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python requests post kerberos

Narkw Brahma

Narkw Brahma

• 2 min read

Python Requests Post Kerberos

Python Requests is a popular HTTP client library used by developers to send HTTP/1.1 requests in Python. Kerberos is a network authentication protocol that uses encryption to provide secure authentication for network services. Combining these two technologies can be useful when working with Kerberos-protected APIs as it allows you to authenticate and authorize requests made over the network.

Using the Requests-Kerberos Library

The Requests-Kerberos library is a Python Requests extension that provides support for Kerberos authentication. It is a wrapper around the Kerberos module that provides an easy-to-use interface for sending authenticated requests. To use it, you will first need to install the requests-kerberos package:


pip install requests-kerberos

Once installed, you can use the HTTPKerberosAuth authentication handler provided by the library to send authenticated requests:


import requests
from requests_kerberos import HTTPKerberosAuth

url = 'https://example.com/api'
data = {'name': 'John Doe', 'email': '[email protected]'}

# Authenticate with Kerberos
auth = HTTPKerberosAuth()

# Send a POST request with data
response = requests.post(url, json=data, auth=auth)

# Check the response status code
if response.status_code == 200:
    print('Request succeeded')
else:
    print('Request failed')

This code sends a POST request to an API endpoint at https://example.com/api with the JSON data provided in the data variable. The HTTPKerberosAuth authentication handler is used to authenticate the request with Kerberos. If the request succeeds, the code prints Request succeeded. If it fails, it prints Request failed.

Using the Python Kerberos Module

If you prefer not to use the Requests-Kerberos library, you can use the Python Kerberos module directly. This module provides low-level access to the Kerberos protocol and can be used to obtain a Kerberos ticket that can be used to authenticate requests.

First, you will need to install the kerberos package:


pip install kerberos

Next, you can use the kerberos.authGSSClientInit() function to obtain a Kerberos ticket:


import kerberos

# Set up the service and target SPNs
service = 'HTTP'
target = 'example.com'

# Authenticate with Kerberos
_, context = kerberos.authGSSClientInit(service)

# Get the Kerberos ticket
_, ticket, _ = kerberos.authGSSClientStep(context, target)

This code initializes a GSS-API client context and obtains a Kerberos ticket for the HTTP/example.com service principal. The ticket can then be used to authenticate requests:


import requests

url = 'https://example.com/api'
data = {'name': 'John Doe', 'email': '[email protected]'}

# Authenticate with Kerberos
headers = {'Authorization': 'Negotiate ' + ticket}

# Send a POST request with data and headers
response = requests.post(url, json=data, headers=headers)

# Check the response status code
if response.status_code == 200:
    print('Request succeeded')
else:
    print('Request failed')

This code sends a POST request to the same API endpoint as before, but this time the Kerberos ticket is used to authenticate the request by setting the Authorization header to Negotiate <ticket>. If the request succeeds, the code prints Request succeeded. If it fails, it prints Request failed.

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