atg.security
Interface SecurityPolicy

All Known Implementing Classes:

IdentitySecurityPolicy, RegisteredUsersSecurityPolicy, StandardSecurityPolicy

public interface SecurityPolicy

An object that provides the following policy decisions:

• Whether or not a user is allowed some kind of access to an object.
• Whether or not an access control list fragment associated with an object would grant, deny, or have no effect on a persona's access to an object.
• The access control list fragment that is implied by any containers the object may be a member of.
• The access control list that is effective for an object, including any changes implied by containers the object may be a member of.

These controls allow the a standard way to plug in new security policies into existing security domain implementations. Some examples of custom security policies are:

• A policy in which access is only allowed to a user during certain hours of the day.
• A policy in which access is only allowed to a user if they are logged in from a machine on a secure network. (Note: This would require additional information about the user that is not normally available from the User object, but which may be available from the user's session.)
• A policy in which there is no inheritance of security information from the containers of an object.
• A policy in which the containers of an object may only narrow (deny) access within an object.

See Also:

StandardSecurityPolicy

Field Summary

static java.lang.String	CLASS_VERSION
static int	DENIED Returned by getAccess() if access is explicitly denied by the access control list.
static int	GRANTED Returned by getAccess() if access is granted by the access control list.
static int	UNSPECIFIED Returned by getAccess() access is neither explicitly allowed nor denied by the access control list.

Method Summary

int	getAccess(AccessControlList acl, java.lang.Object object, Persona persona, AccessRight right, boolean exactPersona) Returns the access state specified within by the ACL, which is usually a subset of the effective ACL of the specified SecuredObject, for the indicated Persona.
AccessControlList	getCreationAccessControlList(java.lang.Object object) Returns the access control list that should be applied to a new object when it is created.
Persona	getCreationOwner(java.lang.Object object) Determines the owner that should be applied to a new object when it is created.
AccessControlList	getEffectiveAccessControlList(java.lang.Object object) Determines the effective access control list for the indicated object, which is a combination of the object's access control list and any access control lists of its containers.
AccessControlList	getImpliedAccessControlList(java.lang.Object object) Determines the access control list fragment that is implied by any containers that the object may be a member of.
boolean	hasAccess(java.lang.Object object, User user, AccessRight right) Returns true if a user may perform a particular operation on an object.

Field Detail

CLASS_VERSION

static final java.lang.String CLASS_VERSION

See Also:

Constant Field Values

UNSPECIFIED

static final int UNSPECIFIED

Returned by getAccess() access is neither explicitly allowed nor denied by the access control list.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

GRANTED

static final int GRANTED

Returned by getAccess() if access is granted by the access control list.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

DENIED

static final int DENIED

Returned by getAccess() if access is explicitly denied by the access control list.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Method Detail

hasAccess

boolean hasAccess(java.lang.Object object,
                  User user,
                  AccessRight right)
                  throws SecurityException

Returns true if a user may perform a particular operation on an object.

Throws:

SecurityException

getAccess

int getAccess(AccessControlList acl,
              java.lang.Object object,
              Persona persona,
              AccessRight right,
              boolean exactPersona)
              throws SecurityException

Returns the access state specified within by the ACL, which is usually a subset of the effective ACL of the specified SecuredObject, for the indicated Persona. The value returned is one of GRANTED, DENIED, or UNSPECIFIED.

This method is often used to perform the basic authorization check by hasAccess(), although it need not be.

This method is also useful for user interfaces that want to present information about rights that are achieved by inheritance or by the persona's inclusion within a group rather than being explicitly assigned to a persona, but may also be used internally by hasAccess().

For example, to determine if READ access is granted, denied, or unspecified to a persona via inheritance you can call:

   SecuredObject object = ...;
   Persona persona = ...;
   SecurityPolicy policy = ...;
   AccessControlList acl = object.getImpliedAccessControlList(object);
   switch (policy.getAccess(acl, object, persona, StandardAccessRights.READ, false)) {
   case GRANTED:
     System.out.println("Access was allowed by a container.");
     break;
   case DENIED:
     System.out.println("Access was denied by a container.");
     break;
   case UNSPECIFIED:
     System.out.println("No effect on access by any container.");
     break;
   }
 

To determine if READ access is granted to a persona by the object's ACL you can call:

   // retrieve the complete local ACL
   AccessControlList acl = object.getAccessControlList();
   // filter out all ACL entries that are not assigned to the Persona
   acl = new AccessControlList(acl.getAccessControlEntriesForPersona(persona));
   switch (policy.hasAccess(acl, object, persona, StandardAccessRights.READ, true)) {
   case GRANTED:
     System.out.println("Access was explicitly granted locally.");
     break;
   case DENIED:
     System.out.println("Access was explicitly denied locally.");
     break;
   case UNSPECIFIED:
     System.out.println("No effect on access locally.");
     break;
   }
 

Throws:

SecurityException

getImpliedAccessControlList

AccessControlList getImpliedAccessControlList(java.lang.Object object)
                                              throws SecurityException

Determines the access control list fragment that is implied by any containers that the object may be a member of. This is useful for a user interface, as shown in the example for getAccess(), but may also be used internally by getEffectiveAccessControlList().

Throws:

SecurityException

getEffectiveAccessControlList

AccessControlList getEffectiveAccessControlList(java.lang.Object object)
                                                throws SecurityException

Determines the effective access control list for the indicated object, which is a combination of the object's access control list and any access control lists of its containers.

Throws:

SecurityException

getCreationOwner

Persona getCreationOwner(java.lang.Object object)
                         throws SecurityException

Determines the owner that should be applied to a new object when it is created.

Throws:

SecurityException

getCreationAccessControlList

AccessControlList getCreationAccessControlList(java.lang.Object object)
                                               throws SecurityException

Returns the access control list that should be applied to a new object when it is created.

Throws:

SecurityException