For the latest stable version, please use Spring Security 6.4.1!

Method Security

In addition to modeling authorization at the request level, Spring Security also supports modeling at the method level.

You can activate it in your application by annotating any @Configuration class with @EnableMethodSecurity or adding <method-security> to any XML configuration file, like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@EnableMethodSecurity
@EnableMethodSecurity
<sec:method-security/>

Then, you are immediately able to annotate any Spring-managed class or method with @PreAuthorize, @PostAuthorize, @PreFilter, and @PostFilter to authorize method invocations, including the input parameters and return values.

Spring Boot Starter Security does not activate method-level authorization by default.

Method Security supports many other use cases as well including AspectJ support, custom annotations, and several configuration points. Consider learning about the following use cases:

How Method Security Works

Spring Security’s method authorization support is handy for:

  • Extracting fine-grained authorization logic; for example, when the method parameters and return values contribute to the authorization decision.

  • Enforcing security at the service layer

  • Stylistically favoring annotation-based over HttpSecurity-based configuration

And since Method Security is built using Spring AOP, you have access to all its expressive power to override Spring Security’s defaults as needed.

As already mentioned, you begin by adding @EnableMethodSecurity to a @Configuration class or <sec:method-security/> in a Spring XML configuration file.

This annotation and XML element supercede @EnableGlobalMethodSecurity and <sec:global-method-security/>, respectively. They offer the following improvements:

  1. Uses the simplified AuthorizationManager API instead of metadata sources, config attributes, decision managers, and voters. This simplifies reuse and customization.

  2. Favors direct bean-based configuration, instead of requiring extending GlobalMethodSecurityConfiguration to customize beans

  3. Is built using native Spring AOP, removing abstractions and allowing you to use Spring AOP building blocks to customize

  4. Checks for conflicting annotations to ensure an unambiguous security configuration

  5. Complies with JSR-250

  6. Enables @PreAuthorize, @PostAuthorize, @PreFilter, and @PostFilter by default

If you are using @EnableGlobalMethodSecurity or <global-method-security/>, these are now deprecated, and you are encouraged to migrate.

Method authorization is a combination of before- and after-method authorization. Consider a service bean that is annotated in the following way:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Service
public class MyCustomerService {
    @PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('permission:read')")
    @PostAuthorize("returnObject.owner == authentication.name")
    public Customer readCustomer(String id) { ... }
}
@Service
open class MyCustomerService {
    @PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('permission:read')")
    @PostAuthorize("returnObject.owner == authentication.name")
    fun readCustomer(val id: String): Customer { ... }
}

A given invocation to MyCustomerService#readCustomer may look something like this when Method Security is activated:

methodsecurity

  1. Spring AOP invokes its proxy method for readCustomer. Among the proxy’s other advisors, it invokes an AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor that matches the @PreAuthorize pointcut

  2. The interceptor invokes PreAuthorizeAuthorizationManager#check

  3. The authorization manager uses a MethodSecurityExpressionHandler to parse the annotation’s SpEL expression and constructs a corresponding EvaluationContext from a MethodSecurityExpressionRoot containing a Supplier<Authentication> and MethodInvocation.

  4. The interceptor uses this context to evaluate the expression; specifically, it reads the Authentication from the Supplier and checks whether it has permission:read in its collection of authorities

  5. If the evaluation passes, then Spring AOP proceeds to invoke the method.

  6. If not, the interceptor publishes an AuthorizationDeniedEvent and throws an AccessDeniedException which the ExceptionTranslationFilter catches and returns a 403 status code to the response

  7. After the method returns, Spring AOP invokes an AuthorizationManagerAfterMethodInterceptor that matches the @PostAuthorize pointcut, operating the same as above, but with PostAuthorizeAuthorizationManager

  8. If the evaluation passes (in this case, the return value belongs to the logged-in user), processing continues normally

  9. If not, the interceptor publishes an AuthorizationDeniedEvent and throws an AccessDeniedException, which the ExceptionTranslationFilter catches and returns a 403 status code to the response

If the method is not being called in the context of an HTTP request, you will likely need to handle the AccessDeniedException yourself

Multiple Annotations Are Computed In Series

As demonstrated above, if a method invocation involves multiple Method Security annotations, each of those is processed one at a time. This means that they can collectively be thought of as being "anded" together. In other words, for an invocation to be authorized, all annotation inspections need to pass authorization.

Repeated Annotations Are Not Supported

That said, it is not supported to repeat the same annotation on the same method. For example, you cannot place @PreAuthorize twice on the same method.

Instead, use SpEL’s boolean support or its support for delegating to a separate bean.

Each Annotation Has Its Own Pointcut

Each annotation has its own pointcut instance that looks for that annotation or its meta-annotation counterparts across the entire object hierarchy, starting at the method and its enclosing class.

