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Security Guide

JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5

for use with JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5

Edition 5.2.0

Anil Saldhana

Jaikiran Pai

Jared Morgan

Joshua Wulf

Marcus Moyses

Peter Skopek

Stephan Mueller

Edited by

Eva Kopalova

Edited by

Petr Penicka

Edited by

Russell Dickenson

Edited by

Scott Mumford

Abstract

The Security Guide is aimed at System Administrators and Developers, and explains how to implement security in JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5 and its patch releases. The guide covers Java EE Declarative Security; an introduction to Java Authentication and Authorization Service; the Security Model, and Extension Architecture; managing and configuring Security Domains; replacing clear text passwords with masks in configuration files, and using SSL to secure Remote Method Invocation of EJBs.

Part I. Security Overview
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Security is a fundamental part of any enterprise application. You must be able to restrict who is permitted to access your applications and control what operations application users may perform.
The Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) specification defines a simple role-based security model for Enterprise Java Beans ( EJBs ) and web components. The JBoss Security Extension (JBossSX) framework handles platform security, and provides support for both the role-based declarative Java EE security model and integration of custom security through a security proxy layer.
The default implementation of the declarative security model is based on Java Authentication and Authorization Service ( JAAS ) login modules and subjects. The security proxy layer allows custom security that cannot be described using the declarative model to be added to an EJB in a way that is independent of the EJB business object.

Important

Basic security configuration that is typically performed right after installation of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5 is described in the Basic Configuration Changes chapter of the Getting Started Guide.

Important

JBoss distinguishes uppercase and lowercase characters in user names and roles.

Chapter 1. Java EE Declarative Security Overview
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Rather than embedding security into your business component, the Java EE security model is declarative: you describe the security roles and permissions in a standard XML descriptor. This isolates security from business-level code because security tends to be more a function of where the component is deployed than an inherent aspect of the component's business logic.
For example, consider an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) component used to access a bank account. The security requirements, roles, and permissions of the component will vary independently of how you access the bank account. How you access your account information may also vary based on which bank is managing the account, or where the ATM is located.
Securing a Java EE application is based on the specification of the application security requirements via the standard Java EE deployment descriptors. You secure access to EJBs and web components in an enterprise application by using the ejb-jar.xml and web.xml deployment descriptors. The following sections look at the purpose and usage of the various security elements.

1.1. Security References
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Both Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs) and servlets can declare one or more <security-role-ref> elements. Figure 1.1, “The <security-role-ref> element” describes the <security-role-ref> element, its child elements, and attributes.
The <security-role-ref> element
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The <security-role-ref> element

Figure 1.1. The <security-role-ref> element

This element declares that a component is using the <role-name> element's role-nameType attribute value as an argument to the isCallerInRole(String) method. By using the isCallerInRole method, a component can verify whether the caller is in a role that has been declared with a <security-role-ref> or <role-name> element. The <role-name> element value must link to a <security-role> element through the <role-link> element. The typical use of isCallerInRole is to perform a security check that cannot be defined by using the role-based <method-permissions> elements.
Example 1.1, “ejb-jar.xml descriptor fragment” describes the use of <security-role-ref> in an ejb-jar.xml file.

Example 1.1. ejb-jar.xml descriptor fragment

<!-- A sample ejb-jar.xml fragment -->
<ejb-jar>
  <enterprise-beans>
    <session>
      <ejb-name>ASessionBean</ejb-name>
      ...
      <security-role-ref>
          <role-name>TheRoleICheck</role-name>
          <role-link>TheApplicationRole</role-link>
      </security-role-ref>
    </session>
  </enterprise-beans>
  ...
</ejb-jar>
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Example 1.2, “web.xml descriptor fragment” shows the use of <security-role-ref> in a web.xml file.

Note

This fragment is an example only. In deployments, the elements in this section must contain role names and links relevant to the EJB deployment.

Example 1.2. web.xml descriptor fragment

<web-app>
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>AServlet</servlet-name>
        ...
        <security-role-ref>
            <role-name>TheServletRole</role-name>
            <role-link>TheApplicationRole</role-link>
        </security-role-ref>
    </servlet>
    ...
</web-app>
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1.2. Security Identity
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An Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) can specify the identity another EJB must use when it invokes methods on components using the <security-identity> element. Figure 1.2, “The security-identity element” describes the <security-identity> element, its child elements, and attributes.
The security-identity element
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The security-identity element

Figure 1.2. The security-identity element

The invocation identity can be that of the current caller, or it can be a specific role. The application assembler uses the <security-identity> element with a <use-caller-identity> child element. This indicate that the current caller's identity should be propagated as the security identity for method invocations made by the EJB. Propagation of the caller's identity is the default used in the absence of an explicit <security-identity> element declaration.
Alternatively, the application assembler can use the <run-as> or <role-name> child element to specify that a specific security role supplied by the <role-name> element value must be used as the security identity for method invocations made by the EJB.
Note that this does not change the caller's identity as seen by the EJBContext.getCallerPrincipal() method. Rather, the caller's security roles are set to the single role specified by the <run-as> or <role-name> element value.
One use case for the <run-as> element is to prevent external clients from accessing internal EJBs. You configure this behavior by assigning the internal EJB <method-permission> elements, which restrict access to a role never assigned to an external client. EJBs that must in turn use internal EJBs are then configured with a <run-as> or <role-name> equal to the restricted role. The following descriptor fragment describes an example<security-identity> element usage. 
<!-- A sample ejb-jar.xml fragment -->
<ejb-jar>
    <enterprise-beans>
        <session>
            <ejb-name>ASessionBean</ejb-name>
            <!-- ... -->
            <security-identity>
                <use-caller-identity/>
            </security-identity>
        </session>
        <session>
            <ejb-name>RunAsBean</ejb-name>
            <!-- ... -->
            <security-identity>
                <run-as>
                    <description>A private internal role</description>
                    <role-name>InternalRole</role-name>
                </run-as>
            </security-identity>
        </session>
    </enterprise-beans>
    <!-- ... -->
</ejb-jar>
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When you use <run-as> to assign a specific role to outgoing calls, a principal named anonymous is assigned to all outgoing calls. If you want another principal to be associated with the call, you must associate a <run-as-principal> with the bean in the jboss.xml file. The following fragment associates a principal named internal with RunAsBean from the prior example. 
<session>
    <ejb-name>RunAsBean</ejb-name>
    <security-identity>
        <run-as-principal>internal</run-as-principal>
    </security-identity>
</session>
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The <run-as> element is also available in servlet definitions in a web.xml file. The following example shows how to assign the role InternalRole to a servlet: 
<servlet>
    <servlet-name>AServlet</servlet-name>
    <!-- ... -->
    <run-as> 
        <role-name>InternalRole</role-name>
    </run-as>
</servlet>
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Calls from this servlet are associated with the anonymous principal. The <run-as-principal> element is available in the jboss-web.xml file to assign a specific principal to go along with the run-as role. The following fragment shows how to associate a principal named internal to the servlet above. 
<servlet>
    <servlet-name>AServlet</servlet-name>
    <run-as-principal>internal</run-as-principal>
</servlet>
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1.3. Security Roles
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The security role name referenced by either the <security-role-ref> or <security-identity> element must map to one of the application's declared roles. An application assembler defines logical security roles by declaring <security-role> elements. The role-name attribute value is a logical application role name, such as Administrator, Architect, or Sales_Manager.
The Java EE specifications note that it is important to keep in mind that the security roles in the deployment descriptor are used to define the logical security view of an application. Roles defined in the Java EE deployment descriptors should not be confused with the user groups, users, principals, and other concepts that exist in the target enterprise's operational environment. The deployment descriptor roles are application constructs with application domain-specific names. For example, a banking application might use role names such as Bank_Manager, Teller, or Customer.
<security-role> element
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<security-role> element

Figure 1.3. <security-role> element

In JBoss, a <security-role> element is only used to map <security-role-ref> or <role-name> values to the logical role that the component role references. The user's assigned roles are a dynamic function of the application's security manager, as you will see when we discuss the JBossSX implementation details.
JBoss does not require the definition of <security-role> elements in order to declare method permissions. However, the specification of <security-role> elements is still a recommended practice to ensure portability across application servers and for deployment descriptor maintenance. Example 1.3, “ejb-jar.xml descriptor fragment” describes the usage of the <security-role> in an ejb-jar.xml file.

Example 1.3. ejb-jar.xml descriptor fragment

<!-- A sample ejb-jar.xml fragment -->
<ejb-jar>
    <!-- ... -->
    <assembly-descriptor>
        <security-role>
            <description>The single application role</description>
            <role-name>TheApplicationRole</role-name>
        </security-role>
    </assembly-descriptor>
</ejb-jar>
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Example 1.4, “example web.xml descriptor fragment” shows the usage of the <security-role> in an web.xml file.

Example 1.4. example web.xml descriptor fragment

<!-- A sample web.xml fragment -->
<web-app>
    <!-- ... -->
    <security-role>
        <description>The single application role</description>
        <role-name>TheApplicationRole</role-name>
    </security-role>
</web-app>
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1.4. EJB method permissions
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An application assembler can use <method-permission> element declaration to set the roles that are allowed to invoke an EJB's home and remote interface methods.
The <method-permission> element
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The <method-permission> element

Figure 1.4. The <method-permission> element

Each <method-permission> element contains one or more <role-name> child elements. <role-name> defines the logical roles that are allowed to access the EJB methods as identified by <method> child elements. You can also specify an <unchecked> element instead of the <role-name> element to declare that any authenticated user can access the methods identified by method child elements. In addition, you can declare that no one should have access to a method that has the exclude-list element. If an EJB has methods that have not been declared as accessible by a role using a <method-permission> element, the EJB methods default to being excluded from use. This is equivalent to defaulting the methods into the exclude-list.
<method> element
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<method> element

Figure 1.5. <method> element

There are three supported styles of method element declarations.
The first is used for referring to all the home and component interface methods of the named enterprise bean: 
<method>
    <ejb-name>EJBNAME</ejb-name>
    <method-name>*</method-name>
</method>
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The second style is used for referring to a specified method of the home or component interface of the named enterprise bean: 
<method>
    <ejb-name>EJBNAME</ejb-name>
    <method-name>METHOD</method-name>
                </method>
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If there are multiple methods with the same overloaded name, this style refers to all of the overloaded methods.
The third style is used to refer to a specified method within a set of methods with an overloaded name: 
<method>
    <ejb-name>EJBNAME</ejb-name>
    <method-name>METHOD</method-name>
    <method-params>
        <method-param>PARAMETER_1</method-param>
        <!-- ... -->
        <method-param>PARAMETER_N</method-param>
    </method-params>
</method>
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The method must be defined in the specified enterprise bean's home or remote interface. The <method-param> element values are the fully qualified name of the corresponding method parameter type. If there are multiple methods with the same overloaded signature, the permission applies to all of the matching overloaded methods.
The optional <method-intf> element can be used to differentiate methods with the same name and signature that are defined in both the home and remote interfaces of an enterprise bean.
Example 1.5, “<method-permission> element usage” provides complete examples of the <method-permission> element usage.

Example 1.5. <method-permission> element usage

<ejb-jar>
    <assembly-descriptor>
        <method-permission>
            <description>The employee and temp-employee roles may access any
                method of the EmployeeService bean </description>
            <role-name>employee</role-name>
            <role-name>temp-employee</role-name>
            <method>
                <ejb-name>EmployeeService</ejb-name>
                <method-name>*</method-name>
            </method>
        </method-permission>
        <method-permission>
            <description>The employee role may access the findByPrimaryKey,
                getEmployeeInfo, and the updateEmployeeInfo(String) method of
                the AardvarkPayroll bean </description>
            <role-name>employee</role-name>
            <method>
                <ejb-name>AardvarkPayroll</ejb-name>
                <method-name>findByPrimaryKey</method-name>
            </method>
            <method>
                <ejb-name>AardvarkPayroll</ejb-name>
                <method-name>getEmployeeInfo</method-name>
            </method>
            <method>
                <ejb-name>AardvarkPayroll</ejb-name>
                <method-name>updateEmployeeInfo</method-name>
                <method-params>
                    <method-param>java.lang.String</method-param>
                </method-params>
            </method>
        </method-permission>
        <method-permission>
            <description>The admin role may access any method of the
                EmployeeServiceAdmin bean </description>
            <role-name>admin</role-name>
            <method>
                <ejb-name>EmployeeServiceAdmin</ejb-name>
                <method-name>*</method-name>
            </method>
        </method-permission>
        <method-permission>
            <description>Any authenticated user may access any method of the
                EmployeeServiceHelp bean</description>
            <unchecked/>
            <method>
                <ejb-name>EmployeeServiceHelp</ejb-name>
                <method-name>*</method-name>
            </method>
        </method-permission>
        <exclude-list>
            <description>No fireTheCTO methods of the EmployeeFiring bean may be
                used in this deployment</description>
            <method>
                <ejb-name>EmployeeFiring</ejb-name>
                <method-name>fireTheCTO</method-name>
            </method>
        </exclude-list>
    </assembly-descriptor>
</ejb-jar>
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1.5. Enterprise Bean Security Annotations
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Enterprise beans use Annotations to pass information to the deployer about security and other aspects of the application. The deployer can set up the appropriate enterprise bean security policy for the application if specified in annotations, or the deployment descriptor.
Any method values explicitly specified in the deployment descriptor override annotation values. If a method value is not specified in the deployment descriptor, those values set using annotations are used. The overriding granularity is on a per-method basis
Those annotations that address security and can be used in an enterprise beans include the following:
@DeclareRoles
Declares each security role declared in the code. For information about configuring roles, refer to the Java EE 5 Tutorial Declaring Security Roles Using Annotations.
@RolesAllowed, @PermitAll, and @DenyAll
Specifies method permissions for annotations. For information about configuring annotation method permissions, refer to the Java EE 5 Tutorial Specifying Method Permissions Using Annotations.
@RunAs
Configures the propagated security identity of a component. For information about configuring propagated security identities using annotations, refer to the Java EE 5 Tutorial Configuring a Component’s Propagated Security Identity.

1.6. Web Content Security Constraints
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In a web application, security is defined by the roles that are allowed access to content by a URL pattern that identifies the protected content. This set of information is declared by using the web.xml security-constraint element.
<security-constraint> element
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<security-constraint> element

Figure 1.6. <security-constraint> element

The content to be secured is declared using one or more <web-resource-collection> elements. Each <web-resource-collection> element contains an optional series of <url-pattern> elements followed by an optional series of <http-method> elements. The <url-pattern> element value specifies a URL pattern against which a request URL must match for the request to correspond to an attempt to access secured content. The <http-method> element value specifies a type of HTTP request to allow.
The optional <user-data-constraint> element specifies the requirements for the transport layer of the client to server connection. The requirement may be for content integrity (preventing data tampering in the communication process) or for confidentiality (preventing reading while in transit). The <transport-guarantee> element value specifies the degree to which communication between the client and server should be protected. Its values are NONE, INTEGRAL, and CONFIDENTIAL. A value of NONE means that the application does not require any transport guarantees. A value of INTEGRAL means that the application requires the data sent between the client and server to be sent in such a way that it can not be changed in transit. A value of CONFIDENTIAL means that the application requires the data to be transmitted in a fashion that prevents other entities from observing the contents of the transmission. In most cases, the presence of the INTEGRAL or CONFIDENTIAL flag indicates that the use of SSL is required.
The optional <login-config> element is used to configure the authentication method that should be used, the realm name that should be used for the application, and the attributes that are needed by the form log in mechanism.
<login-config> element
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<login-config> element

Figure 1.7. <login-config> element

The <auth-method> child element specifies the authentication mechanism for the web application. As a prerequisite to gaining access to any web resources that are protected by an authorization constraint, a user must have authenticated using the configured mechanism. Legal <auth-method> values are BASIC, DIGEST, FORM, and CLIENT-CERT. The <realm-name> child element specifies the realm name to use in HTTP basic and digest authorization. The <form-login-config> child element specifies the log in as well as error pages that should be used in form-based log in. If the <auth-method> value is not FORM, then form-login-config and its child elements are ignored.
Example 1.6, “web.xml descriptor fragment” indicates that any URL lying under the web application's /restricted path requires an AuthorizedUser role. There is no required transport guarantee and the authentication method used for obtaining the user identity is BASIC HTTP authentication.

Example 1.6. web.xml descriptor fragment

<web-app>
    <!-- ... -->
    <security-constraint>
        <web-resource-collection>
            <web-resource-name>Secure Content</web-resource-name>
            <url-pattern>/restricted/*</url-pattern>
        </web-resource-collection>
        <auth-constraint>
            <role-name>AuthorizedUser</role-name>
        </auth-constraint>
        <user-data-constraint>
            <transport-guarantee>NONE</transport-guarantee>
        </user-data-constraint>
    </security-constraint>
    <!-- ... -->
    <login-config>
        <auth-method>BASIC</auth-method>
        <realm-name>The Restricted Zone</realm-name>
    </login-config>
    <!-- ... -->
    <security-role>
        <description>The role required to access restricted content </description>
        <role-name>AuthorizedUser</role-name>
    </security-role>
</web-app>
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1.7. Enabling Form-based Authentication
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Form-based authentication provides flexibility in defining a custom JSP/HTML page for log in, and a separate page to which users are directed if an error occurs during log in.
Form-based authentication is defined by including <auth-method>FORM</auth-method> in the <login-config> element of the deployment descriptor, web.xml. The login and error pages are also defined in <login-config>, as follows: 
<login-config>
  <auth-method>FORM</auth-method>
  <form-login-config>
    <form-login-page>/login.html</form-login-page>
    <form-error-page>/error.html</form-error-page>
  </form-login-config>
</login-config>
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When a web application with form-based authentication is deployed, the web container uses FormAuthenticator to direct users to the appropriate page. JBoss Enterprise Application Platform maintains a session pool so that authentication information does not need to be present for each request. When FormAuthenticator receives a request, it queries org.apache.catalina.session.Manager for an existing session. If no session exists, a new session is created. FormAuthenticator then verifies the credentials of the session.

Note

Each session is identified by a session ID, a 16 byte string generated from random values. These values are retrieved from /dev/urandom (Linux) by default, and hashed with MD5. Checks are performed at session ID creation to ensure that the ID created is unique.
Once verified, the session ID is assigned as part of a cookie, and then returned to the client. This cookie is expected in subsequent client requests and is used to identify the user session.
The cookie passed to the client is a name value pair with several optional attributes. The identifier attribute is called JSESSIONID . Its value is a hex-string of the session ID. This cookie is configured to be non-persistent. This means that on the client side it will be deleted when the browser exits. On the server side, sessions expire after 60 seconds of inactivity, at which time session objects and their credential information are deleted.
Say a user attempts to access a web application that is protected with form-based authentication. FormAuthenticator caches the request, creates a new session if necessary, and redirects the user to the login page defined in login-config. (In the previous example code, the login page is login.html.) The user then enters their user name and password in the HTML form provided. User name and password are passed to FormAuthenticator via the j_security_check form action.
The FormAuthenticator then authenticates the user name and password against the realm attached to the web application context. In JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, the realm is JBossWebRealm. When authentication is successful, FormAuthenticator retrieves the saved request from the cache and redirects the user to their original request.

Note

The server recognizes form authentication requests only when the URI ends with /j_security_check and at least the j_username and j_password parameters exist.

1.8. Enabling Declarative Security
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The Java EE security elements that have been covered so far describe the security requirements only from the application's perspective. Because Java EE security elements declare logical roles, the application deployer maps the roles from the application domain onto the deployment environment. The Java EE specifications omit these application server-specific details.
To map application roles onto the deployment environment, you must specify a security manager that implements the Java EE security model using JBoss Enterprise Application Platform specific deployment descriptors. The details behind the security configuration are discussed in Example 12.17, “JndiUserAndPass Custom Login Module”.

Chapter 2. Introduction to JAAS
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The JBossSX framework is based on the JAAS API. You must understand the basic elements of the JAAS API before you can understand the implementation details of JBossSX. The following sections provide an introduction to JAAS to prepare you for the JBossSX architecture discussion later in this guide.
The JAAS 1.0 API consists of a set of Java packages designed for user authentication and authorization. The API implements a Java version of the standard Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) framework and extends the Java 2 Platform access control architecture to support user-based authorization.
JAAS was first released as an extension package for JDK 1.3 and is bundled with JDK 1.5. Because the JBossSX framework only uses the authentication capabilities of JAAS to implement the declarative role-based J2EE security model, this introduction focuses on only that topic.
JAAS authentication is performed in a pluggable fashion. This permits Java applications to remain independent from underlying authentication technologies, and allows the JBossSX security manager to work in different security infrastructures. Integration with a security infrastructure is achievable without changing the JBossSX security manager implementation. You need only change the configuration of the authentication stack JAAS uses.

2.1. JAAS Core Classes
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The JAAS core classes can be broken down into three categories: common, authentication, and authorization. The following list presents only the common and authentication classes because these are the specific classes used to implement the functionality of JBossSX covered in this chapter.
The are the common classes:
  • Subject (javax.security.auth.Subject)
These are the authentication classes:
  • Configuration (javax.security.auth.login.Configuration)
  • LoginContext (javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext)
These are the associated interfaces:
  • Principal (java.security.Principal)
  • Callback (javax.security.auth.callback.Callback)
  • CallbackHandler (javax.security.auth.callback.CallbackHandler)
  • LoginModule (javax.security.auth.spi.LoginModule)

2.1.1. Subject and Principal Classes
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To authorize access to resources, applications must first authenticate the request's source. The JAAS framework defines the term subject to represent a request's source. The Subject class is the central class in JAAS. A Subject represents information for a single entity, such as a person or service. It encompasses the entity's principals, public credentials, and private credentials. The JAAS APIs use the existing Java 2 java.security.Principal interface to represent a principal, which is essentially just a typed name.
During the authentication process, a subject is populated with associated identities, or principals. A subject may have many principals. For example, a person may have a name principal (John Doe), a social security number principal (123-45-6789), and a user name principal (johnd), all of which help distinguish the subject from other subjects. To retrieve the principals associated with a subject, two methods are available: 
public Set getPrincipals() {...}
public Set getPrincipals(Class c) {...}
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getPrincipals() returns all principals contained in the subject. getPrincipals(Class c) returns only those principals that are instances of class c or one of its subclasses. An empty set is returned if the subject has no matching principals.
Note that the java.security.acl.Group interface is a sub-interface of java.security.Principal, so an instance in the principals set may represent a logical grouping of other principals or groups of principals.

2.1.2. Subject Authentication
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Subject Authentication requires a JAAS log in. The log in process consists of the following points:
  1. An application instantiates a LoginContext and passes in the name of the login configuration and a CallbackHandler to populate the Callback objects, as required by the configuration LoginModules.
  2. The LoginContext consults a Configuration to load all the LoginModules included in the named login configuration. If no such named configuration exists the other configuration is used as a default.
  3. The application invokes the LoginContext.login method.
  4. The login method invokes all the loaded LoginModules. As each LoginModule attempts to authenticate the subject, it invokes the handle method on the associated CallbackHandler to obtain the information required for the authentication process. The required information is passed to the handle method in the form of an array of Callback objects. Upon success, the LoginModules associate relevant principals and credentials with the subject.
  5. The LoginContext returns the authentication status to the application. Success is represented by a return from the log in method. Failure is represented through a LoginException being thrown by the log in method.
  6. If authentication succeeds, the application retrieves the authenticated subject using the LoginContext.getSubject method.
  7. After the scope of the subject authentication is complete, all principals and related information associated with the subject by the log in method can be removed by invoking the LoginContext.logout method.
The LoginContext class provides the basic methods for authenticating subjects and offers a way to develop an application that is independent of the underlying authentication technology. The LoginContext consults a Configuration to determine the authentication services configured for a particular application. LoginModule classes represent the authentication services. Therefore, you can plug different login modules into an application without changing the application itself. The following code shows the steps required by an application to authenticate a subject. 
CallbackHandler handler = new MyHandler();
LoginContext lc = new LoginContext("some-config", handler);

try {
    lc.login();
    Subject subject = lc.getSubject();
} catch(LoginException e) {
    System.out.println("authentication failed");
    e.printStackTrace();
}
                        
// Perform work as authenticated Subject
// ...

// Scope of work complete, logout to remove authentication info
try {
    lc.logout();
} catch(LoginException e) {
    System.out.println("logout failed");
    e.printStackTrace();
}
                        
// A sample MyHandler class
class MyHandler 
    implements CallbackHandler
{
    public void handle(Callback[] callbacks) throws
        IOException, UnsupportedCallbackException
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < callbacks.length; i++) {
            if (callbacks[i] instanceof NameCallback) {
                NameCallback nc = (NameCallback)callbacks[i];
                nc.setName(username);
            } else if (callbacks[i] instanceof PasswordCallback) {
                PasswordCallback pc = (PasswordCallback)callbacks[i];
                pc.setPassword(password);
            } else {
                throw new UnsupportedCallbackException(callbacks[i],
                                                       "Unrecognized Callback");
            }
        }
    }
}
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Developers integrate with an authentication technology by creating an implementation of the LoginModule interface. This allows an administrator to plug different authentication technologies into an application. You can chain together multiple LoginModules to allow for more than one authentication technology to participate in the authentication process. For example, one LoginModule may perform user name/password-based authentication, while another may interface to hardware devices such as smart card readers or biometric authenticators.
The life cycle of a LoginModule is driven by the LoginContext object against which the client creates and issues the log in method. The process consists of two phases. The steps of the process are as follows:
  • The LoginContext creates each configured LoginModule using its public no-arg constructor.
  • Each LoginModule is initialized with a call to its initialize method. The Subject argument is guaranteed to be non-null. The signature of the initialize method is: public void initialize(Subject subject, CallbackHandler callbackHandler, Map sharedState, Map options)
  • The login method is called to start the authentication process. For example, a method implementation might prompt the user for a user name and password and then verify the information against data stored in a naming service such as NIS or LDAP. Alternative implementations might interface to smart cards and biometric devices, or simply extract user information from the underlying operating system. The validation of user identity by each LoginModule is considered phase 1 of JAAS authentication. The signature of the login method is boolean login() throws LoginException . A LoginException indicates failure. A return value of true indicates that the method succeeded, whereas a return value of false indicates that the login module should be ignored.
  • If the LoginContext's overall authentication succeeds, commit is invoked on each LoginModule. If phase 1 succeeds for a LoginModule, then the commit method continues with phase 2 and associates the relevant principals, public credentials, and/or private credentials with the subject. If phase 1 fails for a LoginModule, then commit removes any previously stored authentication state, such as user names or passwords. The signature of the commit method is: boolean commit() throws LoginException . Failure to complete the commit phase is indicated by throwing a LoginException. A return of true indicates that the method succeeded, whereas a return of false indicates that the login module should be ignored.
  • If the LoginContext's overall authentication fails, then the abort method is invoked on each LoginModule. The abort method removes or destroys any authentication state created by the log in or initialize methods. The signature of the abort method is boolean abort() throws LoginException . Failure to complete the abort phase is indicated by throwing a LoginException. A return of true indicates that the method succeeded, whereas a return of false indicates that the login module should be ignored.
  • To remove the authentication state after a successful log in, the application invokes logout on the LoginContext. This in turn results in a logout method invocation on each LoginModule. The logout method removes the principals and credentials originally associated with the subject during the commit operation. Credentials should be destroyed upon removal. The signature of the logout method is: boolean logout() throws LoginException . Failure to complete the logout process is indicated by throwing a LoginException. A return of true indicates that the method succeeded, whereas a return of false indicates that the login module should be ignored.
When a LoginModule must communicate with the user to obtain authentication information, it uses a CallbackHandler object. Applications implement the CallbackHandler interface and pass it to the LoginContext, which send the authentication information directly to the underlying login modules.
Login modules use the CallbackHandler both to gather input from users, such as a password or smart card PIN, and to supply information to users, such as status information. By allowing the application to specify the CallbackHandler, underlying LoginModules remain independent from the different ways applications interact with users. For example, a CallbackHandler's implementation for a GUI application might display a window to solicit user input. On the other hand, a CallbackHandler implementation for a non-GUI environment, such as an application server, might simply obtain credential information by using an application server API. The CallbackHandler interface has one method to implement: 
void handle(Callback[] callbacks)
    throws java.io.IOException, 
           UnsupportedCallbackException;
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The Callback interface is the last authentication class we will look at. This is a tagging interface for which several default implementations are provided, including the NameCallback and PasswordCallback used in an earlier example. A LoginModule uses a Callback to request information required by the authentication mechanism. LoginModules pass an array of Callbacks directly to the CallbackHandler.handle method during the authentication's log in phase. If a callbackhandler does not understand how to use a Callback object passed into the handle method, it throws an UnsupportedCallbackException to abort the login call.

Chapter 3. JBoss Security Model
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Similar to the rest of the JBoss architecture, security at the lowest level is defined as a set of interfaces for which alternate implementations may be provided. The following interfaces define the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform security layer:
  • org.jboss.security.AuthenticationManager
  • org.jboss.security.RealmMapping
  • org.jboss.security.SecurityProxy
  • org.jboss.security.AuthorizationManager
  • org.jboss.security.AuditManager
  • org.jboss.security.MappingManager
Figure 3.1, “Security Model Interface Relationships to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform EJB Container Elements.” shows a class diagram of the security interfaces and their relationship to the EJB container architecture.
Security Model Interface Relationships to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform EJB Container Elements.
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Security Model Interface Relationships to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform EJB Container Elements.

Figure 3.1. Security Model Interface Relationships to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform EJB Container Elements.

The EJB Container layer is represented by the classes - org.jboss.ejb.Container, org.jboss.SecurityInterceptor and org.jboss.SecurityProxyInterceptor. The other classes are interfaces and classes provided by the JBoss security subsystem.
The two interfaces required for the J2EE security model implementation are:
  • org.jboss.security.AuthenticationManager
  • org.jboss.security.AuthorizationManager
The roles of the security interfaces presented in Figure 3.1, “Security Model Interface Relationships to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform EJB Container Elements.” are summarized below.

Security Interface Roles

AuthenticationManager
This interface is responsible for validating credentials associated with Principals . Principals are identities, such as user names, employee numbers, and social security numbers. Credentials are proof of the identity, such as passwords, session keys, and digital signatures. The isValid method is invoked to determine whether a user identity and associated credentials as known in the operational environment are valid proof of the user's identity.
AuthorizationManager
This interface is responsible for the access control mandated by the Java EE specifications. The implementation of this interface provides the ability to stack a set of Policy Providers useful for pluggable authorization.
SecurityProxy
This interface describes the requirements for a custom SecurityProxyInterceptor plug-in. A SecurityProxy allows for the externalization of custom security checks on a per-method basis for both the EJB home and remote interface methods.
AuditManager
This interface is responsible for providing an audit trail of security events.
MappingManager
This interface is responsible for providing mapping of Principal, Role, and Attributes. The implementation of AuthorizationManager may internally call the mapping manager to map roles before performing access control.
SecurityDomain
This is an extension of the AuthenticationManager , RealmMapping , and SubjectSecurityManager interfaces. SecurityDomain is the recommended way to implement security in components, because of the advantages the JAAS Subject offers, and the increased support offered to ASP-style application and resource deployments. A java.security.KeyStore, and the Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) com.sun.net.ssl.KeyManagerFactory and com.sun.net.ssl.TrustManagerFactory interfaces are included in the class.
RealmMapping
This interface is responsible for principal mapping and role mapping. The getPrincipal method takes a user identity as known in the operational environment and returns the application domain identity. The doesUserHaveRole method validates that the user identity in the operation environment has been assigned the indicated role from the application domain.
Note that the AuthenticationManager , RealmMapping and SecurityProxy interfaces have no association to JAAS related classes. Although the JBossSX framework is heavily dependent on JAAS, the basic security interfaces required for implementation of the Java EE security model are not. The JBossSX framework is simply an implementation of the basic security plug-in interfaces that are based on JAAS.
The component diagram in Figure 3.2, “JBossSX Framework Implementation Classes and the EAP EJB Container Layer.” illustrates this fact. The implication of this plug-in architecture is that you are free to replace the JAAS-based JBossSX implementation classes with your own non-JAAS custom security manager implementation. You'll see how to do this when you look at the JBossSX MBeans available for JBossSX configuration in Figure 3.2, “JBossSX Framework Implementation Classes and the EAP EJB Container Layer.”.
JBossSX Framework Implementation Classes and the EAP EJB Container Layer.
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JBossSX Framework Implementation Classes and the EAP EJB Container Layer.

Figure 3.2. JBossSX Framework Implementation Classes and the EAP EJB Container Layer.

3.1. Enabling Declarative Security Revisited
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Earlier in this chapter, the discussion of the Java EE standard security model ended with a requirement for the use of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform-specific deployment descriptor to enable security. The details of this configuration are presented here. Figure 3.3, “jboss.xml and jboss-web.xml Security Element Subsets.” shows the JBoss-specific EJB and web application deployment descriptor's security-related elements.
jboss.xml and jboss-web.xml Security Element Subsets.
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jboss.xml and jboss-web.xml Security Element Subsets.

Figure 3.3. jboss.xml and jboss-web.xml Security Element Subsets.

The value of a <security-domain> element specifies the JNDI name of the security manager interface implementation that JBoss uses for the EJB and web containers. This is an object that implements both of the AuthenticationManager and RealmMapping interfaces. When specified as a top-level element, it defines what security domain is specified for all EJBs in the deployment unit. This is the typical usage because mixing security managers within a deployment unit complicates inter-component operation and administration.
To specify the security domain for an individual EJB, you specify the <security-domain> at the container configuration level. This will override any top-level <security-domain> element.
The <unauthenticated-principal> element specifies the name to use for the Principal object returned by the EJBContext.getUserPrincipal method when an unauthenticated user invokes an EJB. Note that this conveys no special permissions to an unauthenticated caller. Its primary purpose is to allow unsecured servlets and JSP pages to invoke unsecured EJBs and allow the target EJB to obtain a non-null Principal for the caller using the getUserPrincipal method. This is a J2EE specification requirement.
The <security-proxy> element identifies a custom security proxy implementation. It allows per-request security checks outside the scope of the EJB declarative security model, without embedding security logic into the EJB implementation. You can use an implementation of the org.jboss.security.SecurityProxy interface. Alternatively, you can use a common interface that uses an object to implement methods in the home, remote, local home, or local interfaces of the EJB. If the given class does not implement the SecurityProxy interface, the instance must be wrapped in a SecurityProxy implementation that delegates the method invocations to the object. The org.jboss.security.SubjectSecurityProxy is an example SecurityProxy implementation used by the default JBossSX installation.
Take a look at a simple example of a custom SecurityProxy in the context of a trivial stateless session bean. The custom SecurityProxy validates that no one invokes the bean's echo method with a four-letter word as its argument. This is a check that is not possible with role-based security; you cannot define a FourLetterEchoInvoker role because the security context is the method argument, not a property of the caller. The code for the custom SecurityProxy is given in Example 3.1, “Custom EchoSecurityProxy Implementation.”

