users@jaspic-spec.java.net

[JIRA] Commented: (JASPIC_SPEC-7) Support for RequestDispatcher#forward in auth module

From: arjan tijms (JIRA) <"arjan>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:46:53 +0000 (GMT+00:00)

    [ http://java.net/jira/browse/JASPIC_SPEC-7?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=357232#action_357232 ]

arjan tijms commented on JASPIC_SPEC-7:
---------------------------------------

{quote}I will add a clarification in the section around SEND_CONTINUE, but we will have to better understand all the ramifications of doing forwards, from auth modules before I will be able to require support for doing so. I will add some mention of being able to do forwards for example to a login form, to raise awareness. {quote}

Okay, that would be great. I agree that if it's not fully clear what impact forwards can have that this should be investigated first. I did notice that JBoss ships a JASPIC module that mimics the Servlet form based authentication, and uses a forward for this (they use proprietary API for this though). It's at [org.jboss.as.web.security.jaspi.modules.HTTPFormServerAuthModule|http://grepcode.com/file/repo1.maven.org/maven2/org.jboss.as/jboss-as-web/7.1.3.Final/org/jboss/as/web/security/jaspi/modules/HTTPFormServerAuthModule.java#HTTPFormServerAuthModule].

{quote}is redirecting to the login-form a suitable work-around?{quote}

It's a workaround for sure. And we have indeed used this for a SAM.

A forward is more natural though for those use cases where the session can't be used to temporarily store data from the original request like headers, (post) parameters, cookies, and such. With a forward this data could be passed to the login form within the same request. The login form can then render this (encoded and encrypted if necessary) in a hidden field, so it can be posted back when the user authenticates. Theoretically this could be done via one huge GET request parameter, but that's not really ideal.

> Support for RequestDispatcher#forward in auth module
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
> Key: JASPIC_SPEC-7
> URL: http://java.net/jira/browse/JASPIC_SPEC-7
> Project: jaspic-spec
> Issue Type: New Feature
> Reporter: arjan tijms
> Assignee: monzillo
>
> In the Servlet Container Profile of JASPIC, a {{RequestDispatcher}} can be obtained from the request message in the {{ServerAuthModule.validateRequest}} method, and subsequently used to forward to a specific resource.
> The fact that this can be done is not described in the JASPIC specification, and in practice not all currently certified JASPIC implementations are capable of handling this.
> E.g. consider the following fragment in a {{ServerAuthModule.validateRequest}} implementation:
> {code}
> HttpServletRequest request = (HttpServletRequest) messageInfo.getRequestMessage();
> HttpServletResponse response = (HttpServletResponse) messageInfo.getResponseMessage();
> RequestDispatcher requestDispatcher = request.getRequestDispatcher("/index.xhtml");
> requestDispatcher.forward(request, response);
> return AuthStatus.SEND_CONTINUE;
> {code}
> (index.xhtml is a JSF Facelets page backing by a CDI backing bean)
> This works is GlassFish 3.1.2.2 and Geronimo V3.0, but fails in some way or the other on JBoss AS 7.1.3/EAP 6.0.1, WebLogic 12.1.1 and WebSphere 8.5.
> On JBoss EAP 6.0.1 the following exception is immediately thrown when invoking the {{forward()}} method:
> {noformat}
> An exception or error occurred in the container during the request processing:
> java.lang.ClassCastException: org.apache.catalina.connector.Request cannot be cast to javax.servlet.ServletRequestWrapper
> at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterFactory.createFilterChain(ApplicationFilterFactory.java:164) [jbossweb-7.0.17.Final-redhat-1.jar:]
> at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:827) [jbossweb-7.0.17.Final-redhat-1.jar:]
> at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.processRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:622) [jbossweb-7.0.17.Final-redhat-1.jar:]
> at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doForward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:560) [jbossweb-7.0.17.Final-redhat-1.jar:]
> at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:488) [jbossweb-7.0.17.Final-redhat-1.jar:]
> at jaspic.TestServerAuthModule.validateRequest(TestServerAuthModule.java:120) [classes:]
> {noformat}
> On WebLogic 12.1.1. the following exception is immediately thrown:
> {noformat}
> javax.servlet.ServletException: Must call associate() before calling activate()
> at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:606)
> at weblogic.servlet.internal.StubSecurityHelper$ServletServiceAction.run(StubSecurityHelper.java:242)
> at weblogic.servlet.internal.StubSecurityHelper$ServletServiceAction.run(StubSecurityHelper.java:216)
> at weblogic.servlet.internal.StubSecurityHelper.invokeServlet(StubSecurityHelper.java:132)
> at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl.execute(ServletStubImpl.java:338)
> at weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl.execute(ServletStubImpl.java:221)
> at weblogic.servlet.internal.RequestDispatcherImpl.invokeServlet(RequestDispatcherImpl.java:564)
> at weblogic.servlet.internal.RequestDispatcherImpl.forward(RequestDispatcherImpl.java:263)
> at jaspic.TestServerAuthModule.validateRequest(TestServerAuthModule.java:120)
> {noformat}
> On WebSpere 8.5 the following exception is thrown after the auth module returns:
> {noformat}
> 0000006c WebCollaborat A
> SECJ0056E: Authentication failed for reason Jaspi authentication failed, unexpected HttpServletResponse status: 200
> 0000006c webapp E com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebApp logServletError
> SRVE0293E: [Servlet Error]-[servlet.TestServlet]:
> java.lang.IllegalStateException: Response already committed.
> at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppDispatcherContext.sendError(WebAppDispatcherContext.java:599)
> at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppDispatcherContext.sendError(WebAppDispatcherContext.java:656)
> at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.srt.SRTServletResponse.sendError(SRTServletResponse.java:1255)
> at com.ibm.ws.security.web.WebReply.sendError(WebReply.java:61)
> at com.ibm.ws.security.web.DenyReply.writeResponse(DenyReply.java:35)
> at com.ibm.ws.security.web.EJSWebCollaborator.handleException(EJSWebCollaborator.java:735)
> at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.collaborator.WebAppSecurityCollaboratorImpl.handleException(WebAppSecurityCollaboratorImpl.java:267)
> at com.ibm.wsspi.webcontainer.collaborator.CollaboratorHelper.processSecurityPreInvokeException(CollaboratorHelper.java:153)
> {noformat}
> On WebSphere 8.5 the forwarded resource is processed correctly. After some experimentation, it seems WebSphere 8.5 only allows http status codes 302, 303, 307 and 401 after an auth module returns {{SEND_CONTINUE}}. On WebLogic, the forward does work when the application hasn't activated CDI (e.g. when no {{beans.xml}} is present in {{WEB-INF}}). On JBoss EAP, forwarding works if the request is casted to a proprietary type and the result of a {{getRequest()}} call is provided to the dispatcher.
> Since all the mentioned implementations are Java EE 6 certified, the JASPIC spec probably has to be clarified here and if possible a TCK test for this should be added.
> Since forwarding can be an important use case, e.g. for displaying a login form as response to the original request, I would like to request that forwarding is being covered by the JASPIC spec. Specifically:
> * Specify that forwarding is a supported operation
> * Specify which status the auth module should return when forwarding
> * Specify which HTTP response codes are legal following a SEND_CONTINUE return value (perhaps there should be no limitation?)
> * Add a TCK test in which an auth module does a forward (if possible for a TCK: forward to a complex resource like a JSF page, with CDI being enabled, and where the JSF page uses a CDI backing bean)

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