Markdown Version | Transcript | Session Recording

OAUTH

Summary

The OAUTH Working Group held an interim virtual meeting to discuss agent authorization use cases, requirements, and protocol gaps. The session featured two main presentations: an updated analysis of agent authorization use cases and gaps, and a presentation on identity and authorization gaps identified through real-world deployment of the KYAPay agentic commerce framework. Discussion focused on distinguishing probabilistic agent planning from deterministic authorization enforcement, handling weak or broad user intent, conveying principal and agent identity across multi-party flows, updating authentication reference claims, and determining the appropriate strategy for documenting requirements while progressing standardization work.

Key Discussion Points

1. Agent Authorization Use Cases and Gap Analysis

• Presentation: Use case and gap analysis presented by Meiling Chen.
• Overview: Meiling Chen detailed updates to the agent authorization use cases document (v04), which covers 13 use cases focusing on three key gaps:
  • Telecom Sales Assistant (Lynch Agent): Converting a user's weak/high-level intent ("suggest a service plan") into a precise, secure authorization request ("activate plan X") without errors (Authorization Context Gap).
  • Procurement and Payment (UnionPay): Verifying that an agent's payment request directly correlates with a previously user-approved purchase order establishing intent (Authorization Context Gap).
  • Smart Home & Elderly Care: Decomposing broad intent ("look after my parents") into granular permissions and preserving authorization context when alerts cross system/domain boundaries during emergencies (Authorization Context Gap and Delegation Chain Gap).
  • Multi-Agent Systems (Trip Planning & Software Development): Decomposing large, complex user intents ("plan a trip", "build a website") into smaller subtasks and delegating specific permissions to functional sub-agents (e.g., flight, hotel, developer, tester agents) (Delegation Chain Gap).
• Core Summary Gaps:
  1. Accurate conversion of high-level user intent into explicit authorization requests.
  2. Preserving original intent and authorization context across administrative or domain boundaries.
  3. Secure decomposition and delegation of authorizations across sub-agents in multi-agent workflows.
• Discussion:
  • Deterministic vs. Probabilistic Flows: Ankit Agarwal asked whether agent authorization decisions are deterministic or probabilistic. Meiling Chen and Peter Liu clarified that while the agent's interpretation of intent and selection of target resources may be dynamic/probabilistic, the execution and verification of authorization flows (e.g., matching payment to purchase order) must be deterministic.
  • Sub-Agent Authorization: Hannes Tschofenig noted that sub-agents may not require authorization until accessing specific protected resources. The architectural question is whether sub-agents request tokens directly from the Authorization Server (AS) or route back through the primary agent.
  • Intent Format: Chat discussion (Conner Swann, Tim Hollebeek, Meiling Chen, Hannes Tschofenig) addressed whether intent should be represented as natural language or structured data (e.g., RFC 9396 Rich Authorization Requests [RAR] or AuthZen models).

2. Use Cases and Gaps Informed by KYAPay

• Presentation: Use Cases and Gaps Informed by KYAPay presented by Michael Jones.
• Overview: Michael Jones presented practical gaps derived from building KYAPay ("Know Your Agent" and payment) to enable agentic commerce over existing web APIs without requiring full infrastructure re-architecture:
  • Principal Identity Gap: Current protocols lack standard ways to convey the human/organizational principal authorizing the agent to intermediate entities (CDNs, fraud engines, bot managers, CIAMs) to eliminate CAPTCHAs and enable dynamic access.
  • Agent Identity & Binding: Lack of standardized claims to convey agent platform and instance identifiers (e.g., SIMD URLs, SPIFFE URIs) securely bound to the human principal's identity.
  • Zero-Setup Dynamic Interactions: Enabling agents to use previously unknown merchant sites/APIs dynamically without prior manual user account configuration.
  • Agentic Payment: Need for standardized data structures and privacy controls for agents executing payment transactions for principals.
  • Specific Claim Gaps: Missing standard claim values for modern Authentication Method Reference (AMR) values (passkeys, authenticator apps, liveness checks), identity verification methods, and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) / Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) assertions.
• Discussion:
  • Existing OIDC/OAuth Claims: Hannes Tschofenig asked how principal information differs from existing OpenID Connect and OAuth claims. Michael Jones explained that industry consensus is needed on which claims to include and how they are structured for consumption by intermediate security and fraud systems.
  • Requirements vs. Gaps: Flemming Andreasen emphasized distinguishing clear requirements from protocol gaps, suggesting the WG define requirements first to determine where existing mechanisms suffice versus where new standards are needed for interoperability.
  • Documentation Flexibility: Deb Cooley (AD) encouraged the group to consider flexible documentation pathways (e.g., Working Group wiki, living draft not targeted for RFC publication) to allow fluid development of use cases without slowing down protocol progress.
  • Parallel Work: Hannes Tschofenig and Michael Jones agreed that straightforward, discrete updates (such as updating AMR registry values for passkeys) can proceed in parallel with broader use case discussions.

Decisions and Action Items

Decisions

• No formal consensus calls or binding decisions were taken during this session.

Action Items

• Michael Jones: Analyze the use case and gap draft by Meiling Chen et al. against the KYAPay requirements to identify overlap and missing elements, and present findings at the upcoming IETF meeting in San Francisco.

Next Steps

• Hold the final pre-meeting virtual interim session next week (featuring a presentation by Karl McGuinness on agent authorization).
• Continue discussions on agent authorization requirements and potential solution proposals at the IETF meeting in San Francisco.