spring-security/docs/modules/ROOT/pages/servlet/authentication/jaas.adoc

[[servlet-jaas]]
= Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) Provider

Spring Security provides a package to delegate authentication requests to the Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS).
This section discusses that package.


[[jaas-abstractjaasauthenticationprovider]]
== AbstractJaasAuthenticationProvider
The `AbstractJaasAuthenticationProvider` class is the basis for the provided JAAS `AuthenticationProvider` implementations.
Subclasses must implement a method that creates the `LoginContext`.
The `AbstractJaasAuthenticationProvider` has a number of dependencies that can be injected into it, as discussed in the remainder of this section.


[[jaas-callbackhandler]]
=== JAAS CallbackHandler
Most JAAS `LoginModule` instances require a callback of some sort.
These callbacks are usually used to obtain the username and password from the user.

In a Spring Security deployment, Spring Security is responsible for this user interaction (through the authentication mechanism).
Thus, by the time the authentication request is delegated through to JAAS, Spring Security's authentication mechanism has already fully populated an `Authentication` object that contains all the information required by the JAAS `LoginModule`.

Therefore, the JAAS package for Spring Security provides two default callback handlers: `JaasNameCallbackHandler` and `JaasPasswordCallbackHandler`.
Each of these callback handlers implements `JaasAuthenticationCallbackHandler`.
In most cases, these callback handlers can be used without understanding the internal mechanics.

For those needing full control over the callback behavior, `AbstractJaasAuthenticationProvider` internally wraps these `JaasAuthenticationCallbackHandler` instances with an `InternalCallbackHandler`.
The `InternalCallbackHandler` is the class that actually implements the JAAS normal `CallbackHandler` interface.
Any time that the JAAS `LoginModule` is used, it is passed a list of application contexts configured `InternalCallbackHandler` instances.
If the `LoginModule` requests a callback against the `InternalCallbackHandler` instances, the callback is, in turn, passed to the `JaasAuthenticationCallbackHandler` instances being wrapped.

[[jaas-authoritygranter]]
=== JAAS AuthorityGranter
JAAS works with principals.
Even "`roles`" are represented as principals in JAAS.
Spring Security, on the other hand, works with `Authentication` objects.
Each `Authentication` object contains a single principal and multiple `GrantedAuthority` instances.
To facilitate mapping between these different concepts, Spring Security's JAAS package includes an `AuthorityGranter` interface.

An `AuthorityGranter` is responsible for inspecting a JAAS principal and returning a set of `String` objects that represent the authorities assigned to the principal.
For each returned authority string, the `AbstractJaasAuthenticationProvider` creates a `JaasGrantedAuthority` (which implements Spring Security's `GrantedAuthority` interface) that contains the authority string and the JAAS principal that the `AuthorityGranter` was passed.
The `AbstractJaasAuthenticationProvider` obtains the JAAS principals by first successfully authenticating the user's credentials by using the JAAS `LoginModule` and then accessing the `LoginContext` it returns.
A call to `LoginContext.getSubject().getPrincipals()` is made, with each resulting principal passed to each `AuthorityGranter` defined against the `AbstractJaasAuthenticationProvider.setAuthorityGranters(List)` property.

Spring Security does not include any production `AuthorityGranter` instances, given that every JAAS principal has an implementation-specific meaning.
However, there is a `TestAuthorityGranter` in the unit tests that demonstrates a simple `AuthorityGranter` implementation.


[[jaas-defaultjaasauthenticationprovider]]
== DefaultJaasAuthenticationProvider
The `DefaultJaasAuthenticationProvider` lets a JAAS `Configuration` object be injected into it as a dependency.
It then creates a `LoginContext` by using the injected JAAS `Configuration`.
This means that `DefaultJaasAuthenticationProvider` is not bound to any particular implementation of `Configuration`, as `JaasAuthenticationProvider` is.


[[jaas-inmemoryconfiguration]]
=== InMemoryConfiguration
To make it easy to inject a `Configuration` into `DefaultJaasAuthenticationProvider`, a default in-memory implementation named `InMemoryConfiguration` is provided.
The implementation constructor accepts a `Map` where each key represents a login configuration name, and the value represents an `Array` of `AppConfigurationEntry` instances.
`InMemoryConfiguration` also supports a default `Array` of `AppConfigurationEntry` objects that is used if no mapping is found within the provided `Map`.
For details, see the {security-api-url}org/springframework/security/authentication/jaas/memory/InMemoryConfiguration.html[Javadoc of `InMemoryConfiguration`].


