1. Introduction

1. Introduction

Several years of deployment and implementation experience with the OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework [RFC6749] has uncovered a need (in some circumstances, such as an authorization server servicing a significant number of diverse resources) for the client to explicitly signal to the authorization server where it intends to use the access token it is requesting.

Knowing the protected resource (a.k.a. resource server, application, API, etc.) that will process the access token enables the authorization server to construct the token as necessary for that entity. Properly encrypting the token (or content within the token) to a particular resource, for example, requires knowing which resource will receive and decrypt the token. Furthermore, various resources oftentimes have different requirements with respect to the data contained in (or referenced by) the token, and knowing the resource where the client intends to use the token allows the authorization server to mint the token accordingly.

Specific knowledge of the intended recipient(s) of the access token also helps facilitate improved security characteristics of the token itself. Bearer tokens, currently the most commonly utilized type of OAuth access token, allow any party in possession of a token to get access to the associated resources. To prevent misuse, several important security assumptions must hold, one of which is that an access token must only be valid for use at a specific protected resource and for a specific scope of access. Section 5.2 of [RFC6750], for example, prescribes including the token's intended recipients within the token to prevent token redirect. When the authorization server is informed of the resource that will process the access token, it can restrict the intended audience of that token to the given resource such that the token cannot be used successfully at other resources.

OAuth scope, from Section 3.3 of [RFC6749], is sometimes overloaded to convey the location or identity of the protected resource, however, doing so isn't always feasible or desirable. Scope is typically about what access is being requested rather than where that access will be redeemed (e.g., "email", "admin:org", "user_photos", "channels:read", and "channels:write" are a small sample of scope values in use in the wild that convey only the type of access and not the location or identity).

In some circumstances and for some deployments, a means for the client to signal to the authorization server where it intends to use the access token it's requesting is important and useful. A number of implementations and deployments of OAuth 2.0 have already employed proprietary parameters toward that end. Going forward, this specification aspires to provide a standardized and interoperable alternative to the proprietary approaches.