Configuring Spring Security 3.x to have multiple entry points

Question

I have been using Spring Security 3.x for handling user authentication for my projects, and so far, it has worked flawlessly.

I recently received the requirements for a new project. In this project, it requires 2 sets of user authentication: one to authenticate employees against LDAP, and another to authenticate customer against database. I'm a little stumped on how to configure that in Spring Security.

My initial idea was to create a login screen that has the following fields:-

• radio button field - for users to choose whether they are employees or customers.
• j_username user field.
• j_password password field.

If the user selects "employee", then I want Spring Security to authenticate them against LDAP, otherwise the credential will be authenticated against database. However, the problem is the form will be submitted to /j_spring_security_check and there's no way for me to send the radio button field to my implemented custom authentication provider. My initial thought is I probably need two form submission URLs rather than relying on the default /j_spring_security_check. Each URL will be handled by different authentication providers, but I'm not sure how to configure that in Spring Security.

I know in Spring Security, I can configure fall back authentication, for example if LDAP authentication fails, then it will fall back to database authentication, but this is not what I'm shooting for in this new project.

Can someone share how exactly I should configure this in Spring Security 3.x?

Thank you.

---

UPDATE - 01-28-2011 - @EasyAngel's technique

I'm trying to do the following:-

• Employee form login submits to /j_spring_security_check_for_employee
• Customer form login submits to /j_spring_security_check_for_customer

The reason I want 2 different form logins is to allow me to handle the authentication differently based on the user, instead of doing a fall-back authentication. It is possible that employee and customer have same user ID, in my case.

I incorporated @EasyAngel's idea, but have to replace some deprecated classes. The problem I'm currently facing is neither filter processes URLS seem registered in Spring Security because I keep getting Error 404: SRVE0190E: File not found: /j_spring_security_check_for_employee. My gut feeling is the springSecurityFilterChain bean is not wired properly, thus my custom filters are not used at all.

By the way, I'm using WebSphere and I do have com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.invokefilterscompatibility=true property set in the server. I'm able to hit the default /j_spring_security_check without problem.

Here's my complete security configuration:-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" xmlns:sec="http://www.springframework.org/schema/security" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
                        http://www.springframework.org/schema/security http://www.springframework.org/schema/security/spring-security.xsd">

    <sec:http auto-config="true">
        <sec:form-login login-page="/login.jsp" authentication-failure-url="/login.jsp?login_error=1" default-target-url="/welcome.jsp"
            always-use-default-target="true" />
        <sec:logout logout-success-url="/login.jsp" />
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/employee/**" access="ROLE_EMPLOYEE" />
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/customer/**" access="ROLE_CUSTOMER" />
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/**" access="IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY" />
    </sec:http>

    <bean id="springSecurityFilterChain" class="org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy">
        <sec:filter-chain-map path-type="ant">
            <sec:filter-chain pattern="/**" filters="authenticationProcessingFilterForEmployee, authenticationProcessingFilterForCustomer" />
        </sec:filter-chain-map>
    </bean>

    <bean id="authenticationProcessingFilterForEmployee" class="org.springframework.security.web.authentication.UsernamePasswordAuthenticationFilter">
        <property name="authenticationManager" ref="authenticationManagerForEmployee" />
        <property name="filterProcessesUrl" value="/j_spring_security_check_for_employee" />
    </bean>

    <bean id="authenticationProcessingFilterForCustomer" class="org.springframework.security.web.authentication.UsernamePasswordAuthenticationFilter">
        <property name="authenticationManager" ref="authenticationManagerForCustomer" />
        <property name="filterProcessesUrl" value="/j_spring_security_check_for_customer" />
    </bean>

    <bean id="authenticationManagerForEmployee" class="org.springframework.security.authentication.ProviderManager">
        <property name="providers">
            <list>
                <ref bean="employeeCustomAuthenticationProvider" />
            </list>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <bean id="authenticationManagerForCustomer" class="org.springframework.security.authentication.ProviderManager">
        <property name="providers">
            <list>
                <ref bean="customerCustomAuthenticationProvider" />
            </list>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <bean id="employeeCustomAuthenticationProvider" class="ss.EmployeeCustomAuthenticationProvider">
        <property name="userDetailsService">
            <bean class="ss.EmployeeUserDetailsService"/>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <bean id="customerCustomAuthenticationProvider" class="ss.CustomerCustomAuthenticationProvider">
        <property name="userDetailsService">
            <bean class="ss.CustomerUserDetailsService"/>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <sec:authentication-manager>
        <sec:authentication-provider ref="employeeCustomAuthenticationProvider" />
        <sec:authentication-provider ref="customerCustomAuthenticationProvider" />
    </sec:authentication-manager>

</beans>

I'm starting a bounty here because I can't seem to get this working for several days already... frustration is the word. I'm hoping someone will point out the problem(s), or if you can show me a better or cleaner way to handle this (in code).