Example 3.1. Custom EchoSecurityProxy Implementation.

package org.jboss.book.security.ex1;
                
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import javax.ejb.EJBContext;
                
import org.apache.log4j.Category;
                
import org.jboss.security.SecurityProxy;
                
/** A simple example of a custom SecurityProxy implementation
 *  that demonstrates method argument based security checks.
 * @author Scott.Stark@jboss.org
 * @version $Revision: 1.4 $
 */
public class EchoSecurityProxy implements SecurityProxy
{
    Category log = Category.getInstance(EchoSecurityProxy.class);
    Method echo;
    
    public void init(Class beanHome, Class beanRemote,
                     Object securityMgr)
        throws InstantiationException
    {
        log.debug("init, beanHome="+beanHome
                  + ", beanRemote="+beanRemote
                  + ", securityMgr="+securityMgr);
        // Get the echo method for equality testing in invoke
        try {
            Class[] params = {String.class};
            echo = beanRemote.getDeclaredMethod("echo", params);
        } catch(Exception e) {
            String msg = "Failed to find an echo(String) method";
            log.error(msg, e);
            throw new InstantiationException(msg);
        }
    }
    
    public void setEJBContext(EJBContext ctx)
    {
        log.debug("setEJBContext, ctx="+ctx);
    }
    
    public void invokeHome(Method m, Object[] args)
        throws SecurityException
    {
        // We do not validate access to home methods
    }

    public void invoke(Method m, Object[] args, Object bean)
        throws SecurityException
    {
        log.debug("invoke, m="+m);
        // Check for the echo method
        if (m.equals(echo)) {
            // Validate that the msg arg is not 4 letter word
            String arg = (String) args[0];
            if (arg == null || arg.length() == 4)
                throw new SecurityException("No 4 letter words");
        }
        // We are not responsible for doing the invoke
    }
}
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The EchoSecurityProxy checks that the method to be invoked on the bean instance corresponds to the echo(String) method loaded the init method. If there is a match, the method argument is obtained and its length compared against 4 or null. Either case results in a SecurityException being thrown.
Certainly this is a contrived example, but only in its application. It is a common requirement that applications must perform security checks based on the value of method arguments. The point of the example is to demonstrate how custom security beyond the scope of the standard declarative security model can be introduced independent of the bean implementation. This allows the specification and coding of the security requirements to be delegated to security experts. Since the security proxy layer can be done independent of the bean implementation, security can be changed to match the deployment environment requirements.
The associated jboss.xml descriptor that installs the EchoSecurityProxy as the custom proxy for the EchoBean is given in Example 3.2, “jboss.xml descriptor”.

Example 3.2. jboss.xml descriptor

<jboss>
    <security-domain>java:/jaas/other</security-domain>
                
    <enterprise-beans>
        <session>
            <ejb-name>EchoBean</ejb-name>
            <security-proxy>org.jboss.book.security.ex1.EchoSecurityProxy</security-proxy>
        </session>
    </enterprise-beans>
</jboss>
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Now test the custom proxy by running a client that attempts to invoke the EchoBean.echo method with the arguments Hello and Four as illustrated in this fragment: 
public class ExClient
{
    public static void main(String args[])
        throws Exception
    {
        Logger log = Logger.getLogger("ExClient");
        log.info("Looking up EchoBean");

        InitialContext iniCtx = new InitialContext();
        Object ref = iniCtx.lookup("EchoBean");
        EchoHome home = (EchoHome) ref;
        Echo echo = home.create();

        log.info("Created Echo");
        log.info("Echo.echo('Hello') = "+echo.echo("Hello"));
        log.info("Echo.echo('Four') = "+echo.echo("Four"));
    }
}
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The first call should succeed, while the second should fail due to the fact that Four is a four-letter word. Run the client as follows using Ant from the examples directory: 
[examples]$ ant -Dchap=security -Dex=1 run-example
run-example1:
...
     [echo] Waiting for 5 seconds for deploy...
     [java] [INFO,ExClient] Looking up EchoBean
     [java] [INFO,ExClient] Created Echo
     [java] [INFO,ExClient] Echo.echo('Hello') = Hello
     [java] Exception in thread "main" java.rmi.AccessException: SecurityException; nested exception is: 
     [java]     java.lang.SecurityException: No 4 letter words
...
     [java] Caused by: java.lang.SecurityException: No 4 letter words
...
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The result is that the echo('Hello') method call succeeds as expected and the echo('Four') method call results in a rather messy looking exception, which is also expected. The above output has been truncated to fit in the book. The key part to the exception is that the SecurityException("No 4 letter words") generated by the EchoSecurityProxy was thrown to abort the attempted method invocation as desired.
The preceding discussion of the general JBoss security layer has stated that the JBoss Security Extension framework (JBossSX) is an implementation of the security layer interfaces. This is the primary purpose of the JBossSX framework. The framework offers a great deal of customization possibilities for integration into existing security infrastructures. A security infrastructure can be anything from a database or LDAP server to a sophisticated security software suite. The integration flexibility is achieved using the Pluggable Authentication Model ( PAM ) available in the JAAS framework.
The heart of the JBossSX framework is org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityManager. This is the default implementation of the AuthenticationManager and RealmMapping interfaces. Figure 4.1, “Relationship between <security-domain> deployment descriptor value, component container, and JaasSecurityManager.” shows how the JaasSecurityManager integrates into the EJB and web container layers based on the <security-domain> element of the corresponding component deployment descriptor.
Relationship between <security-domain> deployment descriptor value, component container, and JaasSecurityManager.
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Relationship between <security-domain> deployment descriptor value, component container, and JaasSecurityManager.

Figure 4.1. Relationship between <security-domain> deployment descriptor value, component container, and JaasSecurityManager.

Figure 4.1, “Relationship between <security-domain> deployment descriptor value, component container, and JaasSecurityManager.” depicts an enterprise application that contains both EJBs and web content secured under the security domain jwdomain. The EJB and web containers have a request interceptor architecture that includes a security interceptor, which enforces the container security model. At deployment time, the <security-domain> element value in the jboss.xml and jboss-web.xml descriptors is used to obtain the security manager instance associated with the container. The security interceptor then uses the security manager to perform its role. When a secured component is requested, the security interceptor delegates security checks to the security manager instance associated with the container.
The JBossSX JaasSecurityManager implementation performs security checks based on the information associated with the Subject instance that results from executing the JAAS login modules configured under the name matching the <security-domain> element value. We will drill into the JaasSecurityManager implementation and its use of JAAS in the following section.

4.1. How the JaasSecurityManager Uses JAAS
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The JaasSecurityManager uses the JAAS packages to implement the AuthenticationManager and RealmMapping interface behavior. In particular, its behavior derives from the execution of the login module instances that are configured under the name that matches the security domain to which the JaasSecurityManager has been assigned. The login modules implement the security domain's principal authentication and role-mapping behavior. Thus, you can use the JaasSecurityManager across different security domains simply by plugging in different login module configurations for the domains.
To illustrate the details of the JaasSecurityManager's usage of the JAAS authentication process, you will walk through a client invocation of an EJB home method invocation. The prerequisite setting is that the EJB has been deployed in the server and its home interface methods have been secured using <method-permission> elements in the ejb-jar.xml descriptor, and it has been assigned a security domain named jwdomain using the jboss.xml descriptor <security-domain> element.
Secured EJB Home Method Authentication and Authorization Invocation Steps.
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Secured EJB Home Method Authentication and Authorization Invocation Steps.

Figure 4.2. Secured EJB Home Method Authentication and Authorization Invocation Steps.

Figure 4.2, “Secured EJB Home Method Authentication and Authorization Invocation Steps.” provides a view of the client to server communication. The numbered steps shown are:
  1. The client must perform a JAAS log in to establish the principal and credentials for authentication, and this is labeled Client Side Login in the figure. This is how clients establish their login identities in JBoss. Support for presenting the login information via JNDI InitialContext properties is provided via an alternate configuration.
    A JAAS log in entails creating a LoginContext instance and passing in the name of the configuration to use. The configuration name is other. This one-time log in associates the login principal and credentials with all subsequent EJB method invocations. Note that the process might not authenticate the user. The nature of the client-side log in depends on the login module configuration that the client uses. In this example, the other client-side login configuration entry is set up to use the ClientLoginModule module (an org.jboss.security.ClientLoginModule). This is the default client side module that simply binds the user name and password to the JBoss EJB invocation layer for later authentication on the server. The identity of the client is not authenticated on the client.
  2. The client obtains the EJB home interface and attempts to create a bean. This event is labeled as Home Method Invocation. This results in a home interface method invocation being sent to the server. The invocation includes the method arguments passed by the client, along with the user identity and credentials from the client-side JAAS log in performed in Step 1.
  3. On the server side, the security interceptor first requires authentication of the user invoking the call, which, as on the client side, involves a JAAS log in.
  4. The security domain under which the EJB is secured determines the choice of login modules. The security domain name is used as the login configuration entry name passed to the LoginContext constructor. The EJB security domain is jwdomain. If the JAAS log in authenticates the user, a JAAS Subject is created that contains the following in its PrincipalsSet:
    • A java.security.Principal that corresponds to the client identity as known in the deployment security environment.
    • A java.security.acl.Group named Roles that contains the role names from the application domain to which the user has been assigned. org.jboss.security.SimplePrincipal objects are used to represent the role names; SimplePrincipal is a simple string-based implementation of Principal. These roles are used to validate the roles assigned to methods in ejb-jar.xml and the EJBContext.isCallerInRole(String) method implementation.
    • An optional java.security.acl.Group named CallerPrincipal, which contains a single org.jboss.security.SimplePrincipal that corresponds to the identity of the application domain's caller. The CallerPrincipal sole group member will be the value returned by the EJBContext.getCallerPrincipal() method. The purpose of this mapping is to allow a Principal as known in the operational security environment to map to a Principal with a name known to the application. In the absence of a CallerPrincipal mapping the deployment security environment principal is used as the getCallerPrincipal method value. That is, the operational principal is the same as the application domain principal.
  5. The final step of the security interceptor check is to verify that the authenticated user has permission to invoke the requested method. This is labeled as Server Side Authorization in Figure 4.2, “Secured EJB Home Method Authentication and Authorization Invocation Steps.”. Performing the authorization this entails the following steps:
    • Obtain the names of the roles allowed to access the EJB method from the EJB container. The role names are determined by ejb-jar.xml descriptor <role-name> elements of all <method-permission> elements containing the invoked method.
    • If no roles have been assigned, or the method is specified in an exclude-list element, then access to the method is denied. Otherwise, the doesUserHaveRole method is invoked on the security manager by the security interceptor to see if the caller has one of the assigned role names. This method iterates through the role names and checks if the authenticated user's Subject Roles group contains a SimplePrincipal with the assigned role name. Access is allowed if any role name is a member of the Roles group. Access is denied if none of the role names are members.
    • If the EJB was configured with a custom security proxy, the method invocation is delegated to it. If the security proxy wants to deny access to the caller, it will throw a java.lang.SecurityException. If no SecurityException is thrown, access to the EJB method is allowed and the method invocation passes to the next container interceptor. Note that the SecurityProxyInterceptor handles this check and this interceptor is not shown.
    • For JBoss Web connections, Tomcat manages elements of security constraint, and role verification.
      When a request is received for a web connection, Tomcat checks the security constraints defined in web.xml that match the requested resource and the accessed HTTP method.
      If a constraint exists for the request, Tomcat calls the JaasSecurityManager to perform the principal authentication, which in turn ensures the user roles are associated with that principal object.
      Role verification is performed solely by Tomcat, including checks on parameters such as allRoles , and whether STRICT_MODE is used.
Every secured EJB method invocation, or secured web content access, requires the authentication and authorization of the caller because security information is handled as a stateless attribute of the request that must be presented and validated on each request. This can be an expensive operation if the JAAS log in involves client-to-server communication. Because of this, the JaasSecurityManager supports the notion of an authentication cache that is used to store principal and credential information from previous successful logins. You can specify the authentication cache instance to use as part of the JaasSecurityManager configuration as you will see when the associated MBean service is discussed in following section. In the absence of any user-defined cache, a default cache that maintains credential information for a configurable period of time is used.

4.2. The JaasSecurityManagerService MBean
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The JaasSecurityManagerService MBean service manages security managers. Although its name begins with Jaas, the security managers it handles need not use JAAS in their implementation. The name arose from the fact that the default security manager implementation is the JaasSecurityManager. The primary role of the JaasSecurityManagerService is to externalize the security manager implementation. You can change the security manager implementation by providing an alternate implementation of the AuthenticationManager and RealmMapping interfaces.
The second fundamental role of the JaasSecurityManagerService is to provide a JNDI javax.naming.spi.ObjectFactory implementation to allow for simple code-free management of the JNDI name to security manager implementation mapping. Security is enabled by specifying the JNDI name of the security manager implementation via the <security-domain> deployment descriptor element.
When you specify a JNDI name, there has to be an object-binding there to use. To simplify the setup of the JNDI name to security manager bindings, the JaasSecurityManagerService manages the association of security manager instances to names by binding a next naming system reference with itself as the JNDI ObjectFactory under the name java:/jaas. This permits a naming convention of the form java:/jaas/XYZ as the value for the <security-domain> element, and the security manager instance for the XYZ security domain will be created as needed.
The security manager for the domain XYZ is created on the first look up against the java:/jaas/XYZ binding by creating an instance of the class specified by the SecurityManagerClassName attribute using a constructor that takes the name of the security domain.

Important

In Enterprise Application Platform versions prior to v5.0, the "java:/jaas prefix in each <security-domain> deployment descriptor element was required to correctly bind the JNDI name of a security domain to the security manager bindings.
As of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5, the java:/jaas prefix is not required for security domain declaration. The java:/jaas prefix is still supported, and remains for backward compatibility.
For example, consider the following container security configuration snippet: 
<jboss>
    <!-- Configure all containers to be secured under the "customer" security domain -->
    <security-domain>customer</security-domain>
    <!-- ... -->
</jboss>
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Any look up of the name customer will return a security manager instance that has been associated with the security domain named customer. This security manager will implement the AuthenticationManager and RealmMapping security interfaces and will be of the type specified by the SecurityManagerClassName attribute of the JaasSecurityManagerService.
The JaasSecurityManagerService MBean is configured by default for use in the standard JBoss distribution, and you can often use the default configuration as is. The configurable attributes of the JaasSecurityManagerService include:
SecurityManagerClassName
The name of the class that provides the security manager implementation. The implementation must support both the org.jboss.security.AuthenticationManager and org.jboss.security.RealmMapping interfaces. If not specified this defaults to the JAAS-based org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityManager.
CallbackHandlerClassName
The name of the class that provides the javax.security.auth.callback.CallbackHandlerimplementation used by the JaasSecurityManager.

Note

You can override the handler used by the JaasSecurityManager if the default implementation (org.jboss.security.auth.callback.SecurityAssociationHandler) does not meet your needs. Most implementations will find the default handler is sufficient.
SecurityProxyFactoryClassName
The name of the class that provides the org.jboss.security.SecurityProxyFactory implementation. If not specified this defaults to org.jboss.security.SubjectSecurityProxyFactory.
AuthenticationCacheJndiName
Specifies the location of the security credential cache policy. This is first treated as an ObjectFactory location capable of returning CachePolicy instances on a per-<security-domain> basis. This is done by appending the name of the security domain to this name when looking up the CachePolicy for a domain. If this fails, the location is treated as a single CachePolicy for all security domains. As a default, a timed cache policy is used.
DefaultCacheTimeout
Specifies the default timed cache policy timeout in seconds. The default value is 1800 seconds (30 minutes). The value you use for the timeout is a trade-off between frequent authentication operations and how long credential information may be out of sync with respect to the security information store. If you want to disable caching of security credentials, set this to 0 to force authentication to occur every time. This has no affect if the AuthenticationCacheJndiName has been changed from the default value.
DefaultCacheResolution
Specifies the default timed cache policy resolution in seconds. This controls the interval at which the cache current time stamp is updated and should be less than the DefaultCacheTimeout in order for the timeout to be meaningful. The default resolution is 60 seconds (1 minute). This has no affect if the AuthenticationCacheJndiName has been changed from the default value.
DefaultUnauthenticatedPrincipal
Specifies the principal to use for unauthenticated users. This setting makes it possible to set default permissions for users who have not been authenticated.
The JaasSecurityManagerService also supports a number of useful operations. These include flushing any security domain authentication cache at runtime, getting the list of active users in a security domain authentication cache, and any of the security manager interface methods.
Flushing a security domain authentication cache can be used to drop all cached credentials when the underlying store has been updated and you want the store state to be used immediately. The MBean operation signature is: public void flushAuthenticationCache(String securityDomain) .
This can be invoked programmatically using the following code snippet: 
MBeanServer server = ...;
String jaasMgrName = "jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityManager";
ObjectName jaasMgr = new ObjectName(jaasMgrName);
Object[] params = {domainName};
String[] signature = {"java.lang.String"};
server.invoke(jaasMgr, "flushAuthenticationCache", params, signature);
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Getting the list of active users provides a snapshot of the Principals keys in a security domain authentication cache that are not expired. The MBean operation signature is: public List getAuthenticationCachePrincipals(String securityDomain).
This can be invoked programmatically using the following code snippet: 
MBeanServer server = ...;
String jaasMgrName = "jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityManager";
ObjectName jaasMgr = new ObjectName(jaasMgrName);
Object[] params = {domainName};
String[] signature = {"java.lang.String"};
List users = (List) server.invoke(jaasMgr, "getAuthenticationCachePrincipals", 
                                  params, signature);
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The security manager has a few additional access methods. 
public boolean isValid(String securityDomain, Principal principal, Object credential);
public Principal getPrincipal(String securityDomain, Principal principal);
public boolean doesUserHaveRole(String securityDomain, Principal principal, 
                                Object credential, Set roles);
public Set getUserRoles(String securityDomain, Principal principal, Object credential);
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They provide access to the corresponding AuthenticationManager and RealmMapping interface method of the associated security domain named by the securityDomain argument.

4.3. The JaasSecurityDomain MBean
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The org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain is an extension of JaasSecurityManager that adds the notion of a KeyStore, a JSSE KeyManagerFactory and a TrustManagerFactory for supporting SSL and other cryptographic use cases. The additional configurable attributes of the JaasSecurityDomain include:
KeyStoreType
The type of the KeyStore implementation. This is the type argument passed to the java.security.KeyStore.getInstance(String type) factory method. The default is JKS.
KeyStoreURL
A URL to the location of the KeyStore database. This is used to obtain an InputStream to initialize the KeyStore. If the string does not contain a name/value URL, the value is treated as a file.
KeyStorePass
The password associated with the KeyStore database contents. The KeyStorePass is also used in combination with the Salt and IterationCount attributes to create a PBE secret key used with the encode/decode operations. The KeyStorePass attribute value format is one of the following:
  • The plain text password for the KeyStore. The toCharArray() value of the string is used without any manipulation.
  • A command to execute to obtain the plain text password. The format is {EXT}... where the ... is the exact command line that will be passed to the Runtime.exec(String) method to execute a platform-specific command. The first line of the command output is used as the password.
  • A class to create to obtain the plain text password. The format is {CLASS}classname[:ctorarg] where the [:ctorarg] is an optional string that will be passed to the constructor when instantiating the classname. The password is obtained from classname by invoking a toCharArray() method if found, otherwise, the toString() method is used.
KeyStoreAlias
Alias of the KeyStore with the certificate to be used.
KeyStoreProvider
Security provider of the KeyStore.
KeyManagerFactoryProvider
Security provider of the KeyManagerFactory.
KeyManagerFactoryAlgorithm
Algorithm of the KeyManagerFactory.
Salt
The PBEParameterSpec salt value.
IterationCount
The PBEParameterSpec iteration count value.
TrustStoreType
The type of the TrustStore implementation. This is the type argument passed to the java.security.KeyStore.getInstance(String type) factory method. The default is JKS.
TrustStoreURL
A URL to the location of the TrustStore database. This is used to obtain an InputStream to initialize the KeyStore. If the string is not a value URL, it is treated as a file.
TrustStorePass
The password associated with the trust store database contents. The TrustStorePass is a simple password and does not have the same configuration options as the KeyStorePass.
TrustStoreProvider
Security provider of the TrustStore.
TrustManagerFactoryProvider
Security provider of the TrustManagerFactory.
TrustManagerFactoryAlgorithm
Algorithm of the KeyManagerFactory.
ManagerServiceName
Sets the JMX object name string of the security manager service MBean. This is used to register the defaults to register the JaasSecurityDomain as a the security manager under java:/jaas/<domain> where <domain> is the name passed to the MBean constructor. The name defaults to jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityManager.

Part II. Application Security
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Chapter 5. Overview
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Application security encompasses authentication, authorization, mapping and auditing.
Authentication
Process by which the server determines whether a user should be able to access a system or operation.
Authorization
Process by which the server determines whether an authenticated user has permission to access specific privileges or resources in the system or operation.
Mapping
Process by which the server associates authenticated users with predefined authorization profiles.
Auditing
Process by which the server monitors authentication and authorization security events.
In JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5, authentication, authorization, and mapping policies are configured with application-level granularity using the concept of a security domain.
Security Domain
A set of authentication, authorization, and mapping policies which are defined in XML and are available to applications at runtime using Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI).
A security domain can be defined in the server profile or in an application deployment descriptor.
Auditing for EJB3 and the web container are configured independently of each other, and operate at the server level.
JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5 uses a pluggable module framework to implement security, providing separation of security implementation and application design. The pluggable module framework provides flexibility in application deployment, configuration, and future development. Modules implementing security functionality are plugged into the framework and provide security functions to applications. Applications plug into the security framework through security domains.
Applications can be deployed in new scenarios with altered security configuration by associating them with a different security domain. New security methods can be implemented by plugging JBoss, custom-built, or third-party modules into the framework. Applications gain the security functionality of that module with no application recoding, by simple reconfiguration of the security domain.
Chapter 6, Security Domain Schema describes the XML configuration of a security domain.
Chapter 7, Authentication contains detailed information about security domain authentication policy.
Chapter 8, Authorization contains detailed information about security domain authorization policy.
Chapter 9, Mapping contains detailed information about security domain mapping policy.

Chapter 6. Security Domain Schema
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The security domain schema is constructed using XML.
The XML Schema Definition (XSD) that defines the structure of the security domain is declared in the security-beans_1_0.xsd file. The location of the file varies depending on which version of the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform you use.
5.1, 5.2
/schema/security-beans_1_0.xsd inside the jboss-as/lib/jbosssx.jar
5.0, 5.0.1
/schema/security-beans_1_0.xsd inside the jboss-as/common/lib/jbosssx.jar
The schema is the same regardless of which JBoss Enterprise Application Platform server you use. 
<application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="">
  <authentication>
    <login-module code="" flag="[required|requisite|sufficient|optional]" extends="">
      <module-option name=""></module-option>
    </login-module>
  </authentication>
  <authorization>
    <policy-module code="" flag="[required|requisite|sufficient|optional]"/>
  </authorization>
  <mapping>
    <mapping-module code="" type="" />
  </mapping>
</application-policy>
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Figure 6.1. Schema of the Security Domain Definition

6.1. Security Domain Elements
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<application-policy>
The elements of a security domain, regardless of how it is deployed within the system, are contained within the <application-policy> element. The element uses the XML namespace, as declared in the xmlns attribute.
The name attribute sets the name of the security domain referenced by an application. The security domain name is bound in JNDI under the java:/jaas context, and is accessed by applications via reference in their deployment descriptors.
An <application-policy> element can contain a number of child elements that set the behavior for the security domain and all applications that use it. These elements are described in greater detail in Section 6.1.1, “<authentication>”, Section 6.1.2, “<authorization>”, and Section 6.1.3, “<mapping>”.

6.1.1. 
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This element contains <login-module> elements, that control which authentication modules are used when authenticating users who connect through the application.
When multiple <login-module> elements are present, they form a collective group of requirements that must be met before authentication is verified. This collective group is called a stack .
<login-module>
This element uses the code attribute to specify what login module implementation an application can use, and the flag attribute to tell the application how to parse each login module present in the stack. The flag attribute supports the following values:
required
The module must succeed for authentication to be successful. If any required <login-module> fails, the authentication will fail. The remaining login modules in the stack are called regardless of the outcome of the authentication.
requisite
The module is required to succeed. If it succeeds, authentication continues down the stack. If the module fails, control immediately returns to the application.
sufficient
The login module is not required to succeed. If it does succeed, control immediately returns to the application. If the module fails, authentication continues down the stack.
optional
The login module is not required to succeed. Authentication still continues to proceed down the stack regardless of whether the login module succeeds or fails.
Each <login-module> contains a set of <module-option> elements that further define settings required by the login module implementation.
<module-option>
Each login module has its own set of configuration options. The name attribute specifies the property required by the login module, and the value is declared in the CDATA of the <module-option> element. Module options depend on what login module you choose. Section 12.1, “Using Modules” covers module options in greater detail.

6.1.2. 
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This element contains <policy-module> elements that define the policy module used to authorize application users, and whether the module is required:
When multiple <policy-module> elements are present, they form a collective group of requirements that must be met before authorization is verified. This collective group is called a stack .
<policy-module>
This element uses the code attribute to specify what policy module implementation an application can use, and the flag attribute to tell the application how to parse each policy module present in the policy stack. The flag attribute supports the following values:
required
The module must succeed for authorization to be successful. If any required <policy-module> fails, the authorization attempt will fail. The remaining modules in the stack are called regardless of the outcome of the module.
requisite
The module is required to succeed. If it succeeds, authorization continues down the stack. If it fails, control immediately returns to the application.
sufficient
The module is not required to succeed. If it does succeed, control immediately returns to the application. If it fails, authorization continues down the stack.
optional
The module is not required to succeed. Authorization still continues to proceed down the stack regardless of whether the module succeeds or fails.

6.1.3. 
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This element contains <mapping-module> elements that are used to define the parameters of the mapping-module elements.
When multiple <mapping-module> elements are present, they form a collective group of requirements that must be met before mapping can succeed. This collective group is called a stack .
<mapping-module>
This element uses the code attribute to specify what mapping module implementation an application can use, and the type attribute to tell the application how to parse each mapping module present in the policy stack. The type attribute supports the following values:
  • credential
  • principal
  • role
  • attribute

Chapter 7. Authentication
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The following examples describe ways you can use application policies in a security domain.
For clarity, only the authentication policy is declared in the examples, however you can include <authorization>, and <mapping> elements in the same <application-policy>. Refer to Section 6.1.1, “<authentication>” for detailed information about the <authentication> element.

Example 7.1. Single login stack authentication policy

This example describes a simple security domain configuration named jmx-console that uses a single login module, UsersRolesLoginModule (refer to Section 12.1.6, “UsersRolesLoginModule”).
The login module is supplied user and role properties from files in the jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/conf/props directory.
In this instance, the <login-module> must succeed or authentication fails. 
<application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0 name="jmx-console">
   <authentication>
       <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsersRolesLoginModule" flag="required">
          <module-option name="usersProperties">props/jmx-console-users.properties</module-option>
          <module-option name="rolesProperties">props/jmx-console-roles.properties</module-option>
       </login-module>
   </authentication>
</application-policy>
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Example 7.2. Multiple login stack authentication policy

This example describes a security domain configuration named web-console that uses two login modules in the authentication login module stack.
One <login-module> obtains login credentials using the LdapLoginModule (refer to Section 12.1.1, “LdapLoginModule”), whereas the other <login-module> obtains authentication credentials using BaseCertLoginModule (refer to Section 12.1.8, “BaseCertLoginModule”).
In this instance, both modules are marked as sufficient, therefore only one of them must succeed for authentication to be successful. 
<application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0 name="web-console">
    <authentication>
    <!-- LDAP configuration -->
    <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.LdapLoginModule" 
         flag="sufficient" />
    <!-- database configuration -->
    <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.BaseCertLoginModule" 
                      flag="sufficient" />
            
    </authentication>
</application-policy>
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7.1. Custom Callback Handlers
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Implementing callback handlers into authentication procedures allows a login module to authenticate a user independent of the client application authentication method.
You can implement callback handlers using the following methods:
  • Specify the CallbackHandlerClassName attribute in the conf/jboss-service.xml JaasSecurityManagerService MBean definition.
  • Inject a callback handler instance into the deploy/security/security-jboss-beans.xml JNDISecurityManagement bean.

Procedure 7.1. Set callback handler using attributes

This procedure describes how to specify a callback handler in the jboss-service.xml configuration file.

  1. Open the configuration file

    Navigate to $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/conf/
    Open the jboss-service.xml file.
    By default, the jboss-service.xml file contains the configuration in Example 7.3, “jboss-service default configuration”

    Example 7.3. jboss-service default configuration

              <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
...

<!-- ==================================================================== -->
<!-- Security                                                             -->
<!-- ==================================================================== -->

<!-- JAAS security manager and realm mapping -->
  <mbean code="org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityManagerService" name="jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityManager">
  <!-- A flag which indicates whether the SecurityAssociation server mode
  is set on service creation. This is true by default since the
  SecurityAssociation should be thread local for multi-threaded server
  operation.-->
  <attribute name="ServerMode">true</attribute>

  <attribute name="SecurityManagerClassName">org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityManager</attribute>

  <attribute name="DefaultUnauthenticatedPrincipal">anonymous</attribute>

  <!-- DefaultCacheTimeout: Specifies the default timed cache policy timeout
  in seconds.
  If you want to disable caching of security credentials, set this to 0 to
  force authentication to occur every time. This has no affect if the
  AuthenticationCacheJndiName has been changed from the default value.-->

  <attribute name="DefaultCacheTimeout">1800</attribute>

  <!-- DefaultCacheResolution: Specifies the default timed cache policy
  resolution in seconds. This controls the interval at which the cache
  current timestamp is updated and should be less than the DefaultCacheTimeout
  in order for the timeout to be meaningful. This has no affect if the
  AuthenticationCacheJndiName has been changed from the default value.-->

  <attribute name="DefaultCacheResolution">60</attribute>

  <!-- DeepCopySubjectMode: This set the copy mode of subjects done by the
  security managers to be deep copies that makes copies of the subject
  principals and credentials if they are cloneable. It should be set to
  true if subject include mutable content that can be corrupted when
  multiple threads have the same identity and cache flushes/logout clearing
  the subject in one thread results in subject references affecting other
  threads.-->

  <attribute name="DeepCopySubjectMode">false</attribute>

  </mbean>

...
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  2. Append the attribute

    To set the custom callback handler, append an <attribute> element as a child of the <mbean> element, and specify the fully qualified name of your callback handler. Refer to Example 7.4, “jboss-service appended callback handler” for an example <attribute> element, with the callback handler specified.

    Example 7.4. jboss-service appended callback handler

              <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
...

<!-- ==================================================================== -->
<!-- Security                                                             -->
<!-- ==================================================================== -->

<!-- JAAS security manager and realm mapping -->
  <mbean code="org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityManagerService" name="jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityManager">
  <!-- A flag which indicates whether the SecurityAssociation server mode
  is set on service creation. This is true by default since the
  SecurityAssociation should be thread local for multi-threaded server
  operation.-->
  <attribute name="ServerMode">true</attribute>

  <attribute name="SecurityManagerClassName">org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityManager</attribute>

  <attribute name="DefaultUnauthenticatedPrincipal">anonymous</attribute>

  <!-- DefaultCacheTimeout: Specifies the default timed cache policy timeout
  in seconds.
  If you want to disable caching of security credentials, set this to 0 to
  force authentication to occur every time. This has no affect if the
  AuthenticationCacheJndiName has been changed from the default value.-->

  <attribute name="DefaultCacheTimeout">1800</attribute>

  <!-- DefaultCacheResolution: Specifies the default timed cache policy
  resolution in seconds. This controls the interval at which the cache
  current timestamp is updated and should be less than the DefaultCacheTimeout
  in order for the timeout to be meaningful. This has no affect if the
  AuthenticationCacheJndiName has been changed from the default value.-->

  <attribute name="DefaultCacheResolution">60</attribute>

  <!-- DeepCopySubjectMode: This set the copy mode of subjects done by the
  security managers to be deep copies that makes copies of the subject
  principals and credentials if they are cloneable. It should be set to
  true if subject include mutable content that can be corrupted when
  multiple threads have the same identity and cache flushes/logout clearing
  the subject in one thread results in subject references affecting other
  threads.-->

  <attribute name="DeepCopySubjectMode">false</attribute>

  <attribute name="CallbackHandlerClassName">org.jboss.security.plugins.[Custom_Callback_Handler_Name]</attribute>

  </mbean>

...
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  3. Restart server

    You have now configured the jboss-service.xml file to use a custom callback handler.
    Restart the server to ensure the new security policy takes effect.

Procedure 7.2. Set security callback handler using injection

This procedure describes how to inject a security callback handler instance into the JNDISecurityManagement bean.

  1. Create custom callback instance

    You must create an instance of the custom callback handler, and register it.

  2. Open the configuration file

    Navigate to $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/deploy/security/
    Open the security-jboss-beans.xml file.
    By default, the security-jboss-beans.xml file contains the JNDIBasedSecurityManagement bean configuration in Example 7.5, “security-jboss-beans default configuration”

    Example 7.5. security-jboss-beans default configuration

    <!-- JNDI Based Security Management -->
<bean name="JBossSecuritySubjectFactory" class="org.jboss.security.integration.JBossSecuritySubjectFactory" />
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  3. Append the injection property

    To inject the callback handler, append a <property> element as a child of the JNDIBasedSecurityManagement <mbean> element. Specify the callback handler using the <property> and <inject> elements described in Example 7.4, “jboss-service appended callback handler”.

    Example 7.6. security-jboss-beans callback handler

    <bean name="JBossSecuritySubjectFactory" class="org.jboss.security.integration.JBossSecuritySubjectFactory">
   <property name="securityManagement">
      <inject bean="JNDIBasedSecurityManagement" />
   </property>
</bean>
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  4. Restart server

    You have now configured the security-jboss-beans.xml file to inject your custom callback handler.
    Restart the server to ensure the new security policy takes effect.

