Caido

Instances ​

An "instance" is a reference to the directory that stores the data generated by Caido's installation and usage.

This abstraction allows you to manage multiple, separate installations of Caido on a single device.

Local Instances ​

Additional local instances can be created using either the Caido CLI or desktop application by changing the data storage location.

Remote Instances ​

Additional instances can also be created for remote installations of the Caido CLI via the launch window of the desktop application.

Specifying a new remote instance.

Authentication ​

As Caido is built around a client/server architecture, each instance requires access control to authenticate the client (desktop or web application GUI) to the server (Caido CLI), to ensure it is only accessible to you.

Client/server architecture.

Authentication in Caido is based on OAuth 2.0. Every instance that is created registers to our cloud service and obtains a client ID and secret. On initial login to the instance using your account credentials, you claim the instance's client ID.

OAuth Grants Used by Caido ​

  • Client Credentials: This grant is used to obtain an access token that authenticates the instance with the cloud.
  • Device Authorization: This grant is used to obtain access and refresh tokens to authenticate users. Contrary to most other grants, this grant eliminates the browser redirect.
  • Refresh Token: This grant is used to refresh user access tokens without requiring re-authentication.

NOTE

At this moment, we do not make any guarantees on the lifetime of the tokens.

Authenticate user flow.

Secrets Storage ​

  • The client secret and instance access token are both encrypted and stored in the secrets.db database in the instance data directory on disk.
  • User access and refresh tokens are stored in the client's local storage. These tokens are never stored on the instance, but can be present in memory.