Configuring programmatic logins for Java Authentication and Authorization Service

A new JAAS login configuration can be added and modified using the administrative console. The changes are saved in the cell-level security document and are available to all managed application servers.

Before you begin

Java™ Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) is a feature in WebSphere® Application Server. JAAS is a collection of WebSphere Application Server strategic authentication APIs and replaces the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) programmatic login APIs.

WebSphere Application Server provides some extensions to JAAS:
  • com.ibm.websphere.security.auth.WSSubject. The com.ibm.websphere.security.auth.WSSubject API extends the JAAS authorization model to Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) resources.
  • You can configure the JAAS login in the administrative console and store this login configuration in the Application Server configuration. However, WebSphere Application Server still supports the default JAAS login configuration format (plain text file) that is provided by the JAAS default implementation. If duplicate login configurations are defined in both the WebSphere Application Server configuration API and the plain text file format, the one in the WebSphere Application Server configuration API takes precedence. Advantages to defining the login configuration in the WebSphere configuration API include:
    • User interface support in defining JAAS login configuration
    • Central management of the JAAS login configuration
    • Distribution of the JAAS login configuration during installation
    Due to a design oversight in JAAS Version 1.0, the javax.security.auth.Subject.getSubject method does not return the subject that is associated with the running thread inside a java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged code block. This problem presents an inconsistent behavior that might cause unfavorable results. The com.ibm.websphere.security.auth.WSSubject API provides a workaround to associate the subject to a running thread.
  • Proxy LoginModule. The Proxy LoginModule loads the actual LoginModule module. The default JAAS implementation does not use the thread context class loader to load classes. The LoginModule module cannot load if the LoginModule class file is not in the application class loader or the Java extension class loader class path. Due to this class loader visibility problem, WebSphere Application Server provides a proxy LoginModule module to load the JAAS LoginModule using the thread context class loader. You do not need to place the LoginModule implementation on the application class loader or the class path for the Java extension class loader with this proxy LoginModule module.

    [AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows]If you do not want to use the Proxy LoginModule module, you can place the LoginModule module in the app_server_root/lib/ext/ directory. However, this action is not recommended due to the security risks.

    [z/OS]If you do not want to use the Proxy LoginModule module, you can place the LoginModule module in the WAS_HOME/lib/ext/ directory. However, this action is not recommended due to the security risks.

    [IBM i]If you do not want to use the Proxy LoginModule module, you can place the LoginModule module in the /QIBM/UserData/Java400/ext/ directory to add it to the class path for the Java extended directories. Also, grant *PUBLIC *RX authority to the file. However, when you add the file to the /QIBM/UserData/Java400/ext/ directory, the file is also added to the default class path for the Java extended directories, which is accessible to the entire operating system

JAAS login configurations are defined in the WebSphere Application Server configuration application programming interface (API) security document. Click Security > Global security. Under Java Authentication and Authorization Service, click Application logins. The following JAAS login configurations are available:

ClientContainer
Defines a login configuration and a LoginModule implementation that is similar to that of the WSLogin configuration, but enforces the requirements of the WebSphere Application Server client container. For more information, see Configuration entry settings for Java Authentication and Authorization Service.
DefaultPrincipalMapping,
Defines a special LoginModule module that is typically used by Java EE connectors to map an authenticated WebSphere Application Server user identity to a set of user authentication data (user ID and password) for the specified back-end enterprise information system (EIS). For more information about Java EE Connector and the DefaultMappingModule module, refer to the Java EE security section.
WSLogin
Defines a login configuration and a LoginModule implementation that applications can use in general.

A new JAAS login configuration can be added and modified using the administrative console. The changes are saved in the cell-level security document and are available to all managed application servers. An application server restart is required for the changes to take effect at run time.

Attention: Do not remove or delete the predefined JAAS login configurations (such as, ClientContainer, WSLogin, and DefaultPrincipalMapping). Deleting or removing them can cause other enterprise applications to fail.

Procedure

  1. Delete a JAAS login configuration.
    1. Click Security > Global security.
    2. Under Java Authentication and Authorization Service, click Application logins.
      The Application Login Configuration panel is displayed.
    3. Select the check box for the login configurations to delete and click Delete.
  2. Create a new JAAS login configuration.
    1. Click Security > Global security.
    2. Under Java Authentication and Authorization Service, click Application logins.
    3. Click New.
      The Application Login Configuration panel is displayed.
    4. Specify the alias name of the new JAAS login configuration and click Apply.
      This value is the name of the login configuration that you pass in the javax.security.auth.login.LoginContext implementation for creating a new LoginContext context.

