Developing Security Providers for WebLogic Server

Authorization Providers

Authorization is the process whereby the interactions between users and WebLogic resources are controlled, based on user identity or other information. In other words, authorization answers the question, "What can you access?" In WebLogic Server, an Authorization provider is used to limit the interactions between users and WebLogic resources to ensure integrity, confidentiality, and availability.

The following sections describe Authorization provider concepts and functionality, and provide step-by-step instructions for developing a custom Authorization provider:

Authorization Concepts

Before you develop an Authorization provider, you need to understand the following concepts:

Access Decisions

Like LoginModules for Authentication providers, an Access Decision is the component of an Authorization provider that actually answers the "is access allowed?" question. Specifically, an Access Decision is asked whether a subject has permission to perform a given operation on a WebLogic resource, with specific parameters in an application. Given this information, the Access Decision responds with a result of PERMIT, DENY, or ABSTAIN.

Using the Java Authorization Contract for Containers

The Java Authorization Contract for Containers (JACC) is part of J2EE 1.4. JACC extends the Java 2 permission-based security model to EJBs and Servlets. JACC is defined by JSR-115.

JACC provides an alternate authorization mechanism for the EJB and Servlet containers in a WebLogic Server domain. When JACC is configured, the WebLogic Security framework access decisions, adjudication, and role mapping functions are not used for EJB and Servlet authorization decisions.

WebLogic Server implements a JACC provider which, although fully compliant with JSR-115, is not as optimized as the WebLogic Authentication provider. The Java JACC classes are used for rendering access decisions. Because JSR-115 does not define how to address role mapping, WebLogic JACC classes are used for role-to-principal mapping. See http://java.sun.com/j2ee/javaacc/ for information on developing a JACC provider.

The Authorization Process

Figure 7-1 illustrates how Authorization providers (and the associated Adjudication and Role Mapping providers) interact with the WebLogic Security Framework during the authorization process, and an explanation follows.

Generally, authorization is performed in the following manner:

Do You Need to Develop a Custom Authorization Provider?

The default (that is, active) security realm for WebLogic Server includes a WebLogic Authorization provider. The WebLogic Authorization provider supplies the default enforcement of authorization for this version of WebLogic Server. The WebLogic Authorization provider returns an access decision using a policy-based authorization engine to determine if a particular user is allowed access to a protected WebLogic resource. The WebLogic Authorization provider also supports the deployment and undeployment of security policies within the system. If you want to use an authorization mechanism that already exists within your organization, you could create a custom Authorization provider to tie into that system.

Does Your Custom Authorization Provider Need to Support Application Versioning?

All Authorization, Role Mapping, and Credential Mapping providers for the security realm must support application versioning in order for an application to be deployed using versions. If you develop a custom security provider for Authorization, Role Mapping, or Credential Mapping and need to support versioned applications, you must implement the Versionable Application SSPI, as described in Versionable Application Providers.

How to Develop a Custom Authorization Provider

If the WebLogic Authorization provider does not meet your needs, you can develop a custom Authorization provider by following these steps:

Create Runtime Classes Using the Appropriate SSPIs

Before you start creating runtime classes, you should first:

When you understand this information and have made your design decisions, create the runtime classes for your custom Authorization provider by following these steps:

For an example of how to create a runtime class for a custom Authorization provider, see Example: Creating the Runtime Class for the Sample Authorization Provider.

Implement the AuthorizationProvider SSPI

To implement the AuthorizationProvider SSPI, provide implementations for the methods described in Understand the Purpose of the Provider SSPIs and the following method:

getAccessDecision

For more information about the AuthorizationProvider SSPI and the getAccessDecision method, see the WebLogic Server API Reference Javadoc.

Implement the DeployableAuthorizationProviderV2 SSPI

To implement the DeployableAuthorizationProviderV2 SSPI, provide implementations for the methods described in Understand the Purpose of the Provider SSPIs, Implement the AuthorizationProvider SSPI, and the following methods:

deleteApplicationPolicies

deployExcludedPolicy

deployPolicy

deployUncheckedPolicy

endDeployPolicies

startDeployPolicies

undeployAllPolicies

For more information about the DeployableAuthorizationProviderV2 SSPI and the deployPolicy and undeployPolicy methods, see the WebLogic Server API Reference Javadoc.

The ApplicationInfo Interface

The ApplicationInfo interface passes data about an application deployment to a security provider. You can use this data to uniquely identity the application.

The Security Framework implements the ApplicationInfo interface for your convenience. You do not need to implement any methods for this interface.