Chapter 8. Authorization
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Authorization relates to the type of component you want to protect, rather than the layer it resides in.
A security domain does not explicitly require an authorization policy. If an authorization policy is not specified, the default jboss-web-policy and jboss-ejb-policy authorization configured in jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/deploy/security/security-policies-jboss-beans.xml is used.
If you do choose to specify an authorization policy, or create a custom deployment descriptor file with a valid authorization policy, these settings override the default settings in security-policies-jboss-beans.xml.
Users can provide authorization policies that implement custom behavior. Configuring custom behavior allows authorization control stacks to be pluggable for a particular component, overriding the default authorization contained in jboss.xml (for EJBs) and jboss-web.xml (for WAR).
Overriding the default authorization for EJB or Web components is provided for Java Authorization Contract for Containers (JACC) and Extensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML), apart from the default modules that implement the specification behavior.
Refer to Section 6.1.2, “<authorization>” for information about the <authorization> element schema.

Procedure 8.1. Set authorization policies for all EJB and WAR components

You can override authorization for all EJBs and Web components, or for a particular component.
This procedure describes how to define JACC authorization control for all EJB and WAR components. The example defines application policy modules for Web and EJB applications: jboss-web-policy, and jboss-ejb-policy.

  1. Open the security policy bean

    Navigate to $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/deploy/security
    Open the security-policies-jboss-beans.xml file.
    By default, the security-policies-jboss-beans.xml file contains the configuration in Example 8.1, “security-policies-jboss-beans.xml”.

    Example 8.1. security-policies-jboss-beans.xml

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<deployment xmlns="urn:jboss:bean-deployer:2.0">

   <application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="jboss-web-policy" extends="other">
      <authorization>
         <policy-module code="org.jboss.security.authorization.modules.DelegatingAuthorizationModule" flag="required"/>
      </authorization>
   </application-policy>   

   <application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="jboss-ejb-policy" extends="other">
      <authorization>
         <policy-module code="org.jboss.security.authorization.modules.DelegatingAuthorizationModule" flag="required"/>
      </authorization>
   </application-policy>

</deployment>
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  2. Change the application-policy definitions

    To set a single authorization policy for each component using JACC, amend each <policy-module> code attribute with the name of the JACC authorization module. 
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<deployment xmlns="urn:jboss:bean-deployer:2.0">

   <application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="jboss-web-policy" extends="other">
      <authorization>
         <policy-module code="org.jboss.security.authorization.modules.JACCAuthorizationModule" flag="required"/>
      </authorization>
   </application-policy>   

   <application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="jboss-ejb-policy" extends="other">
      <authorization>
         <policy-module code="org.jboss.security.authorization.modules.JACCAuthorizationModule" flag="required"/>
      </authorization>
   </application-policy>

   <application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="jacc-test" extends="other">
      <authorization>
         <policy-module code="org.jboss.security.authorization.modules.JACCAuthorizationModule" flag="required"/>
      </authorization>
   </application-policy>

</deployment>
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  3. Restart server

    You have now configured the security-policy-jboss-beans.xml file with JACC authorization enabled for each application policy.
    Restart the server to ensure the new security policy takes effect.
Setting authorization for specific EJB and WEB components

If applications require more granular security policies, you can declare multiple authorization security policies for each application policy. New security domains can inherit base settings from another security domains, and override specific settings such as the authorization policy module.

Procedure 8.2. Set authorization policies for specific security domains

You can override authorization for a particular component.
This procedure describes how to inherit settings from other security domain definitions, and specify different authorization policies per security domain.
In this procedure, two security domains are defined. The test-domain security domain uses the UsersRolesLoginModule login module and uses JACC authorization. The test-domain-inherited security domain inherits the login module information from test-domain, and specifies XACML authorization must be used.

  1. Open the security policy

    You can specify the security domain settings in the jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/conf/login-config.xml file, or create a deployment descriptor file containing the settings. Choose the deployment descriptor if you want to package the security domain settings with your application.

    • Locate and open login-config.xml

      Navigate to the login-config.xml file for the server profile you are using and open the file for editing.
      $JBOSS_HOME/jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/conf/login-config.xml

    • Create a jboss-beans.xml descriptor

      Create a [prefix]-jboss-beans.xml descriptor, replacing [prefix] with a meaningful name (for example, test-war-jboss-beans.xml)
      Save this file in the /deploy directory of the server profile you are configuring.
      jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/deploy/[prefix]-jboss-beans.xml

  2. Specify the test-domain security domain

    In the target file chosen in step 1, specify the test-domain security domain. This domain contains the authentication information, including the <login-module> definition, and the JACC authorization policy module definition. 
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<deployment xmlns="urn:jboss:bean-deployer:2.0">

   <application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="test-domain">
     <authentication>
        <login-module code = "org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsersRolesLoginModule"
            flag = "required">
            <module-option name = "unauthenticatedIdentity">anonymous</module-option>
            <module-option name="usersProperties">u.properties</module-option>
            <module-option name="rolesProperties">r.properties</module-option>
         </login-module>
      </authentication>
      <authorization>
         <policy-module code="org.jboss.security.authorization.modules.JACCAuthorizationModule" flag="required"/>
      </authorization>
   </application-policy>  


</deployment>
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  3. Append the test-domain-inherited security domain

    Append the test-domain-inherited application policy definition after the test-domain application policy.
    Set the extends attribute to other, so the login module information is inherited.
    Specify the XACML authorization module in the <policy-module> element. 
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<deployment xmlns="urn:jboss:bean-deployer:2.0">

   <application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="test-domain">
     <authentication>
        <login-module code = "org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsersRolesLoginModule"
            flag = "required">
            <module-option name = "unauthenticatedIdentity">anonymous</module-option>
            <module-option name="usersProperties">u.properties</module-option>
            <module-option name="rolesProperties">r.properties</module-option>
         </login-module>
      </authentication>
      <authorization>
         <policy-module code="org.jboss.security.authorization.modules.JACCAuthorizationModule" flag="required"/>
      </authorization>
   </application-policy>  

   <application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="test-domain-inherited" extends="test-domain"> 
      <authorization>
         <policy-module code="org.jboss.security.authorization.modules.XACMLAuthorizationModule" flag="required"/>
      </authorization>
   </application-policy> 

</deployment>
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  4. Restart server

    You have now configured the target file with two security domains that use different authorization methods.
    Restart the server to ensure the new security policy takes effect.

8.1. Module Delegation
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Procedure 8.1, “Set authorization policies for all EJB and WAR components” and Procedure 8.2, “Set authorization policies for specific security domains” describe simplistic examples that show how basic authentication can be configured in security domains.
Because authorization relates to the type of component (not the layer) you want to protect, you can use authorization module delegation within a deployment descriptor (*-jboss-beans.xml) to specify different authorization policies to the standard authentication in your implementation.
The org.jboss.security.authorization.modules.AuthorizationModuleDelegate class provides a number of subclasses that allow you to implement module delegation:
  • AbstractJACCModuleDelegate
  • WebPolicyModuleDelegate
  • EJBPolicyModuleDelegate
  • WebXACMLPolicyModuleDelegate
  • WebJACCPolicyModuleDelegate
  • EJBXACMLPolicyModuleDelegate
  • EJBJACCPolicyModuleDelegate
You can create your own authorization delegation module, providing the module extends the org.jboss.security.authorization.modules.AuthorizationModuleDelegate class.
To implement the delegation module, you declare the delegation modules within the <module-option> element of your <authorization> policy. Each module is prefixed with the component it relates to, as shown in Example 8.2, “Delegation Module Declaration”.

Example 8.2. Delegation Module Declaration

<application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="test-domain" extends="other">
  <authorization>
    <policy-module code="xxx.yyy.MyAuthorizationModule" flag="required">
      <module-option name="delegateMap">web=xxx.yyy.mywebauthorizationdelegate,ejb=xxx.yyy.myejbauthorizationdelegate</module-option>
    </policy-module>
  </authorization>
</application-policy>
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Chapter 9. Mapping
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In JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5, it is possible to map additional roles at the deployment level from those derived at the security domain level (such as at the EAR level).
This is achieved by declaring the org.jboss.security.mapping.providers.DeploymentRolesMappingProvider class as the value for the code attribute in the <mapping-module> element. Additionally, the type attribute must be set to role. Refer to Section 6.1.3, “<mapping>” for information about the <mapping> element schema.
By configuring the mapping configuration element within the role-based parameter, you can force additional role interpretation to the declared principals specified for the particular deployment (war, ear, ejb-jar etc).

Important

In versions prior to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5, the <rolemapping> element contained the <mapping-module> element and class declaration. <rolemapping> has now been deprecated, and replaced with the <mapping> element.

Example 9.1. <mapping-module> declaration

<application-policy name="test-domain">
   <authentication>
   ...
   </authentication>
   <mapping>
      <mapping-module code="org.jboss.security.mapping.providers.DeploymentRolesMappingProvider" type="role"/>
   </mapping>
   ...
</application-policy>
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Once the security domain is configured correctly, you can append the <security-role> element group as a child element of the <assembly-descriptor> to the WEB-INF/jboss-web.xml (.war or .sar) file.

Example 9.2. <security-role> declaration

<assembly-descriptor>
   ...
   <security-role>
      <role-name>Support</role-name>
      <principal-name>Mark</principal-name> 
      <principal-name>Tom</principal-name>
   </security-role>
   ...
</assembly-descriptor>
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A security role relating to Support principals is implemented in addition to the base security role information contained in WEB-INF/jboss-web.xml.

Chapter 10. Auditing
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Certain government organizations mandate auditing in enterprise applications to ensure the software components of an implementation are traceable, and operating within their design parameters. Additionally, government regulations and standards require audit controls in addition to standard application auditing.
System administrators can enable security event auditing to constantly monitor the operation of the security domain, and deployed Web and EJB applications.

Important

Security event auditing may introduce a performance impact on servers that manage high event volumes. Auditing is deactivated by default, and should be configured to be available on-demand.
Activating security event auditing differs between Web and EJB components. Procedure 10.1, “Enable the security audit feature” describes the minimum steps to enable the audit service for EJBs in your implementation . Procedure 10.2, “Enable security auditing for Web containers” describes how to enable security event auditing for Web containers.

Important

Web container event auditing can expose sensitive user information. Administrators must ensure appropriate data protection procedures such as password hashing are implemented when configuring security auditing for Web container events.

Procedure 10.1. Enable the security audit feature

  1. Open the log4j configuration file

    Navigate to $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/conf/
    Open the jboss-log4j.xml file using a text editor.

  2. Uncomment the security audit category

    By default, the Security Audit Provider category definition in the jboss-log4j.xml file is commented out. Uncomment the category definition shown in Example 10.1, “log4j Security Audit Provider category”.

    Example 10.1. log4j Security Audit Provider category

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!-- Limit the verbose MC4J EMS (lib used by admin-console) categories -->
<category name="org.mc4j.ems">
  <priority value="WARN"/>
</category>
   
<!-- Show the evolution of the DataSource pool in the logs [inUse/Available/Max]
<category name="org.jboss.resource.connectionmanager.JBossManagedConnectionPool">
  <priority value="TRACE"/>
</category>
   -->

<!-- Category specifically for Security Audit Provider -->
<category name="org.jboss.security.audit.providers.LogAuditProvider" additivity="false">
<priority value="TRACE"/>
  <appender-ref ref="AUDIT"/>
</category>

   
<!-- Limit the org.jboss.serial (jboss-serialization) to INFO as its DEBUG is verbose -->
<category name="org.jboss.serial">
  <priority value="INFO"/>
</category>
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  3. Uncomment the audit appender

    By default, the AUDIT appender definition in the jboss-log4j.xml file is commented out. Uncomment the appender definition shown in Example 10.1, “log4j Security Audit Provider category”.

    Example 10.2. log4j Security Audit Provider category

    ...
<!--  Emit events as JMX notifications
<appender name="JMX" class="org.jboss.monitor.services.JMXNotificationAppender">
  <errorHandler class="org.jboss.logging.util.OnlyOnceErrorHandler"/>
  <param name="Threshold" value="WARN"/>
  <param name="ObjectName" value="jboss.system:service=Logging,type=JMXNotificationAppender"/>
  <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
    <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d %-5p [%c] %m"/>
  </layout>
</appender>
-->

<!-- Security AUDIT Appender -->
<appender name="AUDIT" class="org.jboss.logging.appender.DailyRollingFileAppender">
  <errorHandler class="org.jboss.logging.util.OnlyOnceErrorHandler"/>
  <param name="File" value="${jboss.server.log.dir}/audit.log"/>
  <param name="Append" value="true"/>
  <param name="DatePattern" value="'.'yyyy-MM-dd"/>
  <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
    <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d %-5p [%c] (%t:%x) %m%n"/>
  </layout>
</appender>
   
   <!-- ================ -->
   <!-- Limit categories -->
   <!-- ================ -->

<!-- Limit the org.apache category to INFO as its DEBUG is verbose -->
<category name="org.apache">
  <priority value="INFO"/>
</category>
...
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  4. Save, and restart server

    You have now activated the auditing service for your implementation, as configured in the jboss-log4j.xml file.
    Restart the server to ensure the new security policy takes effect.

  5. Verify security auditing is functioning correctly

    Once the audit service is configured and deployed, audit log entries will verify the audit service and EJB invocation success.
    The audit.log file is located in jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/log/ directory.
    A successful EJB invocation would look similar to the following audit.log output.

    Example 10.3. Successful EJB Invocation log entry

    2008-12-05 16:08:26,719 TRACE [org.jboss.security.audit.providers.LogAuditProvider] (http-127.0.0.1-8080-2:) [Success]policyRegistration=org.jboss.security.plugins.JBossPolicyRegistration@76ed4518; Resource:=[org.jboss.security.authorization.resources.EJBResource:contextMap={policyRegistration=org.jboss.security.plugins.JBossPolicyRegistration@76ed4518}:method=public abstract org.jboss.test.security.interfaces.RunAsServiceRemote org.jboss.test.security.interfaces.RunAsServiceRemoteHome.create() throws java.rmi.RemoteException,javax.ejb.CreateException:ejbMethodInterface=Home:ejbName=RunAs:ejbPrincipal=jduke:MethodRoles=Roles(identitySubstitutionCaller,):securityRoleReferences=null:callerSubject=Subject:
        Principal: [roles=[identitySubstitutionCaller, extraRunAsRole],principal=runAsUser]
        Principal: Roles(members:extraRunAsRole,identitySubstitutionCaller)
:callerRunAs=[roles=[identitySubstitutionCaller, extraRunAsRole],principal=runAsUser]:callerRunAs=[roles=[identitySubstitutionCaller, extraRunAsRole],principal=runAsUser]:ejbRestrictionEnforcement=false:ejbVersion=null];Source=org.jboss.security.plugins.javaee.EJBAuthorizationHelper;Exception:=;
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    An unsuccessful EJB invocation would look similar to the following audit.log output.

    Example 10.4. Unsuccessful EJB Invocation log entry

    [Error]policyRegistration=org.jboss.security.plugins.JBossPolicyRegistration@76ed4518;Resource:=[org.jboss.security.authorization.resources.EJBResource:contextMap={policyRegistration=org.jboss.security.plugins.JBossPolicyRegistration@76ed4518}:method=public java.security.Principal org.jboss.test.security.ejb3.SimpleStatelessSessionBean.invokeUnavailableMethod():ejbMethodInterface=Remote:ejbName=SimpleStatelessSessionBean:ejbPrincipal=UserA:MethodRoles=Roles(<NOBODY>,):securityRoleReferences=null:callerSubject=Subject:
        Principal: UserA
        Principal: Roles(members:RegularUser,Administrator)
:callerRunAs=null:callerRunAs=null:ejbRestrictionEnforcement=false:ejbVersion=null];Source=org.jboss.security.plugins.javaee.EJBAuthorizationHelper;Exception:=Authorization Failed: ;
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Procedure 10.2. Enable security auditing for Web containers

  1. Enable EJB security auditing

    You must enable security as described in Procedure 10.1, “Enable the security audit feature”.

  2. Activate auditing in the server realm

    Web container auditing must first be activated in the server realm of the server.xml file.
    The server.xml file is located in the jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/deploy/jbossweb.sar/ directory.
    The <Realm> element must have the enableAudit="true" attribute set, as per Example 10.5, “server.xml audit activation”.

    Example 10.5. server.xml audit activation

    <Realm className="org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.JBossWebRealm" certificatePrincipal="org.jboss.security.auth.certs.SubjectDNMapping" allRolesMode="authOnly" 
enableAudit="true"/>
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  3. Specify auditing levels system property

    The auditing levels for Web applications must be specified using the org.jboss.security.web.audit system property in the run.conf (Linux) or run.conf.bat (Microsoft Windows) script.
    Alternatively, you can specify the system property in the jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/deploy/properties-service.xml file.

    • Linux

      Add the system property into the jboss-as/bin/run.sh file. 
      ## Specify the Security Audit options
#System Property setting to configure the web audit:
#* off = turn it off
#* headers = audit the headers
#* cookies = audit the cookie
#* parameters = audit the parameters
#* attributes = audit the attributes
#* headers,cookies,parameters = audit the headers,cookie and 
#                               parameters
#* headers,cookies = audit the headers and cookies
JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Dorg.jboss.security.web.audit=headers,cookies,parameter"
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    • Microsoft Windows

      Add the system property into the jboss-as/bin/run.bat file. 
      rem Specify the Security Audit options
rem System Property setting to configure the web audit
rem * off = turn it off
rem * headers = audit the headers
rem * cookies = audit the cookie
rem * parameters = audit the parameters
rem * attributes = audit the attributes
rem * headers,cookies,parameters = audit the headers,cookie and
rem   parameters
rem * headers,cookies = audit the headers and cookies
set JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% " -Dorg.jboss.security.web.audit=headers,cookies,parameter"
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    • properties-service.xml

      Update the SystemPropertiesService class MBean in the jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/deploy/properties-service.xml file, and declare the java property as an <attribute>. You can uncomment the relevant operating system block in the code sample below. 
      <mbean code="org.jboss.varia.property.SystemPropertiesService" 
name="jboss:type=Service,name=SystemProperties">
   <attribute name="Properties">
org.jboss.security.web.audit=headers,cookies,parameter
   </attribute>
</mbean>
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  4. Verify security auditing is functioning correctly

    Once the system property is specified in the files, audit log entries will verify Web invocation success.
    The audit.log file is located in jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/log/ directory.
    A successful Web invocation would look similar to the following audit.log output.

    Example 10.6. Successful Web Invocation log entry

    2008-12-05 16:08:38,997 TRACE [org.jboss.security.audit.providers.LogAuditProvider] (http-127.0.0.1-8080-17:) [Success]policyRegistration=org.jboss.security.plugins.JBossPolicyRegistration@76ed4518;Resource:=[org.jboss.security.authorization.resources.WebResource:contextMap={policyRegistration=org.jboss.security.plugins.JBossPolicyRegistration@76ed4518,securityConstraints=[Lorg.apache.catalina.deploy.SecurityConstraint;@6feeae6, resourcePermissionCheck=true},canonicalRequestURI=/restricted/get-only/x,request=[/web-constraints:cookies=null:headers=user-agent=Jakarta Commons-HttpClient/3.0,authorization=host=localhost:8080,][parameters=],CodeSource=null];securityConstraints=SecurityConstraint[RestrictedAccess - Get Only];Source=org.jboss.security.plugins.javaee.WebAuthorizationHelper;resourcePermissionCheck=true;Exception:=;
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    An unsuccessful EJB invocation would look similar to the following audit.log output.

    Example 10.7. Unsuccessful Web Invocation log entry

    2008-12-05 16:08:41,561 TRACE [org.jboss.security.audit.providers.LogAuditProvider] (http-127.0.0.1-8080-4:) [Failure]principal=anil;Source=org.jboss.web.tomcat.security.JBossWebRealm;request=[/jaspi-web-basic:cookies=null:headers=user-agent=Jakarta Commons-HttpClient/3.0,authorization=host=localhost:8080,][parameters=][attributes=];2008-12-05 16:07:30,129 TRACE [org.jboss.security.audit.providers.LogAuditProvider] (WorkerThread#1[127.0.0.1:55055]:)
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Chapter 11. Deploying Security Domains
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Modular Security Domain
A security domain deployment method, where the security domain declaration is included in a deployment descriptor . A modular security domain takes the form *-jboss-beans.xml. It is included in the META-INF directory of EJB Jars, or the WEB-INF directory of web application (WAR).
Deployment Descriptor
A declarative XML configuration file that describes the deployment settings of an application. The way an application is deployed can be changed within this file, eliminating the need to make changes to the underlying code of the application.
There are two ways of deploying a security domain in JBoss Enterprise Application Platform:
  1. Declare the security domain in the jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/conf/login-config.xml file.
  2. Create and deploy a modular security domain.

Procedure 11.1. Modular Security Domain configuration

Follow this procedure to configure a basic modular security domain deployment descriptor with two domains for EJB and web applications.
Each domain uses the UsersRolesLoginModule for the authorization policy, however you are not limited to this login module when creating a modular security domain. Refer to Section 12.1, “Using Modules” for additional login modules shipped with JBoss Enterprise Application Platform.

  1. Create deployment descriptor

    You must create a deployment descriptor file to contain the security domain configuration.
    If you have already created a deployment descriptor for your application, you can skip this step and proceed to step 2.
    The file name takes the format [domain_name]-jboss-beans.xml. While the domain_name is arbitrary, you should choose a name that is meaningful to the application ensure the name of the deployment descriptor is unique across the server profile.
    The file must contain the standard XML declaration, and a correctly configured <deployment> element. 
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<deployment xmlns="urn:jboss:bean-deployer:2.0">


</deployment>
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  2. Define application policies

    Individual security domains are defined within the <deployment> element.
    In the example below, two security domains are specified. Each authentication policy uses the same login module, and module parameters.

    Note

    Other login modules are available for use with the Enterprise Application Platform. For more information about the available login modules, refer to Section 12.1, “Using Modules” 
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<deployment xmlns="urn:jboss:bean-deployer:2.0">

  <application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="web-test">
    <authentication>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsersRolesLoginModule" flag="required">
        <module-option name="unauthenticatedIdentity">anonymous</module-option>
        <module-option name="usersProperties">u.properties</module-option>
        <module-option name="rolesProperties">r.properties</module-option>
      </login-module>
    </authentication>
  </application-policy>

  <application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="ejb-test">
    <authentication>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsersRolesLoginModule" flag="required">
        <module-option name="unauthenticatedIdentity">anonymous</module-option>
        <module-option name="usersProperties">u.properties</module-option>
        <module-option name="rolesProperties">r.properties</module-option>
      </login-module>
    </authentication>
  </application-policy>

</deployment>
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  3. Deploy or package the deployment descriptor

    Move the deployment descriptor file to the jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/deploy directory of the required server profile in your installation.
    If you are distributing your application to a wider audience, package the deployment descriptor in the META-INF directory of the EJB Jar, or the WEB-INF directory of your web application (WAR).

Chapter 12. Login Modules
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12.1. Using Modules
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JBoss Enterprise Application Platform includes several bundled login modules suitable for most user management needs. JBoss Enterprise Application Platform can read user information from a relational database, an Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server or flat files. In addition to these core login modules, JBoss provides other login modules that provide user information for very customized needs in JBoss.

12.1.1. LdapLoginModule
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LdapLoginModule is a LoginModule implementation that authenticates against a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server. Use the LdapLoginModule if your user name and credentials are stored in an LDAP server that is accessible using a Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) LDAP provider.

Note

If you wish to use LDAP with the SPNEGO authentication or skip some of the authentication phases while using an LDAP server, consider using the AdvancedLDAPLogiModule chained with the SPNEGOLoginModule or only the AdvancedLDAPLoginModule (refer to Negotiation User Guide).
Distinguished Name (DN)
In Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), the distinguished name uniquely identifies an object in a directory. Each distinguished name must have a unique name and location from all other objects, which is achieved using a number of attribute-value pairs (AVPs). The AVPs define information such as common names, organization unit, among others. The combination of these values results in a unique string required by the LDAP.

Note

This login module also supports unauthenticated identity and password stacking.
The LDAP connectivity information is provided as configuration options that are passed through to the environment object used to create JNDI initial context. The standard LDAP JNDI properties used include the following:
java.naming.factory.initial
InitialContextFactory implementation class name. This defaults to the Sun LDAP provider implementation com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.
java.naming.provider.url
LDAP URL for the LDAP server.
java.naming.security.authentication
Security protocol level to use. The available values include none, simple, and strong. If the property is undefined, the behavior is determined by the service provider.
java.naming.security.protocol
Transport protocol to use for secure access. Set this configuration option to the type of service provider (for example, SSL). If the property is undefined, the behavior is determined by the service provider.
java.naming.security.principal
Specifies the identity of the Principal for authenticating the caller to the service. This is built from other properties as described below.
java.naming.security.credentials
Specifies the credentials of the Principal for authenticating the caller to the service. Credentials can take the form of a hashed password, a clear-text password, a key, or a certificate. If the property is undefined, the behavior is determined by the service provider.
The supported login module configuration options include the following:
principalDNPrefix
Prefix added to the user name to form the user distinguished name . See principalDNSuffix for more info.
principalDNSuffix
Suffix added to the user name when forming the user distinguished name. This is useful if you prompt a user for a user name and you do not want the user to have to enter the fully distinguished name. Using this property and principalDNSuffix the userDN will be formed as principalDNPrefix + username + principalDNSuffix
rolesCtxDN
Fixed, distinguished name to the context for searching user roles.
userRolesCtxDNAttributeName
Name of an attribute in the user object that contains the distinguished name to the context to search for user roles. This differs from rolesCtxDN in that the context to search for a user's roles can be unique for each user.
roleAttributeID
Name of the attribute containing the user roles. If not specified, this defaults to roles.
roleAttributeIsDN
Flag indicating whether the roleAttributeID contains the fully distinguished name of a role object, or the role name. The role name is taken from the value of the roleNameAttributeId attribute of the context name by the distinguished name.
If true, the role attribute represents the distinguished name of a role object. If false, the role name is taken from the value of roleAttributeID. The default is false.

Note

In certain directory schemas (e.g., MS ActiveDirectory), role attributes in the user object are stored as DNs to role objects instead of simple names. For implementations that use this schema type, roleAttributeIsDN must be set to true.
roleNameAttributeID
Name of the attribute of the context pointed to by the roleCtxDN distinguished name value which contains the role name. If the roleAttributeIsDN property is set to true, this property is used to find the role object's name attribute. The default is group.
uidAttributeID
Name of the attribute in the object containing the user roles that corresponds to the user ID. This is used to locate the user roles. If not specified this defaults to uid.
matchOnUserDN
Flag that specifies whether the search for user roles should match on the user's fully distinguished name. If true, the full userDN is used as the match value. If false, only the user name is used as the match value against the uidAttributeName attribute. The default value is false.
unauthenticatedIdentity
Principal name to assign to requests containing no authentication information. This behavior is inherited from the UsernamePasswordLoginModule superclass.
allowEmptyPasswords
A flag indicating if empty (length 0) passwords should be passed to the LDAP server. An empty password is treated as an anonymous log in by some LDAP servers, and this may not be a desirable feature. To reject empty passwords, set this to false . If set to true, the LDAP server will validate the empty password. The default is true.
searchTimeLimit
The timeout in milliseconds for the user/role searches. Defaults to 10000 (10 seconds).
searchScope
Sets the search scope to one of the strings. The default is SUBTREE_SCOPE. Other supported values include:
  • OBJECT_SCOPE : only search the named roles context.
  • ONELEVEL_SCOPE : search directly under the named roles context.
  • SUBTREE_SCOPE : If the roles context is not a DirContext, search only the object. If the roles context is a DirContext, search the subtree rooted at the named object, including the named object itself.
jaasSecurityDomain
The JMX ObjectName of the JaasSecurityDomain used to decrypt the java.naming.security.principal. The encrypted form of the password is that returned by the JaasSecurityDomainencrypt64(byte[]) method. The org.jboss.security.plugins.PBEUtils can also be used to generate the encrypted form.
User authentication is performed by connecting to the LDAP server, based on the login module configuration options. Connecting to the LDAP server is done by creating an InitialLdapContext with an environment composed of the LDAP JNDI properties described previously in this section.
The Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL is set to the distinguished name of the user obtained by the callback handler in combination with the principalDNPrefix and principalDNSuffix option values, and the Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS property is set to the respective String password.
Once authentication has succeeded (InitialLdapContext instance is created), the user's roles are queried by performing a search on the rolesCtxDN location with search attributes set to the roleAttributeName and uidAttributeName option values. The roles names are obtaining by invoking the toString method on the role attributes in the search result set.

Example 12.1. LDAP Login Module Authentication Policy

This authentication policy describes how you use the parameters in a security domain authentication policy 
<application-policy name="testLDAP">
   <authentication>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.LdapLoginModule"
flag="required">
         <module-option name="java.naming.factory.initial"> com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory
         </module-option>
         <module-option name="java.naming.provider.url">
ldap://ldaphost.jboss.org:1389/
         </module-option>
         <module-option name="java.naming.security.authentication">
simple
         </module-option>
         <module-option name="principalDNPrefix">uid=</module-option>                <module-option name="principalDNSuffix">
,ou=People,dc=jboss,dc=org
         </module-option>
         <module-option name="rolesCtxDN">                  ou=Roles,dc=jboss,dc=org
         </module-option>
         <module-option name="uidAttributeID">member</module-option>
         <module-option name="matchOnUserDN">true</module-option>
         <module-option name="roleAttributeID">cn</module-option>
         <module-option name="roleAttributeIsDN">false </module-option>
      </login-module>
   </authentication>
</application-policy>
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The java.naming.factory.initial, java.naming.factory.url and java.naming.security options in the testLDAP <login-module> configuration indicate the following conditions:
  • The Sun LDAP JNDI provider implementation will be used
  • The LDAP server is located on host ldaphost.jboss.org on port 1389
  • The LDAP simple authentication method will be use to connect to the LDAP server.
The login module attempts to connect to the LDAP server using a Distinguished Name (DN) representing the user it is trying to authenticate. This DN is constructed from the passed principalDNPrefix, the user name of the user and the principalDNSuffix as described above. In Example 12.2, “LDIF File Example”, the user name jsmith would map to uid=jsmith,ou=People,dc=jboss,dc=org.

Note

The example assumes the LDAP server authenticates users using the userPassword attribute of the user's entry (theduke in this example). Most LDAP servers operate in this manner, however if your LDAP server handles authentication differently you must ensure LDAP is configured according to your production environment requirements.
Once authentication succeeds, the roles on which authorization will be based are retrieved by performing a subtree search of the rolesCtxDN for entries whose uidAttributeID match the user. If matchOnUserDN is true, the search will be based on the full DN of the user. Otherwise the search will be based on the actual user name entered. In this example, the search is under ou=Roles,dc=jboss,dc=org for any entries that have a member attribute equal to uid=jduke,ou=People,dc=jboss,dc=org. The search would locate cn=JBossAdmin under the roles entry.
The search returns the attribute specified in the roleAttributeID option. In this example, the attribute is cn. The value returned would be JBossAdmin, so the jsmith user is assigned to the JBossAdmin role.
A local LDAP server often provides identity and authentication services, but is unable to use authorization services. This is because application roles do not always map well onto LDAP groups, and LDAP administrators are often hesitant to allow external application-specific data in central LDAP servers. The LDAP authentication module is often paired with another login module, such as the database login module, that can provide roles more suitable to the application being developed.
An LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) file representing the structure of the directory this data operates against is shown in Example 12.2, “LDIF File Example”.
LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF)
Plain text data interchange format used to represent LDAP directory content and update requests. Directory content is represented as one record for each object or update request. Content consists of add, modify, delete, and rename requests.

Example 12.2. LDIF File Example

dn: dc=jboss,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: dcObject
objectclass: organization
dc: jboss
o: JBoss

dn: ou=People,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: organizationalUnit
ou: People

dn: uid=jsmith,ou=People,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: uidObject
objectclass: person
uid: jsmith
cn: John
sn: Smith
userPassword: theduke

dn: ou=Roles,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: organizationalUnit
ou: Roles

dn: cn=JBossAdmin,ou=Roles,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: groupOfNames
cn: JBossAdmin
member: uid=jsmith,ou=People,dc=jboss,dc=org
description: the JBossAdmin group
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12.1.2. LdapExtLoginModule
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Distinguished Name (DN)
In Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), the distinguished name uniquely identifies an object in a directory. Each distinguished name must have a unique name and location from all other objects, which is achieved using a number of attribute-value pairs (AVPs). The AVPs define information such as common names, organization unit, among others. The combination of these values results in a unique string required by the LDAP.
The org.jboss.security.auth.spi.LdapExtLoginModule searches for the user to bind, as well as the associated roles, for authentication. The roles query recursively follows DNs to navigate a hierarchical role structure.
The LoginModule options include whatever options are supported by the chosen LDAP JNDI provider supports. Examples of standard property names are:
  • Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY = "java.naming.factory.initial"
  • Context.SECURITY_PROTOCOL = "java.naming.security.protocol"
  • Context.PROVIDER_URL = "java.naming.provider.url"
  • Context.SECURITY_AUTHENTICATION = "java.naming.security.authentication"
  • Context.REFERRAL = "java.naming.referral"
Login module implementation logic follows the order below:
  1. The initial LDAP server bind is authenticated using the bindDN and bindCredential properties. The bindDN is a user with permissions to search both the baseCtxDN and rolesCtxDN trees for the user and roles. The user DN to authenticate against is queried using the filter specified by the baseFilter property.
  2. The resulting userDN is authenticated by binding to the LDAP server using the userDN as the InitialLdapContext environment Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL. The Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS property is either set to the String password obtained by the callback handler.
  3. If this is successful, the associated user roles are queried using the rolesCtxDN, roleAttributeID, roleAttributeIsDN, roleNameAttributeID, and roleFilter options.

LdapExtLoginModule Properties

baseCtxDN
Specifies the fixed DN of the context to start the user search from.
bindDN
Specifies the DN used to bind against the LDAP server for the user and role queries. Set bindDN to a DN with read/search permissions on the baseCtxDN and rolesCtxDn properties.
bindCredential
The password for the bindDN. bindCredential can be encrypted if jaasSecurityDomain is specified. This property allows an external command to read the password. For example {EXT}cat file_with_password.
jaasSecurityDomain
The JMX ObjectName of the JaasSecurityDomain used to decrypt the java.naming.security.principal. The encrypted form of the password is that returned by the JaasSecurityDomainencrypt64(byte[]) method. The org.jboss.security.plugins.PBEUtils can also be used to generate the encrypted form.
baseFilter
A search filter used to locate the context of the user to authenticate. The input username/userDN as obtained from the login module callback is substituted into the filter anywhere a {0} expression exists. This substitution behavior originates from the standard DirContext.search(Name, String, Object[], SearchControls cons) method. An common example search filter is (uid={0}).
rolesCtxDN
The fixed DN of the context to search for user roles. This is not the DN of where the actual roles are; this is the DN of where the objects containing the user roles are. For example, in active directory, this is the DN where the user account is.
roleFilter
Search filter used to locate the roles associated with the authenticated user. The input username/userDN as obtained from the login module callback is substituted into the filter anywhere a {0} expression exists. The authenticated userDN is substituted into the filter anywhere a {1} is seen. An example search filter that matches on the input username is (member={0}). An alternative that matches on the authenticated userDN is (member={1}).
roleAttributeIsDN
Flag indicating whether the roleAttributeID contains the full DN of a role object, or the role name. The role name is derived from the value of the roleNameAttributeId attribute of the context name by the distinguished name.
If set to true, the role attribute represents the distinguished name of a role object. If set to false, the role name is taken from the value of roleAttributeID. The default is false.

