Supported Liberty Alliance Project Security Tokens

In a scenario where security is enabled using Liberty Alliance Project tokens, the HTTP client requests (via the WSC) access to a service. The HTTP security agent redirects the request to the OpenSSO Enterprise Authentication Service for authentication and to determine the security mechanism registered by the WSP and obtain the security tokens expected. After a successful authentication, the WSC provides a SOAP body while the SOAP security agent on the WSC side inserts the security header and a token. The message is then signed before the request is sent to the WSP.

When received by the SOAP security agent on the WSP side, the signature and security token in the SOAP request are verified before forwarding the request on to the WSP itself. The WSP then processes it and returns a response, signed by the SOAP security agent on the WSP side, back to the WSC. The SOAP security agent on the WSC side then verifies the signature before forwarding the response on to the WSC. Figure 14–8 illustrates these interactions.

Figure 14–8 SOAP Security Agent Process for Liberty Alliance Project Security Tokens

The following Liberty Alliance Project security tokens are supported in this release:

X.509

A secure web service uses a PKI (public key infrastructure) in which the WSC supplies a public key as the means for identifying the requester and accomplishing authentication with the web service provider. Authentication with the web service provider using processing rules defined by the Liberty Alliance Project.

BearerToken

A secure web service uses the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) SAML Bearer token confirmation method. The WSC supplies a SAML assertion with public key information as the means for authenticating the requester to the web service provider. A second signature binds the assertion to the SOAP message This is accomplished using processing rules defined by the Liberty Alliance Project

SAMLToken

A secure web service uses the SAML holder-of-key confirmation method. The WSC adds a SAML assertion and a digital signature to a SOAP header. A sender certificate or public key is also provided with the signature. This is accomplished using processing rules defined by the Liberty Alliance Project.