The DeployableAuthorizationProviderV2 and DeployableRoleProviderV2 interfaces use ApplicationInfo. For example, consider an implementation of the DeployableAuthorizationProviderV2 methods. The Security Framework calls the DeployableAuthorizationProviderV2 startDeployPolicies method and passes in the ApplicationInfo interface for this application. The ApplicationInfo data is determined based on the information supplied in the Administration Console when an application is deployed.

The startDeployPolicies method returns DeployPolicyHandle, which you can then use in the other DeployableAuthorizationProviderV2 methods.

You use the ApplicationInfo interface to get the application identifier, the component name, and the component type for this application. Component type can be APPLICATION, CONTROL_RESOURCE, EJB, or WEBAPP, as defined in the ApplicationInfo.ComponentType class.

The following example shows one way to accomplish this task:

public DeployPolicyHandle startDeployPolicies(ApplicationInfo appInfo)

throws DeployHandleCreationException

:

// Obtain the application information...

String appId = appInfo.getApplicationIdentifier();

ComponentType compType = appInfo.getComponentType();

String compName = appInfo.getComponentName();

The Security Framework calls the DeployableAuthorizationProviderV2 deleteApplicationPolicies method and passes in the ApplicationInfo interface for this application. The deleteApplicationPolicies method deletes all policies for an application and is called (only on the Administration Server within a WebLogic Server domain) at the time an application is deleted.

Implement the AccessDecision SSPI

When you implement the AccessDecision SSPI, you must provide implementations for the following methods:

isAccessAllowed

isProtectedResource

For more information about the AccessDecision SSPI and the isAccessAllowed and isProtectedResource methods, see the WebLogic Server API Reference Javadoc.

Developing Custom Authorization Providers That Are Compatible With the Realm Adapter Authentication Provider

An Authentication provider is the security provider responsible for populating a subject with users and groups, which are then extracted from the subject by other types of security providers, including Authorization providers. If the Authentication provider configured in your security realm is a Realm Adapter Authentication provider, the user and group information will be stored in the subject in a way that is slightly different from other Authentication providers. Therefore, this user and group information must also be extracted in a slightly different way.

Listing 7-1 provides code that can be used by custom Authorization providers to check whether a subject matches a user or group name when a Realm Adapter Authentication provider was used to populate the subject. This code belongs in both the isAccessAllowed and isProtectedResource methods.

/** 
 * Determines if the Subject matches a user/group name. 
 * 
 * @param principalWant A String containing the name of a principal in this role
 * (that is, the role definition). 
 * 
 * @param subject A Subject that contains the Principals that identify the user 
 * who is trying to access the resource as well as the user's groups. 
 * 
 * @return A boolean. true if the current subject matches the name of the 
 * principal in the role, false otherwise. 
 */ 
private boolean subjectMatches(String principalWant, Subject subject) 
{ 
   // first, see if it's a group name match 
   if (SubjectUtils.isUserInGroup(subject, principalWant)) { 
      return true; 
   } 
   // second, see if it's a user name match 
   if (principalWant.equals(SubjectUtils.getUsername(subject))) { 
      return true; 
   } 
   // didn't match 
   return false; 
}

Example: Creating the Runtime Class for the Sample Authorization Provider

Listing 7-2 shows the SampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.java class, which is the runtime class for the sample Authorization provider. This runtime class includes implementations for:

package examples.security.providers.authorization.simple;

import java.security.Principal;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Set;
import javax.security.auth.Subject;
import weblogic.management.security.ProviderMBean;
import weblogic.security.SubjectUtils;
import weblogic.security.WLSPrincipals;
import weblogic.security.service.ContextHandler;
import weblogic.security.spi.AccessDecision;
import weblogic.security.spi.ApplicationInfo;
import weblogic.security.spi.ApplicationInfo.ComponentType;
import weblogic.security.spi.DeployableAuthorizationProviderV2;
import weblogic.security.spi.DeployPolicyHandle;
import weblogic.security.spi.Direction;
import weblogic.security.spi.InvalidPrincipalException;
import weblogic.security.spi.Resource;
import weblogic.security.spi.Result;
import weblogic.security.spi.SecurityServices;
import weblogic.security.spi.VersionableApplicationProvider;

public final class SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl implements DeployableAuthorizationProviderV2, AccessDecision, VersionableApplicationProvider
{
   private static String[] NO_ACCESS = new String[0];
   private static String[] ALL_ACCESS = new String[] {WLSPrincipals.getEveryoneGroupname()};
   private String description;
   private SimpleSampleAuthorizerDatabase database;

