Introduction

The security of applications is currently the top concern when developing applications. The applications or bits of code running via the network are exposed to dangers and may jeopardize integrity, security, and privacy concerns. Various security frameworks ensure the strength of application security, supporting the apps’ quicker processing. They assist the programmers in smoothly launching the application.

Specifying Security Constraints

The access permissions to a set of resources are defined using their URL mapping and a security restriction. Annotations can be used to specify security restriction information in web applications that use servlets. To provide a security constraint, you use the @HttpConstraint and, optionally, the @HttpMethodConstraint annotations within the @ServletSecurity annotation. However, if your web application does not employ a servlet, you must include a security-constraint element in the deployment descriptor file. If you use any authentication technique other than BASIC (the default), you must use a deployment description since the authentication mechanism cannot be represented using annotations. The following subelements can be part of a security constraint.

• A list of HTTP operations (the methods found in the files that fit the URL pattern you want to constrain) and URL patterns (the portion of a URL after the hostname and port you want to constrain) that specify a set of resources to be protected is known as a web resource collection (web-resource-collection), in Specifying a Web Resource Collection, web resource collections are covered.
• Determines whether authentication will be used and identifies the roles permitted to carry out the confined requests. See Specifying an Authorization Constraint for additional details on authorization constraints.
• User data constraint (user-data-constraint): Describes the methods used to protect data while it is being transferred between a client and a server. 

Specifying a Web Resource Collection The following are the components of a collection of web resources.

• The name you give this resource is web-resource-name. Its use is not required.
• The request URI that has to be secured is listed using url-pattern. Both protected and unprotected resources are present in many applications. Don’t configure a security constraint for that specific request URI if you want to allow unsupervised access to a resource.

After the hostname and port, a URL contains the request URI. Consider having an online store with a catalog that you want anybody to be able to read and peruse, as well as a customer-only shopping cart area. You could configure your web application’s routes so that just the pattern /cart/* is protected and nothing else is. The following statements are accurate, assuming the application is set up at context path /myapp.

• http://localhost:8080/myapp/index.xhtml is not protected.
• http://localhost:8080/myapp/cart/index.xhtml is protected.

The first time a user views a resource in the cart/ subfolder, he/she will be requested to log in. To define which methods should be protected or left out of protection, use the http-method or http-method-omission tags. Any of the following situations will result in a web resource collection protecting an HTTP method:

• If there are no HTTP methods listed in the collection (all of which are protected),
• If the collection has an http-method subelement that explicitly identifies the HTTP method
• If the collection has one or more http-method-omission components, but none of them name the HTTP method.

Specifying an Authorization Constraint

The role-name element is contained within an authorization constraint (auth-constraint). Any number of role-name components may be used in this statement. In addition to defining the roles permitted to access the URL patterns and HTTP methods stated by this security constraint, an authorization constraint also sets the need for authentication. The container must allow the request without requesting user authentication if there are no authorization restrictions. The container will never permit access to unreasonable requests without an authorization constraint, but no roles are specified. Each role name provided here must either be the specifically reserved role name *, which denotes all roles in the web application, or it must match the role name of one of the security-role elements created for this web application. Case matters in role names. Except when default principal-to-role mapping is used, the roles provided for the application must be mapped to the users and groups defined on the server. The @HttpConstraint and @HttpMethodConstraint annotations for servlets allow the rolesAllowed element, which lists the permitted roles.

Specifying a Secure Connection

The transport-guarantee subelement is part of a user data constraint (user-data-constraint in the deployment descriptor). For all constrained URL patterns and HTTP methods described in the security constraint, a user data constraint can be used to mandate a secure transport-layer connection, such as HTTPS.  CONFIDENTIAL, INTEGRAL, or NONE are the available options for the transport guarantee. The usage of SSL is typically needed and is applied to all requests that match the URL patterns in the online resource collection, not only to the login dialogue box, if you pick CONFIDENTIAL or INTEGRAL as a security constraint. The value of the transport guarantee determines, in the following manner, the level of necessary protection.

