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Programming WebLogic Security

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Securing Web Applications

WebLogic Server supports the J2EE architecture security model for securing Web applications, which includes support for declarative authorization (also referred to in this document as declarative security) and programmatic authorization (also referred to in this document as programmatic security).

This section covers the following topics:

Note: You can use deployment descriptor files and the Administration Console to secure Web applications. This document describes how to use deployment descriptor files. For information on using the Administration Console to secure Web applications, see Securing WebLogic Resources.

 

J2EE Architecture Security Model

The document Designing Enterprise Applications with the J2EE Platform, Second Edition, published by Sun Microsystems, Inc., states in Section 9.3 Authorization:

"In the J2EE architecture, a container serves as an authorization boundary between the components it hosts and their callers. The authorization boundary exists inside the container's authentication boundary so that authorization is considered in the context of successful authentication. For inbound calls, the container compares security attributes from the caller's credential with the access control rules for the target component. If the rules are satisfied, the call is allowed. Otherwise, the call is rejected."

"There are two fundamental approaches to defining access control rules: capabilities and permissions. Capabilities focus on what a caller can do. Permissions focus on who can do something. The J2EE application programming model focuses on permissions. In the J2EE architecture, the job of the deployer is to map the permission model of the application to the capabilities of users in the operational environment."

The same document then discusses two ways to control access to application resources using the J2EE architecture, declarative authorization and programmatic authorization.

Note: Declarative authorization and programatic authorization are also referred to as, respectively, declarative security and programmatic security.

The document Designing Enterprise Applications with the J2EE Platform, Second Edition, published by Sun Microsystems, Inc., in available online at http://java.sun.com/blueprints/guidelines/designing_enterprise_applications_2e/security/security4.html.

Declarative Authorization

The document Designing Enterprise Applications with the J2EE Platform, Second Edition, published by Sun Microsystems, Inc., states in Section 9.3.1 Authorization:

"The deployer establishes the container-enforced access control rules associated with a J2EE application. The deployer uses a deployment tool to map an application permission model, which is typically supplied by the application assembler, to policy and mechanisms specific to the operational environment. The application permission model is defined in a deployment descriptor."

WebLogic Server supports the use of deployment descriptors to implement declarative authorization in Web applications.

Programmatic Authorization

The document Designing Enterprise Applications with the J2EE Platform, Second Edition, published by Sun Microsystems, Inc., states in Section 9.3.2 Programmatic Authorization:

"A J2EE container makes access control decisions before dispatching method calls to a component. The logic or state of the component doesn't factor in these access decisions. However, a component can use two methods, EJBContext.isCallerInRole (for use by enterprise bean code) and HttpServletRequest.isUserInRole (for use by Web components), to perform finer-grained access control. A component uses these methods to determine whether a caller has been granted a privilege selected by the component based on the parameters of the call, the internal state of the component, or other factors such as the time of the call."

"The application component provider of a component that calls one of these functions must declare the complete set of distinct roleName values to be used in all calls. These declarations appear in the deployment descriptor as security-role-ref elements. Each security-role-ref element links a privilege name embedded in the application as a roleName to a security role. Ultimately, the deployer establishes the link between the privilege names embedded in the application and the security roles defined in the deployment descriptor. The link between privilege names and security roles may differ for components in the same application."

"In addition to testing for specific privileges, an application component can compare the identity of its caller, acquired using EJBContext.getCallerPrincipal or HttpServletRequest.getUserPrincipal, to the distinguished caller identities embedded in the state of the component when it was created. If the identity of the caller is equivalent to a distinguished caller, the component can allow the caller to proceed. If not, the component can prevent the caller from further interaction. The caller principal returned by a container depends on the authentication mechanism used by the caller. Also, containers from different vendors may return different principals for the same user authenticating by the same mechanism. To account for variability in principal forms, an application developer who chooses to apply distinguished caller state in component access decisions should allow multiple distinguished caller identities, representing the same user, to be associated with components. This is recommended especially where application flexibility or portability is a priority."

WebLogic Server supports the use of the HttpServletRequest.isUserInRole and HttpServletRequest.getUserPrincipal methods and the use of the security-role-ref element in deployment descriptors to implement programmatic authorization in Web applications.

Declarative Versus Programmatic Authorization

The document Designing Enterprise Applications with the J2EE Platform, Second Edition, published by Sun Microsystems, Inc., states in Section 9.3.3 Declarative Versus Programmatic Authorization:

"There is a trade-off between the external access control policy configured by the deployer and the internal policy embedded in the application by the component provider. The external policy is more flexible after the application has been written. The internal policy provides more flexible functionality while the application is being written. In addition, the external policy is transparent and completely comprehensible to the deployer, while internal policy is buried in the application and may only be completely understood by the application developer. These trade-offs should be considered in choosing the authorization model for particular components and methods."

 

Authentication With Web Browsers

Web browsers can connect to WebLogic Server over either a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) port or an HTTP with SSL (HTTPS) port. The benefits of using an HTTPS port versus an HTTP port is two-fold. With HTTPS connections:

If the server is configured for two-way SSL authentication, both the server and client are required to present a digital certificate to each other to prove their identity.

User Name and Password Authentication

WebLogic Server performs user name and password authentication when users use a Web browser to connect to the server via the HTTP port. In this scenario, the browser and an instance of WebLogic Server interact in the following manner to authenticate a user (see Figure 2-1):

  1. A user invokes a WebLogic resource in WebLogic Server by entering the URL for that resource in a Web browser. The http URL contains the HTTP listen port, for example, http://myserver:7001.
  2. The Web server in WebLogic Server receives the request.

    3. Note: WebLogic Server provides its own Web server but also supports the use of Apache Server, Microsoft Internet Information Server, and Netscape Enterprise Server as Web servers.