   public void initialize(ProviderMBean mbean, SecurityServices services)
   {
      System.out.println("SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.initialize");
      SimpleSampleAuthorizerMBean myMBean = (SimpleSampleAuthorizerMBean)mbean;
      description = myMBean.getDescription() + "\n" + myMBean.getVersion();
      database = new SimpleSampleAuthorizerDatabase(myMBean);
   }

   public String getDescription()
   {
      return description;
   }

   public void shutdown()
   {
      System.out.println("SampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.shutdown");
   }

   public AccessDecision getAccessDecision()
   {
      return this;
   }

   public Result isAccessAllowed(Subject subject, Map roles, Resource resource, 
   ContextHandler handler, Direction direction) 
   {
      System.out.println("SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.isAccessAllowed");
      System.out.println("\tsubject\t= " + subject);
      System.out.println("\troles\t= " + roles);
      System.out.println("\tresource\t= " + resource);
      System.out.println("\tdirection\t= " + direction);

      Set principals = subject.getPrincipals();

      for (Resource res = resource; res != null; res = res.getParentResource()) {
         if (database.policyExists(res)) {
            Result result = isAccessAllowed(res, subject, roles);
            System.out.println("\tallowed\t= " + result);
            return result;
         }
      }
      Result result = Result.ABSTAIN;
      System.out.println("\tallowed\t= " + result);
      return result;
   }

   public boolean isProtectedResource(Subject subject, Resource resource) throws 
   InvalidPrincipalException 
   {
      System.out.println("SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.
        isProtectedResource");
      System.out.println("\tsubject\t= " + subject);
      System.out.println("\tresource\t= " + resource);

      for (Resource res = resource; res != null; res = res.getParentResource()) {
         if (database.policyExists(res)) {
            System.out.println("\tprotected\t= true");
            return true;
         }
      }
      System.out.println("\tprotected\t= false");
      return false;
   }

public DeployPolicyHandle startDeployPolicies(ApplicationInfo application)
{
   String appId = application.getApplicationIdentifier();
   String compName = application.getComponentName();
   ComponentType compType = application.getComponentType();
   DeployPolicyHandle handle = new    SampleDeployPolicyHandle(appId,compName,compType);

   database.removePoliciesForComponent(appId, compName, compType);
   return handle;

  public void deployPolicy(DeployPolicyHandle handle,
Resource resource, String[] roleNamesAllowed)
{
   System.out.println("SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.deployPolicy");
   System.out.println("\thandle\t= " + ((SampleDeployPolicyHandle)handle).toString());
   System.out.println("\tresource\t= " + resource);
   for (int i = 0; roleNamesAllowed != null && i < roleNamesAllowed.length; i++) {
     System.out.println("\troleNamesAllowed[" + i + "]\t= " + roleNamesAllowed[i]);
}
database.setPolicy(resource, roleNamesAllowed);
}

   public void deployUncheckedPolicy(DeployPolicyHandle handle, Resource resource)
{
   System.out.println("SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.deployUncheckedPolicy");
   System.out.println("\thandle\t= " + ((SampleDeployPolicyHandle)handle).toString());
   System.out.println("\tresource\t= " + resource);
   database.setPolicy(resource, ALL_ACCESS);
}

public void deployExcludedPolicy(DeployPolicyHandle handle, Resource resource)

  {
   System.out.println("SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.deployExcludedPolicy");
   System.out.println("\thandle\t= " + ((SampleDeployPolicyHandle)handle).toString());
   System.out.println("\tresource\t= " + resource);
   database.setPolicy(resource, NO_ACCESS);
}

public void endDeployPolicies(DeployPolicyHandle handle)
{
   database.savePolicies();
}

public void undeployAllPolicies(DeployPolicyHandle handle)
{
   System.out.println("SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.undeployAllPolicies");
   SampleDeployPolicyHandle myHandle = (SampleDeployPolicyHandle)handle;
   System.out.println("\thandle\t= " + myHandle.toString());

   // remove policies
   database.removePoliciesForComponent(myHandle.getApplication(),
                                       myHandle.getComponent(),
                                       myHandle.getComponentType());
}

public void deleteApplicationPolicies(ApplicationInfo application)
{
   System.out.println("SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.deleteApplicationPolicies");
   String appId = application.getApplicationIdentifier();
   System.out.println("\tapplication identifier\t= " + appId);