You can see the specifics of this in AuthorizationMethodPointcuts.

Each Annotation Has Its Own Method Interceptor

Each annotation has its own dedicated method interceptor. The reason for this is to make things more composable. For example, if needed, you can disable the Spring Security defaults and publish only the @PostAuthorize method interceptor.

The method interceptors are as follows:

Generally speaking, you can consider the following listing as representative of what interceptors Spring Security publishes when you add @EnableMethodSecurity:

  • Java

@Bean
@Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
static Advisor preAuthorizeMethodInterceptor() {
    return AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor.preAuthorize();
}

@Bean
@Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
static Advisor postAuthorizeMethodInterceptor() {
    return AuthorizationManagerAfterMethodInterceptor.postAuthorize();
}

@Bean
@Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
static Advisor preFilterMethodInterceptor() {
    return AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor.preFilter();
}

@Bean
@Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
static Advisor postFilterMethodInterceptor() {
    return AuthorizationManagerAfterMethodInterceptor.postFilter();
}

Favor Granting Authorities Over Complicated SpEL Expressions

Quite often it can be tempting to introduce a complicated SpEL expression like the following:

  • Java

@PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('permission:read') || hasRole('ADMIN')")
Kotlin
@PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('permission:read') || hasRole('ADMIN')")

However, you could instead grant permission:read to those with ROLE_ADMIN. One way to do this is with a RoleHierarchy like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@Bean
static RoleHierarchy roleHierarchy() {
    return RoleHierarchyImpl.fromHierarchy("ROLE_ADMIN > permission:read");
}
companion object {
    @Bean
    fun roleHierarchy(): RoleHierarchy {
        return RoleHierarchyImpl.fromHierarchy("ROLE_ADMIN > permission:read")
    }
}
<bean id="roleHierarchy"
        class="org.springframework.security.access.hierarchicalroles.RoleHierarchyImpl" factory-method="fromHierarchy">
    <constructor-arg value="ROLE_ADMIN > permission:read"/>
</bean>

and then set that in a MethodSecurityExpressionHandler instance. This then allows you to have a simpler @PreAuthorize expression like this one:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('permission:read')")
@PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('permission:read')")

Or, where possible, adapt application-specific authorization logic into granted authorities at login time.

Comparing Request-level vs Method-level Authorization

When should you favor method-level authorization over request-level authorization? Some of it comes down to taste; however, consider the following strengths list of each to help you decide.

request-level

method-level

authorization type

coarse-grained

fine-grained

configuration location

declared in a config class

local to method declaration

configuration style

DSL

Annotations

authorization definitions

programmatic

SpEL

The main tradeoff seems to be where you want your authorization rules to live.

It’s important to remember that when you use annotation-based Method Security, then unannotated methods are not secured. To protect against this, declare a catch-all authorization rule in your HttpSecurity instance.

Authorizing with Annotations

The primary way Spring Security enables method-level authorization support is through annotations that you can add to methods, classes, and interfaces.

Authorizing Method Invocation with @PreAuthorize

When Method Security is active, you can annotate a method with the @PreAuthorize annotation like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Component
public class BankService {
	@PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')")
	public Account readAccount(Long id) {
        // ... is only invoked if the `Authentication` has the `ROLE_ADMIN` authority
	}
}
@Component
open class BankService {
	@PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')")
	fun readAccount(val id: Long): Account {
        // ... is only invoked if the `Authentication` has the `ROLE_ADMIN` authority
	}
}

This is meant to indicate that the method can only be invoked if the provided expression hasRole('ADMIN') passes.

You can then test the class to confirm it is enforcing the authorization rule like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Autowired
BankService bankService;

@WithMockUser(roles="ADMIN")
@Test
void readAccountWithAdminRoleThenInvokes() {
    Account account = this.bankService.readAccount("12345678");
    // ... assertions
}

@WithMockUser(roles="WRONG")
@Test
void readAccountWithWrongRoleThenAccessDenied() {
    assertThatExceptionOfType(AccessDeniedException.class).isThrownBy(
        () -> this.bankService.readAccount("12345678"));
}
@WithMockUser(roles="ADMIN")
@Test
fun readAccountWithAdminRoleThenInvokes() {
    val account: Account = this.bankService.readAccount("12345678")
    // ... assertions
}

@WithMockUser(roles="WRONG")
@Test
fun readAccountWithWrongRoleThenAccessDenied() {
    assertThatExceptionOfType(AccessDeniedException::class.java).isThrownBy {
        this.bankService.readAccount("12345678")
    }
}
@PreAuthorize also can be a meta-annotation, be defined at the class or interface level, and use SpEL Authorization Expressions.

While @PreAuthorize is quite helpful for declaring needed authorities, it can also be used to evaluate more complex expressions that involve the method parameters.