      Click Apply to save changes and to add the extra node name that precedes the original alias name. Clicking OK does not save the new changes in the security.xml file.

    5. Under Additional properties, click JAAS Login Modules.
    6. Click New.
    7. Specify the Module class name.
      Specify the WebSphere Application Server proxy LoginModule module because of the limitation of the class loader visibility.
    8. Specify the LoginModule implementation as the delegate property of the Proxy LoginModule module.
      The WebSphere Application Server proxy LoginModule class name is com.ibm.ws.security.common.auth.module.proxy.WSLoginModuleProxy.
    9. Select Authentication strategy from the list and click Apply.
    10. Under Additional properties, click Custom properties.
      The Custom properties panel is displayed for the selected LoginModule.
    11. Create a new property with the name delegate and the value of the real LoginModule implementation.
      You can specify other properties like debug with the true value. These properties are passed to the LoginModule class as options to the initialize method of the LoginModule instance.
    12. Click Save.

      For a WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment installation, make sure that a file synchronization operation is performed to propagate the changes to other nodes.

    Several locations are within the WebSphere Application Server directory structure where you can place a JAAS login module. The following list provides locations for the JAAS login module in order of recommendation:
    • Within an enterprise archive (EAR) file for a specific Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) application.

      If you place the login module within the EAR file, the login module is accessible by the specific application only.

    • In the WebSphere Application Server-shared library.

      If you place the login module in the shared library, you must specify which applications can access the module. For more information on shared libraries, see the Managing shared libraries article.

    • In the Java extensions directory.

      If you place the JAAS login module in the Java extensions directory, the login module is available to all applications.

      [z/OS]This location is not recommended for WebSphere Application Server for z/OS® or WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation.

      [IBM i]Place the class file in the /QIBM/UserData/Java400/ext directory to add it to the class path for the Java extended directories. Also, grant *PUBLIC *RX authority to the file. However, when you add the file to the /QIBM/UserData/Java400/ext directory, you are adding the file to the default class path for the Java extended directories, which is accessible to the entire operating system

    Although the Java extensions directory provides the greatest availability for the login module, place the login module in an application EAR file. If other applications need to access the same login module, consider using shared libraries.

  3. Change the plain text file.

    [AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows][z/OS]WebSphere Application Server supports the default JAAS login configuration format, which is a plain text file, that is provided by the JAAS default implementation. However, a tool is not provided that edits plain text files in this format. You can define the JAAS login configuration in the plain text file, which is located in the app_server_root/properties/wsjaas.conf file. Any syntax errors can cause the incorrect parsing of the plain JAAS login configuration text file. This problem can cause other applications to fail.

    [IBM i]WebSphere Application Server supports the default JAAS login configuration format, which is a plain text file, that is provided by the JAAS default implementation. However, a tool is not provided that edits plain text files in this format. You can define the JAAS login configuration in the profile_root/properties/wsjaas.conf file. Any syntax errors can cause the incorrect parsing of the plain JAAS login configuration text file. This problem can cause other applications to fail.

    [AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows][z/OS]Java client programs that use the Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) for authentication must invoke with the JAAS configuration file specified. This configuration file is set in the app_server_root/bin/launchClient.bat file as:
    set JAAS_LOGIN_CONFIG=-Djava.security.auth.login.config=%install_root%\properties\wsjaas_client.conf
    If the launchClient.bat file is not used to invoke the Java client program, verify that the appropriate JAAS configuration file is passed to the Java virtual machine with the -Djava.security.auth.login.config flag.

    [IBM i]Java client programs that use JAAS for authentication must invoke with the JAAS configuration file specified. This configuration file is set in the launchClient QShell script. If you do not use the launchClient script to invoke the Java client program, verify that the appropriate JAAS configuration file is passed to the Java virtual machine using the -Djava.security.auth.login.config flag.

Results

A new JAAS login configuration is created or an old JAAS login configuration is removed. An enterprise application can use a newly created JAAS login configuration without restarting the application server process.

[AIX Solaris HP-UX Linux Windows][z/OS]However, new JAAS login configurations that are defined in the app_server_root/properties/wsjaas.conf file, do not refresh automatically. Restart the application servers to validate changes. These JAAS login configurations are specific to a particular node and are not available for other application servers running on other nodes.

[IBM i]However, new JAAS login configurations that are defined in the profile_root/properties/wsjaas.conf file, do not refresh automatically. Restart the application servers to validate changes. These JAAS login configurations are specific to a particular node and are not available for other application servers running on other nodes.

What to do next

Create new JAAS login configurations that are used by enterprise applications to perform custom authentication. Use these newly defined JAAS login configurations to perform programmatic login.