Note

In certain directory schemas (e.g., MS ActiveDirectory), role attributes in the user object are stored as DNs to role objects instead of simple names. For implementations that use this schema type, roleAttributeIsDN must be set to true.
roleAttributeID
Name of the attribute containing the user roles. If roleAttributeIsDN is set to true, this property is the DN of the context to query for the roleNameAttributeID attribute. If the roleAttributeIsDN property is set to false, this property is the attribute name of the role name.
roleNameAttributeID
Name of the attribute of the context pointed to by the roleCtxDN distinguished name value which contains the role name. If the roleAttributeIsDN property is set to true, this property is used to find the role object's name attribute. The default is group.
roleRecursion
Specifies how many levels the role search traverses a given matching context. The default is 0 (deactivated).
searchTimeLimit
The timeout in milliseconds for the user/role searches. Defaults to 10000 (10 seconds).
searchScope
Sets the search scope to one of the strings. The default is SUBTREE_SCOPE. Other supported values include:
  • OBJECT_SCOPE : only search the named roles context.
  • ONELEVEL_SCOPE : search directly under the named roles context.
  • SUBTREE_SCOPE : If the roles context is not a DirContext, search only the object. If the roles context is a DirContext, search the subtree rooted at the named object, including the named object itself.
allowEmptyPasswords
A flag indicating if empty(length==0) passwords should be passed to the LDAP server.
An empty password is treated as an anonymous log in by some LDAP servers. If set to false, empty passwords are rejected. If set to true, the LDAP server validates the empty password. The default is true.
defaultRole
A role included for all authenticated users.
parseRoleNameFromDN
A flag indicating if the DN returned by a query contains the roleNameAttributeID. If set to true, the DN is checked for the roleNameAttributeID. If set to false, the DN is not checked for the roleNameAttributeID. This flag can improve the performance of LDAP queries.
parseUsername
A flag indicating if the DN is to be parsed for the username. If set to true, the DN is parsed for the username. If set to false the DN is not parsed for the username. This option is used together with usernameBeginString and usernameEndString.
usernameBeginString
Defines the string which is to be removed from the start of the DN to reveal the username. This option is used together with usernameEndString.
usernameEndString
Defines the string which is to be removed from the end of the DN to reveal the username. This option is used together with usernameBeginString.
distinguishedNameAttribute
Defines a distinguished name to provide a unique 'path' to any object in the LDAP database.
LDAP Structure Example
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LDAP Structure Example

Figure 12.1. LDAP Structure Example

Example 12.3. Example 2 LDAP Configuration

version: 1
dn: o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: dcObject
objectClass: organization
dc: jboss
o: JBoss

dn: ou=People,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: People

dn: uid=jduke,ou=People,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: uidObject
objectClass: person
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
cn: Java Duke
employeeNumber: judke-123
sn: Duke
uid: jduke
userPassword:: dGhlZHVrZQ==

dn: uid=jduke2,ou=People,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: uidObject
objectClass: person
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
cn: Java Duke2
employeeNumber: judke2-123
sn: Duke2
uid: jduke2
userPassword:: dGhlZHVrZTI=

dn: ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: Roles

dn: uid=jduke,ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupUserEx
memberOf: cn=Echo,ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
memberOf: cn=TheDuke,ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
uid: jduke

dn: uid=jduke2,ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupUserEx
memberOf: cn=Echo2,ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
memberOf: cn=TheDuke2,ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
uid: jduke2

dn: cn=Echo,ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupOfNames
cn: Echo
description: the echo role
member: uid=jduke,ou=People,dc=jboss,dc=org

dn: cn=TheDuke,ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: groupOfNames
objectClass: top
cn: TheDuke
description: the duke role
member: uid=jduke,ou=People,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org

dn: cn=Echo2,ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupOfNames
cn: Echo2
description: the Echo2 role
member: uid=jduke2,ou=People,dc=jboss,dc=org

dn: cn=TheDuke2,ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: groupOfNames
objectClass: top
cn: TheDuke2
description: the duke2 role
member: uid=jduke2,ou=People,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org

dn: cn=JBossAdmin,ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupOfNames
cn: JBossAdmin
description: the JBossAdmin group
member: uid=jduke,ou=People,dc=jboss,dc=org
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The module configuration for this LDAP structure example is outlined in the code sample. 
testLdapExample2 {
   org.jboss.security.auth.spi.LdapExtLoginModule
      java.naming.factory.initial=com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory
      java.naming.provider.url="ldap://lamia/"
      java.naming.security.authentication=simple
      bindDN="cn=Root,dc=jboss,dc=org"
      bindCredential=secret1
      baseCtxDN="ou=People,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org"
      baseFilter="(uid={0})"
      rolesCtxDN="ou=Roles,o=example2,dc=jboss,dc=org";
      roleFilter="(uid={0})"
      roleAttributeIsDN="true"
      roleAttributeID="memberOf"
      roleNameAttributeID="cn"
};
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Example 12.4. Example 3 LDAP Configuration

dn: o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: dcObject
objectclass: organization
dc: jboss
o: JBoss

dn: ou=People,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: organizationalUnit
ou: People

dn: uid=jduke,ou=People,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: uidObject
objectclass: person
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
uid: jduke
employeeNumber: judke-123
cn: Java Duke
sn: Duke
userPassword: theduke

dn: ou=Roles,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: Roles

dn: uid=jduke,ou=Roles,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupUserEx
memberOf: cn=Echo,ou=Roles,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org
memberOf: cn=TheDuke,ou=Roles,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org
uid: jduke

dn: cn=Echo,ou=Roles,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: groupOfNames
cn: Echo
description: the JBossAdmin group
member: uid=jduke,ou=People,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org

dn: cn=TheDuke,ou=Roles,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: groupOfNames
objectClass: top
cn: TheDuke
member: uid=jduke,ou=People,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org
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The module configuration for this LDAP structure example is outlined in the code sample. 
testLdapExample3 {
   org.jboss.security.auth.spi.LdapExtLoginModule
      java.naming.factory.initial=com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory
      java.naming.provider.url="ldap://lamia/"
      java.naming.security.authentication=simple
      bindDN="cn=Root,dc=jboss,dc=org"
      bindCredential=secret1
      baseCtxDN="ou=People,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org"
      baseFilter="(cn={0})"
      rolesCtxDN="ou=Roles,o=example3,dc=jboss,dc=org";
      roleFilter="(member={1})"
      roleAttributeID="cn"
};
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Example 12.5. Example 4 LDAP Configuration

dn: o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: dcObject
objectclass: organization
dc: jboss
o: JBoss

dn: ou=People,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectclass: top
objectclass: organizationalUnit
ou: People

dn: uid=jduke,ou=People,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: uidObject
objectClass: person
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
cn: Java Duke
employeeNumber: jduke-123
sn: Duke
uid: jduke
userPassword:: dGhlZHVrZQ==

dn: ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: top
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: Roles

dn: cn=RG1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: groupOfNames
objectClass: top
cn: RG1
member: cn=empty

dn: cn=RG2,cn=RG1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: groupOfNames
objectClass: top
cn: RG2
member: cn=RG1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
member: uid=jduke,ou=People,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org

dn: cn=RG3,cn=RG1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: groupOfNames
objectClass: top
cn: RG3
member: cn=RG1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org

dn: cn=R1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: groupOfNames
objectClass: top
cn: R1
member: cn=RG2,cn=RG1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org

dn: cn=R2,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: groupOfNames
objectClass: top
cn: R2
member: cn=RG2,cn=RG1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org

dn: cn=R3,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: groupOfNames
objectClass: top
cn: R3
member: cn=RG2,cn=RG1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
member: cn=RG3,cn=RG1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org

dn: cn=R4,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: groupOfNames
objectClass: top
cn: R4
member: cn=RG3,cn=RG1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org

dn: cn=R5,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
objectClass: groupOfNames
objectClass: top
cn: R5
member: cn=RG3,cn=RG1,ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
member: uid=jduke,ou=People,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org
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The module configuration for this LDAP structure example is outlined in the code sample. 
testLdapExample4 {
   org.jboss.security.auth.spi.LdapExtLoginModule
      java.naming.factory.initial=com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory
      java.naming.provider.url="ldap://lamia/"
      java.naming.security.authentication=simple
      bindDN="cn=Root,dc=jboss,dc=org"
      bindCredential=secret1
      baseCtxDN="ou=People,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org"
      baseFilter="(cn={0})"
      rolesCtxDN="ou=Roles,o=example4,dc=jboss,dc=org";
      roleFilter="(member={1})"
      roleAttributeID="memberOf"
};
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Example 12.6. Default ActiveDirectory Configuration

The example below is represents the configuration for a default Active Directory configuration. 
      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<application-policy name="AD_Default">
   <authentication>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.LdapExtLoginModule" flag="required" >
      <!--
      Some AD configurations may require searching against
      the Global Catalog on port 3268 instead of the usual
      port 389.  This is most likely when the AD forest
      includes multiple domains.
      -->
         <module-option name="java.naming.provider.url">ldap://ldap.jboss.org:389</module-option>
         <module-option name="bindDN">JBOSS\someadmin</module-option>
         <module-option name="bindCredential">password</module-option>
         <module-option name="baseCtxDN">cn=Users,dc=jboss,dc=org</module-option>
         <module-option name="baseFilter">(sAMAccountName={0})</module-option>
         <module-option name="rolesCtxDN">cn=Users,dc=jboss,dc=org</module-option>
         <module-option name="roleFilter">(sAMAccountName={0})</module-option>
         <module-option name="roleAttributeID">memberOf</module-option>
         <module-option name="roleAttributeIsDN">true</module-option>
         <module-option name="roleNameAttributeID">cn</module-option>
         <module-option name="searchScope">ONELEVEL_SCOPE</module-option>
         <module-option name="allowEmptyPasswords">false</module-option>
      </login-module>
   </authentication>
</application-policy>
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Example 12.7. Recursive Roles ActiveDirectory Configuration

The example below implements a recursive role search within ActiveDirectory. The key difference between Example 12.6, “Default ActiveDirectory Configuration” is the role search has been replaced to search the member attribute using the DN of the user. The login module then uses the DN of the role to find groups that the group is a member of. 
      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<application-policy name="AD_Recursive">
   <authentication>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.LdapExtLoginModule" flag="required" > 
         <module-option name="java.naming.provider.url">ldap://ad.jboss.org:389</module-option>
         <module-option name="bindDN">JBOSS\searchuser</module-option>
         <module-option name="bindCredential">password</module-option>
         <module-option name="baseCtxDN">CN=Users,DC=jboss,DC=org</module-option>
         <module-option name="baseFilter">(sAMAccountName={0})</module-option>
         <module-option name="rolesCtxDN">CN=Users,DC=jboss,DC=org</module-option>
         <module-option name="roleFilter">(member={1})</module-option>
         <module-option name="roleAttributeID">cn</module-option>
         <module-option name="roleAttributeIsDN">false</module-option>
         <module-option name="roleRecursion">2</module-option>
         <module-option name="searchScope">ONELEVEL_SCOPE</module-option>
         <module-option name="allowEmptyPasswords">false</module-option>
         <module-option name="java.naming.referral">follow</module-option>
      </login-module>
   </authentication>
</application-policy>
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12.1.3. Password Stacking
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Multiple login modules can be chained together in a stack, with each login module providing both the authentication and authorization components. This works for many use cases, but sometimes authentication and authorization are split across multiple user management stores.
Section 12.1.1, “LdapLoginModule”describes how to combine LDAP and a relational database, allowing a user to be authenticated by either system. However, consider the case where users are managed in a central LDAP server but application-specific roles are stored in the application's relational database. The password-stacking module option captures this relationship.
To use password stacking, each login module should set the <module-option> password-stacking attribute to useFirstPass. If a previous module configured for password stacking has authenticated the user, all the other stacking modules will consider the user authenticated and only attempt to provide a set of roles for the authorization step.
When password-stacking option is set to useFirstPass, this module first looks for a shared user name and password under the property names javax.security.auth.login.name and javax.security.auth.login.password respectively in the login module shared state map.
If found, these properties are used as the principal name and password. If not found, the principal name and password are set by this login module and stored under the property names javax.security.auth.login.name and javax.security.auth.login.password respectively.

Note

When using password stacking, set all modules to be required. This ensures that all modules are considered, and have the chance to contribute roles to the authorization process.

Example 12.8. Password Stacking Sample

This example shows how password stacking could be used. 
<application-policy name="todo">
   <authentication>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.LdapLoginModule" 
flag="required">
      <!-- LDAP configuration -->
         <module-option name="password-stacking">useFirstPass</module-option>
      </login-module>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.DatabaseServerLoginModule" flag="required">
      <!-- database configuration -->                
         <module-option name="password-stacking">useFirstPass</module-option>
      </login-module>
   </authentication>
</application-policy>
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12.1.4. Password Hashing
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Most login modules must compare a client-supplied password to a password stored in a user management system. These modules generally work with plain text passwords, but can be configured to support hashed passwords to prevent plain text passwords from being stored on the server side.

Example 12.9. Password Hashing

The following is a login module configuration that assigns unauthenticated users the principal name nobody and contains based64-encoded, MD5 hashes of the passwords in a usersb64.properties file. The usersb64.properties file can be part of the deployment classpath, or be saved in the /conf directory. 
<policy> 
   <application-policy name="testUsersRoles"> 
      <authentication> 
         <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsersRolesLoginModule" flag="required"> 
            <module-option name="usersProperties">usersb64.properties</module-option> 
            <module-option name="rolesProperties">test-users-roles.properties</module-option> 
            <module-option name="unauthenticatedIdentity">nobody</module-option> 
            <module-option name="hashAlgorithm">MD5</module-option> 
            <module-option name="hashEncoding">base64</module-option> 
         </login-module> 
      </authentication> 
   </application-policy> 
</policy>
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hashAlgorithm
Name of the java.security.MessageDigest algorithm to use to hash the password. There is no default so this option must be specified to enable hashing. Typical values are MD5 and SHA.
hashEncoding
String that specifies one of three encoding types: base64, hex or rfc2617. The default is base64.
hashCharset
Encoding character set used to convert the clear text password to a byte array. The platform default encoding is the default.
hashUserPassword
Specifies the hashing algorithm must be applied to the password the user submits. The hashed user password is compared against the value in the login module, which is expected to be a hash of the password. The default is true.
hashStorePassword
Specifies the hashing algorithm must be applied to the password stored on the server side. This is used for digest authentication, where the user submits a hash of the user password along with a request-specific tokens from the server to be compare. The hash algorithm (for digest, this would be rfc2617) is utilized to compute a server-side hash, which should match the hashed value sent from the client.
If you must generate passwords in code, the org.jboss.security.Util class provides a static helper method that will hash a password using the specified encoding. The following example produces a base64-encoded, MD5 hashed password. 
String hashedPassword = Util.createPasswordHash("MD5",
 Util.BASE64_ENCODING, null, null, "password");
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OpenSSL provides an alternative way to quickly generate hashed passwords at the command-line. The following example also produces a base64-encoded, MD5 hashed password. Here the password in plain text - password - is piped into the OpenSSL digest function then piped into another OpenSSL function to convert into base64-encoded format. 
echo -n password | openssl dgst -md5 -binary | openssl base64
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In both cases, the hashed version of the password is the same: X03MO1qnZdYdgyfeuILPmQ==. This value must be stored in the users properties file specified in the application policy - usersb64.properties - in the example above.

12.1.5. Unauthenticated Identity
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Not all requests are received in an authenticated format. unauthenticatedIdentity is a login module configuration option that assigns a specific identity (guest, for example) to requests that are made with no associated authentication information. This can be used to allow unprotected servlets to invoke methods on EJBs that do not require a specific role. Such a principal has no associated roles and so can only access either unsecured EJBs or EJB methods that are associated with the unchecked permission constraint.
  • unauthenticatedIdentity: This defines the principal name that should be assigned to requests that contain no authentication information.

12.1.6. UsersRolesLoginModule
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UsersRolesLoginModule is a simple login module that supports multiple users and user roles loaded from Java properties files. The user name-to-password mapping file is called users.properties and the user name-to-roles mapping file is called roles.properties.
The supported login module configuration options include the following:
usersProperties
Name of the properties resource (file) containing the user name to password mappings. This defaults to <file_prefix>-users.properties.
rolesProperties
Name of the properties resource (file) containing the user name to roles mappings. This defaults to <file_prefix>-roles.properties.
This login module supports password stacking, password hashing, and unauthenticated identity.
The properties files are loaded during initialization using the initialize method thread context class loader. This means that these files can be placed into the Java EE deployment JAR, the JBoss configuration directory, or any directory on the server or system classpath. The primary purpose of this login module is to easily test the security settings of multiple users and roles using properties files deployed with the application.

Example 12.10. UserRolesLoginModule

<deployment xmlns="urn:jboss:bean-deployer:2.0"> 

   <!-- ejb3 test application-policy definition --> 
   <application-policy xmlns="urn:jboss:security-beans:1.0" name="ejb3-sampleapp"> 
      <authentication> 
         <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsersRolesLoginModule" flag="required"> 
            <module-option name="usersProperties">ejb3-sampleapp-users.properties</module-option> 
            <module-option name="rolesProperties">ejb3-sampleapp-roles.properties</module-option> 
         </login-module> 
      </authentication> 
   </application-policy> 

</deployment>
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In Example 12.10, “UserRolesLoginModule”, the ejb3-sampleapp-users.properties file uses a username=password format with each user entry on a separate line: 
username1=password1
username2=password2
...
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The ejb3-sampleapp-roles.properties file referenced in Example 12.10, “UserRolesLoginModule” uses the pattern username=role1,role2, with an optional group name value. For example: 
username1=role1,role2,...
username1.RoleGroup1=role3,role4,...
username2=role1,role3,...
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The user name.XXX property name pattern present in ejb3-sampleapp-roles.properties is used to assign the user name roles to a particular named group of roles where the XXX portion of the property name is the group name. The user name=... form is an abbreviation for user name.Roles=..., where the Roles group name is the standard name the JaasSecurityManager expects to contain the roles which define the users permissions.
The following would be equivalent definitions for the jduke user name: 
jduke=TheDuke,AnimatedCharacter
jduke.Roles=TheDuke,AnimatedCharacter
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12.1.7. DatabaseServerLoginModule
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The DatabaseServerLoginModule is a Java Database Connectivity-based (JDBC) login module that supports authentication and role mapping. Use this login module if you have your user name, password and role information stored in a relational database.

Note

This module supports password stacking, password hashing and unauthenticated identity.
The DatabaseServerLoginModule is based on two logical tables: 
Table Principals(PrincipalID text, Password text)
Table Roles(PrincipalID text, Role text, RoleGroup text)
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The Principals table associates the user PrincipalID with the valid password and the Roles table associates the user PrincipalID with its role sets. The roles used for user permissions must be contained in rows with a RoleGroup column value of Roles.
The tables are logical in that you can specify the SQL query that the login module uses. The only requirement is that the java.sql.ResultSet has the same logical structure as the Principals and Roles tables described previously. The actual names of the tables and columns are not relevant as the results are accessed based on the column index.
To clarify this notion, consider a database with two tables, Principals and Roles, as already declared. The following statements populate the tables with the following data:
  • PrincipalID java with a Password of echoman in the Principals table
  • PrincipalID java with a role named Echo in the RolesRoleGroup in the Roles table
  • PrincipalID java with a role named caller_java in the CallerPrincipalRoleGroup in the Roles table 
INSERT INTO Principals VALUES('java', 'echoman')
INSERT INTO Roles VALUES('java', 'Echo', 'Roles')
INSERT INTO Roles VALUES('java', 'caller_java', 'CallerPrincipal')
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The supported login module configuration options include the following:
dsJndiName
The JNDI name for the DataSource of the database containing the logical Principals and Roles tables. If not specified this defaults to java:/DefaultDS.
principalsQuery
The prepared statement query equivalent to: select Password from Principals where PrincipalID=?. If not specified this is the exact prepared statement that will be used.
rolesQuery
The prepared statement query equivalent to: select Role, RoleGroup from Roles where PrincipalID=?. If not specified this is the exact prepared statement that will be used.
ignorePasswordCase
A boolean flag indicating if the password comparison should ignore case. This can be useful for hashed password encoding where the case of the hashed password is not significant.
principalClass
An option that specifies a Principal implementation class. This must support a constructor taking a string argument for the principal name.
transactionManagerJndiName
The JNDI name of the transaction manager used by the login module. If no value is provided, the default java:/TransactionManager is used.
suspendResume
A boolean flag indicating whether an active transaction associated with the current thread should be suspended during a database operation and resumed after the operation is completed. The default value is true.
An example DatabaseServerLoginModule configuration could be constructed as follows: 
CREATE TABLE Users(username VARCHAR(64) PRIMARY KEY, passwd VARCHAR(64))
CREATE TABLE UserRoles(username VARCHAR(64), userRoles VARCHAR(32))
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A corresponding login-config.xml entry would be: 
<policy>
   <application-policy name="testDB">
      <authentication>
         <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.DatabaseServerLoginModule" flag="required">
            <module-option name="dsJndiName">java:/MyDatabaseDS</module-option>
            <module-option name="principalsQuery">select passwd from Users username where username=?</module-option>
            <module-option name="rolesQuery">select userRoles, 'Roles' from UserRoles where username=?</module-option>
         </login-module>
      </authentication>
   </application-policy>
</policy>
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12.1.8. BaseCertLoginModule
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BaseCertLoginModule authenticates users based on X509 certificates. A typical use case for this login module is CLIENT-CERT authentication in the web tier.
This login module only performs authentication: you must combine it with another login module capable of acquiring authorization roles to completely define access to a secured web or EJB component. Two subclasses of this login module, CertRolesLoginModule and DatabaseCertLoginModule extend the behavior to obtain the authorization roles from either a properties file or database.
The BaseCertLoginModule needs a KeyStore to perform user validation. This is obtained through a org.jboss.security.SecurityDomain implementation. Typically, the SecurityDomain implementation is configured using the org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain MBean as shown in this jboss-service.xml configuration fragment: 
<mbean code="org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain" name="jboss.ch8:service=SecurityDomain">
   <constructor>
      <arg type="java.lang.String" value="jmx-console"/>
   </constructor>
   <attribute name="KeyStoreURL">resource:localhost.keystore</attribute>
   <attribute name="KeyStorePass">unit-tests-server</attribute>
</mbean>
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The configuration creates a security domain with the name jmx-console, with a SecurityDomain implementation available through JNDI under the name java:/jaas/jmx-console. The security domain follows the JBossSX security domain naming pattern.

Procedure 12.1. Secure Web Applications with Certificates and Role-based Authorization

This procedure describes how to secure a web application, such as the jmx-console.war, using client certificates and role-based authorization.

  1. Declare Resources and Roles

    Modify web.xml to declare the resources to be secured along with the allowed roles and security domain to be used for authentication and authorization. 
    <?xml version="1.0"?>
<web-app version="2.5" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd">
   
 ...
   <!-- A security constraint that restricts access to the HTML JMX   console to users with the role JBossAdmin. Edit the roles to what you want and uncomment the WEB-INF/jboss-web.xml/security-domain element to enable secured access to the HTML JMX console. -->
   <security-constraint>
      <web-resource-collection>
         <web-resource-name>HtmlAdaptor</web-resource-name>
         <description>An example security config that only allows users with the role JBossAdmin to access the HTML JMX console web application
         </description>
         <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
      </web-resource-collection>
      <auth-constraint>
         <role-name>JBossAdmin</role-name>
      </auth-constraint>
   </security-constraint>

   <login-config>
      <auth-method>BASIC</auth-method>
      <realm-name>JBoss JMX Console</realm-name>
   </login-config>

   <security-role>
      <role-name>JBossAdmin</role-name>
   </security-role>
</web-app>
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  2. Specify the JBoss Security Domain

    In the jboss-web.xml file, specify the required security domain. 
    <jboss-web>
   <security-domain>jmx-console</security-domain>
</jboss-web>
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  3. Specify Login Module Configuration

    Define the login module configuration for the jmx-console security domain you just specified. This is done in the conf/login-config.xml file. 
    <application-policy name="jmx-console">
   <authentication>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.BaseCertLoginModule" flag="required">
         <module-option name="password-stacking">useFirstPass</module-option>
         <module-option name="securityDomain">jmx-console</module-option>
      </login-module>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsersRolesLoginModule" flag="required">
         <module-option name="password-stacking">useFirstPass</module-option>
         <module-option name="usersProperties">jmx-console-users.properties</module-option>
         <module-option name="rolesProperties">jmx-console-roles.properties</module-option>
      </login-module>
   </authentication>
</application-policy>
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Procedure 12.1, “Secure Web Applications with Certificates and Role-based Authorization”shows the BaseCertLoginModule is used for authentication of the client cert, and the UsersRolesLoginModule is only used for authorization due to the password-stacking=useFirstPass option. Both the localhost.keystore and the jmx-console-roles.properties require an entry that maps to the principal associated with the client cert.
By default, the principal is created using the client certificate distinguished name, such as the DN specified in Example 12.11, “Certificate Example”.

Example 12.11. Certificate Example

[conf]$ keytool -printcert -file unit-tests-client.export
Owner: CN=unit-tests-client, OU=JBoss Inc., O=JBoss Inc., ST=Washington, C=US
Issuer: CN=jboss.com, C=US, ST=Washington, L=Snoqualmie Pass, EMAILADDRESS=admin
@jboss.com, OU=QA, O=JBoss Inc.
Serial number: 100103
Valid from: Wed May 26 07:34:34 PDT 2004 until: Thu May 26 07:34:34 PDT 2005
Certificate fingerprints:
         MD5:  4A:9C:2B:CD:1B:50:AA:85:DD:89:F6:1D:F5:AF:9E:AB
         SHA1: DE:DE:86:59:05:6C:00:E8:CC:C0:16:D3:C2:68:BF:95:B8:83:E9:58
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The localhost.keystore would need the certificate in Example 12.11, “Certificate Example” stored with an alias of CN=unit-tests-client, OU=JBoss Inc., O=JBoss Inc., ST=Washington, C=US. The jmx-console-roles.properties would also need an entry for the same entry. Since the DN contains characters that are normally treated as delimiters, you must escape the problem characters using a backslash ('\') as illustrated below. 
# A sample roles.properties file for use with the UsersRolesLoginModule
CN\=unit-tests-client,\ OU\=JBoss\ Inc.,\ O\=JBoss\ Inc.,\ ST\=Washington,\ C\=US=JBossAdmin
admin=JBossAdmin
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12.1.9. IdentityLoginModule
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IdentityLoginModule is a simple login module that associates a hard-coded user name to any subject authenticated against the module. It creates a SimplePrincipal instance using the name specified by the principal option.

Note

This module supports password stacking.
This login module is useful when you need to provide a fixed identity to a service, and in development environments when you want to test the security associated with a given principal and associated roles.
The supported login module configuration options include:
principal
This is the name to use for the SimplePrincipal all users are authenticated as. The principal name defaults to guest if no principal option is specified.
roles
This is a comma-delimited list of roles that will be assigned to the user.
A sample XMLLoginConfig configuration entry is described below. The entry authenticates all users as the principal named jduke and assign role names of TheDuke, and AnimatedCharacter:. 
<policy>
   <application-policy name="testIdentity">
      <authentication>
         <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.IdentityLoginModule" flag="required">
            <module-option name="principal">jduke</module-option>
            <module-option name="roles">TheDuke,AnimatedCharacter</module-option>
         </login-module>
      </authentication>
   </application-policy>
</policy>
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12.1.10. RunAsLoginModule
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RunAsLoginModule (org.jboss.security.auth.spi.RunAsLoginModule) is a helper module that pushes a run as role onto the stack for the duration of the log in phase of authentication, and pops the run as role in either the commit or abort phase.
The purpose of this login module is to provide a role for other login modules that must access secured resources in order to perform their authentication (for example, a login module that accesses a secured EJB). RunAsLoginModule must be configured ahead of the login modules that require a run as role established.
The only login module configuration option is:
roleName
Name of the role to use as the run as role during log in phase. If not specified a default of nobody is used.

12.1.11. RunAsIdentity Creation
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In order for JBoss Enterprise Application Platform to secure access to EJB methods, the user's identity must be known at the time the method call is made.
A user's identity in the server is represented either by a javax.security.auth.Subject instance or an org.jboss.security.RunAsIdentity instance. Both these classes store one or more principals that represent the identity and a list of roles that the identity possesses. In the case of the javax.security.auth.Subject a list of credentials is also stored.
In the <assembly-descriptor> section of the ejb-jar.xml deployment descriptor, you specify one or more roles that a user must have to access the various EJB methods. A comparison of these lists reveals whether the user has one of the roles necessary to access the EJB method.

Example 12.12. org.jboss.security.RunAsIdentity Creation

In the ejb-jar.xml file, you specify a <security-identity> element with a <run-as> role defined as a child of the <session> element. 
<session>
   ...
   <security-identity>
      <run-as>
         <role-name>Admin</role-name>
      </run-as>
   </security-identity>
   ...
</session>
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This declaration signifies that an "Admin" RunAsIdentity role must be created.
To name a principal for the Admin role, you define a <run-as-principal> element in the jboss-web.xml file. 
<session>
   ...
   <security-identity>
      <run-as-principal>John</run-as-principal>
   </security-identity>
   ...
</session>
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The <security-identity> element in both the ejb-jar.xml and jboss-web.xml files are parsed at deployment time. The <run-as> role name and the <run-as-principal> name are then stored in the org.jboss.metadata.SecurityIdentityMetaData class.

Example 12.13. Assigning multiple roles to a RunAsIdentity

You can assign more roles to RunAsIdentity by mapping roles to principals in the jboss-web.xml deployment descriptor <assembly-descriptor> element group. 
<assembly-descriptor>
   ...
   <security-role>
      <role-name>Support</role-name>
      <principal-name>John</principal-name>
      <principal-name>Jill</principal-name>
      <principal-name>Tony</principal-name>
   </security-role>
   ...
</assembly-descriptor>
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In Example 12.12, “org.jboss.security.RunAsIdentity Creation”, the <run-as-principal> of "Mark" was created. The configuration in this example extends the "Admin" role, by adding the "Support" role. The new role contains extra principals, including the originally defined principal "John".
The <security-role> element in both the ejb-jar.xml and jboss.xml files are parsed at deployment time. The <role-name> and the <principal-name> data is stored in the org.jboss.metadata.SecurityIdentityMetaData class.

12.1.12. ClientLoginModule
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ClientLoginModule (org.jboss.security.ClientLoginModule) is an implementation of LoginModule for use by JBoss clients for establishing caller identity and credentials. This simply sets the org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation.principal to the value of the NameCallback filled in by the callbackhandler, and the org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation.credential to the value of the PasswordCallback filled in by the callbackhandler.
ClientLoginModule is the only supported mechanism for a client to establish the current thread's caller. Both stand-alone client applications, and server environments (acting as JBoss EJB clients where the security environment has not been configured to use JBossSX transparently) must use ClientLoginModule.
Note that this login module does not perform any authentication. It merely copies the login information provided to it into the server EJB invocation layer for subsequent authentication on the server. If you need to perform client-side authentication of users you would need to configure another login module in addition to the ClientLoginModule.
The supported login module configuration options include the following:
multi-threaded
Value that specifies the way login threads connect to principal and credential storage sources. When set to true, each login thread has its own principal and credential storage and each separate thread must perform its own log in. This is useful in client environments where multiple user identities are active in separate threads. When set to false the login identity and credentials are global variables that apply to all threads in the VM. The default setting is false.
password-stacking
Activates client-side authentication of clients using other login modules such as the LdapLoginModule. When password-stacking option is set to useFirstPass, the module first looks for a shared user name and password using javax.security.auth.login.name and javax.security.auth.login.password respectively in the login module shared state map. This allows a module configured prior to this one to establish a valid JBoss user name and password.
restore-login-identity
Value that specifies whether the SecurityAssociation principal and credential seen on entry to the login() method are saved and restored on either abort or logout. This is necessary if you must change identities and then restore the original caller identity. If set to true, the principal and credential information is saved and restored on abort or logout. If set to false, abort and logout clear the SecurityAssociation. The default value is false.

12.1.13. SPNEGOLoginModule
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SPNEGOLoginModule (org.jboss.security.negotiation.spnego.SPNEGOLoginModule) is an implementation of LoginModule that establishes caller identity and credentials with a KDC. The module implements SPNEGO (Simple and Protected GSSAPI Negotiation mechanism) and is a part of the JBoss Negotiation project. This authentication can be used in the chained configuration with the AdvancedLDAPLoginModule to allow cooperation with an LDAP server. For further information on JBoss Negotiation refer to the Negotiation User Guide.

12.1.14. RoleMappingLoginModule
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RoleMappingLoginModule is a login module that supports mapping roles that are the end result of the authentication process to one or more declarative roles; for example, if the authentication process has determined that the user "A" has the roles "ldapAdmin" and "testAdmin", and the declarative role defined in the web.xml or ejb-jar.xml file for access is "admin", then this login module maps the "admin" roles to the user "A".
The supported login module configuration options include the following:
rolesProperties
Name of the properties file that defines the addition/substitution rules; the value defines the file in the form as located using Classloader or with its absolute location given by the java.net.url pattern (for example, file:/rolesMap.properties)
replaceRole
Flag determining if the key role is replaced with the mapped roles or the mapped roles are added to the key role (set to true to have the key role replaced with the mapped roles)
The RoleMappingLoginModule must be defined as an optional module to a login module configuration as it alters mapping of the previously mapped roles. 
<application-policy name="jmx-console">
    <authentication>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsersRolesLoginModule"
        flag="required">
        <module-option name="usersProperties">props/jmx-console-users.properties</module-option>
        <module-option name="rolesProperties">props/jmx-console-roles.properties</module-option>
      </login-module>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.RoleMappingLoginModule"
        flag="optional"> 
        <module-option name="rolesProperties">props/rolesMapping-roles.properties</module-option>
      </login-module>
    </authentication>
  </application-policy>
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Example 12.14. Properties File used by a RoleMappingLoginModule

ldapAdmin=admin, testAdmin
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If the authenticated subject contains role "ldapAdmin", then the roles "admin" and "testAdmin" are added to or substitute the authenticated subject depending on the replaceRole property value.

