Is JWT suitable for dynamic permission change scenarios?

JWT and Session: Best Practices in Dynamic Permission Change Scenarios

Many developers are confused when choosing JWT and Session, especially in scenarios where dynamic permission changes are required (such as forcing users to offline). This article will explore in-depth whether JWT is suitable for this kind of scenarios and compare the advantages and disadvantages of JWT and Session.

The core problem is that JWT stores user information on the client, and the server depends on information in the JWT. If you need to update user permissions dynamically (such as "kick people" operation), is JWT still valid?

The answer is: JWT is not the best choice in dynamic permission change scenarios. While JWT allows the server to get user information directly from the request without additional database queries, this is invalid when real-time permission verification is required. The server still needs to query the database to confirm the user status to determine whether the user has been forced to go offline. The information in the JWT cannot reflect the user's latest status in real time. At this time, using smaller tokens to query databases is more efficient.

Therefore, JWT is more suitable for inter-service communication. For example, the gateway service generates a JWT after obtaining user information and adds it to the request. The subsequent service does not need to access the user service again, which improves efficiency and avoids the complexity of handling dynamic permission changes. Use a new JWT every time you request, no need to consider user status changes.

The working mechanism of Session is: the client requests to carry a key (such as Session ID), and the server uses this key to find the corresponding Session data (similar to Map data structure). Traditional cookies are used to store Session IDs, and in non-browser environments (such as Apps), tokens can also act as Session IDs. JWT can be regarded as converting "find Session" to "resolved Session", the difference is that JWT comes with its own user information, while Session ID is only used as a key to find server-side user information.

To sum up, in scenarios where dynamic permission changes are required, the Session solution is better because it allows the server to update user status in real time. JWT is more suitable for inter-service communication and scenarios where real-time permission updates are not required. Which solution to choose depends on the specific application scenario and requirements.

The above is the detailed content of Is JWT suitable for dynamic permission change scenarios?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!