alvinalexander.com | career | drupal | java | mac | mysql | perl | scala | uml | unix  

Tomcat example source code file (security-manager-howto.xml)

This example Tomcat source code file (security-manager-howto.xml) is included in the DevDaily.com "Java Source Code Warehouse" project. The intent of this project is to help you "Learn Java by Example" TM.

Java - Tomcat tags/keywords

a, controls, controls, java, license, license, permission, permissions, securitymanager, securitymanager, see, the, tomcat, tomcat

The Tomcat security-manager-howto.xml source code

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
  contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
  this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
  The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
  (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
  the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at

      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
  limitations under the License.
-->
<!DOCTYPE document [
  <!ENTITY project SYSTEM "project.xml">
]>
<document url="security-manager-howto.html">

    &project;

    <properties>
        <author email="glenn@voyager.apg.more.net">Glenn Nielsen
        <author email="jeanfrancois.arcand@sun.com">Jean-Francois Arcand
        <title>Security Manager HOW-TO
    </properties>

<body>


<section name="Background">

  <p>The Java SecurityManager is what allows a web browser
  to run an applet in its own sandbox to prevent untrusted code from
  accessing files on the local file system, connecting to a host other
  than the one the applet was loaded from, and so on.  In the same way
  the SecurityManager protects you from an untrusted applet running in
  your browser, use of a SecurityManager while running Tomcat can protect
  your server from trojan servlets, JSPs, JSP beans, and tag libraries.
  Or even inadvertent mistakes.</p>

  <p>Imagine if someone who is authorized to publish JSPs on your site
  inadvertently included the following in their JSP:</p>
<source>
<% System.exit(1); %>
</source>

  <p>Every time this JSP was executed by Tomcat, Tomcat would exit.
  Using the Java SecurityManager is just one more line of defense a
  system administrator can use to keep the server secure and reliable.</p>

  <p>WARNING - A security audit
  have been conducted using the Tomcat 5 codebase. Most of the critical
  package have been protected and a new security package protection mechanism 
  has been implemented. Still, make sure that you are satisfied with your SecurityManager 
  configuration before allowing untrusted users to publish web applications, 
  JSPs, servlets, beans, or tag libraries.  <strong>However, running with a 
  SecurityManager is definitely better than running without one.</strong>

</section> <section name="Permissions"> <p>Permission classes are used to define what Permissions a class loaded by Tomcat will have. There are a number of Permission classes that are a standard part of the JDK, and you can create your own Permission class for use in your own web applications. Both techniques are used in Tomcat 6.</p> <subsection name="Standard Permissions"> <p>This is just a short summary of the standard system SecurityManager Permission classes applicable to Tomcat. See <a href="http://java.sun.com/security/">http://java.sun.com/security/ for more information.</p> <ul> <li>java.util.PropertyPermission - Controls read/write access to JVM properties such as <code>java.home. <li>java.lang.RuntimePermission - Controls use of some System/Runtime functions like <code>exit() and <code>exec(). Also control the package access/definition. <li>java.io.FilePermission - Controls read/write/execute access to files and directories.</li> <li>java.net.SocketPermission - Controls use of network sockets.</li> <li>java.net.NetPermission - Controls use of multicast network connections.</li> <li>java.lang.reflect.ReflectPermission - Controls use of reflection to do class introspection.</li> <li>java.security.SecurityPermission - Controls access to Security methods.</li> <li>java.security.AllPermission - Allows access to all permissions, just as if you were running Tomcat without a SecurityManager.</li> </ul> </subsection> <subsection name="Tomcat Custom Permissions"> <p>Tomcat utilizes a custom permission class called <strong>org.apache.naming.JndiPermission. This permission controls read access to JNDI named file based resources. The permission name is the JNDI name and there are no actions. A trailing "*" can be used to do wild card matching for a JNDI named file resource when granting permission. For example, you might include the following in your policy file:</p> <source> permission org.apache.naming.JndiPermission "jndi://localhost/examples/*"; </source> <p>A Permission entry like this is generated dynamically for each web application that is deployed, to allow it to read its own static resources but disallow it from using file access to read any other files (unless permissions for those files are explicitly granted).</p> <p>Also, Tomcat always dynamically creates the following file permission:

<source> permission java.io.FilePermission "** your application context**", "read"; </source> <p>Where **your application context** equals the folder(or WAR file) under which your application has been deployed. </p> </subsection> </section> <section name="Configuring Tomcat With A SecurityManager"> <h3>Policy File Format <p>The security policies implemented by the Java SecurityManager are configured in the <code>$CATALINA_HOME/conf/catalina.policy file. This file completely replaces the <code>java.policy file present in your JDK system directories. The <code>catalina.policy file can be edited by hand, or you can use the <a href="http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/docs/tooldocs/solaris/policytool.html">policytool application that comes with Java 1.2 or later.</p> <p>Entries in the catalina.policy file use the standard <code>java.policy file format, as follows:

<source> // Example policy file entry grant [signedBy <signer>,] [codeBase <code source>] { permission <class> [<name> [, <action list>]]; }; </source> <p>The signedBy and codeBase entries are optional when granting permissions. Comment lines begin with "//" and end at the end of the current line. The <code>codeBase is in the form of a URL, and for a file URL can use the <code>${java.home} and <code>${catalina.home} properties (which are expanded out to the directory paths defined for them by the <code>JAVA_HOME and <code>CATALINA_HOME environment variables).

<h3>The Default Policy File <p>The default $CATALINA_HOME/conf/catalina.policy file looks like this:</p> <source> // ============================================================================ // catalina.corepolicy - Security Policy Permissions for Tomcat 6 // // This file contains a default set of security policies to be enforced (by the // JVM) when Catalina is executed with the "-security" option. In addition // to the permissions granted here, the following additional permissions are // granted to the codebase specific to each web application: // // * Read access to the document root directory // // $Id: security-manager-howto.xml 562814 2007-08-05 03:52:04Z markt $ // ============================================================================ // ========== SYSTEM CODE PERMISSIONS ========================================= // These permissions apply to javac grant codeBase "file:${java.home}/lib/-" { permission java.security.AllPermission; }; // These permissions apply to all shared system extensions grant codeBase "file:${java.home}/jre/lib/ext/-" { permission java.security.AllPermission; }; // These permissions apply to javac when ${java.home] points at $JAVA_HOME/jre grant codeBase "file:${java.home}/../lib/-" { permission java.security.AllPermission; }; // These permissions apply to all shared system extensions when // ${java.home} points at $JAVA_HOME/jre grant codeBase "file:${java.home}/lib/ext/-" { permission java.security.AllPermission; }; // ========== CATALINA CODE PERMISSIONS ======================================= // These permissions apply to the daemon code grant codeBase "file:${catalina.home}/bin/commons-daemon.jar" { permission java.security.AllPermission; }; // These permissions apply to the logging API grant codeBase "file:${catalina.home}/bin/tomcat-juli.jar" { permission java.security.AllPermission; }; // These permissions apply to the server startup code grant codeBase "file:${catalina.home}/bin/bootstrap.jar" { permission java.security.AllPermission; }; // These permissions apply to the servlet API classes // and those that are shared across all class loaders // located in the "lib" directory grant codeBase "file:${catalina.home}/lib/-" { permission java.security.AllPermission; }; // ========== WEB APPLICATION PERMISSIONS ===================================== // These permissions are granted by default to all web applications // In addition, a web application will be given a read FilePermission // and JndiPermission for all files and directories in its document root. grant { // Required for JNDI lookup of named JDBC DataSource's and // javamail named MimePart DataSource used to send mail permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.home", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.naming.*", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "javax.sql.*", "read"; // OS Specific properties to allow read access permission java.util.PropertyPermission "os.name", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "os.version", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "os.arch", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "file.separator", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "path.separator", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "line.separator", "read"; // JVM properties to allow read access permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.version", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.vendor", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.vendor.url", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.class.version", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.specification.version", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.specification.vendor", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.specification.name", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.vm.specification.version", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.vm.specification.vendor", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.vm.specification.name", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.vm.version", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.vm.vendor", "read"; permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.vm.name", "read"; // Required for OpenJMX permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "getAttribute"; // Allow read of JAXP compliant XML parser debug permission java.util.PropertyPermission "jaxp.debug", "read"; // Precompiled JSPs need access to this package. permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.jasper.runtime"; permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.jasper.runtime.