12.2. Custom Modules
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If the login modules bundled with the JBossSX framework do not work with your security environment, you can write your own custom login module implementation. The JaasSecurityManager requires a particular usage pattern of the Subject principals set. You must understand the JAAS Subject class's information storage features and the expected usage of these features to write a login module that works with the JaasSecurityManager.
This section examines this requirement and introduces two abstract base LoginModule implementations that can help you implement custom login modules.
You can obtain security information associated with a Subject by using the following methods: 
java.util.Set getPrincipals()
java.util.Set getPrincipals(java.lang.Class c)
java.util.Set getPrivateCredentials()
java.util.Set getPrivateCredentials(java.lang.Class c)
java.util.Set getPublicCredentials()
java.util.Set getPublicCredentials(java.lang.Class c)
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For Subject identities and roles, JBossSX has selected the most logical choice: the principals sets obtained via getPrincipals() and getPrincipals(java.lang.Class). The usage pattern is as follows:
  • User identities (for example; user name, social security number, employee ID) are stored as java.security.Principal objects in the SubjectPrincipals set. The Principal implementation that represents the user identity must base comparisons and equality on the name of the principal. A suitable implementation is available as the org.jboss.security.SimplePrincipal class. Other Principal instances may be added to the SubjectPrincipals set as needed.
  • Assigned user roles are also stored in the Principals set, and are grouped in named role sets using java.security.acl.Group instances. The Group interface defines a collection of Principals and/or Groups, and is a subinterface of java.security.Principal.
  • Any number of role sets can be assigned to a Subject.
  • The JBossSX framework uses two well-known role sets with the names Roles and CallerPrincipal.
    • The Roles group is the collection of Principals for the named roles as known in the application domain under which the Subject has been authenticated. This role set is used by methods like the EJBContext.isCallerInRole(String), which EJBs can use to see if the current caller belongs to the named application domain role. The security interceptor logic that performs method permission checks also uses this role set.
    • The CallerPrincipal Group consists of the single Principal identity assigned to the user in the application domain. The EJBContext.getCallerPrincipal() method uses the CallerPrincipal to allow the application domain to map from the operation environment identity to a user identity suitable for the application. If a Subject does not have a CallerPrincipal Group, the application identity is the same as operational environment identity.

12.2.1. Subject Usage Pattern Support
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To simplify correct implementation of the Subject usage patterns described in Section 12.2, “Custom Modules”, JBossSX includes login modules that populate the authenticated Subject with a template pattern that enforces correct Subject usage.
AbstractServerLoginModule

The most generic of the two is the org.jboss.security.auth.spi.AbstractServerLoginModule class.

It provides an implementation of the javax.security.auth.spi.LoginModule interface and offers abstract methods for the key tasks specific to an operation environment security infrastructure. The key details of the class are highlighted in Example 12.15, “AbstractServerLoginModule Class Fragment”. The JavaDoc comments detail the responsibilities of subclasses.

Important

The loginOk instance variable is pivotal. This must be set to true if the log in succeeds, or false by any subclasses that override the log in method. If this variable is incorrectly set, the commit method will not correctly update the subject.
Tracking the log in phase outcomes allows login modules to be chained together with control flags. These control flags do not require the login modules to succeed as part of the authentication process.

Example 12.15. AbstractServerLoginModule Class Fragment

package org.jboss.security.auth.spi;
/**
 *  This class implements the common functionality required for a JAAS
 *  server-side LoginModule and implements the JBossSX standard
 *  Subject usage pattern of storing identities and roles. Subclass
 *  this module to create your own custom LoginModule and override the
 *  login(), getRoleSets(), and getIdentity() methods.
 */
public abstract class AbstractServerLoginModule
    implements javax.security.auth.spi.LoginModule
{
    protected Subject subject;
    protected CallbackHandler callbackHandler;
    protected Map sharedState;
    protected Map options;
    protected Logger log;

    /** Flag indicating if the shared credential should be used */
    protected boolean useFirstPass;
    /** 
     * Flag indicating if the login phase succeeded. Subclasses that
     * override the login method must set this to true on successful
     * completion of login
     */
    protected boolean loginOk;
                
    // ...
    /**
     * Initialize the login module. This stores the subject,
     * callbackHandler and sharedState and options for the login
     * session. Subclasses should override if they need to process
     * their own options. A call to super.initialize(...)  must be
     * made in the case of an override.
     *
     * <p>
     * The options are checked for the  <em>password-stacking</em> parameter.
     * If this is set to "useFirstPass", the login identity will be taken from the
     * <code>javax.security.auth.login.name</code> value of the sharedState map,
     * and the proof of identity from the
     * <code>javax.security.auth.login.password</code> value of the sharedState map.
     *
     * @param subject the Subject to update after a successful login.
     * @param callbackHandler the CallbackHandler that will be used to obtain the
     * the user identity and credentials.
     * @param sharedState a Map shared between all configured login module instances
     * @param options the parameters passed to the login module.
     */
    public void initialize(Subject subject,
                           CallbackHandler callbackHandler,
                           Map sharedState,
                           Map options)
    {
        // ...
    }
    

    /**
     *  Looks for javax.security.auth.login.name and
     *  javax.security.auth.login.password values in the sharedState
     *  map if the useFirstPass option was true and returns true if
     *  they exist. If they do not or are null this method returns
     *  false.  
     *  Note that subclasses that override the login method
     *  must set the loginOk var to true if the login succeeds in
     *  order for the commit phase to populate the Subject. This
     *  implementation sets loginOk to true if the login() method
     *  returns true, otherwise, it sets loginOk to false.
     */
    public boolean login() 
        throws LoginException
    {
        // ...
    }
    
    /**
     *  Overridden by subclasses to return the Principal that
     *  corresponds to the user primary identity.
     */
    abstract protected Principal getIdentity();
                
    /**
     *  Overridden by subclasses to return the Groups that correspond
     *  to the role sets assigned to the user. Subclasses should
     *  create at least a Group named "Roles" that contains the roles
     *  assigned to the user.  A second common group is
     *  "CallerPrincipal," which provides the application identity of
     *  the user rather than the security domain identity.
     * 
     *  @return Group[] containing the sets of roles
     */
    abstract protected Group[] getRoleSets() throws LoginException;
}
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UsernamePasswordLoginModule

The second abstract base login module suitable for custom login modules is the org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsernamePasswordLoginModule.

This login module further simplifies custom login module implementation by enforcing a string-based user name as the user identity and a char[] password as the authentication credentials. It also supports the mapping of anonymous users (indicated by a null user name and password) to a principal with no roles. The key details of the class are highlighted in the following class fragment. The JavaDoc comments detail the responsibilities of subclasses.

Example 12.16. UsernamePasswordLoginModule Class Fragment

package org.jboss.security.auth.spi;

/**
 *  An abstract subclass of AbstractServerLoginModule that imposes a
 *  an identity == String username, credentials == String password
 *  view on the login process. Subclasses override the
 *  getUsersPassword() and getUsersRoles() methods to return the
 *  expected password and roles for the user.
 */
public abstract class UsernamePasswordLoginModule
    extends AbstractServerLoginModule
{
    /** The login identity */
    private Principal identity;
    /** The proof of login identity */
    private char[] credential;
    /** The principal to use when a null username and password are seen */
    private Principal unauthenticatedIdentity;

    /**
     * The message digest algorithm used to hash passwords. If null then
     * plain passwords will be used. */
    private String hashAlgorithm = null;

    /**
     *  The name of the charset/encoding to use when converting the
     * password String to a byte array. Default is the platform's
     * default encoding.
     */
     private String hashCharset = null;

    /** The string encoding format to use. Defaults to base64. */
    private String hashEncoding = null;
                
    // ...
                
    /** 
     *  Override the superclass method to look for an
     *  unauthenticatedIdentity property. This method first invokes
     *  the super version.
     *
     *  @param options,
     *  @option unauthenticatedIdentity: the name of the principal to
     *  assign and authenticate when a null username and password are
     *  seen.
     */
    public void initialize(Subject subject,
                           CallbackHandler callbackHandler,
                           Map sharedState,
                           Map options)
    {
        super.initialize(subject, callbackHandler, sharedState,
                         options);
        // Check for unauthenticatedIdentity option.
        Object option = options.get("unauthenticatedIdentity");
        String name = (String) option;
        if (name != null) {
            unauthenticatedIdentity = new SimplePrincipal(name);
        }
    }
                
    // ...
                
    /**
     *  A hook that allows subclasses to change the validation of the
     *  input password against the expected password. This version
     *  checks that neither inputPassword or expectedPassword are null
     *  and that inputPassword.equals(expectedPassword) is true;
     *
     *  @return true if the inputPassword is valid, false otherwise.
     */
    protected boolean validatePassword(String inputPassword,
                                       String expectedPassword)
    {
        if (inputPassword == null || expectedPassword == null) {
            return false;
        }
        return inputPassword.equals(expectedPassword);
    }
    
    /**
     *  Get the expected password for the current username available
     * via the getUsername() method. This is called from within the
     * login() method after the CallbackHandler has returned the
     * username and candidate password.
     *
     * @return the valid password String
     */
    abstract protected String getUsersPassword()
        throws LoginException;
}
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Subclassing Login Modules

The choice of sub-classing the AbstractServerLoginModule versus UsernamePasswordLoginModule is based on whether a string-based user name and credentials are usable for the authentication technology you are writing the login module for. If the string-based semantic is valid, then subclass UsernamePasswordLoginModule, otherwise subclass AbstractServerLoginModule.

Subclassing Steps

The steps your custom login module must execute depend on which base login module class you choose. When writing a custom login module that integrates with your security infrastructure, you should start by sub-classing AbstractServerLoginModule or UsernamePasswordLoginModule to ensure that your login module provides the authenticated Principal information in the form expected by the JBossSX security manager.

When sub-classing the AbstractServerLoginModule, you must override the following:
  • void initialize(Subject, CallbackHandler, Map, Map): if you have custom options to parse.
  • boolean login(): to perform the authentication activity. Be sure to set the loginOk instance variable to true if log in succeeds, false if it fails.
  • Principal getIdentity(): to return the Principal object for the user authenticated by the log() step.
  • Group[] getRoleSets(): to return at least one Group named Roles that contains the roles assigned to the Principal authenticated during login(). A second common Group is named CallerPrincipal and provides the user's application identity rather than the security domain identity.
When sub-classing the UsernamePasswordLoginModule, you must override the following:
  • void initialize(Subject, CallbackHandler, Map, Map): if you have custom options to parse.
  • Group[] getRoleSets(): to return at least one Group named Roles that contains the roles assigned to the Principal authenticated during login(). A second common Group is named CallerPrincipal and provides the user's application identity rather than the security domain identity.
  • String getUsersPassword(): to return the expected password for the current user name available via the getUsername() method. The getUsersPassword() method is called from within login() after the callbackhandler returns the user name and candidate password.

12.2.2. Custom LoginModule Example
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The following information will help you to create a custom Login Module example that extends the UsernamePasswordLoginModule and obtains a user's password and role names from a JNDI lookup.
At the end of this section you will have created a custom JNDI context login module that will return a user's password if you perform a lookup on the context using a name of the form password/<username> (where <username> is the current user being authenticated). Similarly, a lookup of the form roles/<username> returns the requested user's roles.
Example 12.17, “JndiUserAndPass Custom Login Module” shows the source code for the JndiUserAndPass custom login module.
Note that because this extends the JBoss UsernamePasswordLoginModule, all JndiUserAndPass does is obtain the user's password and roles from the JNDI store. The JndiUserAndPass does not interact with the JAAS LoginModule operations.

Example 12.17. JndiUserAndPass Custom Login Module

package org.jboss.book.security.ex2;
                    
import java.security.acl.Group;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.naming.InitialContext;
import javax.naming.NamingException;
import javax.security.auth.Subject;
import javax.security.auth.callback.CallbackHandler;
import javax.security.auth.login.LoginException;

import org.jboss.security.SimpleGroup;
import org.jboss.security.SimplePrincipal;
import org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsernamePasswordLoginModule;

/** 
 *  An example custom login module that obtains passwords and roles
 *  for a user from a JNDI lookup.
 *     
 *  @author Scott.Stark@jboss.org
 *  @version $Revision: 1.4 $
*/
public class JndiUserAndPass 
    extends UsernamePasswordLoginModule
{
    /** The JNDI name to the context that handles the password/username lookup */
    private String userPathPrefix;
    /** The JNDI name to the context that handles the roles/ username lookup */
    private String rolesPathPrefix;
    
    /**
     * Override to obtain the userPathPrefix and rolesPathPrefix options.
     */
    public void initialize(Subject subject, CallbackHandler callbackHandler,
                           Map sharedState, Map options)
    {
        super.initialize(subject, callbackHandler, sharedState, options);
        userPathPrefix = (String) options.get("userPathPrefix");
        rolesPathPrefix = (String) options.get("rolesPathPrefix");
    }
    
    /**
     *  Get the roles the current user belongs to by querying the
     * rolesPathPrefix + '/' + super.getUsername() JNDI location.
     */
    protected Group[] getRoleSets() throws LoginException
    {
        try {
            InitialContext ctx = new InitialContext();
            String rolesPath = rolesPathPrefix + '/' + super.getUsername();

            String[] roles = (String[]) ctx.lookup(rolesPath);
            Group[] groups = {new SimpleGroup("Roles")};
            log.info("Getting roles for user="+super.getUsername());
            for(int r = 0; r < roles.length; r ++) {
                SimplePrincipal role = new SimplePrincipal(roles[r]);
                log.info("Found role="+roles[r]);
                groups[0].addMember(role);
            }
            return groups;
        } catch(NamingException e) {
            log.error("Failed to obtain groups for
                        user="+super.getUsername(), e);
            throw new LoginException(e.toString(true));
        }
    }
                    
    /** 
     * Get the password of the current user by querying the
     * userPathPrefix + '/' + super.getUsername() JNDI location.
     */
    protected String getUsersPassword() 
        throws LoginException
    {
        try {
            InitialContext ctx = new InitialContext();
            String userPath = userPathPrefix + '/' + super.getUsername();
            log.info("Getting password for user="+super.getUsername());
            String passwd = (String) ctx.lookup(userPath);
            log.info("Found password="+passwd);
            return passwd;
        } catch(NamingException e) {
            log.error("Failed to obtain password for
                        user="+super.getUsername(), e);
            throw new LoginException(e.toString(true));
        }
    }   
}
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The details of the JNDI store are found in the org.jboss.book.security.ex2.service.JndiStore MBean. This service binds an ObjectFactory that returns a javax.naming.Context proxy into JNDI. The proxy handles lookup operations done against it by checking the prefix of the lookup name against password and roles.
When the name begins with password, a user's password is being requested. When the name begins with roles the user's roles are being requested. The example implementation always returns a password of theduke and an array of roles names equal to {"TheDuke", "Echo"} regardless of what the user name is. You can experiment with other implementations as you wish.
The example code includes a simple session bean for testing the custom login module. To build, deploy and run the example, execute the following command in the examples directory. 
[examples]$ ant -Dchap=security -Dex=2 run-example
...
run-example2:
     [echo] Waiting for 5 seconds for deploy...
     [java] [INFO,ExClient] Login with user name=jduke, password=theduke
     [java] [INFO,ExClient] Looking up EchoBean2
     [java] [INFO,ExClient] Created Echo
     [java] [INFO,ExClient] Echo.echo('Hello') = Hello
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The choice of using the JndiUserAndPass custom login module for the server side authentication of the user is determined by the login configuration for the example security domain. The EJB JAR META-INF/jboss.xml descriptor sets the security domain. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<jboss>
   <security-domain>security-ex2</security-domain>
</jboss>
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The SAR META-INF/login-config.xml descriptor defines the login module configuration. 
<application-policy name = "security-ex2">
   <authentication>
      <login-module code="org.jboss.book.security.ex2.JndiUserAndPass" flag="required">
         <module-option name="userPathPrefix">/security/store/password</module-option>
         <module-option name = "rolesPathPrefix">/security/store/roles</module-option>
      </login-module>
   </authentication>
</application-policy>
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Part III. Encryption and Security
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Chapter 13. Secure Remote Password Protocol
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The Secure Remote Password (SRP) protocol is an implementation of a public key exchange handshake described in the Internet Standards Working Group Request For Comments 2945 (RFC2945). The RFC2945 abstract states:
This document describes a cryptographically strong network authentication mechanism known as the Secure Remote Password (SRP) protocol. This mechanism is suitable for negotiating secure connections using a user-supplied password, while eliminating the security problems traditionally associated with reusable passwords. This system also performs a secure key exchange in the process of authentication, allowing security layers (privacy and/or integrity protection) to be enabled during the session. Trusted key servers and certificate infrastructures are not required, and clients are not required to store or manage any long-term keys. SRP offers both security and deployment advantages over existing challenge-response techniques, making it an ideal drop-in replacement where secure password authentication is needed.
The complete RFC2945 specification can be obtained from http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc.html. Additional information on the SRP algorithm and its history can be found at http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~tjw/srp/ .
Algorithms like Diffie-Hellman and RSA are known as public key exchange algorithms. The concept of public key algorithms is that you have two keys, one public that is available to everyone, and one that is private and known only to you. When someone wants to send encrypted information to you, they encrypt the information using your public key. Only you are able to decrypt the information using your private key. Contrast this with the more traditional shared password based encryption schemes that require the sender and receiver to know the shared password. Public key algorithms eliminate the need to share passwords.
The JBossSX framework includes an implementation of SRP that consists of the following elements:
  • An implementation of the SRP handshake protocol that is independent of any particular client/server protocol
  • An RMI implementation of the handshake protocol as the default client/server SRP implementation
  • A client side JAAS LoginModule implementation that uses the RMI implementation for use in authenticating clients in a secure fashion
  • A JMX MBean for managing the RMI server implementation. The MBean allows the RMI server implementation to be plugged into a JMX framework and externalizes the configuration of the verification information store. It also establishes an authentication cache that is bound into the server JNDI namespace.
  • A server side JAAS LoginModule implementation that uses the authentication cache managed by the SRP JMX MBean.
Figure 13.1, “The JBossSX components of the SRP client-server framework.” describes the key components involved in the JBossSX implementation of the SRP client/server framework.
The JBossSX components of the SRP client-server framework.
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The JBossSX components of the SRP client-server framework.

Figure 13.1. The JBossSX components of the SRP client-server framework.

On the client side, SRP shows up as a custom JAAS LoginModule implementation that communicates with the authentication server through an org.jboss.security.srp.SRPServerInterface proxy. A client enables authentication using SRP by creating a login configuration entry that includes the org.jboss.security.srp.jaas.SRPLoginModule . This module supports the following configuration options:
srpServerJndiName
JNDI name of the SRPServerInterface object used to communicate with the SRP authentication server. If both srpServerJndiName and srpServerRmiUrl options are specified, srpServerJndiName takes priority over srpServerRmiUrl .
srpServerRmiUrl
RMI protocol URL string for the location of the SRPServerInterface proxy used to communicate with the SRP authentication server.
externalRandomA
Flag that specifies whether the random component of the client public key "A" should come from the user callback. This can be used to input a strong cryptographic random number coming from a hardware token. If set to true , the feature is activated.
hasAuxChallenge
Flag that specifies whether a string will be sent to the server as an additional challenge for the server to validate. If the client session supports an encryption cipher then a temporary cipher will be created using the session private key and the challenge object sent as a javax.crypto.SealedObject . If set to true , the feature is activated.
multipleSessions
Flag that specifies whether a given client may have multiple SRP log in sessions active. If set to true , the feature is activated.
Any other passed options that do not match one of the previously named options are treated as a JNDI property to use for the environment passed to the InitialContext constructor. This is useful if the SRP server interface is not available from the default InitialContext .
The SRPLoginModule and the standard ClientLoginModule must be configured to allow SRP authentication credentials to be used for access validation to security Java EE components. An example login configuration is described in Example 13.1, “Login Configuration Entry” .

Example 13.1. Login Configuration Entry

srp {
    org.jboss.security.srp.jaas.SRPLoginModule required
    srpServerJndiName="SRPServerInterface"
    ;
            
    org.jboss.security.ClientLoginModule required
    password-stacking="useFirstPass"
    ;
};
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On the server side, there are two MBeans that manage the objects that collectively make up the SRP server. The primary service is the org.jboss.security.srp.SRPService MBean. The other MBean is org.jboss.security.srp.SRPVerifierStoreService .
org.jboss.security.srp.SRPService is responsible for exposing an RMI accessible version of the SRPServerInterface as well as updating the SRP authentication session cache.
The configurable SRPService MBean attributes include the following:
JndiName
Specifies the name from which the SRPServerInterface proxy should be available. This is the location where the SRPService binds the serializable dynamic proxy to the SRPServerInterface . The default value is srp/SRPServerInterface .
VerifierSourceJndiName
Specifies the name of the SRPVerifierSource implementation the SRPService must use. The source JNDI name defaults to srp/DefaultVerifierSource .
AuthenticationCacheJndiName
Specifies the name under which the org.jboss.util.CachePolicy authentication implementation used for caching authentication information is bound. The SRP session cache is made available for use through this binding. The authentication JNDI cache defaults to srp/AuthenticationCache .
ServerPort
RMI port for the SRPRemoteServerInterface . The default value is 10099.
ClientSocketFactory
Optional custom java.rmi.server.RMIClientSocketFactory implementation class name used during the export of the SRPServerInterface . The default value is RMIClientSocketFactory .
ServerSocketFactory
Optional custom java.rmi.server.RMIServerSocketFactory implementation class name used during the export of the SRPServerInterface . The default value is RMIServerSocketFactory .
AuthenticationCacheTimeout
Cache policy timeout (in seconds). The default value is 1800 (30 minutes).
AuthenticationCacheResolution
Specifies the timed cache policy resolution (in seconds). This controls the interval between checks for timeouts. The default value is 60 (1 minute).
RequireAuxChallenge
Set if the client must supply an auxiliary challenge as part of the verify phase. This gives control over whether the SRPLoginModule configuration used by the client must have the useAuxChallenge option enabled.
OverwriteSessions
Specifies whether a successful user authentication for an existing session should overwrite the current session. This controls the behavior of the server SRP session cache when clients have not enabled the multiple session per user mode. If set to false , the second user authentication attempt will succeed, however the resulting SRP session will not overwrite the previous SRP session state. The default value is false .
VerifierStoreJndiName
Specifies the location of the SRP password information store implementation that must be provided and made available through JNDI.
org.jboss.security.srp.SRPVerifierStoreService is an example MBean service that binds an implementation of the SRPVerifierStore interface that uses a file of serialized objects as the persistent store. Although not realistic for a production environment, it does allow for testing of the SRP protocol and provides an example of the requirements for an SRPVerifierStore service.
The configurable SRPVerifierStoreService MBean attributes include the following:
JndiName
JNDI name from which the SRPVerifierStore implementation should be available. If not specified it defaults to srp/DefaultVerifierSource .
StoreFile
Location of the user password verifier serialized object store file. This can be either a URL or a resource name to be found in the classpath. If not specified it defaults to SRPVerifierStore.ser .
The SRPVerifierStoreService MBean also supports addUser and delUser operations for addition and deletion of users. The signatures are: 
public void addUser(String username, String password) throws IOException;
public void delUser(String username) throws IOException;
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An example configuration of these services is presented in Example 13.2, “The SRPVerifierStore interface” .

13.1. Understanding the Algorithm
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The appeal of the SRP algorithm is that is allows for mutual authentication of client and server using simple text passwords without a secure communication channel.

Note

Additional information on the SRP algorithm and its history can be found at http://srp.stanford.edu/.
There are six steps that are performed to complete authentication:
  1. The client side SRPLoginModule retrieves from the naming service the SRPServerInterface instance for the remote authentication server.
  2. The client side SRPLoginModule next requests the SRP parameters associated with the user name attempting the log in. There are a number of parameters involved in the SRP algorithm that must be chosen when the user password is first transformed into the verifier form used by the SRP algorithm. Rather than hard-coding the parameters (which could be done with minimal security risk), the JBossSX implementation allows a user to retrieve this information as part of the exchange protocol. The getSRPParameters(username) call retrieves the SRP parameters for the given user name.
  3. The client side SRPLoginModule begins an SRP session by creating an SRPClientSession object using the login user name, clear-text password, and SRP parameters obtained from step 2. The client then creates a random number A that will be used to build the private SRP session key. The client then initializes the server side of the SRP session by invoking the SRPServerInterface.init method and passes in the user name and client generated random number A. The server returns its own random number B. This step corresponds to the exchange of public keys.
  4. The client side SRPLoginModule obtains the private SRP session key that has been generated as a result of the previous messages exchanges. This is saved as a private credential in the login Subject. The server challenge response M2 from step 4 is verified by invoking the SRPClientSession.verify method. If this succeeds, mutual authentication of the client to server, and server to client have been completed. The client side SRPLoginModule next creates a challenge M1 to the server by invoking SRPClientSession.response method passing the server random number B as an argument. This challenge is sent to the server via the SRPServerInterface.verify method and server's response is saved as M2. This step corresponds to an exchange of challenges. At this point the server has verified that the user is who they say they are.
  5. The client side SRPLoginModule saves the login user name and M1 challenge into the LoginModule sharedState map. This is used as the Principal name and credentials by the standard JBoss ClientLoginModule. The M1 challenge is used in place of the password as proof of identity on any method invocations on Java EE components. The M1 challenge is a cryptographically strong hash associated with the SRP session. Its interception via a third partly cannot be used to obtain the user's password.
  6. At the end of this authentication protocol, the SRPServerSession has been placed into the SRPService authentication cache for subsequent use by the SRPCacheLoginModule.
Although SRP has many interesting properties, it is still an evolving component in the JBossSX framework and has some limitations of which you should be aware. Issues of note include the following:
  • Where authentication is performed, the way in which JBoss detaches the method transport protocol from the component container could allow a user to snoop the SRP M1 challenge and effectively use the challenge to make requests as the associated user name. Custom interceptors can be used to prevent the issue, by encrypting the challenge using the SRP session key.
  • The SRPService maintains a cache of SRP sessions that time out after a configurable period. Once they time out, any subsequent Java EE component access will fail because there is currently no mechanism for transparently renegotiating the SRP authentication credentials. You must either set the authentication cache timeout quite high, or handle re-authentication in your code on failure.

    Note

    The SRPService supports timeout durations up to 2,147,483,647 seconds, or approximately 68 years.
  • There can only be one SRP session for a given user name by default. The session is classed as stateful, because the negotiated SRP session produces a private session key that can be used for encryption and decryption between the client and server. JBoss supports multiple SRP sessions per user, however it is not possible to encrypt data with one session key, and decrypt it with another.
To use end-to-end SRP authentication for Java EE component calls, you must configure the security domain under which the components are secured to use the org.jboss.security.srp.jaas.SRPCacheLoginModule. The SRPCacheLoginModule has a single configuration option named cacheJndiName that sets the JNDI location of the SRP authentication CachePolicy instance. This must correspond to the AuthenticationCacheJndiName attribute value of the SRPService MBean.
The SRPCacheLoginModule authenticates user credentials by obtaining the client challenge from the SRPServerSession object in the authentication cache and comparing this to the challenge passed as the user credentials. Figure 13.2, “SRPCacheLoginModule with SRP Session Cache” illustrates the operation of the SRPCacheLoginModule.login method implementation.
SRPCacheLoginModule with SRP Session Cache
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SRPCacheLoginModule with SRP Session Cache

Figure 13.2. SRPCacheLoginModule with SRP Session Cache

13.2. Configure Secure Remote Password Information
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You must create a MBean service that provides an implementation of the SRPVerifierStore interface that integrates with your existing security information stores. The SRPVerifierStore interface is shown in Example 13.2, “The SRPVerifierStore interface”.

Note

The default implementation of the SRPVerifierStore interface is not recommended for a production security environment because it requires all password hash information to be available as a file of serialized objects.

Example 13.2. The SRPVerifierStore interface

package org.jboss.security.srp;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.Serializable;
import java.security.KeyException;

public interface SRPVerifierStore
{
    public static class VerifierInfo implements Serializable
    {

        public String username;


        public byte[] salt;
        public byte[] g;
        public byte[] N;
    }
    

    public VerifierInfo getUserVerifier(String username)
        throws KeyException, IOException;

    public void setUserVerifier(String username, VerifierInfo info)
        throws IOException;


     public void verifyUserChallenge(String username, Object auxChallenge)
         throws SecurityException;
}
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The primary function of a SRPVerifierStore implementation is to provide access to the SRPVerifierStore.VerifierInfo object for a given user name. The getUserVerifier(String) method is called by the SRPService at that start of a user SRP session to obtain the parameters needed by the SRP algorithm. The elements of the VerifierInfo objects are:
username
The user's name or id used to log in.
verifier
One-way hash of the password or PIN the user enters as proof of identity. The org.jboss.security.Util class has a calculateVerifier method that performs that password hashing algorithm. The output password takes the form H(salt | H(username | ':' | password)), where H is the SHA secure hash function as defined by RFC2945. The user name is converted from a string to a byte[] using UTF-8 encoding.
salt
Random number used to increase the difficulty of a brute force dictionary attack on the verifier password database in the event that the database is compromised. The value should be generated from a cryptographically strong random number algorithm when the user's existing clear-text password is hashed.
g
SRP algorithm primitive generator. This can be a well known fixed parameter rather than a per-user setting. The org.jboss.security.srp.SRPConf utility class provides several settings for g, including a suitable default obtained via SRPConf.getDefaultParams().g().
N
SRP algorithm safe-prime modulus. This can be a well known fixed parameter rather than a per-user setting. The org.jboss.security.srp.SRPConf utility class provides several settings for N including a good default which can obtained via SRPConf.getDefaultParams().N().

Procedure 13.1. Integrate Existing Password Store

Read this procedure to understand the steps involved to integrate your existing password store.

  1. Create Hashed Password Information Store

    If your passwords are already stored in an irreversible hashed form, then this can only be done on a per-user basis (for example, as part of an upgrade procedure).
    You can implement setUserVerifier(String, VerifierInfo) as a noOp method, or a method that throws an exception stating that the store is read-only.

  2. Create SRPVerifierStore Interface

    You must create a custom SRPVerifierStore interface implementation that understands how to obtain the VerifierInfo from the store you created.
    The verifyUserChallenge(String, Object) can be used to integrate existing hardware token based schemes like SafeWord or Radius into the SRP algorithm. This interface method is called only when the client SRPLoginModule configuration specifies the hasAuxChallenge option.

  3. Create JNDI MBean

    You must create a MBean that exposes the SRPVerifierStore interface available to JNDI, and exposes any configurable parameters required.
    The default org.jboss.security.srp.SRPVerifierStoreService will allow you to implement this, however you can also implement the MBean using a Java properties file implementation of SRPVerifierStore (refer to Section 13.3, “Secure Remote Password Example”).

13.3. Secure Remote Password Example
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The example presented in this section demonstrates client side authentication of the user via SRP as well as subsequent secured access to a simple EJB using the SRP session challenge as the user credential. The test code deploys an EJB JAR that includes a SAR for the configuration of the server side login module configuration and SRP services.
The server side login module configuration is dynamically installed using the SecurityConfig MBean. A custom implementation of the SRPVerifierStore interface is also used in the example. The interface uses an in-memory store that is seeded from a Java properties file, rather than a serialized object store as used by the SRPVerifierStoreService.
This custom service is org.jboss.book.security.ex3.service.PropertiesVerifierStore. The following shows the contents of the JAR that contains the example EJB and SRP services. 
[examples]$ jar tf output/security/security-ex3.jar 
META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
META-INF/ejb-jar.xml
META-INF/jboss.xml
org/jboss/book/security/ex3/Echo.class
org/jboss/book/security/ex3/EchoBean.class
org/jboss/book/security/ex3/EchoHome.class
roles.properties
users.properties
security-ex3.sar
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The key SRP related items in this example are the SRP MBean services configuration, and the SRP login module configurations. The jboss-service.xml descriptor of the security-ex3.sar is described in Example 13.3, “The security-ex3.sar jboss-service.xml Descriptor”.
The example client side and server side login module configurations are described in Example 13.4, “The client side standard JAAS configuration” and Example 13.5, “The server side XMLLoginConfig configuration” give .

Example 13.3. The security-ex3.sar jboss-service.xml Descriptor

<server>
    <!-- The custom JAAS login configuration that installs
         a Configuration capable of dynamically updating the
         config settings -->

    <mbean code="org.jboss.book.security.service.SecurityConfig" 
           name="jboss.docs.security:service=LoginConfig-EX3">
        <attribute name="AuthConfig">META-INF/login-config.xml</attribute>
        <attribute name="SecurityConfigName">jboss.security:name=SecurityConfig</attribute>
    </mbean>

    <!-- The SRP service that provides the SRP RMI server and server side
         authentication cache -->
    <mbean code="org.jboss.security.srp.SRPService" 
           name="jboss.docs.security:service=SRPService">
        <attribute name="VerifierSourceJndiName">srp-test/security-ex3</attribute>
        <attribute name="JndiName">srp-test/SRPServerInterface</attribute>
        <attribute name="AuthenticationCacheJndiName">srp-test/AuthenticationCache</attribute>
        <attribute name="ServerPort">0</attribute>
        <depends>jboss.docs.security:service=PropertiesVerifierStore</depends>
    </mbean>

    <!-- The SRP store handler service that provides the user password verifier
         information -->
    <mbean code="org.jboss.security.ex3.service.PropertiesVerifierStore"
           name="jboss.docs.security:service=PropertiesVerifierStore">
        <attribute name="JndiName">srp-test/security-ex3</attribute>
    </mbean>
</server>
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The example services are the ServiceConfig and the PropertiesVerifierStore and SRPService MBeans. Note that the JndiName attribute of the PropertiesVerifierStore is equal to the VerifierSourceJndiName attribute of the SRPService, and that the SRPService depends on the PropertiesVerifierStore. This is required because the SRPService needs an implementation of the SRPVerifierStore interface for accessing user password verification information.

Example 13.4. The client side standard JAAS configuration

srp {
    org.jboss.security.srp.jaas.SRPLoginModule required
    srpServerJndiName="srp-test/SRPServerInterface"
    ;
                    
    org.jboss.security.ClientLoginModule required
    password-stacking="useFirstPass"
    ;
};
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The client side login module configuration makes use of the SRPLoginModule with a srpServerJndiName option value that corresponds to the server component SRPService JndiName attribute value(srp-test/SRPServerInterface). The ClientLoginModule must also be configured with the password-stacking="useFirstPass" value to propagate the user authentication credentials generated by the SRPLoginModule to the EJB invocation layer.