  3. The Web server determines whether the WebLogic resource is protected by a security policy. If the WebLogic resource is protected, the Web server uses the established HTTP connection to request a user name and password from the user.
  4. When the user's Web browser receives the request from the Web server, it prompts the user for a user name and password.
  5. The Web browser sends the request to the Web server again, along with the user name and password.
  6. The Web server forwards the request to the Web server plug-in. WebLogic Server provides the following plug-ins for Web servers:

    7. The Web server plug-in performs authentication by sending the request, via the HTTP protocol, to WebLogic Server, along with the authentication data (user name and password) received from the user.

  7. Upon successful authentication, WebLogic Server proceeds to determine whether the user is authorized to access the WebLogic resource.
  8. Before invoking a method on the WebLogic resource, the WebLogic Server instance performs a security authorization check. During this check, the server security extracts the user's credentials from the security context, determines the user's security role, compares the user's security role to the security policy for the requested WebLogic resource, and verifies that the user is authorized to invoke the method on the WebLogic resource.
  9. If authorization succeeds, the server fulfills the request.

    10. Figure 2-1 Secure Login for Web Browsers

    Secure Login for Web Browsers


     

Digital Certificate Authentication

WebLogic Server uses encryption and digital certificate authentication when Web browser users connect to the server via the HTTPS port. In this scenario, the browser and WebLogic Server instance interact in the following manner to authenticate and authorize a user (see Figure 2-1):

  1. A user invokes a WebLogic resource in WebLogic Server by entering the URL for that resource in a Web browser. The https URL contains the SSL listen port, for example, https://myserver:7002.
  2. The Web server in WebLogic Server receives the request.

    3. Note: WebLogic Server provides its own Web server but also supports the use of Apache Server, Microsoft Internet Information Server, and Netscape Enterprise Server as Web servers.

  3. The Web server checks whether the WebLogic resource is protected by a security policy. If the WebLogic resource is protected, the Web server uses the established HTTPS connection to request a user name and password from the user.
  4. When the user's Web browser receives the request from WebLogic Server, it prompts the user for a user name and password. (This step is optional.)
  5. The Web browser sends the request again, along with the user name and password. (Only supplied if requested by the server.)
  6. WebLogic Server presents its digital certificate to the Web browser.
  7. The Web browser checks that the server's name used in the URL (for example, myserver) matches the name in the digital certificate and that the digital certificate was issued by a trusted third party, that is, a trusted CA
  8. If two-way SSL authentication is in force on the server, the server requests a digital certificate from the client.

    9. Note: Even though WebLogic Server cannot be configured to enforce the full two-way SSL handshake with Web Server proxy plug-ins, proxy plug-ins can be configured to provide the client certificate to the server if it is needed. To do this, configure the proxy plug-in to export the client certificate in the HTTP Header for WebLogic Server. For instructions on how to configure proxy plug-ins to export the client certificate to WebLogic Server, see the configuration information for the specific plug-in in Using Web Server Plug-Ins With WebLogic Server.

  9. The Web server forwards the request to the Web server plug-in. If secure proxy is set (this is the case if the HTTPS protocol is being used), the Web server plug-in also performs authentication by sending the request, via the HTTPS protocol, to the WebLogic resource in WebLogic Server, along with the authentication data (user name and password) received from the user.

    10. Note: When using two-way SSL authentication, you can also configure the server to do identity assertion based on the client's certificate, where, instead of supplying a user name and password, the server extracts the user name and password from the client's certificate.

  10. Upon successful authentication, WebLogic Server proceeds to determine whether the user is authorized to access the WebLogic resource.
  11. Before invoking a method on the WebLogic resource, the server performs a security authorization check. During this check, the server extracts the user's credentials from the security context, determines the user's security role, compares the user's security role to the security policy for the requested WebLogic resource, and verifies that the user is authorized to invoke the method on the WebLogic resource.
  12. If authorization succeeds, the server fulfills the request.

For more information, see the following documents:

 

Multiple Web Applications, Cookies, and Authentication

By default, WebLogic Server assigns the same cookie name (JSESSIONID) to all Web applications. When you use any type of authentication, all Web applications that use the same cookie name use a single sign-on for authentication. Once a user is authenticated, that authentication is valid for requests to any Web Application that uses the same cookie name. The user is not prompted again for authentication.

If you want to require separate authentication for a Web application, you can specify a unique cookie name or cookie path for the Web application. Specify the cookie name using the CookieName parameter and the cookie path with the CookiePath parameter, defined in the WebLogic-specific deployment descriptor weblogic.xml <session-descriptor> element. For more information, see session-descriptor in Developing Web Applications, Servlets, and JSPs for WebLogic Server.

If you want to retain the cookie name and still require independent authentication for each Web application, you can set the cookie path parameter (CookiePath) differently for each Web application.

WebLogic Server allows a user to securely access HTTPS resources in a session that was initiated using HTTP, without loss of session data. This feature enables Web site designers to prevent session stealing. For more information on this feature, see Using Secure Cookies to Prevent Session Stealing.

Using Secure Cookies to Prevent Session Stealing

A common Web security problem is session stealing. This happens when an attacker manages to get a copy of your session cookie, generally while the cookie is being transmitted over the network. This can only happen when the data is being sent in clear-text, that is, it is not encrypted.

BEA Systems added a capability to WebLogic Server that allows a user to securely access HTTPS resources in a session that was initiated using HTTP, without loss of session data. To enable this feature, add AuthCookieEnabled="true" to the WebServer element in config.xml:

<WebServer Name="myserver" AuthCookieEnabled="true"/>

Setting AuthCookieEnabled to true, which is the default setting, causes the WebLogic Server instance to send a new secure cookie, _wl_authcookie_, to the browser when authenticating via an HTTPS connection. Once the secure cookie is set, the session is allowed to access other security-constrained HTTPS resources only if the cookie is sent from the browser.

Note: This feature will work even when cookies are disabled because WebLogic Server will use URL rewriting over secure connections to rewrite secure URLs in order to encode the authCookieID in the URL along with the JSESSIONID.

