v10.0.0 - The one that goes up to 20

Thanks for everything, Node 16 and Node 18, but it's time to move on! The headlining change of this
release is the targeting of Node LTS v20+ as the minimum Node runtime. Additional developer-centric
quality-of-life changes have also been made in the name of streamlining use of SimpleWebAuthn on
both the back end and front end.

This release is packed with updates, so buckle up! Refactor advice for breaking changes is, as
always, offered below.

Packages

• @simplewebauthn/[email protected]
• @simplewebauthn/[email protected]
• @simplewebauthn/[email protected]

Changes

• [server] The minimum supported Node version has been raised to Node v20
  (#531)
• [server] user.displayName now defaults to an empty string if a value is not specified for
  userDisplayName when calling generateRegistrationOptions()
  (#538)
• [browser] The browserSupportsWebAuthnAutofill() helper will no longer break in environments
  in which PublicKeyCredential is not present
  (#557, with thanks to @clarafitzgerald)

Breaking Changes

• [server] The following breaking changes were made in PR
  #529:
  • generateRegistrationOptions() now expects Base64URLString for excluded credential IDs
  • generateAuthenticationOptions() now expects Base64URLString for allowed credential IDs
  • credentialID returned from response verification methods is now a Base64URLString
  • AuthenticatorDevice.credentialID is now a Base64URLString
  • isoBase64URL.isBase64url() is now called isoBase64URL.isBase64URL()
• [browser, server] The following breaking changes were made in PR
  #552:
  • generateRegistrationOptions() now accepts an optional Uint8Array instead of a string for
    userID
  • isoBase64URL.toString() and isoBase64URL.fromString() have been renamed
  • generateRegistrationOptions() will now generate random user IDs
  • user.id is now treated like a base64url string in startRegistration()
  • userHandle is now treated like a base64url string in startAuthentication()
• [server] rpID is now a required argument when calling generateAuthenticationOptions()
  (#555)

---

[server] generateRegistrationOptions() now expects Base64URLString for excluded credential IDs

The isoBase64URL helper can be used to massage Uint8Array credential IDs into base64url strings:

Before

const opts = await generateRegistrationOptions({
  // ...
  excludeCredentials: devices.map((dev) => ({
    id: dev.credentialID, // type: Uint8Array
    type: 'public-key',
    transports: dev.transports,
  })),
});

After

import { isoBase64URL } from '@simplewebauthn/server/helpers';

const opts = await generateRegistrationOptions({
  // ...
  excludeCredentials: devices.map((dev) => ({
    id: isoBase64URL.fromBuffer(dev.credentialID), // type: string
    transports: dev.transports,
  })),
});

The type argument is no longer needed either.

---

[server] generateAuthenticationOptions() now expects Base64URLString for allowed credential IDs

Similarly, the isoBase64URL helper can also be used during auth to massage Uint8Array credential
IDs into base64url strings:

Before

const opts = await generateAuthenticationOptions({
  // ...
  allowCredentials: devices.map((dev) => ({
    id: dev.credentialID, // type: Uint8Array
    type: 'public-key',
    transports: dev.transports,
  })),
});

After

import { isoBase64URL } from '@simplewebauthn/server/helpers';

const opts = await generateAuthenticationOptions({
  // ...
  allowCredentials: devices.map((dev) => ({
    id: isoBase64URL.fromBuffer(dev.credentialID), // type: Base64URLString (a.k.a string)
    transports: dev.transports,
  })),
});

The type argument is no longer needed either.

---

[server] credentialID returned from response verification methods is now a Base64URLString

It is no longer necessary to manually stringify credentialID out of response verification methods:

Before

import { isoBase64URL } from '@simplewebauthn/server/helpers';

// Registration
const { verified, registrationInfo } = await verifyRegistrationResponse({ ... });
if (verified && registrationInfo) {
  const { credentialID } = registrationInfo;
  await storeInDatabase({ credIDString: isoBase64URL.fromBuffer(credentialID), ... });
}

// Authentication
const { verified, authenticationInfo } = await verifyAuthenticationResponse({ ... });
if (verified && authenticationInfo) {
  const { newCounter, credentialID } = authenticationInfo;
  dbAuthenticator.counter = authenticationInfo.newCounter;
  await updateCounterInDatabase({
    credIDString: isoBase64URL.fromBuffer(credentialID),
    newCounter,
  });
}

