XML and Web Services Security

This XML and Web Services Security implementation, included as part of the Java^TM Web Services Developer Pack 2.0, provides a framework within which a JAXWS, JAXRPC or SAAJ application developer will be able to secure applications in the following ways:

• Sign and/or verify parts of the SOAP messages and/or attachments.

  This implementation of XML and Web Services Security uses Sun's XML-DSig (XML Digital Signature) implementation, JSR-105, which is based on the XML-Signature Syntax and Processing W3C standard.

  Samples containing code for signing and/or verifying parts of the SOAP message and/or attachments are included with this release.

• Encrypt and/or decrypt part of the SOAP message and/or attachments.

  This implementation of XML and Web Services Security uses Apache's XML-Enc (XML Encryption) implementation, which is based on the XML Encryption W3C standard.

  Samples containing code for encrypting and/or decrypting parts of the SOAP message and/or attachments are included with this release.

• Send UserName tokens and X509 certificate tokens along with the message and/or attachment.

  Sending these tokens with the message binds the identity of the tokens (and any other claims occurring in the security token) to the messages created by the tokens.

  This implementation of XML and Web Services Security provides support for Username Token Profile, which is based on OASIS WSS Username Token Profile 1.0, and X509 Certificate Token Profile, which is based on OASIS WSS X509 Certificate Token Profile 1.0.

  Samples containing code for sending user name and X509 certificate tokens along with the SOAP message are included with this release.

• Use XWS-Security APIs to secure stand alone applications that make use of SAAJ APIs only for their SOAP messaging and to secure JAXWS and JAX-RPC applications.

  This implementation of XML and Web Services Security provides APIs that can be used to secure stand alone Web services application as well as JAX-RPC and JAXWS applications. Because the Java standards for some of the XWS-Security technologies are currently undergoing definition under the Java Community Process, the security solution that is provided in the Java Web Services Developer Pack 2.0 is based on nonstandard APIs, which are subject to change with new revisions of the technology. To insulate stand alone XWS-Security users from the possible changes in the internal implementation, this release includes new APIs that abstract out some of the internal implementation details. These new APIs can be used to secure an outbound SOAPMessage and verify the security in an inbound SOAPMessage.

  Samples containing code using these new APIs are included with this release.

• Implement Interoperable Web Services Security applications.

This implementation of XML and Web Services Security fully supports the implementation of Web Services Security (WSS) Interop scenarios. The following are some of the interoperability scenarios documents that are supported by this implementation:

• Draft Spec for Interop1 (draft 5)
• Final Spec for Interop2 (draft 6)

This distribution includes samples that show how a JAX-RPC, JAXWS  and SAAJ application developer can use the XML and Web Services Security technology. As previously noted, these nonstandard APIs are subject to change and, as standards are defined in the Web Services Security space, we will be moving towards using the appropriate standard APIs instead of these nonstandard APIs.

How XWS-Security and JSRs 105 and 106 are related

XWS-Security APIs are used for securing Web services based on JAX-RPC, JAXWS and SAAJ. This release of XWS-Security internally uses  the JSR-105 standard for XML Digital Signature and  the non-standard XML Encryption APIs.  The use of non-standard XML Encryption APIs however has no additional impact on the  end-user over and above the fact that the  XWS-Security APIs are themselves non-standard.

JSR-105 (XML Digital Signature) APIs are included in this release of the JWSDP. JSR 105 is a standard API  for generating and validating XML Signatures as specified by the W3C recommendation. JSR-105 APIs are used by Java applications and middleware that need to create and/or process XML Signatures. It is used by this release of XWS-Security and can also be used by non-Web Services technologies, for example, documents stored or transferred in XML. Both JSR 105 and JSR 106 (XML Digital Encryption APIs) are core-XML security components. 

Command-line tools

In this release, the following command-line tools are included:

• pkcs12import

  This tool helps with importing the contents (key/certificate pair) of a PKCS-12 file into a keystore.

• keyexport

  This tool can be used to export the private key corresponding to a specified entry of a keystore into a file.

Documentation

The documentation for this release consists of the following:

• Java Web Services Developer Pack 2.0 Documentation
• Release Notes
• Sample Applications
• Web Services FAQ on java.sun.com

Questions, Feedback, Bug Reports

Please send questions, comments, and feedback to jwsdp-feedback@sun.com.

Due to the high volume of e-mail received on these aliases, you may not receive an immediate response to your inquiry.