Thus, WebLogic Server now uses two cookies: the JSESSIONID cookie and the _wl_authcookie_ cookie. By default, the JSESSIONID cookie is never secure, but the _wl_authcookie_ cookie is always secure. A secure cookie is only sent when an encrypted communication channel is in use. Assuming a standard HTTPS login (HTTPS is an encrypted HTTP connection), your browser gets both cookies. For subsequent HTTP access, you are considered authenticated if you have a valid JSESSIONID cookie, but for HTTPS access, you must have both cookies to be considered authenticated. If you only have the JSESSIONID cookie, you must re-authenticate.

With this feature enabled, once you have logged in over HTTPS, the secure cookie is only sent encrypted over the network and therefore can never be stolen in transit. The JSESSIONID cookie is still subject to in-transit hijacking. Therefore, a Web site designer can ensure that session stealing is not a problem by making all sensitive data require HTTPS. While the HTTP session cookie is still vulnerable to being stolen and used, all sensitive operations require the _wl_authcookie_ cookie, which cannot be stolen, so those operations are protected.

 

Developing Secure Web Applications

WebLogic Server supports three types of authentication for Web browsers:

The following sections cover the different ways to use these types of authentication:

Developing BASIC Authentication Web Applications

With basic authentication, the Web browser pops up a login screen in response to a WebLogic resource request. The login screen prompts the user for a user name and password. Figure 2-2 shows a typical login screen.

Figure 2-2 Authentication Login Screen

Authentication Login Screen


 


 


 


 

To develop a Web application that provides basic authentication, perform these steps:

  1. Create the web.xml deployment descriptor. In this file you include the following information (see Listing 2-1):
    1. Define the welcome file. The welcome file name is welcome.jsp.
    2. Define a security constraint for each set of Web application resources, that is, URL resources, that you plan to protect. Each set of resources share a common URL. URL resources such as HTML pages, JSPs, and servlets are the most commonly protected, but other types of URL resources are supported. In Listing 2-1, the URL pattern points to the welcome.jsp file located in the Web application's top-level directory; the HTTP methods that are allowed to access the URL resource, POST and GET; and the security role name, webuser.

      3. Note: When specifying security role names, observe the following conventions and restrictions:

    1. Use the <login-config> tag to define the type of authentication you want to use and the security realm to which the security constraints will be applied. In Listing 2-1, the BASIC type is specified and the realm is the default realm, which means that the security constraints will apply to the active security realm when the WebLogic Server instance boots.
    2. Define one or more security roles and map them to your security constraints. In our sample, only one security role, webuser, is defined in the security constraint so only one security role name is defined here (see the <security-role> tag in Listing 2-1). However, any number of security roles can be defined.

Listing 2-1 Basic Authentication web.xml File

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <web-app>
          <welcome-file-list>
               <welcome-file>welcome.jsp</welcome-file>
          </welcome-file-list>
          <security-constraint>
                <web-resource-collection>
                      <web-resource-name>Success</web-resource-name>
                      <url-pattern>/welcome.jsp</url-pattern>
                     <http-method>GET</http-method>
                     <http-method>POST</http-method>
                </web-resource-collection>
                <auth-constraint>
                    <role-name>webuser</role-name> 
                </auth-constraint>
          </security-constraint>
          <login-config>
              <auth-method>BASIC</auth-method>
              <realm-name>default</realm-name>
          </login-config>
           <security-role>
               <role-name>webuser</role-name>
           </security-role>
    </web-app>
  1. Create the weblogic.xml deployment descriptor. In this file you map security role names to users and groups. Listing 2-2 shows a sample weblogic.xml file that maps the webuser security role defined in the <security-role> tag in the web.xml file to a group named myGroup. Note that principals can be users or groups, so the <principal-tag> can be used for either.With this configuration, WebLogic Server will only allow users in myGroup to access the protected URL resource—welcome.jsp. However, you can use the Administration Console to modify the Web application's security role so that other groups can be allowed to access the protected resource.

    2. Note: Creating the weblogic.xml deployment descriptor is optional. If you do not include this file, or include the file but do not include mappings for all security roles, all security roles without mappings will default to any user or group whose name matches the role name. For example, if you name a security role "SampleTester," then any user or group with the name "SampleTester" will be included in that security role.

Listing 2-2 BASIC Authentication weblogic.xml File

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<weblogic-web-app xmlns="http://www.bea.com/ns/weblogic/90" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<weblogic-web-app>
     <security-role-assignment>
         <role-name>webuser</role-name>
         <principal-name>myGroup</principal-name>
     </security-role-assignment>
</weblogic-web-app>
  1. Create a file that produces the Welcome screen that displays when the user enters a user name and password and is granted access. Listing 2-3 shows a sample welcome.jsp file. Figure 2-3 shows the Welcome screen.

Listing 2-3 BASIC Authentication welcome.jsp File

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Browser Based Authentication Example Welcome Page</title>
  </head>
  <h1> Browser Based Authentication Example Welcome Page </h1>
  <p> Welcome <%= request.getRemoteUser() %>!
  </blockquote>
  </body>
</html>

Note: In Listing 2-3, notice that the JSP is calling an API (request.getRemoteUser()) to get the name of the user that logged in. A different API, weblogic.security.Security.getCurrentSubject(), could be used instead. To use this API to get the name of the user, use it with the SubjectUtils API as follows:

String username = weblogic.security.SubjectUtils.getUsername(
                        weblogic.security.Security.getCurrentSubject());

Figure 2-3 Welcome Screen

Welcome Screen


 
  1. Start WebLogic Server and define the users and groups that will have access to the URL resource. In the weblogic.xml file (see Listing 2-2), the <principal-name> tag defines myGroup as the group that has access to the welcome.jsp. Therefore, use the Administration Console to define the myGroup group, define a user, and add that user to the myGroup group. For information on adding users and groups, see Users, Groups, and Security Roles in Securing WebLogic Resources.
  2. Deploy the Web application and use the user defined in the previous step to access the protected URL resource.
    1. For deployment instructions, see Deploying Web Applications on page 2-23.
    2. Open a Web browser and enter this URL:

      3. http://localhost:7001/basicauth/welcome.jsp

    3. Enter the user name and password. The Welcome screen displays.

Developing FORM Authentication Web Applications

When using FORM authentication with Web applications, you provide a custom login screen that the Web browser displays in response to a Web application resource request and an error screen that displays if the login fails. The login screen can be generated using an HTML page, JSP, or servlet. The benefit of form-based login is that you have complete control over these screens so that you can design them to meet the requirements of your application or enterprise policy/guideline.

