The dacs_current_credentials web service provides information about the credentials that accompany the request and the identities described by those credentials. It can be used to determine whether credentials are valid, confirm who they belong to, find out which roles are associated with the credentials, and so on.

If m[blue]user activitym[][2] data is available, dacs_current_credentials can also return information for the identity associated with each valid set of credentials, including the time of the last sign on and a description of any sign-on that is still "active" (i.e., has not expired and was not signed off). This information can be useful for detecting unauthorized account access, regardless of the authentication method used, and other potentially problematic activity.

The m[blue]FORMAT argumentm[][3] determines the type of output, with the default being HTML, using the style sheet m[blue]dacs_current_credentials.cssm[][4]. If XML output is selected, a document conforming to m[blue]dacs_current_credentials.dtdm[][5] is returned, which supplies additional information. The JSON format is also recognized. The previous_auth and active_auth elements appear only when user activity tracking data is accessible. The previous_auth element is empty if there are not two or more records of authentication activity for the associated identity. For a given identity, an active_auth element is present for each authentication event for which there is no corresponding sign off event, other than the most recent one, and for which the issued credentials have not expired - these are "active sessions". Reauthentication as the same identity does not create a sign off event, however, and signing off (e.g., via m[blue]dacs_signout(8)m[][6]) does not necessarily mean that a user agent has destroyed credentials (though that is normally the case). Also, a user can unilaterally destroy credentials (e.g., by terminating a browser session or removing cookies manually), so not all active sessions necessarily exist.