Example 13.5. The server side XMLLoginConfig configuration

<application-policy name="security-ex3">
    <authentication>
        <login-module code="org.jboss.security.srp.jaas.SRPCacheLoginModule"
                      flag = "required">
            <module-option name="cacheJndiName">srp-test/AuthenticationCache</module-option>
        </login-module>
        <login-module code="org.jboss.security.auth.spi.UsersRolesLoginModule"
                      flag = "required">
            <module-option name="password-stacking">useFirstPass</module-option>
        </login-module>
    </authentication>
</application-policy>
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There are two issues to note about the server side login module configuration:
  1. The cacheJndiName=srp-test/AuthenticationCache configuration option tells the SRPCacheLoginModule the location of the CachePolicy that contains the SRPServerSession for users who have authenticated against the SRPService. This value corresponds to the SRPServiceAuthenticationCacheJndiName attribute value.
  2. The configuration includes a UsersRolesLoginModule with the password-stacking=useFirstPass configuration option. You must use a second login module with the SRPCacheLoginModule because SRP is only an authentication technology. To set the principal's roles that in turn determine the associated permissions, a second login module must be configured to accept the authentication credentials validated by the SRPCacheLoginModule .
The UsersRolesLoginModule is augmenting the SRP authentication with properties file based authorization. The user's roles are obtained from the roles.properties file included in the EJB JAR.
Run the example 3 client by executing the following command from the book examples directory: 
[examples]$ ant -Dchap=security -Dex=3 run-example
...
run-example3:
     [echo] Waiting for 5 seconds for deploy...
     [java] Logging in using the 'srp' configuration
     [java] Created Echo
     [java] Echo.echo()#1 = This is call 1
     [java] Echo.echo()#2 = This is call 2
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In the examples/logs directory, the ex3-trace.log file contains a detailed trace of the client side of the SRP algorithm. The traces show step-by-step the construction of the public keys, challenges, session key and verification.
Observe that the client takes a long time to run, relative to the other simple examples. The reason for this is the construction of the client's public key. This involves the creation of a cryptographically strong random number, and this process takes longer when it first executes. Subsequent authentication attempts within the same VM are much faster.
Note that Echo.echo()#2 fails with an authentication exception. The client code sleeps for 15 seconds after making the first call to demonstrate the behavior of the SRPService cache expiration. The SRPService cache policy timeout has been set to 10 seconds to force this issue. As discussed in Section 13.3, “Secure Remote Password Example” you must set the cache timeout correctly, or handle re-authentication on failure.

Chapter 14. Java Security Manager
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Java Security Manager
The Java Security Manager is a class that manages the external boundary of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) sandbox, controlling how code executing within the JVM can interact with resources outside the JVM. When the Java Security Manager is activated the Java API checks with the security manager for approval before executing a wide range of potentially unsafe operations.
The Security Manager uses a security policy to determine whether a given action will be permitted or denied.
Security Policy
A set of defined permissions for different classes of code. The Java Security Manager compares actions requested by applications against the security policy. If an action is allowed by the policy, the Security Manager will permit that action to take place. If the action is not allowed by the policy, the Security Manager will deny that action. The security policy can define permissions based on the location of code or on the code's signature.
The Security Manager and the security policy used are configured using the Java Virtual Machine options java.security.manager and java.security.policy .

Security Manager-related options

java.security.manager
Use a security manager, optionally specifying which security manager to use. If no argument is supplied with this option the default JDK security manager, java.lang.SecurityManager, is used. To use another security manager implementation, supply the fully qualified classname of a subclass of java.lang.SecurityManager with this option.
java.security.policy
Specifies a policy file to augment or replace the default security policy for the VM. This option takes two forms:
java.security.policy=policyFileURL
The policy file referenced by policyFileURL will augment the default security policy configured by the VM.
java.security.policy==policyFileURL
The policy file referenced by policyFileURL will replace the default security policy configured by the VM.
The policyFileURL value can be a URL or a file path.
JBoss Enterprise Application Platform does not activate the Java Security Manager by default. To configure the Platform to use the Security Manager, refer to Section 14.1, “Using the Security Manager” .

14.1. Using the Security Manager
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JBoss Enterprise Application Platform can use the JDK default Security Manager or a custom security manager. For details on selecting a custom Security Manager, refer to Security Manager-related options .
When the Platform is configured to use a security manager, a security policy file must be specified. A security policy file, jboss-as/bin/server.policy.cert is included as a starting point.
For information on writing security policy, refer to Section 14.3, “Writing Security Policy for JBoss Enterprise Application Platform” .
Configuration File

The file run.conf (Linux) or run.conf.bat (Windows) is used to configure the Security Manager and security policy. This file is found in the jboss-as/bin directory.

This file is used to configure server-level options, and applies to all server profiles. Configuring the Security Manager and security policy involves profile-specific configuration. You may elect to copy the global run.conf or run.conf.bat file from jboss-as/bin/ to the server profile (for example: jboss-as/server/production/run.conf ), and make the configuration changes there. A configuration file in the server profile takes precedence over the global run.conf / run.conf.bat file when the server profile is started.

Procedure 14.1. Activate the Security Manager

This procedure configures JBoss Enterprise Application Platform to start with the Java Security Manager activated.
The file editing actions in this procedure refer to the file run.conf (Linux), or run.conf.bat (Windows) in the server profile directory, if one exists there, or in jboss-as/bin . Refer to Configuration File for details on the location of this file.

  1. Specify the JBoss home directory

    Edit the file run.conf (Linux), or run.conf.bat (Windows). Add the jboss.home.dir option, specifying the path to the jboss-as directory of your installation.
    Linux

    JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Djboss.home.dir=/path/to/jboss-eap-5.1/jboss-as"
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    Windows

    JAVA_OPTS="%JAVA_OPTS% -Djboss.home.dir=c:\path\jboss-eap-5.1\jboss-as"
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Specify the server home directory

    Add the jboss.server.home.dir option, specifying the path to your server profile.
    Linux

    JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Djboss.server.home.dir=path/to/jboss-eap-5.1/jboss-as/server/production"
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    Windows

    JAVA_OPTS="%JAVA_OPTS% -Djboss.server.home.dir=c:\path\to\jboss-eap-5.1\jboss-as\server\production"
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  3. Specify the Protocol Handler

    Add the java.protocol.handler.pkgs option, specifying the JBoss stub handler.
    Linux

    JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Djava.protocol.handler.pkgs=org.jboss.handlers.stub"
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    Windows

    JAVA_OPTS="%JAVA_OPTS% -Djava.protocol.handler.pkgs=org.jboss.handlers.stub"
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  4. Specify the security policy to use

    Add the $POLICY variable, specifying the security policy to use. Add the variable definition before the line that activates the Security Manager.

    Example 14.1. Use the Platform's included security policy

    POLICY="server.policy.cert"
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  5. Activate the Security Manager

    Uncomment the following line by removing the initial # :
    Linux

    #JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Djava.security.manager -Djava.security.policy=$POLICY"
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    Windows

    #JAVA_OPTS="%JAVA_OPTS% -Djava.security.manager -Djava.security.policy=%POLICY%"
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    Result:

    JBoss Enterprise Application Platform is now configured to start with the Security Manager activated.

  6. Optional: Import Red Hat's JBoss signing key

    The included security policy grants permissions to JBoss-signed code. If you use the included policy you must import the JBoss signing key to the JDK cacerts key store.
    The following command assumes that the environment variable JAVA_HOME is set to the location of a JDK supported by JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5. You configure JAVA_HOME when you first install JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5. Refer to the Installation Guide for further information.

    Note

    To ensure the correct JVM is selected, you can use the alternatives command to select from JDKs installed on your Linux system. Refer to Appendix A, Setting the default JDK with the /usr/sbin/alternatives Utility.
    Execute the following command in a terminal, replacing JAVA_HOME with the directory location of your Java installation:
    Linux

    [~]$ sudo JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool -import -alias jboss -file JBossPublicKey.RSA \
-keystore JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security/cacerts
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    Windows

    C:> JAVA_HOME\bin\keytool -import  -alias jboss -file JBossPublicKey.RSA -keystore JAVA_HOME\jre\lib\security\cacerts
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    Although broken across two lines in this documentation, the commands above should be entered on one single line in a terminal.

    Note

    The default password for the cacerts key store is changeit .
    Result:

    The key used to the sign the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform code is now installed.

14.2. Debugging Security Policy Issues
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You can enable debugging information to help you troubleshoot security policy-related issues. The java.security.debug option configures the level of security-related information reported.
The command java -Djava.security.debug=help will produce help output with the full range of debugging options. Setting the debug level to all is useful when troubleshooting a security-related failure whose cause is completely unknown, but for general use it will produce too much information. A sensible general default is access:failure .

Procedure 14.2. Enable general debugging

This procedure will enable a sensible general level of security-related debug information.
  • Add the following line to the file run.conf (Linux), or run.conf.bat (Windows):
    Linux

    JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Djava.security.debug=access:failure"
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    Windows

    JAVA_OPTS="%JAVA_OPTS% -Djava.security.debug=access:failure"
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14.2.1. Debugging Security Manager
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Note

The Debugging Security Manager was introduced with JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5.1
The Debugging Security Manager org.jboss.system.security.DebuggingJavaSecurityManager prints out the protection domain corresponding to a failing permission. This additional information is very useful information when debugging permissions problems.

Procedure 14.3. Enable the Debugging Security Manager

This procedure will enable the Debugging Security Manager.
  1. Add the following option to $JBOSS_HOME/bin/run.conf (Linux) or $JBOSS_HOME/bin/run.conf.bat. See Configuration File for the location of this file.
    Linux

    JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Djava.security.manager=org.jboss.system.security.DebuggingJavaSecurityManager"
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    Windows

    JAVA_OPTS="%JAVA_OPTS% -Djava.security.manager=org.jboss.system.security.DebuggingJavaSecurityManager"
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Comment out all other java.security.manager references in the file.
  3. Ensure that the file still contains a java.security.policy option specifying the policy file to use
  4. Enable general debugging following the instruction in Procedure 14.2, “Enable general debugging”.

Note

The Debugging Security Manager has a significance performance cost. Do not use it in general production.
The included file jboss-as/bin/server.policy.cert is an example security policy for JBoss Enterprise Application Platform. You can use this file as the basis for your own security policy.
The policytool application, included with the JDK, provides a graphical tool for editing and writing security policy.

Important

Carefully consider what permissions you grant. Be particularly cautious about granting java.security.AllPermission : you can potentially allow changes to the system binary, including the JVM runtime environment.
For a general treatment of security policy files and Java permissions refer to the official Java documentation at http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/guides/security/PolicyFiles.html . JBoss-specific java.lang.RuntimePermissions are described below.

JBoss-specific Runtime Permissions

org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation.getPrincipalInfo
Provides access to the org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation getPrincipal() and getCredential() methods. The risk involved with using this runtime permission is the ability to see the current thread caller and credentials.
org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation.getSubject
Provides access to the org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation getSubject() method.
org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation.setPrincipalInfo
Provides access to the org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation setPrincipal() , setCredential() , setSubject() , pushSubjectContext() , and popSubjectContext() methods. The risk involved with using this runtime permission is the ability to set the current thread caller and credentials.
org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation.setServer
Provides access to the org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation setServer method. The risk involved with using this runtime permission is the ability to enable or disable multi-thread storage of the caller principal and credential.
org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation.setRunAsRole
Provides access to the org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation pushRunAsRole and popRunAsRole , pushRunAsIdentity and popRunAsIdentity methods. The risk involved with using this runtime permission is the ability to change the current caller run-as role principal.
org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation.accessContextInfo
Provides access to the org.jboss.security.SecurityAssociation accessContextInfo, "Get" and accessContextInfo, "Set" methods, allowing you to both set and get the current security context info.
org.jboss.naming.JndiPermission
Provides special permissions to files and directories in a specified JNDI tree path, or recursively to all files and subdirectories. A JndiPermission consists of a pathname and a set of valid permissions related to the file or directory.
The available permissions include: bind , rebind , unbind , lookup , list , listBindings , createSubcontext , and all .
Pathnames ending in /* indicate the specified permissions apply to all files and directories of the pathname. Pathnames ending in /- indicate recursive permissions to all files and subdirectories of the pathname. Pathnames consisting of the special token <<ALL BINDINGS>> matches any file in any directory.
org.jboss.security.srp.SRPPermission
A custom permission class for protecting access to sensitive SRP information like the private session key and private key. This permission does not have any actions defined. The getSessionKey target provides access to the private session key resulting from the SRP negotiation. Access to this key will allow you to encrypt and decrypt messages that have been encrypted with the session key.
org.hibernate.secure.HibernatePermission
This permission class provides basic permissions to secure Hibernate sessions. The target for this property is the entity name. The available actions include: insert , delete , update , read , * (all).
org.jboss.metadata.spi.stack.MetaDataStackPermission
Provides a custom permission class for controlling how callers interact with the metadata stack. The available permissions are: modify (push/pop onto the stack), peek (peek onto the stack), and * (all).
org.jboss.config.spi.ConfigurationPermission
Secures setting of configuration properties. Defines only permission target names, and no actions. The targets for this property include: <property name> - property which code has permission to set; * - all properties.
org.jboss.kernel.KernelPermission
Secures access to the kernel configuration. Defines only permission target names and no actions. The targets for this property include: access - access the kernel configuration; configure - configure the kernel (access is implied); * - all of the above.
org.jboss.kernel.plugins.util.KernelLocatorPermission
Secures access to the kernel. Defines only permission target names and no actions. The targets for this property include: kernel - access the kernel; * - access all areas.

Chapter 15. Securing the EJB RMI transport layer
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JBoss Application Server uses a socket-based invoker layer for Remote Method Invocation (RMI) of EJB2 and EJB3 Beans. This network traffic is not encrypted by default. Follow the instructions in this chapter to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt this network traffic.
Transport options for EJB3 via SSL

This chapter describes configuration of two different arrangements for Remote Method Invocation of EJB3s over an encrypted transport: RMI + SSL and RMI via HTTPS. HTTPS is an option as the transport for RMI when firewall configuration prevents use of the RMI ports.

Generating a key pair for SSL is covered in Section 15.2, “Generate encryption keys and certificate” .
Configuring RMI + SSL for EJB3 is covered in Section 15.3, “EJB3 RMI + SSL Configuration” .
Configuring RMI via HTTPS for EJB3 is covered in Section 15.4, “EJB3 RMI via HTTPS Configuration” .
Configuring RMI + SLL for EJB2 is covered in Section 15.5, “EJB2 RMI + SSL Configuration” .

15.1. SSL Encryption overview
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15.1.1. Key pairs and Certificates
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Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encrypts network traffic between two systems. Traffic between the two systems is encrypted using a two-way key, generated during the handshake phase of the connection and known only by those two systems.
For secure exchange of the two-way encryption key, SSL makes use of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), a method of encryption that utilizes a key pair . A key pair consists of two separate but matching cryptographic keys - a public key and a private key. The public key is shared with others and is used to encrypt data, and the private key is kept secret and is used to decrypt data that has been encrypted using the public key.
When a client requests a secure connection, a handshake phase takes place before secure communication can begin. During the SSL handshake the server passes its public key to the client in the form of a certificate. The certificate contains the identity of the server (its URL), the public key of the server, and a digital signature that validates the certificate. The client then validates the certificate and makes a decision about whether the certificate is trusted or not. If the certificate is trusted, the client generates the two-way encryption key for the SSL connection, encrypts it using the public key of the server, and sends it back to the server. The server decrypts the two-way encryption key, using its private key, and further communication between the two machines over this connection is encrypted using the two-way encryption key.
On the server, public/private key pairs are stored in a key store , an encrypted file that stores key pairs and trusted certificates. Each key pair within the key store is identified by an alias - a unique name that is used when storing or requesting a key pair from the key store. The public key is distributed to clients in the form of a certificate , a digital signature which binds together a public key and an identity. On the client, certificates of known validity are kept in the default key store known as a trust store .
CA-signed and self-signed certificates

Public Key Infrastructure relies on a chain of trust to establish the credentials of unknown machines. The use of public keys not only encrypts traffic between machines, but also functions to establish the identity of the machine at the other end of a network connection. A "Web of Trust" is used to verify the identity of servers. A server may be unknown to you, but if its public key is signed by someone that you trust, you extend that trust to the server. Certificate Authorities are commercial entities who verify the identity of customers and issue them signed certificates. The JDK includes a cacerts file with the certificates of several trusted Certificate Authorities (CAs). Any keys signed by these CAs are automatically trusted. Large organizations may have their own internal Certificate Authority, for example using Red Hat Certificate System. In this case the signing certificate of the internal Certificate Authority is typically installed on clients as part of a Corporate Standard Build, and then all certificates signed with that certificate are trusted. CA-signed certificates are best practice for production scenarios.

During development and testing, or for small-scale or internal-only production scenarios, you may use a self-signed certificate . This is certificate that is not signed by a Certificate Authority, but rather with a locally generated certificate. Since a locally generated certificate is not in the cacerts file of clients, you need to export a certificate for that key on the server, and import that certificate on any client that connects via SSL.
The JDK includes keytool , a command line tool for generating key pairs and certificates. The certificates generated by keytool can be sent for signing by a CA or can be distributed to clients as a self-signed certificate.
  • Generating a self-signed certificate for development use and importing that certificate to a client is described in Section 15.2.1, “Generate a self-signed certificate with keytool” .
  • Generating a certificate and having it signed by a CA for production use is beyond the scope of this edition. Refer to the man page for keytool for further information on performing this task.

15.2. Generate encryption keys and certificate
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15.2.1.1. Generate a key pair
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The keytool command, part of the JDK, is used to generate a new key pair. Keytool can either add the new key pair to an existing key store, or create a new key store at the same time as the key pair.
This key pair will be used to negotiate SSL encryption between the server and remote clients. The following procedure generates a key pair and stores it in a key store called localhost.keystore . You will need to make this key store available to the EJB3 invoker on the server. The key pair in our example will be saved in the key store under the alias 'ejb-ssl'. We will need this key alias, and the key pair password you supply (if any), when configuring the EJB3 Remoting connector in Create a secure remoting connector for RMI .

Procedure 15.1. Generate a new key pair and add it to the key store "localhost.keystore" in the conf directory.

This procedure generates a new key pair for SSL encryption.
  • The following command will create a key pair for use with SSL encryption: 
    keytool -genkey -alias ejb-ssl -keystore localhost.keystore -storepass KEYSTORE_PASSWORD
  -keypass EJB-SSL_KEYPAIR_PASSWORD
  -dname "CN=SERVER_NAME,OU=QE,O=example.com,L=Brno,C=CZ"
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    Result:

    A key pair will be added to the key store localhost.keystore under the alias ejb-ssl .

    The parameters for this command are explained in keytool parameters

keytool parameters

alias
An alphanumeric token used to identify the key pair within the key store. A key store can contain multiple keys. The alias provides a means to uniquely identify a key pair within a key store. The alias for a key pair must by unique within a key store.
keystore
The key store that will be used to store the key pair. This can be a relative or absolute file path.
storepass
The password for key store. If the key store already exists, this must be the existing password for the key store. If the key store specified does not already exist, it will be created and this password will be the new password. This password is needed to access the key store to retrieve or store keys and certificates.
keypass
The password for the new key pair. This password must be supplied to use the key pair in the future.
dname
The identifying details of the certificate.
CN
Common Name: the name of the server. This must match the server name as returned to clients in a JNDI lookup. If a client attempts to make an SSL connection to the server using one name from JNDI, and receives a certificate with a different name, the connection will fail.
OU
Organizational Unit: the name of the organizational unit that is responsible for the server.
O
Organization: The name of the organization, sometimes expressed as a URL.
L
Location: the location of the server.
C
Country: two letter country code

Note

For best security practice, store key store files on a secure file system, readable only by the owner of the JBoss Application Server process.
Note that if no key store is specified on the command line, keytool adds the key pair to a new key store called keystore in the current user's home directory. This key store file is a hidden file.
15.2.1.2. Export a self-signed certificate
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Once a key pair has been generated for the server to use, a certificate must be created. Procedure 15.2, “Export a certificate” details the steps to export the ejb-ssl key from the key store named localhost.keystore .

Procedure 15.2. Export a certificate

This procedure exports a certificate from a key store into a file.
  1. Issue the following command: 
    keytool -export -alias ejb-ssl -file mycert.cer -keystore localhost.keystore
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  2. Enter the key store password
    Result:

    A certificate is exported to the file mycert.cer .

To make remote method invocations over SSL, a client needs to trust the certificate of the server. The certificate we generated is self-signed and does not have a chain of trust to a known certificate authority. With a self-signed certificate the client must be explicitly configured to trust the certificate; otherwise the connection fails. To configure a client to trust a self-signed certificate, import the self-signed server certificate to a trust store on the client.
A trust store is a key store that contains trusted certificates. Certificates that are in the local trust store are accepted as valid. If your server uses a self-signed certificate then any client that makes remote method calls over SSL requires that certificate in its trust store. Export your public key as a certificate, and then import that certificate to the trust store on those clients.
The certificate created in Section 15.2.1.2, “Export a self-signed certificate” must be copied to the client in order to perform the steps detailed in Procedure 15.3, “Import the certificate to the trust store "localhost.truststore"” .

Procedure 15.3. Import the certificate to the trust store "localhost.truststore"

This procedure imports a certificate that was previously exported on a server to the trust store on a client.
  1. Issue the following command on the client: 
    keytool -import -alias ejb-ssl -file mycert.cer -keystore localhost.truststore
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  2. Enter the password for this trust store if it already exists; otherwise enter and re-enter the password for a new trust store.
  3. Verify the details of the certificate. If it is the correct one, type 'yes' to import it to the trust store.
    Result:

    The certificate is imported to the trust store, and a secure connection can now be established with a server that uses this certificate.

As with the key store, if the trust store specified does not already exist, it is created. However, in contrast with the key store, there is no default trust store and the command fails if one is not specified.
Configure Client to use localhost.truststore

Now that you have imported the self-signed server certificate to a trust store on the client, you must instruct the client to use this trust store. Do this by passing the localhost.truststore location to the application using the javax.net.ssl.trustStore property, and the trust store password using the javax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword property. Example 15.1, “Invoking the com.acme.Runclient application with a specific trust store” is an example command that invokes the application com.acme.RunClient , a hypothetical application that makes remote method calls to an EJB on a JBoss Application Server. This command is run from the root of the application's package directory (the directory containing com directory in the file path com/acme/RunClient.class ).

Example 15.1. Invoking the com.acme.Runclient application with a specific trust store

java -cp $JBOSS_HOME/client/jbossall-client.jar:. -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=${resources}/localhost.truststore \
    -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword=TRUSTSTORE_PASSWORD com.acme.RunClient
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15.3. EJB3 RMI + SSL Configuration
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Procedure 15.4. Configure RMI + SSL for EJB3 Overview

This procedure configures SSL encryption of Remote Method Invocation traffic between EJB3 beans on the server and a fat client running on another machine on the network.
  1. Generate encryption keys and certificate
  2. Configure a secure remote connector for RMI
  3. Annotate EJB3 beans to use the secure RMI connector
Generating encryption keys and certificates is covered in Section 15.2, “Generate encryption keys and certificate” .
Create a secure remoting connector for RMI

The file ejb3-connectors-jboss-beans.xml in a JBoss Application Server profile deploy directory contains JBoss Remoting connector definitions for EJB3 remote method invocation.

Example 15.2. Sample Secure EJB3 Connector

The beans described in the code sample are appended to the ejb3-connectors-jboss-beans.xml file. Both beans are required to configure a secure connector for EJB3 using the key pair created in Procedure 15.1, “Generate a new key pair and add it to the key store "localhost.keystore" in the conf directory.”.
The keyPassword property in the sample configuration is the key pair password specified when the key pair was created.
The sample configuration creates a connector that listens for SSL connections on port 3843. This port needs to be open on the server firewall for access by clients. 
<bean name="EJB3SSLRemotingConnector" class="org.jboss.remoting.transport.Connector">
	<property name="invokerLocator">sslsocket://${jboss.bind.address}:3843</property>
	<property name="serverConfiguration">
		<inject bean="ServerConfiguration" />
	</property>
	<property name="serverSocketFactory">
		<inject bean="sslServerSocketFactory" />
	</property>
</bean>

<bean name="sslServerSocketFactory" class="org.jboss.security.ssl.DomainServerSocketFactory">
	 <constructor>
			<parameter><inject bean="EJB3SSLDomain"/></parameter>
	 </constructor>
</bean>

<bean name="EJB3SSLDomain" class="org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain">
	 <constructor>
			<parameter>EJB3SSLDomain</parameter>
	 </constructor>
	 <property name="keyStoreURL">resource:localhost.keystore</property>
	 <property name="keyStorePass">KEYSTORE_PASSWORD</property>
</bean>
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Note

The key store (localhost.keystore) may contain multiple key pairs. The EJB connector will use the key pair with the defined keyAlias (ejb-ssl).
Configure EJB3 Beans for SSL Transport

All EJB3 beans use the unsecured RMI connector by default. To enable remote invocation of a bean via SSL, annotate the bean with @org.jboss.annotation.ejb.RemoteBinding .

Example 15.3. EJB3 bean annotation to enable secure remote invocation

The annotation binds an EJB3 bean to the JNDI name StatefulSSL . The proxy implementing the remote interface, returned to a client when the bean is requested from JNDI, communicates with the server via SSL. 
@RemoteBinding(clientBindUrl="sslsocket://0.0.0.0:3843", jndiBinding="StatefulSSL")
  @Remote(BusinessInterface.class)
  public class StatefulBean implements BusinessInterface
  {
     ...
  }
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Note

In Example 15.3, “EJB3 bean annotation to enable secure remote invocation” the IP address is specified as 0.0.0.0, meaning "all interfaces". Change this to the value of the ${jboss.bind.address} system property.
Enabling both secure and insecure invocation of an EJB3 bean

You can enable both secure and insecure remote method invocation of the same EJB3 bean. Example 15.4, “EJB3 Bean annotation for secure and unsecured invocation” demonstrates the annotations to do this.

Example 15.4. EJB3 Bean annotation for secure and unsecured invocation

 @RemoteBindings({
     @RemoteBinding(clientBindUrl="sslsocket://0.0.0.0:3843", jndiBinding="StatefulSSL")
     @RemoteBinding(jndiBinding="StatefulNormal")
  })
  @Remote(BusinessInterface.class)
  public class StatefulBean implements BusinessInterface
  {
     ...
  }
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Note

In Example 15.4, “EJB3 Bean annotation for secure and unsecured invocation”, the IP address is specified as 0.0.0.0, meaning "all interfaces". Change this to the value of the ${jboss.bind.address} system property.
If a client requests StatefulNormal from JNDI, the returned proxy implementing the remote interface communicates with the server via the unencrypted socket protocol; and if StatefulSSL is requested, the returned proxy implementing the remote interface communicates with the server via SSL.

15.4. EJB3 RMI via HTTPS Configuration
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Procedure 15.5. Configure EJB3 RMI via HTTPS Overview

This procedure configures tunneling of Remote Method Invocation traffic over SSL-encrypted HTTP. This has the dual effect of encrypting the traffic and allowing it to traverse firewalls that block the RMI port.
  1. Generate encryption keys and certificates.
  2. Configure RMI via HTTPS web connector.
  3. Configure Servlets.
  4. Configure secure remoting connector for RMI via HTTPS.
  5. Configure EJB3 beans for HTTPS transport.
  6. Configure clients for RMI via HTTPS.
Generating encryption keys and certificates is covered in Section 15.2, “Generate encryption keys and certificate” .

Procedure 15.6. Configure RMI via HTTPS web connector

This procedure creates a web connector that listens on port 8443 and accepts SSL connections from clients.
  • Edit the file jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/deploy/jbossweb.sar/server.xml and uncomment the HTTPS connector. 
    <!-- SSL/TLS Connector configuration using the admin devl guide keystore -->
<Connector protocol="HTTP/1.1" SSLEnabled="true"
   port="8443" address="${jboss.bind.address}"
   scheme="https" secure="true" clientAuth="false"
   keystoreFile="${jboss.server.home.dir}/conf/localhost.keystore"
   keystorePass="KEYSTORE_PASSWORD" sslProtocol = "TLS" />
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Result:

You create a web connector to accept SSL connections.

Procedure 15.7. Configure Servlets

This procedure configures a servlet that passes requests from the web connector to the ServletServerInvoker .
  1. Create a directory named servlet-invoker.war in jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/deploy/.
  2. Create a WEB-INF directory in the servlet-invoker.war directory.
  3. Create a file named web.xml in that WEB-INF directory, with the following content: 
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC
   "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"
   "http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd">


<web-app>
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>ServerInvokerServlet</servlet-name>
        <description>The ServerInvokerServlet receives requests via HTTP
           protocol from within a web container and passes it onto the
           ServletServerInvoker for processing.
        </description>
        <servlet-class>org.jboss.remoting.transport.servlet.web.ServerInvokerServlet</servlet-class>

        <init-param>
            <param-name>locatorUrl</param-name>
            <param-value>servlet://${jboss.bind.address}:8080/servlet-invoker/ServerInvokerServlet</param-value>
            <description>The servlet server invoker</description>
        </init-param>

        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>


    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>SSLServerInvokerServlet</servlet-name>
        <description>The ServerInvokerServlet receives requests via HTTPS
           protocol from within a web container and passes it onto the
           ServletServerInvoker for processing.
        </description>
        <servlet-class>org.jboss.remoting.transport.servlet.web.ServerInvokerServlet</servlet-class>

        <init-param>
            <param-name>locatorUrl</param-name>
            <param-value>sslservlet://${jboss.bind.address}:8443/servlet-invoker/SSLServerInvokerServlet</param-value>
            <description>The servlet server invoker</description>
        </init-param>

        <load-on-startup>2</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>ServerInvokerServlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/ServerInvokerServlet/*</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>SSLServerInvokerServlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/SSLServerInvokerServlet/*</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

</web-app>
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    Result:

    You create a servlet to forward SSL requests from the web container to a server invoker.

The locatorUrl is used to connect the servlet to the remoting connector through the " InvokerLocator attribute of the remoting connector we define in Procedure 15.8, “Configure secure remoting connector for RMI via HTTPS” .

Procedure 15.8. Configure secure remoting connector for RMI via HTTPS

This procedure creates the Server Invoker that implements RMI.
  • Create a file named servlet-invoker-service.xml in jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/deploy/, with the following content: 
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<server>
   <mbean code="org.jboss.remoting.transport.Connector" name="jboss.remoting:service=connector,transport=servlet"
    display-name="Servlet transport Connector">
      <attribute name="InvokerLocator">servlet://${jboss.bind.address}:8080/servlet-invoker/ServerInvokerServlet</attribute>
      <attribute name="Configuration">
         <handlers>
            <handler subsystem="AOP">org.jboss.aspects.remoting.AOPRemotingInvocationHandler</handler>
         </handlers>
      </attribute>
   </mbean>

   <mbean code="org.jboss.remoting.transport.Connector" name="jboss.remoting:service=connector,transport=sslservlet"
    display-name="Servlet transport Connector">
      <attribute name="InvokerLocator">sslservlet://${jboss.bind.address}:8443/servlet-invoker/SSLServerInvokerServlet</attribute>
      <attribute name="Configuration">
         <handlers>
            <handler subsystem="AOP">org.jboss.aspects.remoting.AOPRemotingInvocationHandler</handler>
         </handlers>
      </attribute>
   </mbean>
</server>
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Result:

You create a remoting connector that can receive requests from a servlet, and invoke methods of an EJB3.

Procedure 15.9. Configure EJB3 beans for HTTPS transport

This procedure configures the EJB3 to bind to the HTTPS transport.
  • Annotate the bean for RMI via HTTPS:

    Example 15.5. Annotating an EJB3 for RMI via HTTPS

    // RMI tunneled over HTTPS
@Stateless
@RemoteBinding(clientBindUrl = "https://0.0.0.0:8443/servlet-invoker/SSLServerInvokerServlet")
@Remote(Calculator.class)
@SecurityDomain("other")
public class CalculatorHttpsBean implements Calculator
{
....
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    Result:

    The EJB3 is now available for remote invocation via HTTPS.

Annotating a bean for RMI via HTTP

Optionally, you can annotate the bean for invocation via RMI via HTTP. This can be useful for testing, as it allows you to tunnel RMI calls through firewalls that block RMI ports, but removes the extra layer of the security configuration.

Example 15.6. Annotating a bean for RMI via HTTP

// RMI tunneled over HTTP
@Stateless
@RemoteBinding(clientBindUrl = "http://0.0.0.0:8080/servlet-invoker/ServerInvokerServlet")
@Remote(Calculator.class)
@SecurityDomain("other")
public class CalculatorHttpBean extends CalculatorImpl
{
....
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Configure clients for RMI via HTTPS

The EJB client should use the following properties for the JNDI lookup when looking up beans:

Client access to RMI via HTTP(S)

HTTPS
Properties props = new Properties();
props.put("java.naming.factory.initial", "org.jboss.naming.HttpNamingContextFactory");
props.put("java.naming.provider.url", "https://localhost:8443/invoker/JNDIFactory");
props.put("java.naming.factory.url.pkgs", "org.jboss.naming");
Context ctx = new InitialContext(props);
props.put(Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, username);
props.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, password);
Calculator calculator = (Calculator) ctx.lookup(jndiName);
// use the bean to do any operations
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HTTP
Properties props = new Properties();
props.put("java.naming.factory.initial", "org.jboss.naming.HttpNamingContextFactory");
props.put("java.naming.provider.url", "http://localhost:8080/invoker/JNDIFactory");
props.put("java.naming.factory.url.pkgs", "org.jboss.naming");
Context ctx = new InitialContext(props);
props.put(Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, username);
props.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, password);
Calculator calculator = (Calculator) ctx.lookup(jndiName);
// use the bean to do any operations
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In Client access to RMI via HTTP(S) , the user name and password values correspond to a valid user name and password for the security domain that is used to secure the http-invoker. This security domain is set in jboss-as/$PROFILE/deploy/http-invoker.sar/invoker.war/WEB-INF/jboss-web.xml .

15.5. EJB2 RMI + SSL Configuration
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Procedure 15.10. Configure SSL for EJB2 Overview

  1. Generate encryption keys and certificate
  2. Configure Unified Invoker for SSL
Generating encryption keys and certificates is covered in Section 15.2, “Generate encryption keys and certificate” .
Configured Unified Invoker for SSL

EJB2 remote invocation uses a single unified invoker, which runs by default on port 4446. The configuration of the unified invoker used for EJB2 remote method invocation is defined in the $JBOSS_HOME/server/deploy/remoting-jboss-beans.xml file of a JBoss Application Server profile. Add the following SSL Socket Factory bean and an SSL Domain bean in this file.

