this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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Authentication in microservices (feddit.dk)
submitted 1 week ago by snue@feddit.dk to c/programming@programming.dev
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I hope this post fits in this community :)

I'm trying to wrap my head around how authentication works with micro services.

Say we have a system, with a frontend, that communicates with an API gateway, which in turn communicates with all the micro services.

As I understand it, we authenticate the client in the API gateway, and if we trust the client, the request are forwarded to the micro services.

However, what is stopping a malicious actor from bypassing the API gateway and communicating directly to the micro services ?

Do we solve this problem using a firewall, so only trusted traffic reaches the micro services ?

Or do we still have API keys between the API gateway and the micro services ?

Or is there a third way ? :)

All the articles I've read seem to assume, that we can trust all traffic entering the micro services

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[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 3 points 1 week ago

Both of those are common. If you're thinking of using keys also read up on OAuth Client Credentials Flow, rather than reinvent the wheel.

mTLS is another way, where the client also sends a TLS certificate to the server so they both know each other are who they say they are.