• When an application asks for data to be sent, specify CONFIDENTIAL so no one else may see what is being sent.
• When the application demands that the data be transferred between the client and the server to prevent it from being altered while in transit, specify INTEGRAL.
• The container must accept the restricted requests on any connection, including an unprotected one if NONE is specified.

The user data limitation is helpful with simple and form-based user authentication. Passwords are not protected when the login authentication mechanism is set to BASIC or FORM, meaning they can be viewed and intercepted by unauthorized persons when exchanged between a client and a server during an open session. This issue can be resolved by combining a user data restriction with the user authentication process. Ensure your server is configured with SSL support to ensure data is transmitted over a secure connection. GlassFish Server is already set up to enable SSL. Note: Never allow a non-SSL request again for the rest of a session after switching to SSL. For example, a shopping site could avoid utilizing SSL until the payment page, at which point it might accept your card number. After switching to SSL for this session, you must stop listening for non-SSL requests. The session ID was not encrypted in earlier communications, so this practice was adopted. When you’re just shopping, this is not a big deal, but once your credit card information has been saved in the session, you want to make sure somebody can use it to make a fraudulent purchase against your credit card. Using a filter would make it simple to put this habit into practice.

Introduction to Securing Web Applications with Java-based Frameworks

Security is a top priority while creating an application. Any software or application that runs via a network is exposed to vulnerabilities and could pose concerns with integrity, security, and privacy. The most critical security concerns, according to the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), are:

• SQL Injection.
• Broken authentication and session management.
• Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).
• Insecure Direct Object References.
• Security Misconfiguration.
• Sensitive Data Exposure.
• Missing Function Level Access Control.
• Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF).

Java frameworks allow code reuse while eliminating the need to write repetitive boilerplate code. Let’s look at some top-notch Java-based frameworks to improve app security and accelerate the expansion of your business:

JAAS (Java Authentication and Authorization Services)

The Java application is secured using the JAAS API. Several Java packages that have been created for authentication and authorization are available. JAAS was a Java SE 1.3 optional package that later became a component of the JDK, starting with version 1.4. In JAAS, authentication is done in a pluggable method. It enables the application to be independent of fundamental authentication methods.

Spring Security

A Spring Security framework can be customized to meet the needs of business-based applications. It gets around the problems with authentication and access control. The process of proving a dominant is who they claim to be (perhaps a user, device, or a few different machines that can act on your application) is known as authentication. A major’s ability to do an activity inside your program is determined via authorization. A principal is developed for the request throughout this authentication process. It could be a user, a device, or another system that can operate your program. On the other hand, determining whether the principal is permitted to carry out a specific activity within the app is known as authorization. This Java framework is also simple to understand.

Apache Shiro

Thought as a highly successful security framework for Java, Apache Shiro handles session management, authorization, and cryptography for all types and sizes of Java applications. Shiro has been created to be a simple and intuitive framework while still providing robust security measures. Because it is framework-neutral, it can easily integrate with any Java-supported framework.

HDIV is also known as HTTP Data Integrity Validator

A Java Web Application Security Framework called HDIV maintains the API and framework standard while extending web application Security functionalities. Because it provides programmers with much-desired transparency without adding complexity to developing programs, supporting various functions such as interface, and functional interface, it is frequently utilized for programs built on platforms like Struts, Spring MVC, Grails, JSTL, etc.

OACC

OACC is a Java application security framework intended for fine-grained (object-level) access control. It specializes in providing a fully featured API to design and manage a utility’s authentication and authorization requirements. This is a full implementation of a robust and adaptable security architecture. OACC uses the abstraction of help for secured utility items. OACC can provide a robust API with the grant, revoke, and query capabilities for storing and managing the application’s security relationships, thanks to this crucial abstraction. All of those frameworks protect the applications by offering the desired protection in terms of authentication, authorization, information validation, consultation management, encryption, etc. Pick any of those frameworks depending on your application’s privacy, protection, and integrity demands.

Conclusion

By providing the necessary level of security for authorization, authentication, data validation, encryption, session management, and other functions, these top 5 Java application security frameworks protect your Java software development process. You can choose any of these frameworks depending on your application’s privacy, security, and integrity requirements.