The login screen prompts the user for a user name and password. Figure 2-4 shows a typical login screen generated using a JSP and Listing 2-4 shows the source code.

Figure 2-4 Form-Based Login Screen (login.jsp)

Form-Based Login Screen (login.jsp)


 


 

Listing 2-4 Form-Based Login Screen Source Code (login.jsp)

<html>
  <head>)
    <title>Security WebApp login page</title>
  </head>
  <body bgcolor="#cccccc"> 
  <blockquote>
  <img src=BEA_Button_Final_web.gif align=right>
  <h2>Please enter your user name and password:</h2>
  <p>
  <form method="POST" action="j_security_check">
  <table border=1>
    <tr>
      <td>Username:</td>
      <td><input type="text" name="j_username"></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Password:</td>
      <td><input type="password" name="j_password"></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td colspan=2 align=right><input type=submit
                                     value="Submit"></td>
    </tr>
  </table>
  </form>
  </blockquote>
  </body>
</html>

Figure 2-5 shows a typical login error screen generated using HTML and Listing 2-5 shows the source code.

Figure 2-5 Login Error Screen

Login Error Screen


 

Listing 2-5 Login Error Screen Source Code

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Login failed</title>
  </head>
  <body bgcolor=#ffffff>
  <blockquote>
  <img src=/security/BEA_Button_Final_web.gif align=right>
  <h2>Sorry, your user name and password were not recognized.</h2>
  <p><b>
  <a href="/security/welcome.jsp">Return to welcome page</a> or 
           <a href="/security/logout.jsp">logout</a> 
  </b>
  </blockquote>
  </body>
</html>

To develop a Web application that provides FORM authentication, perform these steps:

  1. Create the web.xml deployment descriptor. In this file you include the following information (see Listing 2-6):
    1. Define the welcome file. The welcome file name is welcome.jsp.
    2. Define a security constraint for each set of URL resources that you plan to protect. Each set of URL resources share a common URL. URL resources such as HTML pages, JSPs, and servlets are the most commonly protected, but other types of URL resources are supported. In Listing 2-6, the URL pattern points to /admin/edit.jsp, thus protecting the edit.jsp file located in the Web application's admin sub-directory, defines the HTTP method that is allowed to access the URL resource, GET, and defines the security role name, admin.

      3. Note: Do not use hyphens in security role names. Security role names with hyphens cannot be modified in the Administration Console. Also, the BEA suggested convention for security role names is that they be singular.

    3. Define the type of authentication you want to use and the security realm to which the security constraints will be applied. In this case, the FORM type is specified and no realm is specified, so the realm is the default realm, which means that the security constraints will apply to the security realm that is activated when a WebLogic Server instance boots.
    4. Define one or more security roles and map them to your security constraints. In our sample, only one security role, admin, is defined in the security constraint so only one security role name is defined here. However, any number of security roles can be defined.

Listing 2-6 FORM Authentication web.xml File

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<web-app>
    <welcome-file-list>
        <welcome-file>welcome.jsp</welcome-file>
    </welcome-file-list>
    <security-constraint>
        <web-resource-collection>
            <web-resource-name>AdminPages</web-resource-name>
            <description>
                These pages are only accessible by authorized
                 administrators.
            </description>
            <url-pattern>/admin/edit.jsp</url-pattern>
            <http-method>GET</http-method>
        </web-resource-collection>
        <auth-constraint>
            <description>
                These are the roles who have access.
            </description>
            <role-name>
                admin
            </role-name>
        </auth-constraint>
        <user-data-constraint>
            <description>
                This is how the user data must be transmitted.
            </description>
            <transport-guarantee>NONE</transport-guarantee>
        </user-data-constraint>
    </security-constraint>
    <login-config>
        <auth-method>FORM</auth-method>
        <form-login-config>
            <form-login-page>/login.jsp</form-login-page>
            <form-error-page>/fail_login.html</form-error-page>
        </form-login-config>
    </login-config>
    <security-role>
        <description>
            An administrator
        </description>
        <role-name>
            admin
        </role-name>
    </security-role>
</web-app>
  1. Create the weblogic.xml deployment descriptor. In this file you map security role names to users and groups. Listing 2-7 shows a sample weblogic.xml file that maps the admin security role defined in the <security-role> tag in the web.xml file to the group supportGroup. With this configuration, WebLogic Server will only allow users in the supportGroup group to access the protected WebLogic resource. However, you can use the Administration Console to modify the Web application's security role so that other groups can be allowed to access the protected WebLogic resource.

Listing 2-7 FORM Authentication weblogic.xml File

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<weblogic-web-app xmlns="http://www.bea.com/ns/weblogic/90" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<weblogic-web-app>
     <security-role-assignment>
         <role-name>admin</role-name>
         <principal-name>supportGroup</principal-name>
     </security-role-assignment>
</weblogic-web-app>
  1. Create a Web application file that produces the welcome screen when the user requests the protected Web application resource by entering the URL. Listing 2-8 shows a sample welcome.jsp file. Figure 2-3 shows the Welcome screen.