   // clear out policies for the application
   database.removePoliciesForApplication(appId);
}

private boolean rolesOrSubjectContains(Map roles, Subject subject, String roleOrPrincipalWant)
{
   // first, see if it's a role name match
if (roles.containsKey(roleOrPrincipalWant)) {
     return true;
}

   // second, see if it's a group name match
   if (SubjectUtils.isUserInGroup(subject, roleOrPrincipalWant)) {
     return true;
   }

   // third, see if it's a user name match
   if (roleOrPrincipalWant.equals(SubjectUtils.getUsername(subject))) {
     return true;
   }

   // didn't match
   return false;
}

private Result isAccessAllowed(Resource resource, Subject subject, Map roles)
{
   // loop over the principals and roles in our database who are allowed to access this resource
   for (Enumeration e = database.getPolicy(resource); e.hasMoreElements();) {
     String roleOrPrincipalAllowed = (String)e.nextElement();
     if (rolesOrSubjectContains(roles, subject, roleOrPrincipalAllowed)) {
       return Result.PERMIT;
     }
   }
   // the resource was explicitly mentioned and didn't grant access
   return Result.DENY;
}

public void createApplicationVersion(String appId, String sourceAppId)
{
   System.out.println("SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.createApplicationVersion");
   System.out.println("\tapplication identifier\t= " + appId);
   System.out.println("\tsource app identifier\t= " + ((sourceAppId != null) ? sourceAppId : "None"));

   // create new policies when existing application is specified
   if (sourceAppId != null) {
     database.clonePoliciesForApplication(sourceAppId,appId);
   }

}

public void deleteApplicationVersion(String appId)
{
   System.out.println("SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.deleteApplicationVersion");
   System.out.println("\tapplication identifier\t= " + appId);

   // clear out policies for the application
   database.removePoliciesForApplication(appId);
}

public void deleteApplication(String appName)
{
   System.out.println("SimpleSampleAuthorizationProviderImpl.deleteApplication");
   System.out.println("\tapplication name\t= " + appName);

   // clear out policies for the application
   database.removePoliciesForApplication(appName);
}

class SampleDeployPolicyHandle implements DeployPolicyHandle
{
   Date date;
   String application;
   String component;
   ComponentType componentType;

   SampleDeployPolicyHandle(String app, String comp, ComponentType type)
{
     this.application = app;
     this.component = comp;
     this.componentType = type;
     this.date = new Date();
}

     public String getApplication() { return application; }
     public String getComponent() { return component; }
     public ComponentType getComponentType() { return componentType; }

     public String toString()
     {
       String name = component;
       if (componentType == ComponentType.APPLICATION)
          name = application;
       return componentType +" "+ name +" ["+ date.toString() +"]";
     }
   }
}

Policy Consumer SSPI

WebLogic Server implements a policy consumer for JMX (MBean) default policies and WebService annotations. This release of WebLogic Server includes an SSPI that Authorization providers can use to obtain the policy collections.

The PolicyConsumer SSPI is optional; only those Authorization providers that implement the SSPI are called to consume a policy collection.

The SSPI supports both the delivery of initial policy collections and the delivery of updated policy collections.

All Authorization providers that support the PolicyConsumer SSPI are called to consume a policy collection. Each Authorization provider can choose to skip or obtain the policy collection for a given policy set. In the case where a provider persists policy, the provider need only collect the policy once. However, providers keeping policy in memory can obtain the policy collection again.

The out-of-the-box WebLogic Server Authorization providers persist the policy into LDAP.

Required SSPI Interfaces

If you want your custom Authorization provider to support the delivery of policy collections, you must implement three interfaces:

These interfaces are described in the sections that follow.

Implement the PolicyConsumerFactory SSPI Interface

An Authorization provider implements the PolicyConsumerFactory interface so that an instance of a PolicyConsumer is availble to the WebLogic Security Framework. The WebLogic Security Framework calls your PolicyConsumerFactory implementation to obtain the provider's implementation of the policy consumer.