I'm using Spring Security 3.x.

Thank you.

---

UPDATE 01-29-2011 - @Ritesh's technique

Okay, I managed to get @Ritesh's approach to work very closely to what I wanted. I have the radiobutton that allows user to select whether they are customer or employee. It seems like this approach is working fairly well, with one problem...

• If employee logs in with right credential, they are allowed in... WORK AS EXPECTED.
• If employee logs in with wrong credential, they are not allowed in... WORK AS EXPECTED.
• If customer logs in with right credential, they are allowed in... WORK AS EXPECTED.
• If customer logs in with wrong credential, the authentication falls back to employee authentication... DOESN'T WORK. This is risky because if I select customer authentication, and punch it the employee credential, it will allow the user in too and this is not what I want.

    <sec:http auto-config="false" entry-point-ref="loginUrlAuthenticationEntryPoint">
        <sec:logout logout-success-url="/login.jsp"/>
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/employee/**" access="ROLE_EMPLOYEE"/>
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/customer/**" access="ROLE_CUSTOMER"/>
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/**" access="IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY"/>

        <sec:custom-filter position="FORM_LOGIN_FILTER" ref="myAuthenticationFilter"/>
    </sec:http>


    <bean id="myAuthenticationFilter" class="ss.MyAuthenticationFilter">
        <property name="authenticationManager" ref="authenticationManager"/>
        <property name="authenticationFailureHandler" ref="failureHandler"/>
        <property name="authenticationSuccessHandler" ref="successHandler"/>
    </bean>

    <bean id="loginUrlAuthenticationEntryPoint"
          class="org.springframework.security.web.authentication.LoginUrlAuthenticationEntryPoint">
        <property name="loginFormUrl" value="/login.jsp"/>
    </bean>

    <bean id="successHandler"
          class="org.springframework.security.web.authentication.SavedRequestAwareAuthenticationSuccessHandler">
        <property name="defaultTargetUrl" value="/welcome.jsp"/>
        <property name="alwaysUseDefaultTargetUrl" value="true"/>
    </bean>

    <bean id="failureHandler"
          class="org.springframework.security.web.authentication.SimpleUrlAuthenticationFailureHandler">
        <property name="defaultFailureUrl" value="/login.jsp?login_error=1"/>
    </bean>


    <bean id="employeeCustomAuthenticationProvider" class="ss.EmployeeCustomAuthenticationProvider">
        <property name="userDetailsService">
            <bean class="ss.EmployeeUserDetailsService"/>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <bean id="customerCustomAuthenticationProvider" class="ss.CustomerCustomAuthenticationProvider">
        <property name="userDetailsService">
            <bean class="ss.CustomerUserDetailsService"/>
        </property>
    </bean>


    <sec:authentication-manager alias="authenticationManager">
        <sec:authentication-provider ref="customerCustomAuthenticationProvider"/>
        <sec:authentication-provider ref="employeeCustomAuthenticationProvider"/>
    </sec:authentication-manager>
</beans>

Here's my updated configuration. It has to be some really small tweak I need to do to prevent the authentication fall back but I can't seem to figure it out now.

Thank you.

UPDATE - SOLUTION to @Ritesh's technique

Okay, I think I have solved the problem here. Instead of having EmployeeCustomAuthenticationProvider to rely on the default UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken, I created EmployeeUsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken for it, just like the one I created CustomerUsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken for CustomerCustomAuthenticationProvider. These providers will then override the supports():-

CustomerCustomAuthenticationProvider class

@Override
public boolean supports(Class<? extends Object> authentication) {
    return (CustomerUsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken.class.isAssignableFrom(authentication));
}

EmployeeCustomAuthenticationProvider class

@Override
public boolean supports(Class<? extends Object> authentication) {
    return (EmployeeUsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken.class.isAssignableFrom(authentication));
}

MyAuthenticationFilter class

public Authentication attemptAuthentication(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws AuthenticationException {

    ...

    UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken authRequest = null;

    if ("customer".equals(request.getParameter("radioAuthenticationType"))) {
        authRequest = new CustomerUsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken(username, password);

    }
    else {
        authRequest = new EmployeeUsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken(username, password);
    }

    setDetails(request, authRequest);

    return super.getAuthenticationManager().authenticate(authRequest);
}

... and WALAA! It works perfectly now after several days of frustration!

Hopefully, this post will be able to help somebody who is doing the same thing as I am here.

Answer 1

You don't need to create /j_spring_security_check_for_employee and /j_security_check_for_customer filterProcessingUrl.

The default one will work just fine with radio button field idea.

In the custom login LoginFilter, you need to create different tokens for employee and customer.