Listing 2-8 Form Authentication welcome.jsp File

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Security login example</title>
  </head>
  <%
    String bgcolor;
    if ((bgcolor=(String)application.getAttribute("Background")) ==
        null)
    {
        bgcolor="#cccccc";
    }
  %>
  <body bgcolor=<%="\""+bgcolor+"\""%>> 
  <blockquote>
  <img src=BEA_Button_Final_web.gif align=right>
  <h1> Security Login Example </h1>
  <p> Welcome <%= request.getRemoteUser() %>! 
  <p> If you are an administrator, you can configure the background 
  color of the Web Application. 
  <br> <b><a href="admin/edit.jsp">Configure background</a></b>.
  <% if (request.getRemoteUser() != null) { %>
    <p> Click here to <a href="logout.jsp">logout</a>. 
  <% } %>    
  </blockquote>
  </body>
</html>

Note: In Listing 2-3, notice that the JSP is calling an API (request.getRemoteUser()) to get the name of the user that logged in. A different API, weblogic.security.Security.getCurrentSubject(), could be used instead. To use this API to get the name of the user, use it with the SubjectUtils API as follows:

String username = weblogic.security.SubjectUtils.getUsername(
                        weblogic.security.Security.getCurrentSubject());
  1. Start WebLogic Server and define the users and groups that will have access to the URL resource. In the weblogic.xml file (see Listing 2-7), the <role-name> tag defines admin as the group that has access to the edit.jsp, file and defines the user joe as a member of that group. Therefore, use the Administration Console to define the admin group, and define user joe and add joe to the admin group. You can also define other users and add them to the group and they will also have access to the protected WebLogic resource. For information on adding users and groups, see Users, Groups, and Security Roles in Securing WebLogic Resources.
  2. Deploy the Web application and use the user(s) defined in the previous step to access the protected Web application resource.
    1. For deployment instructions, see Deploying Web Applications on page 2-23.
    2. Open a Web browser and enter this URL:

      3. http://hostname:7001/security/welcome.jsp

    3. Enter the user name and password. The Welcome screen displays.

Using Identity Assertion for Web Application Authentication

You use identity assertion in Web applications to verify client identities for authentication purposes. When using identity assertion, the following requirements must be met:

  1. The authentication type must be set to CLIENT-CERT.
  2. An Identity Assertion provider must be configured in the server. If the Web browser or Java client requests a WebLogic Server resource protected by a security policy, WebLogic Server requires that the Web browser or Java client have an identity. The WebLogic Identity Assertion provider maps the token from a Web browser or Java client to a user in a WebLogic Server security realm. For information on how to configure an Identity Assertion provider, see Configuring Identity Assertion Providers in Securing WebLogic Server.
  3. The user corresponding to the token's value must be defined in the server's security realm; otherwise the client will not be allowed to access a protected WebLogic resource. For information on configuring users on the server, see Users, Groups, and Security Roles in Securing WebLogic Resources.

Using Two-Way SSL for Web Application Authentication

You use two-way SSL in Web applications to verify that clients are whom they claim to be. When using two-way SSL, the following requirements must be met:

  1. The authentication type must be set to CLIENT-CERT.
  2. The server must be configured for two-way SSL. For information on using SSL and digital certificates, see Using SSL Authentication in Java Clients.. For information on configuring SSL on the server, see Configuring SSL in Securing WebLogic Server.
  3. The client must use HTTPS to access the Web application on the server.
  4. An Identity Assertion provider must be configured in the server. If the Web browser or Java client requests a WebLogic Server resource protected by a security policy, WebLogic Server requires that the Web browser or Java client have an identity. The WebLogic Identity Assertion provider allows you to enable a user name mapper in the server that maps the digital certificate of a Web browser or Java client to a user in a WebLogic Server security realm. For information on how to configure security providers, see Configuring Security Providers in Managing WebLogic Security.
  5. The user corresponding to the Subject's Distinguished Name (SubjectDN) attribute in the client's digital certificate must be defined in the server's security realm; otherwise the client will not be allowed to access a protected WebLogic resource. For information on configuring users on the server, see Users, Groups, and Security Roles in Securing WebLogic Resources.

Note: When you use SSL authentication, it is not necessary to use web.xml and weblogic.xml files to specify server configuration because you use the Administration Console to specify the server's SSL configuration.

Developing Swing-Based Authentication Web Applications

Web browsers can also be used to run graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that were developed using Java Foundation Classes (JFC) Swing components; the Swing component kit is integrated into the Java 2 platform, Standard Edition (J2SE).

For information on how to create a graphical user interface (GUI) for applications and applets using the Swing components, see the Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing tutorial (also known as The Swing Tutorial) produced by Sun Microsystems, Inc. You can access this tutorial on the Web at http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/.

After you have developed your Swing-based GUI, refer to Developing FORM Authentication Web Applications and use the Swing-based screens to perform the steps required to develop a Web application that provides FORM authentication.

Note: When developing a Swing-based GUI, do not rely on the Java Virtual Machine-wide user for child threads of the swing event thread. This is not J2EE compliant and does not work in thin clients, or in IIOP in general. Instead, take either of the following approaches:

Deploying Web Applications

To deploy a Web application on a server running in development mode, perform the following steps:

Note: For more information about deploying Web applications in either development of production mode, see Deploying Applications and Modules in Deploying Applications to WebLogic Server.

  1. Set up a directory structure for the Web application's files. Figure 2-6 shows the directory structure for the Web application named basicauth. The top-level directory must be assigned the name of the Web application and the sub-directory must be named WEB-INF.

    2. Figure 2-6 Basicauth Web Application Directory Structure

    Basicauth Web Application Directory Structure


     
  2. To deploy the Web application in exploded directory format, that is, not in the Java archive (jar) format, simply move your directory to the applications directory on your server. For example, you would deploy the basicauth Web application in the following location:

    3. WL_HOME\user_projects\domains\mydomain\applications\basicauth

    If the WebLogic Server instance is running, the application should auto-deploy. Use the Administration Console to verify that the application deployed.

    If the WebLogic Server instance is not running, the Web application should auto-deploy when you start the server.