Example 15.7. SSL Server Factory for EJB2

<bean name="sslServerSocketFactoryEJB2" class="org.jboss.security.ssl.DomainServerSocketFactory">
  <constructor>
    <parameter><inject bean="EJB2SSLDomain"/></parameter>
  </constructor>
</bean>

<bean name="EJB2SSLDomain" class="org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain">
  <constructor>
    <parameter>EJB2SSLDomain</parameter>
  </constructor>
  <property name="keyStoreURL">resource:localhost.keystore</property>
  <property name="keyStorePass">changeit</property>
  <property name="keyAlias">ejb-ssl</property>
  <property name="keyPassword">EJB-SSL_KEYPAIR_PASSWORD</property>
</bean>
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Now customize the SSLSocketBuilder, by adding the following to the $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/conf/jboss-service.xml file of a JBoss Application Server profile:

Example 15.8. SSLSocketBuilder configuration

<!-- This section is for custom (SSL) server socket factory  -->
   <mbean code="org.jboss.remoting.security.SSLSocketBuilder"
      name="jboss.remoting:service=SocketBuilder,type=SSL"
      display-name="SSL Server Socket Factory Builder">
      <!-- IMPORTANT - If making ANY customizations, this MUST be set to false. -->
      <!-- Otherwise, will used default settings and the following attributes will be ignored. -->
      <attribute name="UseSSLServerSocketFactory">false</attribute>
      <!-- This is the url string to the key store to use -->
      <attribute name="KeyStoreURL">localhost.keystore</attribute>
      <!-- The password for the key store -->
      <attribute name="KeyStorePassword">sslsocket</attribute>
      <!-- The password for the keys (will use KeystorePassword if this is not set explicitly. -->
      <attribute name="KeyPassword">sslsocket</attribute>
      <!-- The protocol for the SSLContext.  Default is TLS. -->
      <attribute name="SecureSocketProtocol">TLS</attribute>
      <!-- The algorithm for the key manager factory.  Default is SunX509. -->
      <attribute name="KeyManagementAlgorithm">SunX509</attribute>
      <!-- The type to be used for the key store. -->
      <!-- Defaults to JKS.  Some acceptable values are JKS (Java Keystore - Sun's keystore format), -->
      <!-- JCEKS (Java Cryptography Extension keystore - More secure version of JKS), and -->
      <!-- PKCS12 (Public-Key Cryptography Standards #12
                 keystore - RSA's Personal Information Exchange Syntax Standard). -->
      <!-- These are not case sensitive. -->
      <attribute name="KeyStoreType">JKS</attribute>
   </mbean>

  <mbean code="org.jboss.remoting.security.SSLServerSocketFactoryService"
     name="jboss.remoting:service=ServerSocketFactory,type=SSL"
     display-name="SSL Server Socket Factory">
     <depends optional-attribute-name="SSLSocketBuilder"
        proxy-type="attribute">jboss.remoting:service=SocketBuilder,type=SSL</depends>
  </mbean>
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Configure SSL Transport for Beans

In the deploy/remoting-jboss-beans.xml file in the JBoss Application Server profile, update the code to reflect the information below:

Example 15.9. SSL Transport for Beans

...
<bean name="UnifiedInvokerConnector" class="org.jboss.remoting.transport.Connector">
  <annotation>@org.jboss.aop.microcontainer.aspects.jmx.JMX(name="jboss.remoting:service=Connector,transport=socket", exposedInterface=org.jboss.remoting.transport.ConnectorMBean.class,registerDirectly=true)
  </annotation>
  <property name="serverConfiguration"><inject bean="UnifiedInvokerConfiguration"/></property>
  <property name="serverSocketFactory"><inject bean="sslServerSocketFactoryEJB2"/></property>
  <!-- add this to configure the SSL socket for the UnifiedInvoker -->
   </bean>
   ...
<bean name="UnifiedInvokerConfiguration" class="org.jboss.remoting.ServerConfiguration">
  <constructor>
  <!-- transport: Others include sslsocket, bisocket, sslbisocket, http, https, rmi, sslrmi, servlet, sslservlet. -->
    <parameter>sslsocket</parameter><!-- changed from socket to sslsocket -->
  </constructor>
      ...
   </bean>
   ...
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Follow the instructions in this chapter to increase the security of your JBoss Enterprise Application Installation by masking passwords that would otherwise be stored on the file system as clear text.

16.1. Password Masking Overview
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Passwords are secret authentication tokens that are used to limit access to resources to authorized parties only. For JBoss services to access password protected resources, the password must be made available to the JBoss service. This can be done by means of command line arguments passed to the JBoss Application Server on start up, however this is not practical in a production environment. In production environments, typically, passwords are made available to JBoss services through inclusion in configuration files.
All JBoss Enterprise Application Platform configuration files should be stored on secure file systems, and should be readable by the JBoss Application Server process owner only. Additionally, you can mask the password in the configuration file for an added level of security. Follow the instructions in this chapter to replace a clear text password in a Microcontainer bean configuration with a password mask. Refer to Chapter 17, Encrypting Data Source Passwords for instructions on encrypting Data Source passwords; to Chapter 18, Encrypting the Keystore Password in a Tomcat Connector for instructions on encrypting the key store password in Tomcat; and to Chapter 19, Using LdapExtLoginModule with JaasSecurityDomain for instructions on encrypting the password for LdapExtLoginModule.

Note

There is no such thing as impenetrable security. All good security measures merely increase the cost involved in unauthorized access of a system. Masking passwords is no exception - it is not impenetrable, but does defeat casual inspection of configuration files, and increases the amount of effort that will be required to extract the password in clear text.

Procedure 16.1. Masking a clear text password overview

  1. Generate a key pair to use to encrypt passwords.
  2. Encrypt the key store password.
  3. Create password masks.
  4. Replace clear text passwords with their password masks.

16.2. Generate a key store and a masked password
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Password masking uses a public/private key pair to encrypt passwords. You need to generate a key pair for use in password masking. By default JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5 expects a key pair with the alias jboss in a key store at jboss-as/bin/password/password.keystore.
The following procedures follow this default configuration. If you wish to change the key store location or key alias you will need to change the default configuration, and should refer to Section 16.6, “Changing the password masking defaults” for instructions.

Procedure 16.2. Generate a key pair and key store for password masking

  1. At the command line, change directory to the jboss-as/bin/password directory.
  2. Use keytool to generate the key pair with the following command: 
    keytool -genkey -alias jboss -keyalg RSA -keysize 1024 -keystore password.keystore
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    Important:

    You must specify the same password for the key store and key pair

  3. Optional:

    Make the resulting password.keystore readable by the JBoss Application Server process owner only.

    On Unix-based systems this is accomplished by using the chown command to change ownership to the JBoss Application Server process owner, and chmod 600 password.keystore to make the file readable only by the owner.
    This step is recommended to increase the security of your server.
    Note: the JBoss Application Server process owner should not have interactive console log in access. In that case you will be performing these operations as another user. Creating masked passwords requires read access to the key store, so you may wish to complete configuration of masked passwords before restricting the key store file permissions.
For more on key stores and the keytool command, refer to Section 15.1, “SSL Encryption overview”.

16.3. Encrypt the key store password
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With password masking, passwords needed by JBoss services are not stored in clear text in xml configuration files. Instead they are stored in a file that is encrypted using a key pair that you provide.
In order to decrypt this file and access the masked passwords at run time, JBoss Application Server needs to be able to use the key pair you created. You provide the key store password to JBoss Application Server by means of the JBoss Password Tool, password_tool. This tool will encrypt and store your key store password. Your key store password will then be available to the JBoss Password Tool for masking passwords, and to the JBoss Application Server for decrypting them at run time.

Procedure 16.3. Encrypt the key store password

  1. At the command line, change to the jboss-as/bin directory.
  2. Run the password tool, using the command ./password_tool.sh for Unix-based systems, or password_tool.bat for Windows-based systems.
    Result:

    The JBoss Password Tool will start, and will report 'Keystore is null. Please specify keystore below:'.

  3. Select '0: Encrypt Keystore Password' by pressing 0, then Enter.
    Result:

    The password tool responds with 'Enter keystore password'.

  4. Enter the key store password you specified in Procedure 16.2, “Generate a key pair and key store for password masking”.
    Result:

    The password tool responds with 'Enter Salt (String should be at least 8 characters)'.

  5. Enter a random string of characters to aid with encryption strength.
    Result:

    The password tool responds with 'Enter Iterator Count (integer value)'.

  6. Enter a whole number to aid with encryption strength.
    Result:

    The password tool responds with: 'Keystore Password encrypted into password/jboss_keystore_pass.dat'.

  7. Select '5:Exit' to exit.
    Result:

    The password tool will exit with the message: 'Keystore is null. Cannot store.'. This is normal.

  8. Optional:

    Make the resulting file password/jboss_keystore_pass.dat readable by the JBoss Application Server process owner only.

    On Unix-based systems this is accomplished by using the chown command to change ownership to the JBoss Application Server process owner, and chmod 600 jboss-keystore_pass.dat to make the file readable only by the owner.
    This step is recommended to increase the security of your server. Be aware that if this encrypted key is compromised, the security offered by password masking is significantly reduced. This file should be stored on a secure file system.
    Note: the JBoss Application Server process owner should not have interactive console log in access. In this case you will be performing these operations as another user. Creating masked passwords requires read access to the key store, so you may wish to complete configuration of masked passwords before restricting the key store file permissions.
Note:

You should only perform this key store password encryption procedure once. If you make a mistake entering the keystore password, or you change the key store at a later date, you should delete the jboss-keystore_pass.dat file and repeat the procedure. Be aware that if you change the key store any masked passwords that were previously generated will no longer function.

16.4. Create password masks
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The JBoss Password Tool maintains an encrypted password file jboss-as/bin/password/jboss_password_enc.dat. This file is encrypted using a key pair you provide to the password tool, and it contains the passwords that will be masked in configuration files. Passwords are stored and retrieved from this file by 'domain', an arbitrary unique identifier that you specify to the Password Tool when storing the password, and that you specify as part of the annotation that replaces that clear text password in configuration files. This allows the JBoss Application Server to retrieve the correct password from the file at run time.

Note

If you previously made the key store and encrypted key store password file readable only by the JBoss Application Server process owner, then you need to perform the following procedure as the JBoss Application Server process owner, or else make the keystore (jboss-as/bin/password/password.keystore) and encrypted key store password file (jboss-as/bin/password/jboss_keystore_pass.dat) readable by your user, and the encrypted passwords file jboss-as/bin/password/jboss_password_enc.dat (if it already exists) read and writable, while you perform this operation.

Procedure 16.4. Create password masks

Prerequisites:

  1. At the command line, change to the jboss-as/bin directory.
  2. Run the password tool, using the command ./password_tool.sh for Unix-based systems, or password_tool.bat for Windows-based systems.
    Result:

    The JBoss Password Tool will start, and will report 'Keystore is null. Please specify keystore below:'.

  3. Select '1:Specify KeyStore' by pressing 1 then Enter.
    Result:

    The password tool responds with 'Enter Keystore location including the file name'.

  4. Enter the path to the key store you created in Procedure 16.2, “Generate a key pair and key store for password masking”. You can specify an absolute path, or the path relative to jboss-as/bin. This should be password/password.keystore, unless you have performed an advanced installation and changed the defaults as per Section 16.6, “Changing the password masking defaults”.
    Result:

    The password tool responds with 'Enter Keystore alias'.

  5. Enter the key alias. This should be jboss, unless you have performed an advanced installation and changed the defaults as per Section 16.6, “Changing the password masking defaults”.
    Result:

    If the key store and key alias are accessible, the password tool will respond with some log4j WARNING messages, then the line 'Loading domains [', followed by any existing password masks, and the main menu.

  6. Select '2:Create Password' by pressing 2, then Enter
    Result:

    The password tool responds with: 'Enter security domain:'.

  7. Enter a name for the password mask. This is an arbitrary unique name that you will use to identify the password mask in configuration files.
    Result:

    The password tool responds with: 'Enter passwd:'.

  8. Enter the password that you wish to mask.
    Result:

    The password tool responds with: 'Password created for domain:mask name'

  9. Repeat the password mask creation process to create masks for all passwords you wish to mask.
  10. Exit the program by choosing '5:Exit'
Clear text passwords in XML configuration files can be replaced with password masks by changing the property assignment for an annotation. Generate password masks for any clear text password that you wish to mask in Microcontainer bean configuration files by following Procedure 16.4, “Create password masks”. Then replace the configuration occurrence of each clear text password with an annotation referencing its mask.
The general form of the annotation is:

Example 16.1. General form of password mask annotation

<annotation>@org.jboss.security.integration.password.Password(securityDomain=MASK_NAME, methodName=setPROPERTY_NAME)</annotation>
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As a concrete example, the JBoss Messaging password is stored in the server profile in the file deploy/messaging/messaging-jboss-beans.xml. If you create a password mask named "messaging", then the before and after snippet of the configuration file looks like this:

Example 16.2. JBoss Messaging Microcontainer Bean Configuration Before

<property name="suckerPassword">CHANGE ME!!</property>
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Example 16.3. JBoss Messaging Microcontainer Bean Configuration After

<annotation>@org.jboss.security.integration.password.Password(securityDomain=messaging,
methodName=setSuckerPassword)</annotation>
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16.6. Changing the password masking defaults
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JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5 ships with server profiles configured for password masking. By default the server profiles are configured to use the keystore jboss-as/bin/password/password.keystore, and the key alias jboss. If you store the key pair used for password masking elsewhere, or under a different alias, you will need to update the server profiles with the new location or key alias.
The password masking key store location and key alias is specified in the file deploy/security/security-jboss-beans.xml under each of the included JBoss Application Server server profiles.

Example 16.4. Password Masking defaults in security-jboss-beans.xml

<!-- Password Mask Management Bean-->
   <bean name="JBossSecurityPasswordMaskManagement"
         class="org.jboss.security.integration.password.PasswordMaskManagement" >
         <property name="keyStoreLocation">password/password.keystore</property>
         <property name="keyStoreAlias">jboss</property>
         <property name="passwordEncryptedFileName">password/jboss_password_enc.dat</property>
         <property name="keyStorePasswordEncryptedFileName">password/jboss_keystore_pass.dat</property>
   </bean>
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Chapter 17. Encrypting Data Source Passwords
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Database connections for the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform are defined in *-ds.xml data source files. These database connection details include clear text passwords. You can increase the security of your server by replacing clear text passwords in data source files with encrypted passwords.
This chapter presents two different methods for encrypting data source passwords.
Secured Identity using the module SecureIdentityLoginModule is described in Section 17.1, “Secured Identity”.
Configured Identity with Password Based Encryption using the module JaasSecurityDomainIdentityLoginModule is described in Section 17.2, “Configured Identity with Password Based Encryption (PBE)”.

17.1. Secured Identity
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The class org.jboss.resource.security.SecureIdentityLoginModule can be used to both encrypt database passwords and to provide a decrypted version of the password when the data source configuration is required by the server. The SecureIdentityLoginModule uses a hard-coded password to encrypt/decrypt the data source password.

Procedure 17.1. Overview: Using SecureIdentityLoginModule to encrypt a data source password

  1. Encrypt the data source password.
  2. Create an application authentication policy with the encrypted password.
  3. Configure the data source to use the application authentication policy.

17.1.1. Encrypt the data source password
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The data source password is encrypted using the SecureIdentityLoginModule main method by passing in the clear text password. The SecureIdentityLoginModule is provided by jbosssx.jar.

Procedure 17.2. Encrypt a data source password - Platform versions 5.0 and 5.0.1

This procedure encrypts a data source password on JBoss Enterprise Application Platform versions 5.0 and 5.0.1
  1. Change directory to the jboss-as directory
  2. Invoke the SecureIdentityLoginModule with the following command, supplying the clear text password as PASSWORD:
    Linux command

    java -cp client/jboss-logging-spi.jar:common/lib/jbosssx.jar \ 
org.jboss.resource.security.SecureIdentityLoginModule PASSWORD
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Windows command:

    java -cp client\jboss-logging-spi.jar;common\lib\jbosssx.jar \
 org.jboss.resource.security.SecureIdentityLoginModule PASSWORD
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Result:

    The command will return an encrypted password.

Procedure 17.3. Encrypt a data source password - Platform version 5.1 and later

This procedure encrypts a data source password on JBoss Enterprise Application Platform versions 5.1 and later
  1. Change directory to the jboss-as directory
  2. Linux command

    java -cp client/jboss-logging-spi.jar:lib/jbosssx.jar \
 org.jboss.resource.security.SecureIdentityLoginModule PASSWORD
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Windows command:

    java -cp client\jboss-logging-spi.jar;lib\jbosssx.jar \
 org.jboss.resource.security.SecureIdentityLoginModule PASSWORD
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Result:

    The command will return an encrypted password.

Each JBoss Application Server server profile has a conf/login-config.xml file, where application authentication policies are defined for that profile. To create an application authentication policy for your encrypted password, add a new <application-policy> element to the <policy> element.
Example 17.1, “Example application authentication policy with encrypted data source password” is a fragment of a login-config.xml file showing an application authentication policy of name "EncryptDBPassword".

Example 17.1. Example application authentication policy with encrypted data source password

  
  <policy>
  ...
      <!-- Example usage of the SecureIdentityLoginModule -->
      <application-policy name="EncryptDBPassword">
          <authentication>
              <login-module code="org.jboss.resource.security.SecureIdentityLoginModule" flag="required">
                  <module-option name="username">admin</module-option>
                  <module-option name="password">5dfc52b51bd35553df8592078de921bc</module-option>
                  <module-option name="managedConnectionFactoryName">jboss.jca:name=PostgresDS,service=LocalTxCM</module-option>
              </login-module>
          </authentication>
      </application-policy>
  </policy>
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

SecureIdentityLoginModule module options

user name
Specify the user name to use when establishing a connection to the database.
password
Provide the encrypted password generated in Section 17.1.1, “Encrypt the data source password”.
managedConnectionFactoryName
jboss.jca:name
Nominate a Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) name for this data source.
jboss.jca:service
Specify the transaction type

Transaction types

NoTxCM
No transaction support
LocalTxCM
Single resource transaction support
TxCM
Single resource or distributed transaction support
XATxCM
Distributed transaction support
At run-time the application policy is bound to JNDI under the application policy name, and is made available as a security domain.
The data source is configured in a *-ds.xml file. Remove the <user-name> and <password> elements from this file, and replace them with a <security-domain> element. This element will contain the application authentication policy name specified following Section 17.1.2, “Create an application authentication policy with the encrypted password”.
Using the example name from Section 17.1.2, “Create an application authentication policy with the encrypted password”, "EncryptDBPassword", will result in a data source file that looks something like Example 17.2, “Example data source file using secured identity”.

Example 17.2. Example data source file using secured identity

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<datasources>
    <local-tx-datasource>
        <jndi-name>PostgresDS</jndi-name>
        <connection-url>jdbc:postgresql://127.0.0.1:5432/test?protocolVersion=2</connection-url>
        <driver-class>org.postgresql.Driver</driver-class>
        <min-pool-size>1</min-pool-size>
        <max-pool-size>20</max-pool-size>

        <!-- REPLACED WITH security-domain BELOW
        <user-name>admin</user-name>
        <password>password</password>
        -->

        <security-domain>EncryptDBPassword</security-domain>

        <metadata>
            <type-mapping>PostgreSQL 8.0</type-mapping>
        </metadata>
    </local-tx-datasource>
</datasources>
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
The org.jboss.resource.security.JaasSecurityDomainIdentityLoginModule is a login module for statically defining a data source using a password that has been encrypted by a JaasSecurityDomain. The base64 format of the data source password may be generated using PBEUtils:

Procedure 17.4. Encrypt password with PBEUtils - Platforms version 5.0 and 5.0.1

This procedure encrypts a password on JBoss Enterprise Application Platform versions 5.0 and 5.0.1.
  • Execute the command: 
    java -cp jboss-as/common/lib/jbosssx.jar org.jboss.security.plugins.PBEUtils \
  salt count domain-password data-source-password
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    Result:

    The encrypted password is displayed

Procedure 17.5. Encrypt password with PBEUtils - Platform version 5.1

This procedure encrypts a password on JBoss Enterprise Application Platform versions 5.1 and later.
  • Execute the command: 
    java -cp jboss-as/lib/jbosssx.jar org.jboss.security.plugins.PBEUtils \
 salt count domain-password data-source-password
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    Result:

    The encrypted password is displayed

The parameters for the PBEUtils are:
salt
The Salt attribute from the JaasSecurityDomain (Must only be eight characters long).
count
The IterationCount attribute from the JaasSecurity domain.
domain-password
The plain text password that maps to the KeyStorePass attribute from the JaasSecurityDomain.
data-source-password
The plain text password for the data source that should be encrypted with the JaasSecurityDomain password.
Example 17.3, “PBEUtils command example” provides an example of the command with its output.

Example 17.3. PBEUtils command example

 java -cp jbosssx.jar org.jboss.security.plugins.PBEUtils abcdefgh 13 master password
 Encoded password: 3zbEkBDfpQAASa3H39pIyP
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
Add the following application policy to the $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/conf/login-config.xml file. 
<application-policy name="EncryptedHsqlDbRealm">
   <authentication>
      <login-module code= "org.jboss.resource.security.JaasSecurityDomainIdentityLoginModule"
         flag = "required">
         <module-option name="username">sa</module-option>
         <module-option name="password">E5gtGMKcXPP</module-option>
         <module-option name="managedConnectionFactoryName">
            jboss.jca:service=LocalTxCM,name=DefaultDS
         </module-option>
         <module-option name="jaasSecurityDomain">
            jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityDomain,domain=ServerMasterPassword
         </module-option>
      </login-module>
   </authentication>
</application-policy>
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
The $JBOSS_HOME/docs/examples/jca/hsqldb-encrypted-ds.xml illustrates that data source configuration along with the JaasSecurityDomain configuration for the keystore:
Example 17.4, “FilePassword command example” provides an example of the command with its output.

Example 17.4. FilePassword command example

The following example refers to the file .../conf/server.password. You first need to run the following command, which will store the encryption details and obfuscated master password: 
java -cp jboss-as/lib/jbosssx.jar org.jboss.security.plugins.FilePassword salt count master_password password_file
          
For example: java -cp jboss-as/lib/jbosssx.jar org.jboss.security.plugins.FilePassword abcdefgh 13 master jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/conf/server.password
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!-- The Hypersonic embedded database JCA connection factory config
that illustrates the use of the JaasSecurityDomainIdentityLoginModule
to use encrypted password in the data source configuration. 

$Id: hsqldb-encrypted-ds.xml,v 1.1.2.1 2004/06/04 02:20:52 starksm Exp $ -->


<datasources>
   ...


   <application-policy name="EncryptedHsqlDbRealm">
      <authentication>
         <login-module code="org.jboss.resource.security.JaasSecurityDomainIdentityLoginModule"
            flag = "required">
            <module-option name="username">sa</module-option>
            <module-option name="password">E5gtGMKcXPP</module-option>
            <module-option name="managedConnectionFactoryName">
              jboss.jca:service=LocalTxCM,name=DefaultDS
            </module-option>
            <module-option name="jaasSecurityDomain">
              jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityDomain,domain=ServerMasterPassword
            </module-option>
         </login-module>
      </authentication>
   </application-policy>

   <mbean code="org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain"
      name="jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityDomain, domain=ServerMasterPassword">
      <constructor>
         <arg type="java.lang.String" value="ServerMasterPassword"></arg>
      </constructor>
      <!-- The opaque master password file used to decrypt the encrypted
      database password key -->
      <attribute name="KeyStorePass">{CLASS}org.jboss.security.plugins.FilePassword:${jboss.server.home.dir}/conf/server.password</attribute>
      <attribute name="Salt">abcdefgh</attribute>
      <attribute name="IterationCount">13</attribute>
   </mbean>

   <!-- This mbean can be used when using in process persistent db -->
   <mbean code="org.jboss.jdbc.HypersonicDatabase"
      name="jboss:service=Hypersonic,database=localDB">
      <attribute name="Database">localDB</attribute>
      <attribute name="InProcessMode">true</attribute>
   </mbean>

   ...

</datasources>
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Warning

Remember to use the same Salt and IterationCount in the MBean that was used during the password generation step.

Note

When starting a service that depends on an encrypted data source, the error java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: Parameters missing is raised when the following MBean is not yet started as a service: 
(jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityDomain,domain=ServerMasterPassword)
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
Include the following element so that the MBean starts before the data source, as per the example hsqldb-encrypted-ds.xml code shown previously. 
<depends>jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityDomain,domain=ServerMasterPassword</depends>
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
JBoss Web is based on Apache Tomcat.
SSL with Tomcat requires a secure connector. This means that the keystore/truststore password cannot be passed as an attribute in the connector element of Tomcat's server.xml file.
A working understanding of the JaasSecurityDomain that supports keystores, truststores, and password based encryption is advised.
Refer to Chapter 13, Secure Remote Password Protocol and Chapter 17, Encrypting Data Source Passwords for supporting information and related procedures.

Procedure 18.1. Encrypt Tomcat Container Keystore Password

  1. Append connector element

    Add a connector element in server.xml in $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/deploy/jbossweb.sar 
      <!-- SSL/TLS Connector with encrypted keystore password configuration  -->
<Connector port="8443" address="${jboss.bind.address}"
   maxThreads="100" minSpareThreads="5" maxSpareThreads="15"
   scheme="https" secure="true" clientAuth="true"
   sslProtocol="TLS"
   securityDomain="java:/jaas/encrypt-keystore-password"
   SSLImplementation="org.jboss.net.ssl.JBossImplementation" >
</Connector>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    .

  2. Configure JaasSecurityDomain MBean

    Set the JaasSecurityDomain MBean in the $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/deploy/security-service.xml file.
    If the file does not exist, create it. The code sample in Example 18.1, “security-service.xml” shows the content you need to add to a newly-created service-security.xml file. If the security-service.xml file exists, append the <mbean> element block to the file.

    Example 18.1. security-service.xml

    <server>
   <mbean code="org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain"
      name="jboss.security:service=PBESecurityDomain">
      <constructor>
         <arg type="java.lang.String" value="encrypt-keystore-password"></arg>
      </constructor>
      <attribute name="KeyStoreURL">resource:localhost.keystore</attribute>
      <attribute name="KeyStorePass">{CLASS}org.jboss.security.plugins.FilePassword:${jboss.server.home.dir}/conf/keystore.password</attribute>
      <attribute name="Salt">welcometojboss</attribute>
      <attribute name="IterationCount">13</attribute>
   </mbean>
</server>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Note

    If the keystore contains multiple certificates, you can use the ServerAlias property. The property value specifies the alias of the certificate retrieved by the SSL connector. 
    <attribute name="ServerAlias">ssl</attribute>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    The Salt and IterationCount are the variables that define the strength of your encrypted password, so you can vary it from what is shown. Ensure you record the new values, and use when generating the encrypted password.

    Note

    The Salt must be at least eight characters long.

  3. Generate encrypted password

    The <mbean> configuration specifies that the keystore is stored in the jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/conf/localhost.keystore file. The <mbean> also specifies the encrypted password file is stored in jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/conf/keystore.password file.
    You must create the localhost.keystore file.
    Execute the following command in the jboss-as/server/$PROFILE/conf directory. 
    [conf]$ java -cp $JBOSS_HOME/lib/jbosssx.jar \org.jboss.security.plugins.FilePassword welcometojboss 13 unit-tests-server keystore.password
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    This command uses jbosssx.jar as the classpath (-cp) and the FilePassword security plug-in to create a keystore.password file with the password set as unit-tests-server. To verify you have permission to create a keystore.password file, you supply the salt and iteration parameters configured in the <mbean> <attribute> elements of the JaasSecurityDomain.
    You execute this command in the /conf directory so the keystore.password file is saved to this directory.

  4. Update the Tomcat service MBean

    Navigate to $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/deploy/jbossweb.sar/META-INF/.
    Open jboss-beans.xml and append the following <depends> tag to the WebServer end of the file. Adding the <depends> tag specifies that Tomcat must start after jboss.security:service=PBESecurityDomain . 
    <bean name="WebServer"
class="org.jboss.web.tomcat.service.deployers.TomcatService">
...
<depends>jboss.security:service=PBESecurityDomain</depends>

...
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Example 18.2. JaasSecurityDomain definition for pkcs12 keystores

Based on Procedure 18.1, “Encrypt Tomcat Container Keystore Password”, pkcs12 keystore containers referenced by the Tomcat Connector would look similar to this example. 
<mbean code="org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain"
      name="jboss.security:service=PBESecurityDomain">
    <constructor>
       <arg type="java.lang.String" value="encrypt-keystore-password"></arg>
    </constructor>
    <attribute name="KeyStoreType">pkcs12</attribute>
    <attribute name="KeyStoreURL">resource:localhost.keystore</attribute>
    <attribute name="KeyStorePass">{CLASS}org.jboss.security.plugins.FilePassword:${jboss.server.home.dir}/conf/keystore.password</attribute>
    <attribute name="Salt">welcometojboss</attribute>
    <attribute name="IterationCount">13</attribute>
</mbean>
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

18.1. Medium Security Usecase
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A user does not want to encrypt the keystore password but wants to externalize it (outside of server.xml ) or wants to make use of a predefined JaasSecurityDomain.

Procedure 18.2. Predefined JaasSecurityDomain

  1. Update jboss-service.xml to add a connector

    Navigate to $JBOSS_HOME/server/ $PROFILE /deploy/jbossweb.sar/META-INF, and add the following code block to the jboss-service.xml file. 
    <mbean code="org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain"
      name="jboss.security:service=SecurityDomain">
      <constructor>
         <arg type="java.lang.String" value="jbosstest-ssl"></arg>
      </constructor>
      <attribute name="KeyStoreURL">resource:localhost.keystore</attribute>
      <attribute name="KeyStorePass">unit-tests-server</attribute>
   </mbean>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Add a <depends> tag to the Tomcat service

    Navigate to $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/deploy/jbossweb.sar .
    Open server.xml and append the following <depends> element toward the end of the file: 
    <depends>jboss.security:service=SecurityDomain</depends>
   </mbean>
</server>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Define the JaasSecurityDomain MBean in a *-service.xml file

    security-service.xml in the deploy directory, for example. 
     <mbean code="org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain"
     name="jboss.security:service=SecurityDomain">
     <constructor>
        <arg type="java.lang.String" value="jbosstest-ssl"></arg>
     </constructor>
     <attribute name="KeyStoreURL">resource:localhost.keystore</attribute>
     <attribute name="KeyStorePass">unit-tests-server</attribute>
  </mbean>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Note

If you see this error, remember the keystore file should be writable by the user id that is running JBoss Enterprise Application Platform.
This chapter provides guidance on how the LdapExtLoginModule can be used with an encrypted password to be decrypted by a JaasSecurityDomain. This chapter assumes that the LdapExtLoginModule is already running correctly with a non-encrypted password. For more information about LdapExtLoginModule, refer to Section 12.1.2, “LdapExtLoginModule”

Procedure 19.1. 

  1. Define JaasSecurityDomain MBean

    Define the JaasSecurityDomain MBean used to decrypt the encrypted version of the password. You can add the MBean to JBOSS_HOME/server/PROFILE/conf/jboss-service.xml, or to a *-service.xml deployment descriptor in the JBOSS_HOME/server/ PROFILE /deploy folder. 
          <mbean code="org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain"
      name="jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityDomain,domain=jmx-console">
      <constructor>
         <arg type="java.lang.String" value="jmx-console"></arg>
      </constructor>
      <attribute name="KeyStorePass">some_password</attribute>
      <attribute name="Salt">abcdefgh</attribute>
      <attribute name="IterationCount">66</attribute>
   </mbean>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Note

    The default cipher algorithm used by the JaasSecurityDomain implementation is PBEwithMD5andDES. Other cipher algorithms include DES, TripleDES, Blowfish, and PBEWithMD5AndTripleDES. All algorithms are symmetric algorithms. You specify a cipher algorithm by appending an <attribute> element with the CypherElement attribute set to one of these values.

  2. Adjust password, salt, and iteration count

    Step One contains a simple configuration where the required password, Salt, and Iteration Count used for the encryption or decryption are contained within the MBean definition.
    Ensure you change the KeyStorePass, Salt, and IterationCount values suitable for your own deployment.

  3. Start the platform

    Start the server after configuring the MBean, password, salt, and iteration counts. Ensure you start the platform by specifying the server profile containing the configuration. 
    [bin]$ ./run.sh -c PROFILE
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  4. Open the JMX Console

    Navigate to the JMX Console (http://localhost:8080/jmx-console/ by default) and select the org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain MBean.

  5. Invoke the LdapExtLoginModule

    1. On the org.jboss.security.plugins.JaasSecurityDomain page, find the encode64(String password) method.
    2. Pass the plain text version of the password the LdapExtLoginModule will use to this method.
    3. Invoke the encode64(String password) method.
    4. The return value is the encrypted version of the password encoded as Base64.

  6. Configure Login Module

    Within the login module configuration, the following module-options should be set: 
    <module-option name="jaasSecurityDomain">jboss.security:service=JaasSecurityDomain,domain=jmx-console</module-option>
  <module-option name="bindCredential">2gx7gcAxcDuaHaJMgO5AVo</module-option>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    The first option specifies the JaasSecurityDomain configured in Step 1 is used to decrypt the password.
    The bindCredential is replaced with the encrypted Base64 password obtained in Step 5.