Authorization Method Results with @PostAuthorize

When Method Security is active, you can annotate a method with the @PostAuthorize annotation like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Component
public class BankService {
	@PostAuthorize("returnObject.owner == authentication.name")
	public Account readAccount(Long id) {
        // ... is only returned if the `Account` belongs to the logged in user
	}
}
@Component
open class BankService {
	@PostAuthorize("returnObject.owner == authentication.name")
	fun readAccount(val id: Long): Account {
        // ... is only returned if the `Account` belongs to the logged in user
	}
}

This is meant to indicate that the method can only return the value if the provided expression returnObject.owner == authentication.name passes. returnObject represents the Account object to be returned.

You can then test the class to confirm it is enforcing the authorization rule:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Autowired
BankService bankService;

@WithMockUser(username="owner")
@Test
void readAccountWhenOwnedThenReturns() {
    Account account = this.bankService.readAccount("12345678");
    // ... assertions
}

@WithMockUser(username="wrong")
@Test
void readAccountWhenNotOwnedThenAccessDenied() {
    assertThatExceptionOfType(AccessDeniedException.class).isThrownBy(
        () -> this.bankService.readAccount("12345678"));
}
@WithMockUser(username="owner")
@Test
fun readAccountWhenOwnedThenReturns() {
    val account: Account = this.bankService.readAccount("12345678")
    // ... assertions
}

@WithMockUser(username="wrong")
@Test
fun readAccountWhenNotOwnedThenAccessDenied() {
    assertThatExceptionOfType(AccessDeniedException::class.java).isThrownBy {
        this.bankService.readAccount("12345678")
    }
}
@PostAuthorize also can be a meta-annotation, be defined at the class or interface level, and use SpEL Authorization Expressions.

@PostAuthorize is particularly helpful when defending against Insecure Direct Object Reference. In fact, it can be defined as a meta-annotation like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Target({ ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE })
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@PostAuthorize("returnObject.owner == authentication.name")
public @interface RequireOwnership {}
@Target(ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@PostAuthorize("returnObject.owner == authentication.name")
annotation class RequireOwnership

Allowing you to instead annotate the service in the following way:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Component
public class BankService {
	@RequireOwnership
	public Account readAccount(Long id) {
        // ... is only returned if the `Account` belongs to the logged in user
	}
}
@Component
open class BankService {
	@RequireOwnership
	fun readAccount(val id: Long): Account {
        // ... is only returned if the `Account` belongs to the logged in user
	}
}

The result is that the above method will only return the Account if its owner attribute matches the logged-in user’s name. If not, Spring Security will throw an AccessDeniedException and return a 403 status code.

Filtering Method Parameters with @PreFilter

@PreFilter is not yet supported for Kotlin-specific data types; for that reason, only Java snippets are shown

When Method Security is active, you can annotate a method with the @PreFilter annotation like so:

  • Java

@Component
public class BankService {
	@PreFilter("filterObject.owner == authentication.name")
	public Collection<Account> updateAccounts(Account... accounts) {
        // ... `accounts` will only contain the accounts owned by the logged-in user
        return updated;
	}
}

This is meant to filter out any values from accounts where the expression filterObject.owner == authentication.name fails. filterObject represents each account in accounts and is used to test each account.

You can then test the class in the following way to confirm it is enforcing the authorization rule:

  • Java

@Autowired
BankService bankService;

@WithMockUser(username="owner")
@Test
void updateAccountsWhenOwnedThenReturns() {
    Account ownedBy = ...
    Account notOwnedBy = ...
    Collection<Account> updated = this.bankService.updateAccounts(ownedBy, notOwnedBy);
    assertThat(updated).containsOnly(ownedBy);
}
@PreFilter also can be a meta-annotation, be defined at the class or interface level, and use SpEL Authorization Expressions.

@PreFilter supports arrays, collections, maps, and streams (so long as the stream is still open).

For example, the above updateAccounts declaration will function the same way as the following other four:

  • Java

@PreFilter("filterObject.owner == authentication.name")
public Collection<Account> updateAccounts(Account[] accounts)

@PreFilter("filterObject.owner == authentication.name")
public Collection<Account> updateAccounts(Collection<Account> accounts)

@PreFilter("filterObject.value.owner == authentication.name")
public Collection<Account> updateAccounts(Map<String, Account> accounts)

@PreFilter("filterObject.owner == authentication.name")
public Collection<Account> updateAccounts(Stream<Account> accounts)

The result is that the above method will only have the Account instances where their owner attribute matches the logged-in user’s name.

Filtering Method Results with @PostFilter

@PostFilter is not yet supported for Kotlin-specific data types; for that reason, only Java snippets are shown

When Method Security is active, you can annotate a method with the @PostFilter annotation like so:

  • Java

@Component
public class BankService {
	@PostFilter("filterObject.owner == authentication.name")
	public Collection<Account> readAccounts(String... ids) {
        // ... the return value will be filtered to only contain the accounts owned by the logged-in user
        return accounts;
	}
}

This is meant to filter out any values from the return value where the expression filterObject.owner == authentication.name fails. filterObject represents each account in accounts and is used to test each account.