The PolicyConsumerFactory SSPI has one method, which returns your implementation of the PolicyConsumer SSPI interface.

public interface PolicyConsumerFactory

{
/**
* Obtain the implementation of the PolicyConsumer
* security service provider interface (SSPI).
*
* @return a PolicyConsumer SSPI implementation.
*/
public PolicyConsumer getPolicyConsumer();
}

Implement the PolicyConsumer SSPI Interface

The PolicyConsumer SSPI returns a policy collection handler for consumption of a policy collection. It has one method, getPolicyCollectionHandler(), which takes a PolicyCollectionInfo implementation as an argument and returns your implementation of the PolicyCollectionHandler interface.

public interface PolicyConsumer

  {
    /**
     * Obtain a policy handler for consumption of a policy set.
     *
     * @param info the PolicyCollectionInfo for the policy set.
     *
     * @return a PolicyCollectionHandler or NULL which indicates
     *     that the policy set is not needed.
     *
     * @exception ConsumptionException if an error occurs
     *     obtaining the handler and the policy set cannot be consumed.
     */
public PolicyCollectionHandler getPolicyCollectionHandler(
           PolicyCollectionInfo info)
    throws ConsumptionException;
}

The WebLogic Security Framework calls the getPolicyCollectionHandler() method and passes data about a policy collection to a security provider as an implementation of the PolicyCollectionInfo interface. (This interface implementation is provided for you, you do not have to implement it.)

You use the PolicyCollectionInfo getName(), getVersion(), getTimestamp(), and getResourceTypes() methods to discover information about this policy set. You then return a PolicyCollectionHandler, or NULL to indicate that the policy collection is not needed.

public interface PolicyCollectionInfo

{
/**
 * Get the name of the collection.
 */
public String getName();

/**
 * Get the runtime version of the policy.
 */
public String getVersion();


/**
 * Get the timestamp of the policy.
 */
public String getTimestamp();


/**
 * Get the resource types used in the policy collection.
 */
public Resource[] getResouceTypes();
}


Implement the PolicyCollectionHandler SSPI Interface

The PolicyConsumer.getPolicyCollectionHandler() method returns your implementation of the PolicyCollectionHandler interface. PolicyCollectionHandler has three methods: setPolicy, setUncheckedPolicy, and done(). The setPolicy() method takes a resource and role names and sets a policy based on the role. The setUncheckedPolicy() method opens access to everyone.

The done() method signals the completion of the policy collection. We recommend that the done() method remove all old policies for the policy set.

public interface PolicyCollectionHandler

{
     /**
      * Set a policy for the specified resource.
      */
     public void setPolicy(Resource resource, String[] roleNames)
        throws ConsumptionException;

     /**
      * Sets a policy which always grants access.
      */
     public void setUncheckedPolicy(Resource resource)
        throws ConsumptionException;

     /**
      * Signals the completion of the policy collection.
      */
     public void done()
       throws ConsumptionException;

}

Supporting an Updated Policy Collection

To support the delivery of an updated policy collection, all Authorization providers that support the PolicyConsumer SSPI need to examine the contents of the PolicyCollectionInfo passed in the PolicyConsumer.getPolicyCollectionHandler() method to determine if a policy set has changed. Each provider must decide (possibly by configuration) how to perform conflict resolution with the initial policy collection and any customized policy received outside of the SSPI.

For the WebLogic Server supplied Authorization providers, customized policy will not be replaced by the updated policy collection: all policy from the initial policy collection will be removed and only the customized policies, plus the updated policy collection, will be in effect. If the policy collection info has a different timestamp or version, it's treated as an updated policy collection. The collection name is used as a persistence key.

The PolicyConsumerMBean

Authorization providers that implement the Policy Consumer SSPI must also implement the weblogic.management.security.authorization.PolicyConsumerMBean to indicate that the provider supports policy consumption.

PolicyStoreMBean

WebLogic Server version 9.2 includes support for a new MBean (weblogic.management.security.authorization.PolicyStoreMBean) that allows for standard management (add, delete, get, list, modify, read) of administrator-generated XACML policies and policy sets. An Authorization or Role Mapping provider MBean can optionally implement this MBean interface.

The PolicyStoreMBean methods allow security administrators to manage policy in the server as XACML documents. This includes creating and managing a domain that uses the default XACML provider, as well as managing XACML documents that the administrator has created. The administrator can then use WLST to manage these XACML policies in WebLogic Server.

WebLogic Server includes an implementation of this MBean for use with the out-of-the-box XACML providers, and you can write your own implementation of this MBean for use with your own custom Authorization or Role Mapping providers. The WebLogic Server 9.2 out-of-the-box XACML providers support the mandatory features of XACML, as described in the XACML 2.0 Core Specification, with the BEA-specific usage described in Securing WebLogic Resources Using Roles and Policies.

Policies are expressed as XACML 2.0 Policy or PolicySet documents. Custom Authorization providers should expect standard Policy or PolicySet documents as described in the XACML 2.0 Core Specification. Custom Role Mapping providers should expect Policy or PolicySet documents consistent with role assignment policies described by the Core and hierarchical role based access control (RBAC) profile of XACML v2.0.

