")

headers = {
    'authorization': "Bearer MFA_TOKEN",
    'content-type': "application/json"
    }

conn.request("GET", "/{yourDomain}/mfa/authenticators", headers=headers)

res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()

print(data.decode("utf-8"))
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require 'uri'
require 'net/http'
require 'openssl'

url = URI("https://{yourDomain}/mfa/authenticators")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true
http.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url)
request["authorization"] = 'Bearer MFA_TOKEN'
request["content-type"] = 'application/json'

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
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import Foundation

let headers = [
  "authorization": "Bearer MFA_TOKEN",
  "content-type": "application/json"
]

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://{yourDomain}/mfa/authenticators")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "GET"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()
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You will get an array with the available authenticators. The array will be empty if the user did not enroll a factor.
[
    {
        "id": "recovery-code|dev_O4KYL4FtcLAVRsCl",
        "authenticator_type": "recovery-code",
        "active": true
    },
    {
        "id": "email|dev_NU1Ofuw3Cw0XCt5x",
        "authenticator_type": "oob",
        "active": true,
        "oob_channel": "email",
        "name": "email@address.com"
    }
]
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Enroll MFA factor
If the user is not enrolled in MFA, use the MFA token obtained earlier and enroll it using the MFA Associate endpoint. See the following links to implement this flow based on the authentication factor:
Challenge user with MFA
If the user is already enrolled in MFA, you need to challenge the user with one of the existing factors. Use the authenticator_id return by the MFA Authenticators endpoint when calling the MFA Challenge endpoint.
After the challenge is complete, call /oauth/token endpoint again to finalize the authentication flow and get the authentication tokens.
See the links below to implement this flow depending on the authentication factor:
MFA OTP code limitations and restrictions
Expiry time: The expiry time of MFA OTP codes is 5 minutes. This value is not configurable.
Code validation: After a user validates an MFA OTP code, it cannot be used again.
Code validation rate limiting: Unsuccessful user validation attempts are rate limited using a bucket algorithm. The bucket starts with 10 attempts and refreshes at a rate of 1 attempt per 6 minutes.
Learn more