You can then test the class like so to confirm it is enforcing the authorization rule:

  • Java

@Autowired
BankService bankService;

@WithMockUser(username="owner")
@Test
void readAccountsWhenOwnedThenReturns() {
    Collection<Account> accounts = this.bankService.updateAccounts("owner", "not-owner");
    assertThat(accounts).hasSize(1);
    assertThat(accounts.get(0).getOwner()).isEqualTo("owner");
}
@PostFilter also can be a meta-annotation, be defined at the class or interface level, and use SpEL Authorization Expressions.

@PostFilter supports arrays, collections, maps, and streams (so long as the stream is still open).

For example, the above readAccounts declaration will function the same way as the following other three:

@PostFilter("filterObject.owner == authentication.name")
public Account[] readAccounts(String... ids)

@PostFilter("filterObject.value.owner == authentication.name")
public Map<String, Account> readAccounts(String... ids)

@PostFilter("filterObject.owner == authentication.name")
public Stream<Account> readAccounts(String... ids)

The result is that the above method will return the Account instances where their owner attribute matches the logged-in user’s name.

In-memory filtering can obviously be expensive, and so be considerate of whether it is better to filter the data in the data layer instead.

Authorizing Method Invocation with @Secured

@Secured is a legacy option for authorizing invocations. @PreAuthorize supercedes it and is recommended instead.

To use the @Secured annotation, you should first change your Method Security declaration to enable it like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@EnableMethodSecurity(securedEnabled = true)
@EnableMethodSecurity(securedEnabled = true)
<sec:method-security secured-enabled="true"/>

This will cause Spring Security to publish the corresponding method interceptor that authorizes methods, classes, and interfaces annotated with @Secured.

Authorizing Method Invocation with JSR-250 Annotations

In case you would like to use JSR-250 annotations, Spring Security also supports that. @PreAuthorize has more expressive power and is thus recommended.

To use the JSR-250 annotations, you should first change your Method Security declaration to enable them like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@EnableMethodSecurity(jsr250Enabled = true)
@EnableMethodSecurity(jsr250Enabled = true)
<sec:method-security jsr250-enabled="true"/>

This will cause Spring Security to publish the corresponding method interceptor that authorizes methods, classes, and interfaces annotated with @RolesAllowed, @PermitAll, and @DenyAll.

Declaring Annotations at the Class or Interface Level

It’s also supported to have Method Security annotations at the class and interface level.

If it is at the class level like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Controller
@PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('ROLE_USER')")
public class MyController {
    @GetMapping("/endpoint")
    public String endpoint() { ... }
}
@Controller
@PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('ROLE_USER')")
open class MyController {
    @GetMapping("/endpoint")
    fun endpoint(): String { ... }
}

then all methods inherit the class-level behavior.

Or, if it’s declared like the following at both the class and method level:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Controller
@PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('ROLE_USER')")
public class MyController {
    @GetMapping("/endpoint")
    @PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('ROLE_ADMIN')")
    public String endpoint() { ... }
}
@Controller
@PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('ROLE_USER')")
open class MyController {
    @GetMapping("/endpoint")
    @PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('ROLE_ADMIN')")
    fun endpoint(): String { ... }
}

then methods declaring the annotation override the class-level annotation.

The same is true for interfaces, with the exception that if a class inherits the annotation from two different interfaces, then startup will fail. This is because Spring Security has no way to tell which one you want to use.

In cases like this, you can resolve the ambiguity by adding the annotation to the concrete method.

Using Meta Annotations

Method Security supports meta annotations. This means that you can take any annotation and improve readability based on your application-specific use cases.

For example, you can simplify @PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')") to @IsAdmin like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Target({ ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE })
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')")
public @interface IsAdmin {}
@Target(ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')")
annotation class IsAdmin

And the result is that on your secured methods you can now do the following instead:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Component
public class BankService {
	@IsAdmin
	public Account readAccount(Long id) {
        // ... is only returned if the `Account` belongs to the logged in user
	}
}
@Component
open class BankService {
	@IsAdmin
	fun readAccount(val id: Long): Account {
        // ... is only returned if the `Account` belongs to the logged in user
	}
}

This results in more readable method definitions.

Templating Meta-Annotation Expressions

You can also opt into using meta-annotation templates, which allow for much more powerful annotation definitions.