Here are the steps:

1. Use default UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken for employee login.

2. Create CustomerAuthenticationToken for customer login. Extend AbstractAuthenticationToken so that its class type is distinct from UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken.

3. Define a custom login filter:

   <security:http>
       <security:custom-filter position="FORM_LOGIN_FILTER" ref="customFormLoginFilter" />
   </security:http>
   

4. In customFormLoginFilter, override attemptAuthentication as follows (pseudo code):

   if (radiobutton_param value employee) {
       UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken authRequest = new UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken(username, password);
       setDetails(whatever);
       return getAuthenticationManager().authenticate(authRequest);
   } else if (radiobutton_param value customer) {
       CustomerAuthenticationToken authRequest = new CustomerAuthenticationToken(username, password);
       setDetails(whatever);
       return getAuthenticationManager().authenticate(authRequest);
   }
   

5. Override supports method in EmployeeCustomAuthenticationProvider to support UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken.

6. Override supports method in CustomerCustomAuthenticationProvider to support CustomerAuthenticationToken.

   @Override
   public boolean supports(Class<?> authentication) {
       return (CustomerAuthenticationToken.class.isAssignableFrom(authentication));
   }
   

7. Use both providers in authentication-manager:

   <security:authentication-manager alias="authenticationManager">
       <security:authentication-provider ref='employeeCustomAuthenticationProvider ' />
       <security:authentication-provider ref='customerCustomAuthenticationProvider ' />
   </security:authentication-manager>
   

Answer 2

You can define several AuthenticationProcessingFilter filters. Each of them can have different URL like /j_security_check_for_employee and /j_security_check_for_customer. Here is example of the security application context that demonstrates this idea:

<bean id="myfilterChainProxy" class="org.springframework.security.util.FilterChainProxy">
     <security:filter-chain-map pathType="ant">
         <security:filter-chain pattern="/**" filters="authenticationProcessingFilterForCustomer, authenticationProcessingFilterForEmployee, ..." />
     </security:filter-chain-map>
</bean>


<bean id="authenticationProcessingFilterForCustomer" class="org.springframework.security.web.authentication.AuthenticationProcessingFilter">
    <property name="authenticationManager" ref="authenticationManagerForCustomer"/>
    <property name="filterProcessesUrl" value="/j_security_check_for_customer"/>
</bean>

<bean id="authenticationProcessingFilterForEmployee" class="org.springframework.security.web.authentication.AuthenticationProcessingFilter">
    <property name="authenticationManager" ref="authenticationManagerForEmployee"/>
    <property name="filterProcessesUrl" value="/j_security_check_for_employee"/>
</bean>

<bean id="authenticationManagerForCustomer" class="org.springframework.security.authentication.ProviderManager">
    <property name="providers">
        <list>
            <bean class="org.acegisecurity.providers.dao.DaoAuthenticationProvider">
                <property name="userDetailsService">
                    <ref bean="customerUserDetailsServiceThatUsesDB"/>
                </property>
            </bean>
        </list>
    </property>
</bean>

<bean id="authenticationManagerForEmployee" class="org.springframework.security.authentication.ProviderManager">
    <property name="providers">
        <list>
            <bean class="org.springframework.security.authentication.dao.DaoAuthenticationProvider">
                <property name="userDetailsService">
                    <ref bean="employeeUserDetailsServiceThatUsesLDAP"/>
                </property>
            </bean>
        </list>
    </property>
</bean>

As you can see, in this scenario you have also different UserDetailServices - for DB auth and LDAP.

I think it's good idea to have different auth URLs for customers and employee (especially if they use different authentication strategies). You can even have different login pages for them.

Answer 3

For Java Configuration reference

As i keen to write here java configuration way of implementing the same technique to help people who is not familiar with xml configuration but i don't want to hijack this thread beauty with such a long answer of java configuration code.

People who wants to achieve the same with java configuration(Annotation based) can refer my self answered question link is given below and also you can find my github repository link for the code in the answer.

For Annotation based configuration code refer my answer here Multiple AuthenticationProvider with different UsernamePasswordAuthToken to authenticate different login forms without fallback authentication

Answer 4

You can store this information in DB. For example you can have column called ldap_auth in Users table. You can look at my other answer (as an example):

Spring login form example

If you carefully look at UserService class, you will notice, that I actually test this LDAP flag and take user password either from LDAP or database.

Answer 5

it's me again :) Can you try to use filters like this:

<sec:http auto-config="true">
    ...
    <sec:custom-filter ref="authenticationProcessingFilterForCustomer" after="FIRST"/>
    <sec:custom-filter ref="authenticationProcessingFilterForEmployee" after="FIRST"/>
</sec:http>

instead of defining bean springSecurityFilterChain.