*"; }; // You can assign additional permissions to particular web applications by // adding additional "grant" entries here, based on the code base for that // application, /WEB-INF/classes/, or /WEB-INF/lib/ jar files. // // Different permissions can be granted to JSP pages, classes loaded from // the /WEB-INF/classes/ directory, all jar files in the /WEB-INF/lib/ // directory, or even to individual jar files in the /WEB-INF/lib/ directory. // // For instance, assume that the standard "examples" application // included a JDBC driver that needed to establish a network connection to the // corresponding database and used the scrape taglib to get the weather from // the NOAA web server. You might create a "grant" entries like this: // // The permissions granted to the context root directory apply to JSP pages. // grant codeBase "file:${catalina.home}/webapps/examples/-" { // permission java.net.SocketPermission "dbhost.mycompany.com:5432", "connect"; // permission java.net.SocketPermission "*.noaa.gov:80", "connect"; // }; // // The permissions granted to the context WEB-INF/classes directory // grant codeBase "file:${catalina.home}/webapps/examples/WEB-INF/classes/-" { // }; // // The permission granted to your JDBC driver // grant codeBase "jar:file:${catalina.home}/webapps/examples/WEB-INF/lib/driver.jar!/-" { // permission java.net.SocketPermission "dbhost.mycompany.com:5432", "connect"; // }; // The permission granted to the scrape taglib // grant codeBase "jar:file:${catalina.home}/webapps/examples/WEB-INF/lib/scrape.jar!/-" { // permission java.net.SocketPermission "*.noaa.gov:80", "connect"; // }; </source> <h3>Starting Tomcat With A SecurityManager <p>Once you have configured the catalina.policy file for use with a SecurityManager, Tomcat can be started with a SecurityManager in place by using the "-security" option:</p> <source> $CATALINA_HOME/bin/catalina.sh start -security (Unix) %CATALINA_HOME%\bin\catalina start -security (Windows) </source> </section> <section name="Configuring Package Protection in Tomcat"> <p>Starting with Tomcat 5, it is now possible to configure which Tomcat internal package are protected againts package definition and access. See <a href="http://java.sun.com/security/seccodeguide.html"> http://java.sun.com/security/seccodeguide.html</a> for more information.</p> <p>WARNING: Be aware that removing the default package protection could possibly open a security hole</p> <h3>The Default Properties File <p>The default $CATALINA_HOME/conf/catalina.properties file looks like this:</p> <source> # # List of comma-separated packages that start with or equal this string # will cause a security exception to be thrown when # passed to checkPackageAccess unless the # corresponding RuntimePermission ("accessClassInPackage."+package) has # been granted. package.access=sun.,org.apache.catalina.,org.apache.coyote.,org.apache.tomcat., org.apache.jasper. # # List of comma-separated packages that start with or equal this string # will cause a security exception to be thrown when # passed to checkPackageDefinition unless the # corresponding RuntimePermission ("defineClassInPackage."+package) has # been granted. # # by default, no packages are restricted for definition, and none of # the class loaders supplied with the JDK call checkPackageDefinition. # package.definition=sun.,java.,org.apache.catalina.,org.apache.coyote., org.apache.tomcat.,org.apache.jasper. </source> <p>Once you have configured the catalina.properties file for use with a SecurityManager, remember to re-start Tomcat.</p> </section> <section name="Troubleshooting"> <p>If your web application attempts to execute an operation that is prohibited by lack of a required Permission, it will throw an <code>AccessControLException or a SecurityException when the SecurityManager detects the violation. Debugging the permission that is missing can be challenging, and one option is to turn on debug output of all security decisions that are made during execution. This is done by setting a system property before starting Tomcat. The easiest way to do this is via the <code>CATALINA_OPTS environment variable. Execute this command:</p> <source> export CATALINA_OPTS=-Djava.security.debug=all (Unix) set CATALINA_OPTS=-Djava.security.debug=all (Windows) </source> <p>before starting Tomcat.

<p>WARNING - This will generate many megabytes of output! However, it can help you track down problems by searching for the word "FAILED" and determining which permission was being checked for. See the Java security documentation for more options that you can specify here as well.</p> </section> </body> </document>

Other Tomcat examples (source code examples)

Here is a short list of links related to this Tomcat security-manager-howto.xml source code file:

... this post is sponsored by my books ...

#1 New Release!

FP Best Seller

 

new blog posts

 

Copyright 1998-2021 Alvin Alexander, alvinalexander.com
All Rights Reserved.

A percentage of advertising revenue from
pages under the /java/jwarehouse URI on this website is
paid back to open source projects.