First, publish the following bean:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
static PrePostTemplateDefaults prePostTemplateDefaults() {
	return new PrePostTemplateDefaults();
}
companion object {
    @Bean
    fun prePostTemplateDefaults(): PrePostTemplateDefaults {
        return PrePostTemplateDefaults()
    }
}

Now instead of @IsAdmin, you can create something more powerful like @HasRole like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Target({ ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE })
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@PreAuthorize("hasRole('{value}')")
public @interface HasRole {
	String value();
}
@Target(ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@PreAuthorize("hasRole('{value}')")
annotation class HasRole(val value: String)

And the result is that on your secured methods you can now do the following instead:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Component
public class BankService {
	@HasRole("ADMIN")
	public Account readAccount(Long id) {
        // ... is only returned if the `Account` belongs to the logged in user
	}
}
@Component
open class BankService {
	@HasRole("ADMIN")
	fun readAccount(val id: Long): Account {
        // ... is only returned if the `Account` belongs to the logged in user
	}
}

Note that this works with method variables and all annotation types, too, though you will want to be careful to correctly take care of quotation marks so the resulting SpEL expression is correct.

For example, consider the following @HasAnyRole annotation:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Target({ ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE })
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@PreAuthorize("hasAnyRole({roles})")
public @interface HasAnyRole {
	String[] roles();
}
@Target(ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@PreAuthorize("hasAnyRole({roles})")
annotation class HasAnyRole(val roles: Array<String>)

In that case, you’ll notice that you should not use the quotation marks in the expression, but instead in the parameter value like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Component
public class BankService {
	@HasAnyRole(roles = { "'USER'", "'ADMIN'" })
	public Account readAccount(Long id) {
        // ... is only returned if the `Account` belongs to the logged in user
	}
}
@Component
open class BankService {
	@HasAnyRole(roles = arrayOf("'USER'", "'ADMIN'"))
	fun readAccount(val id: Long): Account {
        // ... is only returned if the `Account` belongs to the logged in user
	}
}

so that, once replaced, the expression becomes @PreAuthorize("hasAnyRole('USER', 'ADMIN')").

Enabling Certain Annotations

You can turn off @EnableMethodSecurity's pre-configuration and replace it with you own. You may choose to do this if you want to customize the AuthorizationManager or Pointcut. Or you may simply want to only enable a specific annotation, like @PostAuthorize.

You can do this in the following way:

Only @PostAuthorize Configuration

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@Configuration
@EnableMethodSecurity(prePostEnabled = false)
class MethodSecurityConfig {
	@Bean
	@Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
	Advisor postAuthorize() {
		return AuthorizationManagerAfterMethodInterceptor.postAuthorize();
	}
}
@Configuration
@EnableMethodSecurity(prePostEnabled = false)
class MethodSecurityConfig {
	@Bean
	@Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
	fun postAuthorize() : Advisor {
		return AuthorizationManagerAfterMethodInterceptor.postAuthorize()
	}
}
<sec:method-security pre-post-enabled="false"/>

<aop:config/>

<bean id="postAuthorize"
	class="org.springframework.security.authorization.method.AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor"
	factory-method="postAuthorize"/>

The above snippet achieves this by first disabling Method Security’s pre-configurations and then publishing the @PostAuthorize interceptor itself.

Authorizing with <intercept-methods>

While using Spring Security’s annotation-based support is preferred for method security, you can also use XML to declare bean authorization rules.

If you need to declare it in your XML configuration instead, you can use <intercept-methods> like so:

  • Xml

<bean class="org.mycompany.MyController">
    <intercept-methods>
        <protect method="get*" access="hasAuthority('read')"/>
        <protect method="*" access="hasAuthority('write')"/>
    </intercept-methods>
</bean>
This only supports matching method by prefix or by name. If your needs are more complex than that, use annotation support instead.

Authorizing Methods Programmatically

As you’ve already seen, there are several ways that you can specify non-trivial authorization rules using Method Security SpEL expressions.

There are a number of ways that you can instead allow your logic to be Java-based instead of SpEL-based. This gives use access the entire Java language for increased testability and flow control.

Using a Custom Bean in SpEL

The first way to authorize a method programmatically is a two-step process.

First, declare a bean that has a method that takes a MethodSecurityExpressionOperations instance like the following:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Component("authz")
public class AuthorizationLogic {
    public boolean decide(MethodSecurityExpressionOperations operations) {
        // ... authorization logic
    }
}
@Component("authz")
open class AuthorizationLogic {
    fun decide(val operations: MethodSecurityExpressionOperations): boolean {
        // ... authorization logic
    }
}

Then, reference that bean in your annotations in the following way:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Controller
public class MyController {
    @PreAuthorize("@authz.decide(#root)")
    @GetMapping("/endpoint")
    public String endpoint() {
        // ...
    }
}
@Controller
open class MyController {
    @PreAuthorize("@authz.decide(#root)")
    @GetMapping("/endpoint")
    fun String endpoint() {
        // ...
    }
}

Spring Security will invoke the given method on that bean for each method invocation.

