Adapting Kerberos for a browser-based environment

Abstract

This thesis presents Webathena, a browser-centric implementation of the Kerberos network authentication protocol. It consists of a JavaScript Kerberos client, paired with a simple, untrusted, server-side proxy to wrap the protocol in HTTP. This is used to implement a trusted credential manager with a cross-origin protocol to delegate credentials to untrusted Web applications. To evaluate Webathena, we present Roost, a Web-based client for the Zephyr messaging and notification in use at MIT, along with a host of proof-of-concept applications. We find that it is possible to build Web-based clients for Kerberized services similar to or better than existing native ones with no modifications to either the Kerberos KDCs or the services themselves. Finally, we discuss possible modifications to Kerberos to better support this kind of credential delegation.