After

// Registration
const { verified, registrationInfo } = await verifyRegistrationResponse({ ... });
if (verified && registrationInfo) {
  const { credentialID } = registrationInfo;
  await storeInDatabase({ credIDString: credentialID, ... });
}

// Authentication
const { verified, authenticationInfo } = await verifyAuthenticationResponse({ ... });
if (verified && authenticationInfo) {
  const { newCounter, credentialID } = authenticationInfo;
  dbAuthenticator.counter = authenticationInfo.newCounter;
  await updateCounterInDatabase({ credIDString: credentialID, newCounter });
}

---

[server] AuthenticatorDevice.credentialID is now a Base64URLString

Calls to verifyAuthenticationResponse() will need to be updated to encode the credential ID to a
base64url string:

Before

const verification = await verifyAuthenticationResponse({
  // ...
  authenticator: {
    // ...
    credentialID: credIDBytes,
  },
});

After

import { isoBase64URL } from '@simplewebauthn/server/helpers';

const verification = await verifyAuthenticationResponse({
  // ...
  authenticator: {
    // ...
    credentialID: isoBase64URL.fromBuffer(credIDBytes),
  },
});

---

[server] isoBase64URL.isBase64url() is now called isoBase64URL.isBase64URL()

Note the capitalization change from "url" to "URL" in the method name. Update calls to this method
accordingly.

---

[server] generateRegistrationOptions() will now generate random user IDs

[browser] user.id is now treated like a base64url string in startRegistration()

[browser] userHandle is now treated like a base64url string in startAuthentication()

A random identifier will now be generated when a value is not provided for the now-optional userID
argument when calling generateRegistrationOptions(). This identifier will be base64url-encoded
string of 32 random bytes. RPs that wish to take advantage of this can simply omit this
argument.

Additionally, startRegistration() will base64url-decode user.id before calling WebAuthn. During
auth startAuthentication() will base64url-encode userHandle in the returned credential. This
should be a transparent change for RP's that simply feed @simplewebauthn/server options output
into the corresponding @simplewebauthn/browser methods.

However, RP's that wish to continue generating their own user identifiers will need to take
additional steps to ensure they get back user IDs in the expected format after authentication.

Before (SimpleWebAuthn v9)

// @simplewebauthn/server v9.x
const opts = generateRegistrationOptions({
  // ...
  userID: 'randomUserID',
});

// @simplewebauthn/browser v9.x
const credential = await startAuthentication(...);
sendToServer(credential);

// @simplewebauthn/server v9.x
const credential = await receiveFromBrowser();
console.log(
  credential.response.userhandle, // 'randomUserID'
);

After (SimpleWebAuthn v10)

// @simplewebauthn/server v10.x
import { isoUint8Array } from '@simplewebauthn/server/helpers';

const opts = generateRegistrationOptions({
  // ...
  userID: isoUint8Array.fromUTF8String('randomUserID'),
});

// @simplewebauthn/browser v10.x
const credential = await startAuthentication(...);
sendToServer(credential);

// @simplewebauthn/server v10.x
import { isoBase64URL } from '@simplewebauthn/server/helpers';

const credential = await receiveFromBrowser();
console.log(
  isoBase64URL.toUTF8String(credential.response.userhandle), // 'randomUserID'
);

---

[server] isoBase64URL.toString() and isoBase64URL.fromString() have been renamed

The method names have been updated to reflect the use of UTF-8 string encoding:

Before:

const foo = isoBase64URL.toString('...');
const bar = isoBase64URL.fromString('...');

After:

const foo = isoBase64URL.toUTF8String('...');
const bar = isoBase64URL.fromUTF8String('...');

---

[server] rpID is now a required argument when calling generateAuthenticationOptions()

Update calls to this method to specify the same rpID as passed into
generateRegistrationOptions():

Before

  generateRegistrationOptions({ rpID: 'example.com', ... });
generateAuthenticationOptions();

After

  generateRegistrationOptions({ rpID: 'example.com', ... });
generateAuthenticationOptions({ rpID: 'example.com' });