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Respond to authorization requests

This guide describes how to respond to remote authorization requests sent from Airwallex.

Before you begin

Step 1: Receive a remote authorization request

If you are enabled and configured for remote authorization, Airwallex sends a JSON payload on your configured HTTPS endpoint when an authorization transaction is initiated on the card associated with your Airwallex account. The authorization transaction can be part of a single message or a dual message. See Remote authorization scenarios for more information.

JSON
DATA FIELDDESCRIPTION
account_idAccount identifier of your Airwallex account. This could be the Connected account Id if you are a Scale user.
card_idUnique identifier for the card that initiated the transaction.
transaction_idUnique identifier for the transaction, you can use this identifier to retrieve the transaction using Get transactions.
transaction_typePossible values: CLEARING, AUTHORIZATION
transaction_dateTimestamp of the transaction in GMT.
transaction_amountThe transaction amount to be authorized.
transaction_currencyTransaction currency.
merchant objectMerchant information includes identifier assigned by the acquirer, name, city, country and MCC code.
auth_codeAuth code which can be used to retrieve the transaction.
masked_card_numberMasked card number of the card.
retrieval_refRetrieval reference code, which can be used to retrieve the transaction using Get transactions API.
client_dataClient data stored on the card.
card_nicknameNickname for the card.
network_transaction_idThe transaction identifier from the card scheme.
acquiring_institution_idThe unique identifier for the acquirer that sent the request.
billing_orderIndicates the priority order of Airwallex wallets for sourcing funds for the transaction. Airwallex will deduct the funds from the first currency wallet with sufficient funds.

Step 2: Validate digital signatures

In addition to the request body, Airwallex attaches a digital signature to each request to allow you to verify that the remote authorization request was sent by Airwallex.

The signature and the nonce are sent using the following request headers:

  • x-signature : Contains the signature sent as a base-64 string.
  • x-nonce: Contains a HMAC-SHA256 encoding of a randomly generated nonce. Prepended to the nonce is an epoch timestamp in milliseconds, which can be used to validate the timeliness of the received message.
Shell

Follow these steps to validate that the remote authorization request received is legitimate and authentic:

  1. Extract the x-nonce from the request header.
  2. Compute an HMAC with the SHA-256 hash function on the x-nonce, using your configured shared_secret as the key.
  3. Compare the x-signature in the header to the expected signature. Additionally, the timestamp prepended on the x-nonce before the ‘.’ delimiter can be used to validate the timeliness of the received message.
  4. If a signature matches, compute the difference between the current timestamp and the received timestamp, then decide if the difference is within your tolerance.
Kotlin
Kotlin example for generating a signature

Step 3: Respond to the remote authorization request

Once Airwallex sends the remote authorization request, you have up to two seconds to send a response, either authorizing or declining the request.

You must send the corresponding transaction ID as well as a reason pertaining to the status of the response in the response body. This will be stored along with the transaction in our logs. In the case of a request timeout, Airwallex ignores any received responses and the configured default action will be performed.

JSON
Example JSON for an Authorized response
JSON
Example JSON for a Declined response

After receiving your decision, Airwallex performs internal risk and regulatory reviews before finalizing the authorization response. Airwallex can decline an approved decision based on the risk and regulatory checks. See Handling exceptions for more details.

Step 4: Check transaction results

Once your remote authorization endpoint has been configured, remote authorization data will be included as a field in webhook notification payloads and transaction API responses to allow you to better understand how your decision has affected the overall authorization process. This field will only be returned for transactions that require remote authorization. Shown below is an example of this field in the transaction response:

JSON

You can retrieve the status of all authorizations (single message and dual message) processed against your cards. For information, see Retrieve authorizations.

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