  3. If you have not done so already, use the Administration Console to configure the users and groups that will have access to the Web application. To determine the users and groups that are allowed access to the protected WebLogic resource, examine the weblogic.xml file. For example, the weblogic.xml file for the basicauth sample (see Listing 2-2) defines myGroup as the only group to have access to the welcome.jsp file.

For more information on deploying secure Web applications, see Deploying Applications and Modules in Deploying Applications to WebLogic Server.

 

Using Declarative Security With Web Applications

There are three ways to implement declarative security:

  1. Security providers via the Administration Console, as described in Securing WebLogic Resources.
  2. Java Authorization Contract for Containers (JACC), as described in Using the Java Authorization Contract for Containers.
  3. Deployment descriptors, which are discussed in this section.

Which of these three methods is used is defined by the JACC flags and the security model. (Security models are described in Options for Securing EJB and Web Application Resources in Securing WebLogic Resources.)

To implement declarative security in Web applications, you can use deployment descriptors (web.xml and weblogic.xml) to define security requirements. The deployment descriptors map the application's logical security requirements to its runtime definitions. And at runtime, the servlet container uses the security definitions to enforce the requirements. For a discussion of using deployment descriptors, see Developing Secure Web Applications.

For information about how to use deployment descriptors and the externally-defined element to configure security in Web applications declaratively, see externally-defined.

For information about how to use the Administration Console to configure security in Web applications, see Securing WebLogic Resources.

 

Web Application Security-Related Deployment Descriptors

The following topics describe the deployment descriptor elements that are used in the web.xml and weblogic.xml files to define security requirements in Web applications:

web.xml Deployment Descriptors

The following web.xml security-related deployment descriptor elements are supported by WebLogic Server:

auth-constraint

The optional auth-constraint element defines which groups or principals have access to the collection of Web resources defined in this security constraint.

The following table describes the elements you can define within an auth-constraint element.

Element

Required/
Optional

Description

<description>

Optional

A text description of this security constraint.

<role-name>

Optional

Defines which security roles can access resources defined in this <security-constraint>. Security role names are mapped to principals using the <security-role-ref> element. See security-role-ref.

Used Within

The auth-constraint element is used within the security-constraint element.

Example

See Listing 2-9 for an example of how to use the auth-constraint element in a web.xml file.

security-constraint

The security-constraint element is used in the web.xml file to define the access privileges to a collection of resources defined by the web-resource-collection element.

The following table describes the elements you can define within a security-constraint element.

Element

Required/
Optional

Description

<web-resource-
collection>

Required

Defines the components of the Web Application to which this security constraint is applied. For more information, see web-resource-collection.

<auth-constraint>

Optional

Defines which groups or principals have access to the collection of web resources defined in this security constraint.For more information, see auth-constraint.

<user-data-
constraint>

Optional

Defines defines how data communicated between the client and the server should be protected. For more information, see user-data-constraint

Example

Listing 2-9 shows how to use the security-constraint element to defined security for the SecureOrdersEast resource in a web.xml file.

Listing 2-9 Security Constraint Example

web.xml entries:
<security-constraint>
     <web-resource-collection>
          <web-resource-name>SecureOrdersEast</web-resource-name>
          <description>
             Security constraint for
             resources in the orders/east directory
          </description>
          <url-pattern>/orders/east/*</url-pattern>
          <http-method>POST</http-method>
          <http-method>GET</http-method>
     </web-resource-collection>
     <auth-constraint>
          <description>
           constraint for east coast sales
          </description>
          <role-name>east</role-name>
          <role-name>manager</role-name>
     </auth-constraint>
 <user-data-constraint>
          <description>SSL not required</description>
          <transport-guarantee>NONE</transport-guarantee>
     </user-data-constraint>
</security-constraint>
...

security-role

The security-role element contains the definition of a security role. The definition consists of an optional description of the security role, and the security role name.

The following table describes the elements you can define within a security-role element.

Element

Required/
Optional

Description

<description>

Optional

A text description of this security role.

<role-name>

Required

The role name. The name you use here must have a corresponding entry in the WebLogic-specific deployment descriptor, weblogic.xml, which maps roles to principals in the security realm. For more information, see security-role-assignment.

Example

See Listing 2-12 for an example of how to use the security-role element in a web.xml file.

security-role-ref

The security-role-ref element links a security role name defined by <security-role> to an alternative role name that is hard-coded in the servlet logic. This extra layer of abstraction allows the servlet to be configured at deployment without changing servlet code.

The following table describes the elements you can define within a security-role-ref element.

Element

Required/
Optional

Description

<description>

Optional

Text description of the role.

<role-name>

Required

Defines the name of the security role or principal that is used in the servlet code.

<role-link>

Required

Defines the name of the security role that is defined in a <security-role> element later in the deployment descriptor.

Example

See Listing 2-15 for an example of how to use the security-role-ref element in a web.xml file.

user-data-constraint

The user-data-constraint element defines how data communicated between the client and the server should be protected.

The following table describes the elements you can define within a user-data-constraint element.

Element

Required/
Optional

Description

<description>

Optional

A text description.

<transport-
guarantee>

Required

Specifies data security requirements for communications between the client and the server.

Range of values:

NONE—The application does not require any transport guarantees.

INTEGRAL—The application requires that the data be sent between the client and server in such a way that it cannot be changed in transit.

CONFIDENTIAL—The application requires that data be transmitted so as to prevent other entities from observing the contents of the transmission.

WebLogic Server establishes a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection when the user is authenticated using the INTEGRAL or CONFIDENTIAL transport guarantee.

Used Within

The user-data-constraint element is used within the security-constraint element.

Example

See Listing 2-9 for an example of how to use the user-data-constraint element in a web.xml file.

web-resource-collection

The web-resource-collection element identifies a subset of the resources and HTTP methods on those resources within a Web application to which a security constraint applies. If no HTTP methods are specified, the security constraint applies to all HTTP methods.

The following table describes the elements you can define within a web-resource-collection element.

Element

Required/
Optional

Description

<web-resource-name>

Required

The name of this web resource collection.