What’s nice about this is all your authorization logic is in a separate class that can be independently unit tested and verified for correctness. It also has access to the full Java language.

In addition to returning a Boolean, you can also return null to indicate that the code abstains from making a decision.

If you want to include more information about the nature of the decision, you can instead return a custom AuthorizationDecision like this:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Component("authz")
public class AuthorizationLogic {
    public AuthorizationDecision decide(MethodSecurityExpressionOperations operations) {
        // ... authorization logic
        return new MyAuthorizationDecision(false, details);
    }
}
@Component("authz")
open class AuthorizationLogic {
    fun decide(val operations: MethodSecurityExpressionOperations): AuthorizationDecision {
        // ... authorization logic
        return MyAuthorizationDecision(false, details)
    }
}

Or throw a custom AuthorizationDeniedException instance. Note, though, that returning an object is preferred as this doesn’t incur the expense of generating a stacktrace.

Then, you can access the custom details when you customize how the authorization result is handled.

Using a Custom Authorization Manager

The second way to authorize a method programmatically is to create a custom AuthorizationManager.

First, declare an authorization manager instance, perhaps like this one:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Component
public class MyAuthorizationManager implements AuthorizationManager<MethodInvocation>, AuthorizationManager<MethodInvocationResult> {
    @Override
    public AuthorizationDecision check(Supplier<Authentication> authentication, MethodInvocation invocation) {
        // ... authorization logic
    }

    @Override
    public AuthorizationDecision check(Supplier<Authentication> authentication, MethodInvocationResult invocation) {
        // ... authorization logic
    }
}
@Component
class MyAuthorizationManager : AuthorizationManager<MethodInvocation>, AuthorizationManager<MethodInvocationResult> {
    override fun check(authentication: Supplier<Authentication>, invocation: MethodInvocation): AuthorizationDecision {
        // ... authorization logic
    }

    override fun check(authentication: Supplier<Authentication>, invocation: MethodInvocationResult): AuthorizationDecision {
        // ... authorization logic
    }
}

Then, publish the method interceptor with a pointcut that corresponds to when you want that AuthorizationManager to run. For example, you could replace how @PreAuthorize and @PostAuthorize work like so:

Only @PreAuthorize and @PostAuthorize Configuration

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@Configuration
@EnableMethodSecurity(prePostEnabled = false)
class MethodSecurityConfig {
    @Bean
	@Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
	Advisor preAuthorize(MyAuthorizationManager manager) {
		return AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor.preAuthorize(manager);
	}

	@Bean
	@Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
	Advisor postAuthorize(MyAuthorizationManager manager) {
		return AuthorizationManagerAfterMethodInterceptor.postAuthorize(manager);
	}
}
@Configuration
@EnableMethodSecurity(prePostEnabled = false)
class MethodSecurityConfig {
   	@Bean
	@Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
	fun preAuthorize(val manager: MyAuthorizationManager) : Advisor {
		return AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor.preAuthorize(manager)
	}

	@Bean
	@Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
	fun postAuthorize(val manager: MyAuthorizationManager) : Advisor {
		return AuthorizationManagerAfterMethodInterceptor.postAuthorize(manager)
	}
}
<sec:method-security pre-post-enabled="false"/>

<aop:config/>

<bean id="preAuthorize"
	class="org.springframework.security.authorization.method.AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor"
	factory-method="preAuthorize">
    <constructor-arg ref="myAuthorizationManager"/>
</bean>

<bean id="postAuthorize"
	class="org.springframework.security.authorization.method.AuthorizationManagerAfterMethodInterceptor"
	factory-method="postAuthorize">
    <constructor-arg ref="myAuthorizationManager"/>
</bean>

You can place your interceptor in between Spring Security method interceptors using the order constants specified in AuthorizationInterceptorsOrder.

Customizing Expression Handling

Or, third, you can customize how each SpEL expression is handled. To do that, you can expose a custom MethodSecurityExpressionHandler, like so:

Custom MethodSecurityExpressionHandler

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@Bean
static MethodSecurityExpressionHandler methodSecurityExpressionHandler(RoleHierarchy roleHierarchy) {
	DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler handler = new DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler();
	handler.setRoleHierarchy(roleHierarchy);
	return handler;
}
companion object {
	@Bean
	fun methodSecurityExpressionHandler(val roleHierarchy: RoleHierarchy) : MethodSecurityExpressionHandler {
		val handler = DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler()
		handler.setRoleHierarchy(roleHierarchy)
		return handler
	}
}
<sec:method-security>
	<sec:expression-handler ref="myExpressionHandler"/>
</sec:method-security>

<bean id="myExpressionHandler"
		class="org.springframework.security.messaging.access.expression.DefaultMessageSecurityExpressionHandler">
	<property name="roleHierarchy" ref="roleHierarchy"/>
</bean>

We expose MethodSecurityExpressionHandler using a static method to ensure that Spring publishes it before it initializes Spring Security’s method security @Configuration classes

You can also subclass DefaultMessageSecurityExpressionHandler to add your own custom authorization expressions beyond the defaults.