Specifically, the Target must contain:

Examining the Format of a XACML Policy File

The XACML 2.0 Core Specification and the BEA extensions described in Securing WebLogic Resources Using Roles and Policies are the definitive sources of information for the XACML policy files used by the supplied XACML Authorization and Role Mapping Providers.

However, if as part of your development process you want to take a look at the format of a supported XACML file, perhaps the most convenient way is to use the Administration Console to export the data from the XACML Authorization or Role Mapping provider's database as a XACML file. Copy this exported XACML file to a file with some other name and use the tool of your choice to review the copy.

Using WLST to Add a Policy to the PolicyStoreMBean

Listing 7-3 shows an example of using WLST to add a single policy to an instance of the PolicyStoreMBean from a XACML file.

The example assumes that you have defined the properties used in this script elsewhere, in a manner similar to the following lines from an ant script:

<property name="xacml-docs-dir" value="${xacmldir}/xacml-docs"/>
<sysproperty key="file" value="${xacml-docs-dir}/policy-getSubject.xacml"/>

:

try:

      protocol = System.getProperty("protocol")
      host = System.getProperty("host")
      user = System.getProperty("authuser")
      passwd = System.getProperty("authpwd")
      port = System.getProperty("port")
      dom = System.getProperty("domain")
      rlm = System.getProperty("realm")
      fil = System.getProperty("file")
      prov = System.getProperty("provider")
      stat = System.getProperty("status")

def configure():
try:
      url = protocol + "://" + host + ":" + port
      connect(user,passwd, url)
      path = "/SecurityConfiguration/" + dom + "/Realms/" + rlm + "/" + prov
      print("cd'ing to " + path)
      cd(path)
      print("calling open()")
      xacmlFile = open(fil,"r")
      print("calling read()")
      xacmlDoc = xacmlFile.read()
      print("calling cmo.addPolicy")
      if stat == "none":
          cmo.addPolicy(xacmlDoc)
      else:
          cmo.addPolicy(xacmlDoc, stat)
      print("Add error handling")
:
:

As described in the Navigating and Interrogating MBeans section of WebLogic Scripting Tool, when WLST first connects to an instance of WebLogic Server, the variable, cmo (Current Management Object), is initialized to the root of all configuration management objects, DomainMBean. When you navigate to an MBean type, in this case SecurityConfigurationMBean, the value of cmo reflects SecurityConfigurationMBean. When you navigate to an MBean instance, in this case to an Authorizer MBean that implements the PolicyStoreMBean, identified in the example by the variable prov, WLST changes the value of cmo to be the current MBean instance.

The example uses the addPolicy() method of the PolicyStoreMBean to add a policy read from a XACML file to the policy store. Two variants of the addPolicy() method (without and with status) are shown.

If you use an addPolicy() method that does not specify status, it defaults to ACTIVE, which indicates that the policy is evaluated for any decision to which its target applies. You can explicitly set status to be ACTIVE, INACTIVE, or BYREFERENCE. The INACTIVE status indicates that the policy will never be evaluated and is only being stored. The BYREFERENCE status indicates that the policy will only be evaluated when referenced by a policy set that is being evaluated.

You can invoke this type of WLST script from the command line, in a manner similar to the following:

java -Dhost="localhost " -Dprotocol="t3" -Dauthuser="weblogic"
-Dauthpwd="weblogic" -Dport="7001" -Ddomain="mydomain" -Drealm="myrealm"
-Dprovider="Authorizers/XACMLAuthorizer"
-Dfile="C:/XACML/xacml-docs/policy12.xml" -Dstatus="none" weblogic.WLST
XACML/scripts/XACMLaddPolicy.py

Using WLST to Read a PolicySet as a String

Listing 7-4 shows an example of using WLST to read a PolicySet as a string.