<description>

Optional

Text description of the Web resource.

<url-pattern>

Required

The mapping, or location, of the Web resource collection.

URL patterns must use the syntax defined in section 11.2 of JSR-000154, Java Servlet Specification Version 2.4.

The pattern <url-pattern>/</url-pattern> applies the security constraint to the entire Web application.

<http-method>

Optional

The HTTP methods to which the security constraint applies when clients attempt to access the Web resource collection. If no HTTP methods are specified, then the security constraint applies to all HTTP methods.

Used Within

The web-resource-collection element is used within the security-constraint element.

Example

See Listing 2-9 for an example of how to use the web-resource-collection element in a web.xml file.

weblogic.xml Deployment Descriptors

The following weblogic.xml security-related deployment descriptor elements are supported by WebLogic Server:

For additional information on weblogic.xml deployment descriptors, see the section XML Deployment Descriptors in Developing Applications with WebLogic Server.

For additional information on the weblogic.xml elements, see weblogic.xml Deployment Descriptor Elements in Developing Web Applications, Servlets, and JSPs for WebLogic Server.

externally-defined

In WebLogic Server 8.1 and later, the externally-defined element is supported for use in the weblogic.xml deployment descriptors. You use this element, instead of the <principal-name> tag, to explicitly indicate that you want the security roles defined by the role-name element in the web.xml deployment descriptors to use the mappings that you specify in the Administration Console.

Note: The externally-defined element replaces the global-role element that was used in WebLogic Server 7.0 SP1. The externally-defined element has the same functionality as the global-role element. The global-role element was deprecated in WebLogic Server 8.1.

The externally-defined element gives you the flexibility of not having to specify a specific security role mapping for each security role defined in the deployment descriptors for a particular Web application. Rather, you can use the Administration Console to specify and modify a specific role mapping for each defined role at anytime. Additionally, because you may elect to use this element on some applications and not others, it is not necessary to select the ignore roles and polices from DD option for the security realm. You select this option in the On Future Redeploys: field on the General tab of the Security->Realms->myrealm control panel on the Administration Console. Therefore, within the same security realm, deployment descriptors can be used to specify and modify security for some applications while the Administration Console can be used to specify and modify security for others.

Note: When specifying security role names, observe the following conventions and restrictions:

Used Within

The externally-defined element is used within the security-role-assignment element.

Example

Listing 2-10 and Listing 2-11 show by comparison how to use the externally-defined element in the weblogic.xml file. In Listing 2-11, the specification of the "webuser" externally-defined element in the weblogic.xml means that for security to be correctly configured on the getReceipts method, the principals for webuser will have to be created in the Administration Console.

Note: If you need to list a significant number of principals, consider specifying groups instead of users. There are performance issues if you specify too many users.

Listing 2-10 Using the web.xml and weblogic.xml Files to Map Security Roles and Principals to a Security Realm 

web.xml entries:
<web-app>
           ...
           <security-role>
               <role-name>webuser</role-name>
           </security-role>
           ...
</web-app>
<weblogic.xml entries:
<weblogic-web-app>
     <security-role-assignment>
         <role-name>webuser</role-name>
         <principal-name>myGroup</principal-name>
         <principal-name>Bill</principal-name>
         <principal-name>Mary</principal-name>
     </security-role-assignment>
</weblogic-web-app>

Listing 2-11 Using the externally-defined tag in Web Application Deployment Descriptors

web.xml entries:
<web-app>
           ...
           <security-role>
               <role-name>webuser</role-name>
           </security-role>
           ...
</web-app>
<weblogic.xml entries:
<weblogic-web-app>
     <security-role-assignment>
         <role-name>webuser</role-name>
         <externally-defined/>
     </security-role-assignment>

For information about how to use the Administration Console to configure security for Web applications, see Securing WebLogic Resources.

run-as-principal-name

The run-as-principal-name element specifies the name of a principal to use for a security role defined by a run-as element in the companion web.xml file.

Used Within

The run-as-principal-name element is used within a run-as-role-assignment element.

Example

For an example of how to use the run-as-principal-name element, see Listing 2-12.

run-as-role-assignment

The run-as-role-assignment element maps a given role name, defined by a role-name element in the companion web.xml file, to a valid user name in the system. The value can be overridden for a given servlet by the run-as-principal-name element in the servlet-descriptor. If the run-as-role-assignment element is absent for a given role name, the Web application container chooses the first principal-name defined in the security-role-assignment element.

The following table describes the elements you can define within a run-as-role-assignment element.

Element

Required
Optional

Description

<role-name>

Required

Specifies the name of a security role name specified in a run-as element in the companion web.xml file.

<run-as-principal-name>

Required

Specifies a principal for the security role name defined in a run-as element in the companion web.xml file.

Example:

Listing 2-12 shows how to use the run-as-role-assignment element to have the SnoopServlet always execute as a user joe.

Listing 2-12 run-as-role-assignment Element Example

web.xml:
  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>SnoopServlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>extra.SnoopServlet</servlet-class>
    <run-as>
      <role-name>runasrole</role-name>
    </run-as>
  </servlet>
  <security-role>
    <role-name>runasrole</role-name>
  </security-role>
weblogic.xml:
  <weblogic-web-app>
     <run-as-role-assignment>
       <role-name>runasrole</role-name>
       <run-as-principal-name>joe</run-as-principal-name>
     </run-as-role-assignment>
  </weblogic-web-app>

security-permission

The security-permission element specifies a security permission that is associated with a J2EE Sandbox.

Example

For an example of how to used the security-permission element, see Listing 2-13.

security-permission-spec

The security-permission-spec element specifies a single security permission based on the Security policy file syntax. Refer to the following URL for Sun's implementation of the security permission specification:

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/security/PolicyFiles.html#FileSyntax

Note: Disregard the optional codebase and signedBy clauses.

Used Within

The security-permission-spec element is used within the security-permission element.