[[jaas-djap-config]]
=== DefaultJaasAuthenticationProvider Example Configuration
While the Spring configuration for `InMemoryConfiguration` can be more verbose than the standard JAAS configuration files, using it in conjunction with `DefaultJaasAuthenticationProvider` is more flexible than `JaasAuthenticationProvider`, since it not dependent on the default `Configuration` implementation.

The next example provides a configuration of `DefaultJaasAuthenticationProvider` that uses `InMemoryConfiguration`.
Note that custom implementations of `Configuration` can easily be injected into `DefaultJaasAuthenticationProvider` as well.

====
[source,xml]
----
<bean id="jaasAuthProvider"
class="org.springframework.security.authentication.jaas.DefaultJaasAuthenticationProvider">
<property name="configuration">
<bean class="org.springframework.security.authentication.jaas.memory.InMemoryConfiguration">
<constructor-arg>
	<map>
	<!--
	SPRINGSECURITY is the default loginContextName
	for AbstractJaasAuthenticationProvider
	-->
	<entry key="SPRINGSECURITY">
	<array>
	<bean class="javax.security.auth.login.AppConfigurationEntry">
		<constructor-arg value="sample.SampleLoginModule" />
		<constructor-arg>
		<util:constant static-field=
			"javax.security.auth.login.AppConfigurationEntry$LoginModuleControlFlag.REQUIRED"/>
		</constructor-arg>
		<constructor-arg>
		<map></map>
		</constructor-arg>
		</bean>
	</array>
	</entry>
	</map>
	</constructor-arg>
</bean>
</property>
<property name="authorityGranters">
<list>
	<!-- You will need to write your own implementation of AuthorityGranter -->
	<bean class="org.springframework.security.authentication.jaas.TestAuthorityGranter"/>
</list>
</property>
</bean>
----
====


[[jaas-jaasauthenticationprovider]]
== JaasAuthenticationProvider
The `JaasAuthenticationProvider` assumes that the default `Configuration` is an instance of https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/jre/api/security/jaas/spec/com/sun/security/auth/login/ConfigFile.html[`ConfigFile`].
This assumption is made in order to try to update the `Configuration`.
The `JaasAuthenticationProvider` then uses the default `Configuration` to create the `LoginContext`.

Assume that we have a JAAS login configuration file, `/WEB-INF/login.conf`, with the following contents:

====
[source,txt]
----
JAASTest {
	sample.SampleLoginModule required;
};
----
====

Like all Spring Security beans, the `JaasAuthenticationProvider` is configured through the application context.
The following definitions would correspond to the above JAAS login configuration file:

====
[source,xml]
----

<bean id="jaasAuthenticationProvider"
class="org.springframework.security.authentication.jaas.JaasAuthenticationProvider">
<property name="loginConfig" value="/WEB-INF/login.conf"/>
<property name="loginContextName" value="JAASTest"/>
<property name="callbackHandlers">
<list>
<bean
	class="org.springframework.security.authentication.jaas.JaasNameCallbackHandler"/>
<bean
	class="org.springframework.security.authentication.jaas.JaasPasswordCallbackHandler"/>
</list>
</property>
<property name="authorityGranters">
	<list>
	<bean class="org.springframework.security.authentication.jaas.TestAuthorityGranter"/>
	</list>
</property>
</bean>
----
====

[[jaas-apiprovision]]
== Running as a Subject
If configured, the `JaasApiIntegrationFilter` tries to run as the `Subject` on the `JaasAuthenticationToken`.
This means that the `Subject` can be accessed using:

====
[source,java]
----
Subject subject = Subject.getSubject(AccessController.getContext());
----
====

You can configure this integration by using the xref:servlet/appendix/namespace/http.adoc#nsa-http-jaas-api-provision[jaas-api-provision] attribute.
This feature is useful when integrating with legacy or external API's that rely on the JAAS Subject being populated.