The example assumes that you have defined the properties used in this script elsewhere, in a manner similar to the following lines from an ant script:

<sysproperty key="identifier" value="urn:sample:xacml:2.0:wlssecqa:resource:type@E@Fejb@G@M@Oapplication@ENoD
DRolesOrPoliciesEar@M@Omodule@Eejb11inEarMiniAppBean.jar@M@Oejb@EMiniAppBean@
M@Omethod@EgetSubject@M@OmethodInterface@ERemote"/>
<sysproperty key="version" value="1.0"/>

:
:
try:

      print("start XACMLreadPolicySet.py")
      protocol = System.getProperty("protocol")
      host = System.getProperty("host")
      user = System.getProperty("authuser")
      passwd = System.getProperty("authpwd")
      port = System.getProperty("port")
      dom = System.getProperty("domain")
      rlm = System.getProperty("realm")
      prov = System.getProperty("provider")
      id = System.getProperty("identifier")
      vers = System.getProperty("version")

:
:
def configure():

try:

      url = protocol + "://" + host + ":" + port
      connect(user,passwd, url)
      path = "/SecurityConfiguration/" + dom + "/Realms/" + rlm + "/" + prov
      print("cd'ing to " + path)
      cd(path)
      polset = cmo.readPolicySetAsString(id, vers)
      print("readPolicySetAsString() returned the following policy set: " + polset)
      print"Add error handling."
:
:

As described in the XACML 2.0 Core Specification, the <PolicySet> element contains a set of <Policy> or other <PolicySet> elements and a specified procedure for combining the results of their evaluation. See the XACML 2.0 Core Specification for complete information.

Bulk Authorization Providers

This release of WebLogic Server includes bulk access versions of the following Authorization provider SSPI interfaces:

The bulk access SSPI interfaces allow Authorization providers to receive multiple decision requests in one call rather than through multiple calls, typically in a 'for' loop. The intent of the bulk SSPI variants is to allow provider implementations to take advantage of internal performance optimizations, such as detecting that many of the passed-in Resource objects are protected by the same policy and will generate the same decision result.

There are subtle differences in how the non-bulk and bulk versions of the SSPI interfaces are used.

Note that the BulkAccessDecision.isAccessAllowed() method takes a Map of roles, indexed first by Resource object and then by role name (Map<Resource, Map<String, SecurityRole>> roles), that are associated with the subject and should be taken into consideration when making the authorization decision.

The BulkAccessDecision.isAccessAllowed() method returns a Map (indexed by Resource, result) that indicates whether the authorization policies defined for the resources allow the requested methods to be performed.

Generate an MBean Type Using the WebLogic MBeanMaker

Before you start generating an MBean type for your custom security provider, you should first:

When you understand this information and have made your design decisions, create the MBean type for your custom Authorization provider by following these steps:

Create an MBean Definition File (MDF)

To create an MBean Definition File (MDF), follow these steps:

Use the WebLogic MBeanMaker to Generate the MBean Type

Once you create your MDF, you are ready to run it through the WebLogic MBeanMaker. The WebLogic MBeanMaker is currently a command-line utility that takes as its input an MDF, and outputs some intermediate Java files, including an MBean interface, an MBean implementation, and an associated MBean information file. Together, these intermediate files form the MBean type for your custom security provider.

The instructions for generating an MBean type differ based on the design of your custom Authorization provider. Follow the instructions that are appropriate to your situation:

No Optional SSPI MBeans and No Custom Operations

If the MDF for your custom Authorization provider does not implement any optional SSPI MBeans and does not include any custom operations, follow these steps:

Optional SSPI MBeans or Custom Operations

If the MDF for your custom Authorization provider does implement some optional SSPI MBeans or does include custom operations, consider the following:

About the Generated MBean Interface File

The MBean interface file is the client-side API to the MBean that your runtime class or your MBean implementation will use to obtain configuration data. It is typically used in the initialize method as described in Understand the Purpose of the Provider SSPIs.

Because the WebLogic MBeanMaker generates MBean types from the MDF you created, the generated MBean interface file will have the name of the MDF, plus the text "MBean" appended to it. For example, the result of running the SampleAuthorizer MDF through the WebLogic MBeanMaker will yield an MBean interface file called SampleAuthorizerMBean.java.

Use the WebLogic MBeanMaker to Create the MBean JAR File (MJF)

Once your have run your MDF through the WebLogic MBeanMaker to generate your intermediate files, and you have edited the MBean implementation file to supply implementations for the appropriate methods within it, you need to package the MBean files and the runtime classes for the custom Authorization provider into an MBean JAR File (MJF). The WebLogic MBeanMaker also automates this process.

To create an MJF for your custom Authorization provider, follow these steps:

The resulting MJF can be installed into your WebLogic Server environment, or distributed to your customers for installation into their WebLogic Server environments.

