OpenID logoNew versions of the OpenID Connect specifications have been released resolving numerous open issues raised by the working group. The most significant change is changing the name of the “user_id” claim to “sub” (subject) so that ID Tokens conform to the OAuth JWT Bearer Profile specification, and so they can be used as OAuth assertions. (Also, see the related coordinated change to the OAuth JWT specifications.) A related enhancement was extending our use of the “aud” (audience) claim to allow ID Tokens to have multiple audiences. Also, a related addition was defining the “azp” (authorized party) claim to allow implementers to experiment with this proposed functionality. (This is a slightly more general form of the “cid” claim that Google and Nat Sakimura had proposed.)

Other updates were:

  • The “offline_access” scope value was defined to request that a refresh token be returned when using the code flow that can be used to obtain an access token granting access to the user’s UserInfo endpoint even when the user is not present.
  • A new “tos_url” registration parameter was added so that the terms of service can be specified separately from the usage policy.
  • Clarified that “jwk_url” and “jwk_encryption_url” refer to documents containing JWK Sets – not single JWK keys.

Implementers need to apply these name changes to their code:

  • user_id -> sub
  • prn -> sub
  • user_id_types_supported -> subject_types_supported
  • user_id_type -> subject_type
  • acrs_supported -> acr_values_supported
  • alg -> kty (in JWKs)

See the Document History section of each specification for more details about the changes made.

This release is part of a coordinated release of JOSE, OAuth, and OpenID Connect specifications. You can read about the other releases here: JOSE Release Notes, OAuth Release Notes.

The new specification versions are: