Spring Security

Spring Security
Developer(s)4
Stable release
6.3.1 / June 18, 2024; 6 months ago (2024-06-18) [1]
Written inJava
Operating systemCross-platform
Typeweb application framework security
LicenseApache License 2.0
Websiteprojects.spring.io/spring-security/

Spring Security is a Java/Java EE framework that provides authentication, authorization and other security features for enterprise applications. The project was started in late 2003 as 'Acegi Security' (pronounced Ah-see-gee /ɑːsiːdʒiː/, whose letters are the first, third, fifth, seventh, and ninth characters from the English alphabet, in order to prevent name conflicts[2]) by Ben Alex, with it being publicly released under the Apache License in March 2004. Subsequently, Acegi was incorporated into the Spring portfolio as Spring Security, an official Spring sub-project. The first public release under the new name was Spring Security 2.0.0 in April 2008, with commercial support and training available from SpringSource.

Authentication flow

Diagram 1 shows the basic flow of an authentication request using the Spring Security system. It shows the different filters and how they interact from the initial browser request, to either a successful authentication or an HTTP 403 error.

Browser submits "authentication credentials"
"Authentication mechanism" collects the details
An "authentication request" object is built
Authentication request sent to an AuthenticationManager
AuthenticationManager (this is responsible for passing requests through a chain of AuthenticationProviders)
"Authentication provider" will ask a UserDetailsService to provide a UserDetails object
The resultant UserDetails object (which also contains the GrantedAuthority[]s) will be used to build the fully populated Authentication object.
If "Authentication mechanism" receives back the fully populated Authentication object, it will deem the request valid, put the Authentication into the SecurityContextHolder; and cause the original request to be retried.
If, on the other hand, the AuthenticationProvider rejected the request, the authentication mechanism will ask the user agent to retry.
AbstractSecurityInterceptor authorizes the regenerated request and throws Java exceptions. (Asks AccessDecisionManager for decision.)
ExceptionTranslationFilter translates the exceptions thrown by AbstractSecurityInterceptor into HTTP related error codes
Error code 403 – if the principal has been authenticated and therefore simply lacks sufficient access
Launch an AuthenticationEntryPoint – if the principal has not been authenticated which is an authentication mechanism

Key authentication features

Key authorization features

Instance-based security features

Other features

  • Software localization so user interface messages can be in any language.
  • Channel security, to automatically switch between HTTP and HTTPS upon meeting particular rules.
  • Caching in all database-touching areas of the framework.
  • Publishing of messages to facilitate event-driven programming.
  • Support for performing integration testing via JUnit.
  • Spring Security itself has comprehensive JUnit isolation tests.
  • Several sample applications, detailed JavaDocs and a reference guide.
  • Web framework independence.

Releases

  • 2.0.0 (April 2008)
  • 3.0.0 (December 2009)
  • 3.1.0 (December 7, 2011)
  • 3.1.2 (August 10, 2012)
  • 3.2.0 (December 16, 2013)
  • 4.0.0 (March 26, 2015)
  • 4.1.3 (August 24, 2016)
  • 4.2.0 (November 10, 2016)
  • 3.2.10, 4.1.4, 4.2.1 (December 22, 2016)
  • 4.2.2 (March 2, 2017)
  • 4.2.3 (June 8, 2017)
  • 5.0.0 (November 28, 2017)
  • 5.0.8, 4.2.8 (September 11, 2018)[5]
  • 5.1.0 GA (September 27, 2018)[6]
  • 5.1.1, 5.0.9, 4.2.9 (October 16, 2018)[7]
  • 5.1.2, 5.0.10, 4.2.10 (November 29, 2018)[8]
  • 5.1.3, 5.0.11, 4.2.11 (January 11, 2019)[9]
  • 5.1.4 (February 14, 2019)[10]
  • 5.1.5, 5.0.12, 4.2.12 (April 3, 2019)[11]

Citations

  1. ^ "Spring Security 5.8.13, 6.2.5, and 6.3.1 are available now". spring.io. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
  2. ^ "Why the name Acegi?". spring.io.
  3. ^ a b c Deinum et al. 2014.
  4. ^ "Master OAuth: How To Build a Secure Authorization Server". December 29, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ "Spring Security 5.0.8 and 4.2.8 Released". spring.io. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  6. ^ "Spring Security 5.1 goes GA". spring.io. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  7. ^ "Spring Security 5.1.1, 5.0.9, and 4.2.9 Released". spring.io. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  8. ^ "Spring Security 5.1.2, 5.0.10, 4.2.10 Released". spring.io. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  9. ^ "Spring Security 5.1.3, 5.0.11, 4.2.11 Released". spring.io. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  10. ^ "Spring Security 5.1.4 Released". spring.io. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  11. ^ "Spring Security 5.1.5, 5.0.12, 4.2.12 Released". spring.io. Retrieved 2019-06-09.

References