Spring Security with Spring Boot: Mix Basic Authentication with JWT token authentication

Question

I am trying to get Spring Security's basic authentication to work side by side with JWT token authentication with no success. I have implemented basic authentication for my web console and JWT to secure a number of API endpoints. Here's my config:

@EnableGlobalMethodSecurity(prePostEnabled = true)
public class MultiHttpSecurityConfig {

@Autowired
private UserDetailsService userDetailsService;    

@Autowired
public void configureAuthentication(AuthenticationManagerBuilder authenticationManagerBuilder) throws Exception {
    authenticationManagerBuilder
            .userDetailsService(this.userDetailsService)
            .passwordEncoder(bCryptPasswordEncoder());
}

@Bean
public PasswordEncoder bCryptPasswordEncoder() {
    return new BCryptPasswordEncoder();
}

/**
 * 
 * API Security configuration
 *
 */
@Configuration
@Order(1) 
public static class ApiWebSecurityConfigurationAdapter extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter{

    @Bean
    public JwtAuthenticationTokenFilter authenticationTokenFilterBean() throws Exception {
        return new JwtAuthenticationTokenFilter();
    }

    @Autowired
    private JwtAuthenticationEntryPoint unauthorizedHandler;

    @Override
    protected void configure(HttpSecurity httpSecurity) throws Exception {
    httpSecurity   
            .csrf().disable()
            .exceptionHandling().authenticationEntryPoint(unauthorizedHandler).and()                
            // don't create session
            .sessionManagement().sessionCreationPolicy(SessionCreationPolicy.STATELESS).and()
            .authorizeRequests().antMatchers("/api/**","/refresh/**").authenticated()
            .antMatchers("/auth/**").permitAll().anyRequest().authenticated();               
        // Custom JWT based security filter
        httpSecurity.addFilterBefore(authenticationTokenFilterBean(), UsernamePasswordAuthenticationFilter.class);
        // disable page caching
        httpSecurity.headers().cacheControl();
    }
}

/**
 * 
 * Form login security configuration
 *
 */
@Configuration
public static class FormLoginWebSecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {

    @Autowired
    private ConsoleAuthenticationEntryPoint consoleAuthenticationEntryPoint;

    @Override
    protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {          
        http.httpBasic().and().exceptionHandling().authenticationEntryPoint(
                consoleAuthenticationEntryPoint).and()
         .authorizeRequests().antMatchers("/console/**").authenticated()
         .antMatchers(HttpMethod.GET,
                    "/*.html",
                    "/favicon.ico",
                    "/**/*.html",
                    "/**/*.css",
                    "/**/*.js").permitAll()
         .anyRequest().authenticated()
         .and()
         .formLogin().defaultSuccessUrl("/console/home")
         .loginPage("/console/login")
         .permitAll()
         .and()
         .logout()
         .permitAll();
        http.csrf().disable();
    }
}

}

I have noticed that the configuration I annotate with Order(1) is the one that is picked by Spring Security and the other is completely ignored. Like in the above config, I get 401 error if I try to access /console/login. Any help would be much appreciated.

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 12 '18 at 07:15

The reason why is because neither ApiWebSecurityConfigurationAdapter nor FormLoginWebSecurityConfig uses the antMatcher(). This means that both security configurations will handle all paths, even though you're using antMatchers() afterwards. Due to this, the configuration with the lowest order (@Order(1)) will handle everything, while the other one will do nothing.

This is also mentioned in the docs:

The http.antMatcher states that this HttpSecurity will only be applicable to URLs that start with /api/

So, to fix this problem, you have to povide an antMatcher to one of your configurations (or both). For example, if the form login should only be applied to /console/login and /console/home, you could change the configuration to:

@Override
protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {          
    http
        .antMatcher("/console/**") // Add this
        .httpBasic().and()
        .exceptionHandling().authenticationEntryPoint(consoleAuthenticationEntryPoint).and()
        .authorizeRequests().antMatchers("/console/**").authenticated()
        .antMatchers(HttpMethod.GET,
                "/*.html",
                "/favicon.ico",
                "/**/*.html",
                "/**/*.css",
                "/**/*.js").permitAll()
        .anyRequest().authenticated().and()
        .formLogin().defaultSuccessUrl("/console/home")
        .loginPage("/console/login").permitAll().and()
        .logout().permitAll().and() // Make sure to use .and() to add the .csrf()
        .csrf().disable();
}

Another good read about this topic is this question: When to use Spring Security`s antMatcher()?

Please note that you shouldn't use the http builder twice like you did to add the .csrf().disable(), add it to the other builder like I did in the code above.

Also be aware that you'll likely have to change the order. You should put the order on the configuration with the most detailed antMatcher(), in this case FormLoginWebSecurityConfig.

Excellent suggestion. I used it to add basic authentication for Prometheus and continue with JWT for the rest of the site. I added an extra layer of role based security - so I replaced .authenticated() with .hasRole("MYCUSTOMROLE") and trapped in the jwtauthentication filter to not check for JWT token validation for that role. Works beautifully — dipan66, Dec 09 '22 at 12:04

Spring Security with Spring Boot: Mix Basic Authentication with JWT token authentication

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