Authorizing with AspectJ

Matching Methods with Custom Pointcuts

Being built on Spring AOP, you can declare patterns that are not related to annotations, similar to request-level authorization. This has the potential advantage of centralizing method-level authorization rules.

For example, you can use publish your own Advisor or use <protect-pointcut> to match AOP expressions to authorization rules for your service layer like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

import static org.springframework.security.authorization.AuthorityAuthorizationManager.hasRole

@Bean
@Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
static Advisor protectServicePointcut() {
    AspectJExpressionPointcut pattern = new AspectJExpressionPointcut()
    pattern.setExpression("execution(* com.mycompany.*Service.*(..))")
    return new AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor(pattern, hasRole("USER"))
}
import static org.springframework.security.authorization.AuthorityAuthorizationManager.hasRole

companion object {
    @Bean
    @Role(BeanDefinition.ROLE_INFRASTRUCTURE)
    fun protectServicePointcut(): Advisor {
        val pattern = AspectJExpressionPointcut()
        pattern.setExpression("execution(* com.mycompany.*Service.*(..))")
        return new AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor(pattern, hasRole("USER"))
    }
}
<sec:method-security>
    <protect-pointcut expression="execution(* com.mycompany.*Service.*(..))" access="hasRole('USER')"/>
</sec:method-security>

Integrate with AspectJ Byte-weaving

Performance can at times be enhanced by using AspectJ to weave Spring Security advice into the byte code of your beans.

After setting up AspectJ, you can quite simply state in the @EnableMethodSecurity annotation or <method-security> element that you are using AspectJ:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@EnableMethodSecurity(mode=AdviceMode.ASPECTJ)
@EnableMethodSecurity(mode=AdviceMode.ASPECTJ)
<sec:method-security mode="aspectj"/>

And the result will be that Spring Security will publish its advisors as AspectJ advice so that they can be woven in accordingly.

Specifying Order

As already noted, there is a Spring AOP method interceptor for each annotation, and each of these has a location in the Spring AOP advisor chain.

Namely, the @PreFilter method interceptor’s order is 100, @PreAuthorize's is 200, and so on.

The reason this is important to note is that there are other AOP-based annotations like @EnableTransactionManagement that have an order of Integer.MAX_VALUE. In other words, they are located at the end of the advisor chain by default.

At times, it can be valuable to have other advice execute before Spring Security. For example, if you have a method annotated with @Transactional and @PostAuthorize, you might want the transaction to still be open when @PostAuthorize runs so that an AccessDeniedException will cause a rollback.

To get @EnableTransactionManagement to open a transaction before method authorization advice runs, you can set @EnableTransactionManagement's order like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@EnableTransactionManagement(order = 0)
@EnableTransactionManagement(order = 0)
<tx:annotation-driven ref="txManager" order="0"/>

Since the earliest method interceptor (@PreFilter) is set to an order of 100, a setting of zero means that the transaction advice will run before all Spring Security advice.

Expressing Authorization with SpEL

You’ve already seen several examples using SpEL, so now let’s cover the API a bit more in depth.

Spring Security encapsulates all of its authorization fields and methods in a set of root objects. The most generic root object is called SecurityExpressionRoot and it forms the basis for MethodSecurityExpressionRoot. Spring Security supplies this root object to MethodSecurityEvaluationContext when preparing to evaluate an authorization expression.

Using Authorization Expression Fields and Methods

The first thing this provides is an enhanced set of authorization fields and methods to your SpEL expressions. What follows is a quick overview of the most common methods:

  • permitAll - The method requires no authorization to be invoked; note that in this case, the Authentication is never retrieved from the session

  • denyAll - The method is not allowed under any circumstances; note that in this case, the Authentication is never retrieved from the session

  • hasAuthority - The method requires that the Authentication have a GrantedAuthority that matches the given value

  • hasRole - A shortcut for hasAuthority that prefixes ROLE_ or whatever is configured as the default prefix

  • hasAnyAuthority - The method requires that the Authentication have a GrantedAuthority that matches any of the given values

  • hasAnyRole - A shortcut for hasAnyAuthority that prefixes ROLE_ or whatever is configured as the default prefix

  • hasPermission - A hook into your PermissionEvaluator instance for doing object-level authorization

And here is a brief look at the most common fields:

  • authentication - The Authentication instance associated with this method invocation

  • principal - The Authentication#getPrincipal associated with this method invocation

Having now learned the patterns, rules, and how they can be paired together, you should be able to understand what is going on in this more complex example:

Authorize Requests

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@Component
public class MyService {
    @PreAuthorize("denyAll") (1)
    MyResource myDeprecatedMethod(...);

    @PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')") (2)
    MyResource writeResource(...)