Install the MBean Type Into the WebLogic Server Environment

To install an MBean type into the WebLogic Server environment, copy the MJF into the WL_HOME\server\lib\mbeantypes directory, where WL_HOME is the top-level installation directory for WebLogic Server. This "deploys" your custom Authorization provider—that is, it makes the custom Authorization provider manageable from the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

You can create instances of the MBean type by configuring your custom Authorization provider (see Configure the Custom Authorization Provider Using the Administration Console), and then use those MBean instances from a GUI, from other Java code, or from APIs. For example, you can use the WebLogic Server Administration Console to get and set attributes and invoke operations, or you can develop other Java objects that instantiate MBeans and automatically respond to information that the MBeans supply. We recommend that you back up these MBean instances.

Configure the Custom Authorization Provider Using the Administration Console

Configuring a custom Authorization provider means that you are adding the custom Authorization provider to your security realm, where it can be accessed by applications requiring authorization services.

Configuring custom security providers is an administrative task, but it is a task that may also be performed by developers of custom security providers. This section contains information that is important for the person configuring your custom Authorization providers:

Managing Authorization Providers and Deployment Descriptors

Some application components, such as Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) and Web applications, store relevant deployment information in Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and WebLogic Server deployment descriptors. For Web applications, the deployment descriptor files (called web.xml and weblogic.xml) contain information for implementing the J2EE security model, including declarations of security policies. Typically, you will want to include this information when first configuring your Authorization providers in the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

Because the J2EE platform standardizes Web application and EJB security in deployment descriptors, WebLogic Server integrates this standard mechanism with its Security Service to give you a choice of techniques for securing Web application and EJB resources. You can use deployment descriptors exclusively, the Administration Console exclusively, or you can combine the techniques for certain situations.

Depending on the technique you choose, you also need to apply a Security Model. WebLogic supports different security models for individual deployments, and a security model for realm-wide configurations that incorporate the technique you want to use.

When configured to use deployment descriptors, WebLogic Server reads security policy information from the web.xml and weblogic.xml deployment descriptor files (examples of web.xml and weblogic.xml files are shown in Listing 7-5 and Listing 7-6). This information is then copied into the security provider database for the Authorization provider.

<web-app> 

   <welcome-file-list> 
      <welcome-file>welcome.jsp</welcome-file> 
   </welcome-file-list> 

   <security-constraint> 
      <web-resource-collection>
         <web-resource-name>Success</web-resource-name>
         <url-pattern>/welcome.jsp</url-pattern>
         <http-method>GET</http-method> 
         <http-method>POST</http-method> 
      </web-resource-collection> 
      <auth-constraint> 
         <role-name>developers</role-name> 
      </auth-constraint> 
   </security-constraint> 

   <login-config> 
       <auth-method>BASIC</auth-method> 
       <realm-name>default</realm-name> 
   </login-config> 

   <security-role> 
      <role-name>developers</role-name> 
   </security-role> 

</web-app>

<weblogic-web-app> 
   <security-role-assignment> 
      <role-name>developers</role-name>
      <principal-name>myGroup</principal-name> 
   </security-role-assignment> 
</weblogic-web-app>

Enabling Security Policy Deployment

If you implemented the DeployableAuthorizationProviderV2 SSPI as part of developing your custom Authorization provider and want to support deployable security policies, the person configuring the custom Authorization provider (that is, you or an administrator) must be sure that the Policy Deployment Enabled check box in the WebLogic Server Administration Console is checked. Otherwise, deployment for the Authorization provider is considered "turned off." Therefore, if multiple Authorization providers are configured, the Policy Deployment Enabled check box can be used to control which Authorization provider is used for security policy deployment.

Provide a Mechanism for Security Policy Management

While configuring a custom Authorization provider via the WebLogic Server Administration Console makes it accessible by applications requiring authorization services, you also need to supply administrators with a way to manage this security provider's associated security policies. The WebLogic Authorization provider, for example, supplies administrators with a Policy Editor page that allows them to add, modify, or remove security policies for various WebLogic resources.

Neither the Policy Editor page nor access to it is available to administrators when you develop a custom Authorization provider. Therefore, you must provide your own mechanism for security policy management. This mechanism must read and write security policy data (that is, expressions) to and from the custom Authorization provider's database.

You can accomplish this task in one of three ways:

Option 1: Develop a Stand-Alone Tool for Security Policy Management

You would typically select this option if you want to develop a tool that is entirely separate from the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

For this option, you do not need to write any console extensions for your custom Authorization provider, nor do you need to develop any management MBeans. However, your tool needs to:

Option 2: Integrate an Existing Security Policy Management Tool into the Administration Console

You would typically select this option if you have a tool that is separate from the WebLogic Server Administration Console, but you want to launch that tool from the Administration Console.

For this option, your tool needs to: