Before you begin
Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) represents the
strategic application programming interfaces (API) for authentication.
JAAS replaces the
CORBA programmatic login APIs
WebSphere Application Server provides
some extension to JAAS:
- Refer to the Developing applications that use CosNaming (CORBA Naming interface) article
for details on how to set up the environment for thin client applications
to access remote resources on a server.
- If the application uses custom JAAS login configuration, verify that it
is properly defined. See the Configuring application logins for Java Authentication and Authorization
Service article for details.
- Some of the JAAS application programming interfaces (API) are protected
by Java 2 Security permissions. If these APIs are used by application code,
verify that these permissions are added to the application was.policy file.
See Adding the was.policy file to applications, Using PolicyTool to edit policy files and Configuring the was.policy file articles
for details. For more details on which APIs are protected by Java 2 Security
permissions, check the IBM Application Developer Kit, Java Technology Edition;
JAAS and WebSphere Application Server public APIs Javadoc in Security: Resources for learning. Some of the APIs used in the
sample code in this documentation and the Java 2 Security permissions required
by these APIs follow:
- javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext constructors are protected by
javax.security.auth.AuthPermission "createLoginContext"
- javax.security.auth.Subject.doAs() and com.ibm.websphere.security.auth.WSSubject.doAs()
are protected by javax.security.auth.AuthPermission "doAs"
- javax.security.auth.Subject.doAsPrivileged() and com.ibm.websphere.security.auth.WSSubject.doAsPrivileged()
are protected by javax.security.auth.AuthPermission "doAsPrivileged"
- Enhanced model to Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) resources
for authorization checks. Due to a design oversight in JAAS Version 1.0,
the javax.security.auth.Subject.getSubject() method does not return
the Subject associated with the thread of execution inside a java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged() code
block. This can present an inconsistent behavior, which might have undesirable
effects. The com.ibm.websphere.security.auth.WSSubject provides a
workaround to associate a Subject to a thread of execution. The com.ibm.websphere.security.auth.WSSubject extends
the JAAS model to J2EE resources for authorization checks. If the Subject
associates with the thread of execution within the com.ibm.websphere.security.auth.WSSubject.doAs() method
or if the com.ibm.websphere.security.auth.WSSubject.doAsPrivileged() code
block contains product credentials, the Subject is used for J2EE resources
authorization checks.
- User Interface support for defining new JAAS login configuration.
You can configure JAAS login configuration in the administrative console and
store it in the WebSphere Common Configuration Model. Applications can define
a new JAAS login configuration in the administrative console and the data
is persisted in the configuration repository (stored in the WebSphere Common
Configuration Model). However, WebSphere Application Server still supports
the default JAAS login configuration format (plain text file) provided by
the JAAS default implementation. If there are duplication login configurations
defined in both the WebSphere Common Configuration and the plain text file
format, the one in the WebSphere Common Configuration takes precedence. There
are advantages to defining the login configuration in the WebSphere Common
Configuration:
- UI support in defining JAAS login configuration
- JAAS configuration login configuration can be managed centrally
- JAAS configuration login configuration is distributed in a Network Deployment
installation
- Application support for programmatic authentication. WebSphere
Application Server provides JAAS login configurations for applications to
perform programmatic authentication to the WebSphere security run time. These
configurations perform authentication to the WebSphere-configured authentication
mechanism (Simple WebSphere Authentication Mechanism (SWAM) or Lightweight
Third Party Authentication (LTPA)) and user registry (Local OS, Lightweight
Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or Custom) based on the authentication data
supplied. The authenticated Subject from these JAAS login configurations contains
the required Principal and Credentials that the WebSphere security run time
can use to perform authorization checks on J2EE role-based protected resources.
Here are the JAAS login configurations provided by the WebSphere Application
Server:
- WSLogin JAAS login configuration. A generic JAAS login configuration
can use Java clients, client container applications, servlets, JavaServer
Pages (JSP) files, and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) components to perform authentication
based on a user ID and password, or a token to the WebSphere security run
time. However, this does not honor the CallbackHandler specified in the client
container deployment descriptor.
- ClientContainer JAAS login configuration. This JAAS login configuration
honors the CallbackHandler specified in the client container deployment descriptor.
The login module of this login configuration uses the CallbackHandler in the
client container deployment descriptor if one is specified, even if the application
code specified one CallbackHandler in the LoginContext. This is for a client
container application.
A Subject authenticated with the previously mentioned
JAAS login configurations contains a com.ibm.websphere.security.auth.WSPrincipal principal
and a com.ibm.websphere.security.cred.WSCredential credential. If
the authenticated Subject is passed in com.ibm.websphere.security.auth.WSSubject.doAs() or
the other doAs() methods, the product security run time can perform authorization
checks on J2EE resources based on the Subject com.ibm.websphere.security.cred.WSCredential.
- Customer-defined JAAS login configurations. You can define other
JAAS login configurations to perform programmatic authentication to your authentication
mechanism. See the Configuring application logins for Java Authentication and Authorization
Service article
for details. For the product security run time to perform authorization checks,
the subjects from these customer-defined JAAS login configurations must contain
the required principal and credentials.
- Naming requirements
for programmatic login on a pure Java client. When programmatic login
occurs on a pure Java client and the property com.ibm.CORBA.validateBasicAuth equals true,
it is necessary for the security code to know where the SecurityServer resides.
Typically, the default InitialContext is sufficient when a java.naming.provider.url property
is set as a system property or when the property is set in the jndi.properties file.
In other cases it is not desirable to have the same java.naming.provider.url properties
set in a system wide scope. In this case, there is a need to specify security
specific bootstrap information in the sas.client.props file. The
following steps present the order of precedence for determining how to find
the SecurityServer in a pure Java client: