ejb-security: Using Java EE Declarative Security to Control Access to EJB 3

Author: Sherif F. Makary Level: Intermediate Technologies: EJB, Security Summary: Shows how to use Java EE Declarative Security to Control Access to EJB 3 Target Product: EAP Source: https://github.com/jboss-jdf/jboss-as-quickstart/

What is it?

This example demonstrates the use of Java EE declarative security to control access to Servlets and EJBs in JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 or JBoss AS 7.

This quickstart takes the following steps to implement EJB security:

1. Define the security domain. This can be done either in the security subsytem of the standalone.xml configuration file or in the WEB-INF/jboss-web.xml configuration file. This quickstart uses the other security domain which is provided by default in the standalone.xml file:

    <security-domain name="other" cache-type="default">
        <authentication>
            <login-module code="Remoting" flag="optional">
                <module-option name="password-stacking" value="useFirstPass"/>
            </login-module>
            <login-module code="RealmDirect" flag="required">
                <module-option name="password-stacking" value="useFirstPass"/>
            </login-module>
        </authentication>
    </security-domain>
   

2. Add the @SecurityDomain("other") security annotation to the EJB declaration to tell the EJB container to apply authorization to this EJB.

3. Add the @RolesAllowed({ "guest" }) annotation to the EJB declaration to authorize access only to users with guest role access rights.

4. Add the @RolesAllowed({ "guest" }) annotation to the Servlet declaration to authorize access only to users with guest role access rights.

5. Add a <login-config> security constraint to the WEB-INF/web.xml file to force the login prompt.

6. Add an application user with guest role access rights to the EJB. This quickstart defines a user quickstartUser with password quickstartPwd1! in the guest role. The guest role matches the allowed user role defined in the @RolesAllowed annotation in the EJB.

7. Add a second user that has no guest role access rights.

System requirements

All you need to build this project is Java 6.0 (Java SDK 1.6) or better, Maven 3.0 or better.

The application this project produces is designed to be run on JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 or JBoss AS 7.

Configure Maven

If you have not yet done so, you must Configure Maven before testing the quickstarts.

Add the Application Users

This quickstart uses a secured management interface and requires that you create an application user to access the running application. Instructions to set up an Application user can be found here: Add an Application User

After you add the default quickstartUser, use the same steps to add a second application user who is not in the guest role and therefore is not authorized to access the application.

    Username: user1
    Password: password1!
    Roles:    app-user

Start JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 or JBoss AS 7 with the Web Profile

1. Open a command line and navigate to the root of the JBoss server directory.

2. The following shows the command line to start the server with the web profile:

    For Linux:   JBOSS_HOME/bin/standalone.sh
    For Windows: JBOSS_HOME\bin\standalone.bat
   

Build and Deploy the Quickstart

NOTE: The following build command assumes you have configured your Maven user settings. If you have not, you must include Maven setting arguments on the command line. See Build and Deploy the Quickstarts for complete instructions and additional options.

1. Make sure you have started the JBoss Server as described above.

2. Open a command line and navigate to the root directory of this quickstart.

3. Type this command to build and deploy the archive:

    mvn clean package jboss-as:deploy
   

4. This will deploy target/jboss-as-ejb-security.war to the running instance of the server.

Access the application

The application will be running at the following URL http://localhost:8080/jboss-as-ejb-security/.

When you access the application, you are presented with a browser login challenge.

1. If you attempt to login with a user name and password combination that has not been added to the server, the login challenge will be redisplayed.

2. When you login successfully using quickstartUser/quickstartPwd1!, the browser displays the following security info:

    Successfully called Secured EJB
   
    Principal : quickstartUser
    Remote User : quickstartUser
    Authentication Type : BASIC
   

3. Now close and reopen the brower session and access the application using the user1/password1! credentials. In this case, the Servlet, which only allows the guest role, restricts the access and you get a security exception similar to the following:

    HTTP Status 403 - Access to the requested resource has been denied
   
    type Status report
    message Access to the requested resource has been denied
    description Access to the specified resource (Access to the requested resource has been denied) has been forbidden.
   

4. Next, change the EJB (SecuredEJB.java) to a different role, for example, @RolesAllowed({ "other-role" }). Do not modify the guest role in the Servlet (SecuredEJBServlet.java). Build and redeploy the quickstart, then close and reopen the browser and login using quickstartUser/quickstartPwd1!. This time the Servlet will allow the guest access, but the EJB, which only allows the role other-role, will throw an EJBAccessException:

    HTTP Status 500
   
    message
    description  The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request.
    exception
    javax.ejb.EJBAccessException: JBAS014502: Invocation on method: public java.lang.String org.jboss.as.quickstarts.ejb_security.SecuredEJB.getSecurityInfo() of bean: SecuredEJB is not allowed
   

Undeploy the Archive

1. Make sure you have started the JBoss Server as described above.

2. Open a command line and navigate to the root directory of this quickstart.

3. When you are finished testing, type this command to undeploy the archive:

    mvn jboss-as:undeploy
   

Run the Quickstart in JBoss Developer Studio or Eclipse

You can also start the server and deploy the quickstarts from Eclipse using JBoss tools. For more information, see Use JBoss Developer Studio or Eclipse to Run the Quickstarts

Debug the Application

If you want to debug the source code or look at the Javadocs of any library in the project, run either of the following commands to pull them into your local repository. The IDE should then detect them.

mvn dependency:sources
mvn dependency:resolve -Dclassifier=javadoc