Example

Listing 2-13 shows how to use the security-permission-spec element to grant permission to the java.net.SocketPermission class.

Listing 2-13 security-permission-spec Element Example

<weblogic-web-app>
   <security-permission>
     <description>Optional explanation goes here</description>
     <security-permission-spec>
<!—
A single grant statement following the syntax of http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/guide/security/PolicyFiles.html#FileSyntax, without the "codebase" and "signedBy" clauses, goes here. For example:
-->
      grant {
      permission java.net.SocketPermission "*", "resolve";
      };
     </security-permission-spec>
   </security-permission>
</weblogic-web-app>

In Listing 2-13, permission java.net.SocketPermission is the permission class name, "*" represents the target name, and resolve indicates the action (resolve host/IP name service lookups).

security-role-assignment

The security-role-assignment element declares a mapping between a security role and one or more principals in the WebLogic Server security realm,

Example

Listing 2-14 shows how to use the security-role-assignment element to assign principals to the PayrollAdmin role.

Note: If you need to list a significant number of principals, consider specifying groups instead of users. There are performance issues if you specify too many users.

Listing 2-14 security-role-assignment Element Example

<weblogic-web-app>
  <security-role-assignment>
        <role-name>PayrollAdmin</role-name>
       <principal-name>Tanya</principal-name>
       <principal-name>Fred</principal-name>
       <principal-name>system</principal-name>
  </security-role-assignment>
</weblogic-web-app>

 

Using Programmatic Security With Web Applications

You can write your servlets to access users and security roles programmatically in your servlet code. To do this, use the following methods in your servlet code: javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest.getUserPrincipal and javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest.isUserInRole(String role) methods.

getUserPrincipal

You use the getUserPrincipal() method to determine the current user of the Web application. This method returns a WLSUser Principal if one exists in the current user. In the case of multiple WLSUser Principals, the method returns the first in the ordering defined by the Subject.getPrincipals().iterator() method. If there are no WLSUser Principals, then the getUserPrincipal() method returns the first non-WLSGroup Principal. If there are no Principals or all Principals are of type WLSGroup, this method returns null. This behavior is identical to the semantics of the weblogic.security.SubjectUtils.getUserPrincipal() method.

For more information about how to use the getUserPrincipal() method, see http://java.sun.com/j2ee/1.4/docs/tutorial/doc/Security4.html.

isUserInRole

The javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest.isUserInRole(String role) method returns a boolean indicating whether the authenticated user is granted the specified logical security "role." If the user has not been authenticated, this method returns false.

The isUserInRole() method maps security roles to the group names in the security realm. Listing 2-15 shows the elements that are used with the <servlet> element to define the security role in the web.xml file.

Listing 2-15 IsUserInRole web.xml and weblogic.xml Elements

Begin web.xml entries:
...
<servlet>
        <security-role-ref>
             <role-name>user-rolename</role-name>
             <role-link>rolename-link</role-link>
         </security-role-ref>
</servlet>
<security-role>
         <role-name>rolename-link</role-name>
</security-role>
...
Begin weblogic.xml entries:
...
<security-role-assignment>
         <role-name>rolename-link</role-name>
         <principal-name>groupname</principal>
         <principal-name>username</principal>
</security-role-assignment>
...

The string role is mapped to the name supplied in the <role-name> element, which is nested inside the <security-role-ref> element of a <servlet> declaration in the web.xml deployment descriptor. The <role-name> element defines the name of the security role or principal (the user or group) that is used in the servlet code. The <role-link> element maps to a <role-name> defined in the <security-role-assignment> element in the weblogic.xml deployment descriptor.

Note: When specifying security role names, observe the following conventions and restrictions:

For example, if the client has successfully logged in as user Bill with the security role of manager, the following method would return true:

request.isUserInRole("manager")

Listing 2-16 provides an example.

Listing 2-16 Example of Security Role Mapping

Servlet code: 
out.println("Is the user a Manager? " +
                 request.isUserInRole("manager"));
web.xml entries:
<servlet>
. . .
   <role-name>manager</role-name>
   <role-link>mgr</role-link>
. . .
</servlet>
<security-role>
   <role-name>mgr</role-name>
</security-role>
weblogic.xml entries:
<security-role-assignment>
   <role-name>mgr</role-name>
   <principal-name>bostonManagers</principal-name>
   <principal-name>Bill</principal-name>
   <principal-name>Ralph</principal-name>
</security-role-ref>

 

Using the Programmatic Authentication API

There are some applications where programmatic authentication is appropriate.

WebLogic Server provides a server-side API that supports programmatic authentication from within a servlet application: 

weblogic.servlet.security.ServletAuthentication

Using this API, you can write servlet code that authenticates the user, logs in the user, and associates the user with the current session so that the user is registered in the default (active) security realm. Once the login is completed, it appears as if the user logged in using the standard mechanism.

You have the option of using either of two WebLogic-supplied classes with the ServletAuthentication API, the weblogic.security.SimpleCallbackHandler class or the weblogic.security.URLCallbackHandler class. For more information on these classes, see Javadocs for WebLogic Classes.

Listing 2-17 shows an example that uses SimpleCallbackHandler. Listing 2-18 shows an example that uses URLCallbackHandler.

Listing 2-17 Programmatic Authentication Code Fragment Using the SimpleCallbackHandler Class

CallbackHandler handler = new SimpleCallbackHandler(username,
                                                               password);
Subject mySubject =
        weblogic.security.services.Authentication.login(handler);
weblogic.servlet.security.ServletAuthentication.runAs(mySubject, request);
// Where request is the httpservletrequest object.

Listing 2-18 Programmatic Authentication Code Fragment Using the URLCallbackHandler Class

CallbackHandler handler = new URLCallbackHandler(username,
                                                           password);
Subject mySubject =
        weblogic.security.services.Authentication.login(handler);
weblogic.servlet.security.ServletAuthentication.runAs(mySubject, request);
// Where request is the httpservletrequest object.

 

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