Chapter 20. Firewalls
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JBoss comes with many socket-based services that open listening ports. In this section we list the ports, which might be open by the services and therefore need to be configured to work when accessing JBoss behind a firewall. The Table 20.1, “Default JBoss ports” table shows ports, socket type, associated service and a brief description of such ports.
Expand
Table 20.1. Default JBoss ports
Port Type Description Service
1090 TCP RMI/JRMP port for connecting to the JMX MBeanServer jboss.remoting:service=JMXConnectorServer,protocol=rmi
1098 TCP Naming service port for RMI requests from client proxies jboss:service=Naming
1099 TCP Naming service port jboss:service=Naming
1100 TCP Port for the HA-JNDI service jboss:service=HAJNDI
1101 TCP HA-JNDI service port for RMI requests from client proxies jboss:service=HAJNDI
1102 UDP HA-JNDI multicast port for auto-discovery requests jboss:service=HAJNDI
1161 UDP Port for the SNMP adaptor MBean jboss.jmx:name=SnmpAgent,service=snmp,type=adaptor
1162 UDP Port for the SNMP trap receiver jboss.jmx:name=SnmpAgent,service=trapd,type=logger
3528 TCP IIOP port for the Corba ORB jboss:service=CorbaORB
3873 TCP EJB3 Remoting Connector Port jboss.remoting:type=Connector,name=DefaultEjb3Connector,handler=ejb3
4444 TCP Port for the legacy RMI/JRMP invoker jboss:service=invoker,type=jrmp
4445 TCP Port for the legacy Pooled invoker jboss:service=invoker,type=pooled
4446 TCP Port for JBoss Remoting Connector of UnifiedInvoker UnifiedInvokerConnector
4447 TCP Port for the high-availability version of the legacy RMI/JRMP invoker jboss:service=invoker,type=jrmpha
4448 TCP Port for the high-availability version of the legacy Pooled invoker jboss:service=invoker,type=pooledha
4457 TCP Port for JBoss Messaging jboss.messaging:service=Connector,transport=bisocket
4458 TCP Recommended secondary binding port for JBoss Messaging. For more information, see the Configuring the Remoting Connector section of the Messaging User Guide. jboss.messaging:service=Connector,transport=bisocket
4712 TCP Port for JBoss TS Recovery Manager TransactionManager
4713 TCP Port for JBossTS Transaction Status Manager TransactionManager
4714 TCP Port for provision of unique process id for JBossTS TransactionManager
5445 TCP Port for HornetQ HornetQ
5446 TCP SSL port for HornetQ HornetQ
5455 TCP HornetQ batch port; refer to Configuring the Netty transport in HornetQ User Guide HornetQ
5465 TCP HornetQ backup server port HornetQ
5466 TCP Backup SSL port for HornetQ HornetQ
5475 TCP Backup batch port for HornetQ HornetQ
7500 TCP Multicast port on which JGroups listens for diagnostic requests from its Probe utility JGroups
7600 TCP Port used for the JGroups tcp stack JGroups
7650 TCP Port used by the JGroups tcp-sync stack JGroups
7900 TCP Port used by the JGroups jbm-data. This port is used by cluster nodes to communicate with each other and is not usually firewalled. If this option is desirable, keep in mind that other UDP ports may also need to be opened. JGroups
8009 TCP Port for AJP connector jboss:service=WebService
8080 TCP JBoss Web HTTP connector port (drives also the values for the HTTPS and AJP sockets) jboss.web:service=WebServer
8083 TCP Port for dynamic class and resource loading jboss:service=WebService
8443 TCP Port for JBoss Web HTTPS connector jboss.web:service=WebServer
45688 UDP Multicast port for JGroups udp stack communication JGroups
45689 UDP Multicast port for communication of the JGroups udp-async stack JGroups
45699 UDP Multicast port for communication of the JGroups udp-sync stack JGroups
45700 TCP Multicast port on which JGroups tcp stack performs discovery JGroups
45701 TCP Multicast port on which JGroups tcp-sync stack performs discovery JGroups
45710 UDP Multicast port on which JGroups jbm-data stack performs discovery JGroups
53200 TCP Port used by the FD_SOCK protocol in the JGroups jbm_control stack JGroups
54200 – 54206 TCP Range of ports used by the FD_SOCK protocol in the JGroups tcp stack JGroups
54225 – 54231 TCP Range of ports used by the FD_SOCK protocol in the JGroups tcp-async stack JGroups
55200 UDP Port for JGroups udp stack JGroups
55225 UDP Port used by the JGroups udp-async stack JGroups
55250 UDP Port used by the JGroups udp-sync stack JGroups
57600 – 57606 TCP Range of ports used by the FD_SOCK protocol in the JGroups tcp stack JGroups
57650 – 57656 TCP Range of ports used by the FD_SOCK protocol in the JGroups tcp-sync stack JGroups
57900 TCP Port used by the FD_SOCK protocol in the JGroups jbm-data stack JGroups
JBoss Enterprise Application Platform ships with several administrative access points that must be secured or removed to prevent unauthorized access to administrative functions in a deployment. This chapter discusses the various administration services, how to secure them, and how to disable authentication on these access points for development purposes.

21.1. JMX Console
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The JMX Console is provided by the jmx-console.war file located in the deploy directory. It provides with an HTML view into the JMX Microkernel and allows you to perform administrative actions such as shutting down the server, stopping services and deploying new services, among other things.
This service is secured by default, and permissions need to be granted to the jmx-console security domain to allow access. Follow Task: Create jmx-console, admin-console, and http invoker user account to allow access to it. In order to remove it, delete the jmx-console folder from the deploy directory.

21.2. Admin Console
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The Admin Console improves on the former Web Console, and is an embedded version of the JOPR project, which JBoss Operation Network is based on. This console allows access for users to deploy and undeploy applications, and should be secured or removed. It is secured by default.
Follow Task: Allow access to the HTTP Invoker from remote hosts to allow access to the Admin Console.
Alternatively, it can be removed by deleting the admin-console directory from the deploy directory.

Task: Create jmx-console, admin-console, and http invoker user account

This procedure creates user with access permissions to the admin and jmx consoles, and the http invoker.
The jmx-console is secured by the jmx-console security domain which is defined in $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/conf/login-config.xml.

Procedure 21.1. 

  1. Add a username and password to $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/conf/props/jmx-console-users.properties.
  2. Create a username = password pair.

    Important

    The commented admin=admin username and password pair is an example of the username/password definition syntax. Do not use this for your user account.
  3. Grant permissions to the user:
    1. Edit the file $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/conf/props/jmx-console-roles.properties.
    2. Create an entry for the user of the form:
      username=JBossAdmin,HttpInvoker
  4. Grant the user permission to access the JMX Console and Admin Console.
  5. Grant the user permission to access the HTTP Invoker.

21.3. Web Console
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The Web Console is a legacy console, from the EAP 4 series. The current Admin Console is a more fully featured console. The Web Console is secured by default. The Web Console is secured by the web-console security domain which is defined in $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/conf/login-config.xml.
By default, the web-console security domain uses the same security configuration as the jmx-console domain. You can follow Task: Create jmx-console, admin-console, and http invoker user account to allow access to it.

21.4. HTTP Invoker
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The HTTP Invoker is a service that provides HTTP and Remote Method Invocation (RMI) access for EJBs and the JNDI Naming service. It is secured by the jmx-console security domain. The instructions in Task: Create jmx-console, admin-console, and http invoker user account will allow access to it.

Task: Allow access to the HTTP Invoker from remote hosts

To allow access on the the hostName myservice.example.com, add a hostName property to invoker you wish to use; Pooled or non-Pooled. Be aware that myservice.example.com must resolve to an IP Address served by this machine.

Procedure 21.2. 

  • Choose the appropriate bean from the options below and copy it in your invoker: 
    <!-- RMI/JRMP invoker -->
<bean class="org.jboss.services.binding.ServiceBindingMetadata">
<property name="serviceName">jboss:service=invoker,type=jrmp</property>
<property name="port">4444</property>
<property name="description">Socket for the legacy RMI/JRMP invoker</property>
<property name="hostName">myservice.example.com</property>
</bean>
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    <!-- Pooled invoker -->
<bean class="org.jboss.services.binding.ServiceBindingMetadata">
<property name="serviceName">jboss:service=invoker,type=pooled</property>
<property name="port">4445</property>
<property name="description">Socket for the legacy Pooled invoker</property>
<property name="hostName">myservice.example.com</property>
</bean>
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21.5. JMX Invoker
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This invoker exposes the JMX MBeanServer interface via an RMI compatible interface using the RMI/JRMP detached invoker service. The JMX Invoker is secured by default in JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5.1 and later, by restricting access to the request originating from the loopback network interface, or 'localhost'. To allow access to it from remote hosts, follow the procedure outlined in 21.2.

21.6. Remote Access to Services, Detached Invokers
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In addition to the MBean services notion that allows for the ability to integrate arbitrary functionality, JBoss also has a detached invoker concept that allows MBean services to expose functional interfaces via arbitrary protocols for remote access by clients. The notion of a detached invoker is that remoting and the protocol by which a service is accessed is a functional aspect or service independent of the component. Therefore, you can make a naming service available for use via RMI/JRMP, RMI/HTTP, RMI/SOAP, or any arbitrary custom transport.
The discussion of the detached invoker architecture will begin with an overview of the components involved. The main components in the detached invoker architecture are shown in Figure 21.1, “The main components in the detached invoker architecture”.
The main components in the detached invoker architecture
View larger image
The main components in the detached invoker architecture

Figure 21.1. The main components in the detached invoker architecture

On the client side, there exists a client proxy which exposes the interface(s) of the MBean service. This is the same smart, compile-less dynamic proxy that is used for EJB home and remote interfaces. The only difference between the proxy for an arbitrary service and the EJB is the set of interfaces exposed as well as the client side interceptors found inside the proxy. The client interceptors are represented by the rectangles found inside of the client proxy. An interceptor is an assembly line type of pattern that allows for transformation of a method invocation and/or return values. A client obtains a proxy through some lookup mechanism, typically JNDI. Although RMI is indicated in Figure 21.1, “The main components in the detached invoker architecture”, the only real requirement on the exposed interface and its types is that they are serializable between the client server over JNDI as well as the transport layer.
The choice of the transport layer is determined by the last interceptor in the client proxy, which is referred to as the Invoker Interceptor in Figure 21.1, “The main components in the detached invoker architecture”. The invoker interceptor contains a reference to the transport specific stub of the server side Detached Invoker MBean service. The invoker interceptor also handles the optimization of calls that occur within the same VM as the target MBean. When the invoker interceptor detects that this is the case the call is passed to a call-by-reference invoker that simply passes the invocation along to the target MBean.
The detached invoker service is responsible for making a generic invoke operation available via the transport the detached invoker handles. The Invoker interface illustrates the generic invoke operation. 
package org.jboss.invocation;
        
import java.rmi.Remote;
import org.jboss.proxy.Interceptor;
import org.jboss.util.id.GUID;
        
        
public interface Invoker
extends Remote
{
GUID ID = new GUID();

String getServerHostName() throws Exception;

Object invoke(Invocation invocation) throws Exception;
}
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The Invoker interface extends Remote to be compatible with RMI, but this does not mean that an invoker must expose an RMI service stub. The detached invoker service acts as a transport gateway that accepts invocations represented as the org.jboss.invocation.Invocation object over its specific transport. The invoker service unmarshals the invocation, forwards the invocation onto the destination MBean service represented by the Target MBean in Figure 21.1, “The main components in the detached invoker architecture”, and marshals the return value or exception resulting from the forwarded call back to the client.
The Invocation object is just a representation of a method invocation context. This includes the target MBean name, the method, the method arguments, a context of information associated with the proxy by the proxy factory, and an arbitrary map of data associated with the invocation by the client proxy interceptors.
The configuration of the client proxy is done by the server side proxy factory MBean service, indicated by the Proxy Factory component in Figure 21.1, “The main components in the detached invoker architecture”. The proxy factory performs the following tasks:
  • Create a dynamic proxy that implements the interface the target MBean wishes to expose.
  • Associate the client proxy interceptors with the dynamic proxy handler.
  • Associate the invocation context with the dynamic proxy. This includes the target MBean, detached invoker stub and the proxy JNDI name.
  • Make the proxy available to clients by binding the proxy into JNDI.
The last component in Figure 21.1, “The main components in the detached invoker architecture” is the Target MBean service that wishes to expose an interface for invocations to remote clients. The steps required for an MBean service to be accessible through a given interface are:
  • Define a JMX operation matching the signature: public Object invoke(org.jboss.invocation.Invocation) throws Exception
  • Create a HashMap<Long, Method> mapping from the exposed interface java.lang.reflect.Methods to the long hash representation using the org.jboss.invocation.MarshalledInvocation.calculateHash method.
  • Implement the invoke(Invocation) JMX operation and use the interface method hash mapping to transform from the long hash representation of the invoked method to the java.lang.reflect.Method of the exposed interface. Reflection is used to perform the actual invocation on the object associated with the MBean service that actually implements the exposed interface.
This section presents the org.jboss.jmx.connector.invoker.InvokerAdaptorService and its configuration for access via RMI/JRMP as an example of the steps required to provide remote access to an MBean service.

Example 21.1. The InvokerAdaptorService MBean

The InvokerAdaptorService is a simple MBean service that exists to fulfill the target MBean role in the detached invoker pattern. 
package org.jboss.jmx.connector.invoker;
public interface InvokerAdaptorServiceMBean
extends org.jboss.system.ServiceMBean
{
Class getExportedInterface();
void setExportedInterface(Class exportedInterface);

Object invoke(org.jboss.invocation.Invocation invocation)
    throws Exception;
}

package org.jboss.jmx.connector.invoker;

import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.lang.reflect.UndeclaredThrowableException;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

import javax.management.MBeanServer;
import javax.management.ObjectName;

import org.jboss.invocation.Invocation;
import org.jboss.invocation.MarshalledInvocation;
import org.jboss.mx.server.ServerConstants;
import org.jboss.system.ServiceMBeanSupport;
import org.jboss.system.Registry;

public class InvokerAdaptorService
extends ServiceMBeanSupport
implements InvokerAdaptorServiceMBean, ServerConstants
{
private static ObjectName mbeanRegistry;

static {
    try {
        mbeanRegistry = new ObjectName(MBEAN_REGISTRY);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        throw new RuntimeException(e.toString());
    }
}

private Map marshalledInvocationMapping = new HashMap();
private Class exportedInterface;

public Class getExportedInterface()
{
    return exportedInterface;
}

public void setExportedInterface(Class exportedInterface)
{
    this.exportedInterface = exportedInterface;
}

protected void startService()
    throws Exception
{
    // Build the interface method map
    Method[] methods = exportedInterface.getMethods();
    HashMap tmpMap = new HashMap(methods.length);
    for (int m = 0; m < methods.length; m ++) {
        Method method = methods[m];
        Long hash = new Long(MarshalledInvocation.calculateHash(method));
        tmpMap.put(hash, method);
    }

    marshalledInvocationMapping = Collections.unmodifiableMap(tmpMap);
    // Place our ObjectName hash into the Registry so invokers can
    // resolve it
    Registry.bind(new Integer(serviceName.hashCode()), serviceName);
}

protected void stopService()
    throws Exception
{
    Registry.unbind(new Integer(serviceName.hashCode()));
}


public Object invoke(Invocation invocation)
    throws Exception
{
    // Make sure we have the correct classloader before unmarshalling
    Thread thread = Thread.currentThread();
    ClassLoader oldCL = thread.getContextClassLoader();

    // Get the MBean this operation applies to
    ClassLoader newCL = null;
    ObjectName objectName = (ObjectName) 
        invocation.getValue("JMX_OBJECT_NAME");
    if (objectName != null) {
        // Obtain the ClassLoader associated with the MBean deployment
        newCL = (ClassLoader) 
            server.invoke(mbeanRegistry, "getValue",
                          new Object[] { objectName, CLASSLOADER },
                          new String[] { ObjectName.class.getName(),
                                         "java.lang.String" });
    }
    
    if (newCL != null && newCL != oldCL) {
        thread.setContextClassLoader(newCL);
    }

    try {
        // Set the method hash to Method mapping
        if (invocation instanceof MarshalledInvocation) {
            MarshalledInvocation mi = (MarshalledInvocation) invocation;
            mi.setMethodMap(marshalledInvocationMapping);
        }

        // Invoke the MBeanServer method via reflection
        Method method = invocation.getMethod();
        Object[] args = invocation.getArguments();
        Object value = null;
        try {
            String name = method.getName();
            Class[] sig = method.getParameterTypes();
            Method mbeanServerMethod =
                MBeanServer.class.getMethod(name, sig);
            value = mbeanServerMethod.invoke(server, args);
        } catch(InvocationTargetException e) {
            Throwable t = e.getTargetException();
            if (t instanceof Exception) {
                throw (Exception) t;
            } else {
                throw new UndeclaredThrowableException(t, method.toString());
            }
        }

        return value;
    } finally {
        if (newCL != null && newCL != oldCL) {
            thread.setContextClassLoader(oldCL);
        }
    }
}
}
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To help understand the components that make up the InvokerAdaptorServiceMBean, the code has been split into logical blocks, with commentary about how each block operates.

Example 21.2. Block One

package org.jboss.jmx.connector.invoker;
public interface InvokerAdaptorServiceMBean
extends org.jboss.system.ServiceMBean
{
Class getExportedInterface();
void setExportedInterface(Class exportedInterface);

Object invoke(org.jboss.invocation.Invocation invocation)
    throws Exception;
}

package org.jboss.jmx.connector.invoker;

import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.lang.reflect.UndeclaredThrowableException;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

import javax.management.MBeanServer;
import javax.management.ObjectName;

import org.jboss.invocation.Invocation;
import org.jboss.invocation.MarshalledInvocation;
import org.jboss.mx.server.ServerConstants;
import org.jboss.system.ServiceMBeanSupport;
import org.jboss.system.Registry;

public class InvokerAdaptorService
extends ServiceMBeanSupport
implements InvokerAdaptorServiceMBean, ServerConstants
{
private static ObjectName mbeanRegistry;

static {
    try {
        mbeanRegistry = new ObjectName(MBEAN_REGISTRY);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        throw new RuntimeException(e.toString());
    }
}

private Map marshalledInvocationMapping = new HashMap();
private Class exportedInterface;

public Class getExportedInterface()
{
    return exportedInterface;
}

public void setExportedInterface(Class exportedInterface)
{
    this.exportedInterface = exportedInterface;
}
...
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The InvokerAdaptorServiceMBean Standard MBean interface of the InvokerAdaptorService has a single ExportedInterface attribute and a single invoke(Invocation) operation.
ExportedInterface
The attribute allows customization of the type of interface the service exposes to clients. This must be compatible with the MBeanServer class in terms of method name and signature.
invoke(Invocation)
The operation is the required entry point that target MBean services must expose to participate in the detached invoker pattern. This operation is invoked by the detached invoker services that have been configured to provide access to the InvokerAdaptorService.

Example 21.3. Block Two

    protected void startService()
    throws Exception
{
    // Build the interface method map
    Method[] methods = exportedInterface.getMethods();
    HashMap tmpMap = new HashMap(methods.length);
    for (int m = 0; m &lt; methods.length; m ++) {
        Method method = methods[m];
        Long hash = new Long(MarshalledInvocation.calculateHash(method));
        tmpMap.put(hash, method);
    }

    marshalledInvocationMapping = Collections.unmodifiableMap(tmpMap);
    // Place our ObjectName hash into the Registry so invokers can
    // resolve it
    Registry.bind(new Integer(serviceName.hashCode()), serviceName);
}
protected void stopService()
    throws Exception
{
    Registry.unbind(new Integer(serviceName.hashCode()));
}
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This code block builds the HashMap<Long, Method> of the exportedInterface Class using the org.jboss.invocation.MarshalledInvocation.calculateHash(Method) utility method.
Because java.lang.reflect.Method instances are not serializable, a MarshalledInvocation version of the non-serializable Invocation class is used to marshal the invocation between the client and server. The MarshalledInvocation replaces the Method instances with their corresponding hash representation. On the server side, the MarshalledInvocation must be told what the hash to Method mapping is.
This code block creates a mapping between the InvokerAdaptorService service name and its hash code representation. This is used by detached invokers to determine what the target MBean ObjectName of an Invocation is.
When the target MBean name is stored in the Invocation, its store as its hashCode because ObjectNames are relatively expensive objects to create. The org.jboss.system.Registry is a global map like construct that invokers use to store the hash code to ObjectName mappings in.

Example 21.4. Block Three

    public Object invoke(Invocation invocation)
    throws Exception
{
    // Make sure we have the correct classloader before unmarshalling
    Thread thread = Thread.currentThread();
    ClassLoader oldCL = thread.getContextClassLoader();

    // Get the MBean this operation applies to
    ClassLoader newCL = null;
    ObjectName objectName = (ObjectName) 
        invocation.getValue(&quot;JMX_OBJECT_NAME&quot;);
    if (objectName != null) {
        // Obtain the ClassLoader associated with the MBean deployment
        newCL = (ClassLoader) 
            server.invoke(mbeanRegistry, &quot;getValue&quot;,
                          new Object[] { objectName, CLASSLOADER },
                          new String[] { ObjectName.class.getName(),
                                         &quot;java.lang.String&quot; });
    }
    
    if (newCL != null &amp;&amp; newCL != oldCL) {
        thread.setContextClassLoader(newCL);
    }
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This code block obtains the name of the MBean on which the MBeanServer operation is being performed, and then looks up the class loader associated with the MBean's SAR deployment. This information is available via the org.jboss.mx.server.registry.BasicMBeanRegistry, a JBoss JMX implementation-specific class.
It is generally necessary for an MBean to establish the correct class loading context because the detached invoker protocol layer may not have access to the class loaders needed to unmarshal the types associated with an invocation.

Example 21.5. Block Four

...
    try {
        // Set the method hash to Method mapping
        if (invocation instanceof MarshalledInvocation) {
            MarshalledInvocation mi = (MarshalledInvocation) invocation;
            mi.setMethodMap(marshalledInvocationMapping);
        }
...
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This code block installs the ExposedInterface class method hash to method mapping if the invocation argument is of type MarshalledInvocation. The method mapping calculated in Example 21.3, “Block Two”is used here.
A second mapping is performed from the ExposedInterface method to the matching method of the MBeanServer class. The InvokerServiceAdaptor decouples the ExposedInterface from the MBeanServer class in that it allows an arbitrary interface. This is required because the standard java.lang.reflect.Proxy class can only proxy interfaces. It also allows you to only expose a subset of the MBeanServer methods and add transport specific exceptions such as java.rmi.RemoteException to the ExposedInterface method signatures.

Example 21.6. Block Five

...
        // Invoke the MBeanServer method via reflection
        Method method = invocation.getMethod();
        Object[] args = invocation.getArguments();
        Object value = null;
        try {
            String name = method.getName();
            Class[] sig = method.getParameterTypes();
            Method mbeanServerMethod =
                MBeanServer.class.getMethod(name, sig);
            value = mbeanServerMethod.invoke(server, args);
        } catch(InvocationTargetException e) {
            Throwable t = e.getTargetException();
            if (t instanceof Exception) {
                throw (Exception) t;
            } else {
                throw new UndeclaredThrowableException(t, method.toString());
            }
        }

        return value;
    } finally {
        if (newCL != null &amp;&amp; newCL != oldCL) {
            thread.setContextClassLoader(oldCL);
        }
    }
}
}
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The code block dispatches the MBeanServer method invocation to the InvokerAdaptorService MBeanServer instance to which the was deployed. The server instance variable is inherited from the ServiceMBeanSupport superclass.
Any exceptions that result from the reflective invocation are handled, including unwrapping any declared exceptions thrown by the invocation. The MBean code completes with the return of the successful MBeanServer method invocation result.

Note

The InvokerAdaptorService MBean does not deal directly with any transport specific details. There is the calculation of the method hash to Method mapping, but this is a transport independent detail.
Now take a look at how the InvokerAdaptorService may be used to expose the same org.jboss.jmx.adaptor.rmi.RMIAdaptor interface via RMI/JRMP as seen in Connecting to JMX Using RMI.
We start by presenting the proxy factory and InvokerAdaptorService configurations found in the default setup in the jmx-invoker-adaptor-service.sar deployment. Example 21.7, “Default jmx-invoker-adaptor-server.sar deployment descriptor” shows the jboss-service.xml descriptor for this deployment.

Example 21.7. Default jmx-invoker-adaptor-server.sar deployment descriptor

<server>
<!-- The JRMP invoker proxy configuration for the InvokerAdaptorService -->
<mbean code="org.jboss.invocation.jrmp.server.JRMPProxyFactory"
       name="jboss.jmx:type=adaptor,name=Invoker,protocol=jrmp,service=proxyFactory">
    <!-- Use the standard JRMPInvoker from conf/jboss-service.xml -->
    <attribute name="InvokerName">jboss:service=invoker,type=jrmp</attribute>
    <!-- The target MBean is the InvokerAdaptorService configured below -->
    <attribute name="TargetName">jboss.jmx:type=adaptor,name=Invoker</attribute>
    <!-- Where to bind the RMIAdaptor proxy -->
    <attribute name="JndiName">jmx/invoker/RMIAdaptor</attribute>
    <!-- The RMI compatible MBeanServer interface -->
    <attribute name="ExportedInterface">org.jboss.jmx.adaptor.rmi.RMIAdaptor</attribute>
    <attribute name="ClientInterceptors">
        <iterceptors>
            <interceptor>org.jboss.proxy.ClientMethodInterceptor</interceptor>
            <interceptor>
                org.jboss.jmx.connector.invoker.client.InvokerAdaptorClientInterceptor 
            </interceptor>
            <interceptor>org.jboss.invocation.InvokerInterceptor</interceptor>
        </iterceptors>
    </attribute>
    <depends>jboss:service=invoker,type=jrmp</depends>
</mbean> 
<!-- This is the service that handles the RMIAdaptor invocations by routing
     them to the MBeanServer the service is deployed under. -->
<mbean code="org.jboss.jmx.connector.invoker.InvokerAdaptorService" 
       name="jboss.jmx:type=adaptor,name=Invoker">
    <attribute name="ExportedInterface">org.jboss.jmx.adaptor.rmi.RMIAdaptor</attribute>
</mbean>
</server>
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The first MBean, org.jboss.invocation.jrmp.server.JRMPProxyFactory, is the proxy factory MBean service that creates proxies for the RMI/JRMP protocol. The configuration of this service as shown in Example 21.7, “Default jmx-invoker-adaptor-server.sar deployment descriptor” states that the JRMPInvoker will be used as the detached invoker, the InvokerAdaptorService is the target mbean to which requests will be forwarded, that the proxy will expose the RMIAdaptor interface, the proxy will be bound into JNDI under the name jmx/invoker/RMIAdaptor, and the proxy will contain 3 interceptors: ClientMethodInterceptor, InvokerAdaptorClientInterceptor, InvokerInterceptor. The configuration of the InvokerAdaptorService simply sets the RMIAdaptor interface that the service is exposing.
The last piece of the configuration for exposing the InvokerAdaptorService via RMI/JRMP is the detached invoker. The detached invoker we will use is the standard RMI/JRMP invoker used by the EJB containers for home and remote invocations, and this is the org.jboss.invocation.jrmp.server.JRMPInvoker MBean service configured in the conf/jboss-service.xml descriptor. That we can use the same service instance emphasizes the detached nature of the invokers. The JRMPInvoker simply acts as the RMI/JRMP endpoint for all RMI/JRMP proxies regardless of the interface(s) the proxies expose or the service the proxies utilize.

21.7. Disabling Authentication
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This section contains information on how to disable authentication on individual specific services.

Note

Developers who need to disable the entire authentication for development purposes can do so using the jbossas-5-disableauth.patch patch available in the source files (src/build). First, copy the patch file to the jboss-as directory and run the following command to apply the patch from the jboss-asdirectory: 
patch -p0 -i ./jbossas-5-disableauth.patch
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Note that this patch is intended for development purposes only.

21.7.1. JMX Console
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To disable authentication for the JMX console, comment out the <security-constraint> section in the $JBOSS_HOME/server/PROFILE/deploy/jmx-console.war/WEB-INF/web.xml file as shown in Example 21.8, “HtmlAdaptor securite-constraint Commented out”.

Example 21.8. HtmlAdaptor securite-constraint Commented out

<!--
<security-constraint>
<web-resource-collection>
<web-resource-name>HtmlAdaptor</web-resource-name>
<description>
An example security config that only allows users with the role JBossAdmin to access the HTML JMX console web application
</description>
<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</web-resource-collection>
<auth-constraint>
<role-name>JBossAdmin</role-name>
</auth-constraint>
</security-constraint>
-->
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21.7.2. Web Console
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To disable authentication for the Web console, comment out the <security-constraint> section in the $JBOSS_HOME/server/PROFILE/deploy/management/console-mgr.sar/web-console.war/WEB-INF/web.xml file as shown in Example 21.9, “Web Console security-constraint Commented out”.

Example 21.9. Web Console security-constraint Commented out

<!--
<security-constraint>
<web-resource-collection>
<web-resource-name>HtmlAdaptor</web-resource-name>
<description>
  An example security config that only allows users with the role JBossAdmin to access the HTML JMX console web application
</description>
<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</web-resource-collection>
<auth-constraint>
<role-name>JBossAdmin</role-name>
</auth-constraint>
</security-constraint>
-->
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21.7.3. JMX Invoker
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To disable authentication for the JMX Invoker, comment out the JNDIFactory, EJBInvokerServlet, and JMXInvokerServlet from the security realm in the $JBOSS_HOME/server/PROFILE/deploy/httpha-invoker.sar/invoker.war/WEB-INF/web.xml file as shown in Example 21.10, “JMX Invoker Authentication Disabled”.

Example 21.10. JMX Invoker Authentication Disabled

<security-constraint>
<web-resource-collection>
<web-resource-name>HttpInvokers</web-resource-name>
<description>
An example security config that only allows users with the role HttpInvoker to access the HTTP invoker servlets
</description>
<!--
<url-pattern>/restricted/*</url-pattern>
<url-pattern>/JNDIFactory/*</url-pattern>
<url-pattern>/EJBInvokerServlet/*</url-pattern>
<url-pattern>/JMXInvokerServlet/*</url-pattern>
-->
  </web-resource-collection>
<auth-constraint>
<role-name>HttpInvoker</role-name>
</auth-constraint>
</security-constraint>
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21.7.4. JMX Invoker
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To disable authentication for the JMX invoker, do the following:
  1. Open for editing the $JBOSS_HOME/server/PROFILE/deploy/jmx-invoker-service.xml file.
  2. Locate the org.jboss.jmx.connector.invoker.InvokerAdaptorService MBean code.
  3. Comment out the <interceptor> block that specifies the AuthenticationInterceptor module, the security interceptor, as shown in Example 21.11, “JMXInvoker Authentication Interceptor Commented out”.

    Example 21.11. JMXInvoker Authentication Interceptor Commented out

    <descriptors>
<interceptors>
<!--Uncomment to require authenticated users-->
<!--
<interceptor code="org.jboss.jmx.connector.invoker.AuthenticationInterceptor"
securityDomain="java:/jaas/jmx-console"/>
-->
<!--Interceptor that deals with non-serializable results-->
<interceptor code="org.jboss.jmx.connector.invoker.SerializableInterceptor";
  policyClass="StripModelMBeanInfoPolicy"/>
</interceptors>
</descriptors>
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21.7.5. ProfileService
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To disable authentication for the ProfileService comment out the contents of the serverProxyInterceptors element in the $JBOSS_HOME/server/PROFILE/deploy/profileservice-jboss-beans.xml file as show in Example 21.12, “ProfileService AuthenticationInterceptor Commented out”.

Example 21.12. ProfileService AuthenticationInterceptor Commented out

<property name="serverProxyInterceptors">
<list>
<!--
comment this list to disable auth checks for the profileservice
-->
<!--
<bean class="org.jboss.aspects.security.AuthenticationInterceptor">
 <constructor>
   <parameter>
     <value-factory bean="JNDIBasedSecurityManagement" method="getAuthenticationManager" parameter="jmx-console"/>
   </parameter>
 </constructor>
</bean>
<bean class="org.jboss.aspects.security.RoleBasedAuthorizationInterceptor">
 <constructor>
   <parameter>
     <value-factory bean="JNDIBasedSecurityManagement" method="getAuthenticationManager" parameter="jmx-console"/>
   </parameter>
   <parameter>
     <value-factory bean="JNDIBasedSecurityManagement" method="getAuthenticationManager" parameter="jmx-console"/>
   </parameter>
</constructor>
</bean>
-->
</list>
</property>
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21.7.6. JBossWS
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To disable authentication for JBossWS, comment out the <security-constraint> block in the $JBOSS_HOME/server/PROFILE/deploy/jbossws.sar/jbossws-management.war/WEB-INF/web.xml file as shown in Example 21.13, “JBossWS securite-constraint Commented out”.

Example 21.13. JBossWS securite-constraint Commented out

<!--
<security-constraint>
<web-resource-collection>
<web-resource-name>ContextServlet</web-resource-name>
<description>
An example security config that only allows users with the role 'friend' to access the JBossWS console web application
</description>
<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</web-resource-collection>
<auth-constraint>
<role-name>friend</role-name>
</auth-constraint>
</security-constraint>
-->
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
/usr/sbin/alternatives is a tool for managing different software packages that provide the same functionality. Red Hat Enterprise Linux uses /usr/sbin/alternatives to ensure that only one Java Development Kit is set as the system default at one time.

Important

Installing a Java Development Kit from the Red Hat Network will normally result in an automatically configured system. However, if multiple JDKs are installed, it is possible that /usr/sbin/alternatives may contain conflicting configurations. Refer to Procedure A.1, “Using /usr/sbin/alternatives to Set the Default JDK” for syntax of the /usr/sbin/alternatives command.

Procedure A.1. Using /usr/sbin/alternatives to Set the Default JDK

  1. Become the root user.

    /usr/sbin/alternatives needs to be run with root privileges. Use the su command or other mechanism to gain these privileges.

  2. Set java.

    Input this command: /usr/sbin/alternatives --config java
    Next, follow the on-screen directions to ensure that the correct version of java is selected. Table A.1, “java alternative commands” shows the relevant command settings for each of the different JDKs.
    Expand
    Table A.1. java alternative commands
    JDK alternative command
    OpenJDK 1.6 /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.6.0-openjdk/bin/java
    Sun Microsystems JDK 1.6 /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.6.0-sun/bin/java

  3. Set javac.

    Enter this command: /usr/sbin/alternatives --config javac
    Follow the on-screen directions to ensure that the correct version of javac is selected. Table A.2, “javac alternative commands” shows the appropriate command settings for the different JDKs.
    Expand
    Table A.2. javac alternative commands
    JDK alternative command
    OpenJDK 1.6 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk/bin/javac
    Sun Microsystems JDK 1.6 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-sun/bin/javac

  4. Extra Step: Set java_sdk_1.6.0.

    The Sun Microsystems JDK 1.6 requires an additional command be run:
    /usr/sbin/alternatives --config java_sdk_1.6.0
    Follow the on-screen directions to ensure that the correct java_sdk is selected. It is /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-sun.

Appendix B. Revision History
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Revision History
Revision 5.2.0-100.4002013-10-31Rüdiger Landmann
Rebuild with publican 4.0.0
Revision 5.2.0-100Wed 23 Jan 2013Russell Dickenson
Incorporated changes for JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5.2.0 GA. For information about documentation changes to this guide, refer to Release Notes 5.2.0.
Revision 5.1.2-103Mon 30 Jan 2012Eva Kopalová
Incorporated changes for JBPAPP-5108, JBPAPP-5417, and JBPAPP-7146
Revision 5.1.2-100Thu 8 December 2011Russell Dickenson
Incorporated changes for JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5.1.2 GA. For information about documentation changes to this guide, refer to Release Notes 5.1.2.

Legal Notice
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Copyright © 2012 Red Hat, Inc.
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