    @PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('db') and hasRole('ADMIN')") (3)
    MyResource deleteResource(...)

    @PreAuthorize("principal.claims['aud'] == 'my-audience'") (4)
    MyResource readResource(...);

	@PreAuthorize("@authz.check(authentication, #root)")
    MyResource shareResource(...);
}
@Component
open class MyService {
    @PreAuthorize("denyAll") (1)
    fun myDeprecatedMethod(...): MyResource

    @PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')") (2)
    fun writeResource(...): MyResource

    @PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('db') and hasRole('ADMIN')") (3)
    fun deleteResource(...): MyResource

    @PreAuthorize("principal.claims['aud'] == 'my-audience'") (4)
    fun readResource(...): MyResource

    @PreAuthorize("@authz.check(#root)")
    fun shareResource(...): MyResource
}
<sec:method-security>
    <protect-pointcut expression="execution(* com.mycompany.*Service.myDeprecatedMethod(..))" access="denyAll"/> (1)
    <protect-pointcut expression="execution(* com.mycompany.*Service.writeResource(..))" access="hasRole('ADMIN')"/> (2)
    <protect-pointcut expression="execution(* com.mycompany.*Service.deleteResource(..))" access="hasAuthority('db') and hasRole('ADMIN')"/> (3)
    <protect-pointcut expression="execution(* com.mycompany.*Service.readResource(..))" access="principal.claims['aud'] == 'my-audience'"/> (4)
    <protect-pointcut expression="execution(* com.mycompany.*Service.shareResource(..))" access="@authz.check(#root)"/> (5)
</sec:method-security>
1 This method may not be invoked by anyone for any reason
2 This method may only be invoked by Authentications granted the ROLE_ADMIN authority
3 This method may only be invoked by Authentications granted the db and ROLE_ADMIN authorities
4 This method may only be invoked by Princpals with an aud claim equal to "my-audience"
5 This method may only be invoked if the bean authz's check method returns true

You can use a bean like authz above to add programmatic authorization.

Using Method Parameters

Additionally, Spring Security provides a mechanism for discovering method parameters so they can also be accessed in the SpEL expression as well.

For a complete reference, Spring Security uses DefaultSecurityParameterNameDiscoverer to discover the parameter names. By default, the following options are tried for a method.

  1. If Spring Security’s @P annotation is present on a single argument to the method, the value is used. The following example uses the @P annotation:

    • Java

    • Kotlin

    import org.springframework.security.access.method.P;

...

@PreAuthorize("hasPermission(#c, 'write')")
public void updateContact(@P("c") Contact contact);
    import org.springframework.security.access.method.P

...

@PreAuthorize("hasPermission(#c, 'write')")
fun doSomething(@P("c") contact: Contact?)

    The intention of this expression is to require that the current Authentication have write permission specifically for this Contact instance.

    Behind the scenes, this is implemented by using AnnotationParameterNameDiscoverer, which you can customize to support the value attribute of any specified annotation.

    • If Spring Data’s @Param annotation is present on at least one parameter for the method, the value is used. The following example uses the @Param annotation:

      • Java

      • Kotlin

      import org.springframework.data.repository.query.Param;

...

@PreAuthorize("#n == authentication.name")
Contact findContactByName(@Param("n") String name);
      import org.springframework.data.repository.query.Param

...

@PreAuthorize("#n == authentication.name")
fun findContactByName(@Param("n") name: String?): Contact?

      The intention of this expression is to require that name be equal to Authentication#getName for the invocation to be authorized.

      Behind the scenes, this is implemented by using AnnotationParameterNameDiscoverer, which you can customize to support the value attribute of any specified annotation.

    • If you compile your code with the -parameters argument, the standard JDK reflection API is used to discover the parameter names. This works on both classes and interfaces.

    • Finally, if you compile your code with debug symbols, the parameter names are discovered by using the debug symbols. This does not work for interfaces, since they do not have debug information about the parameter names. For interfaces, either annotations or the -parameters approach must be used.

Authorizing Arbitrary Objects

Spring Security also supports wrapping any object that is annotated its method security annotations.

The simplest way to achieve this is to mark any method that returns the object you wish to authorize with the @AuthorizeReturnObject annotation.

For example, consider the following User class:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

public class User {
	private String name;
	private String email;

	public User(String name, String email) {
		this.name = name;
		this.email = email;
	}

	public String getName() {
		return this.name;
	}

    @PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('user:read')")
    public String getEmail() {
		return this.email;
    }
}
class User (val name:String, @get:PreAuthorize("hasAuthority('user:read')") val email:String)

Given an interface like this one:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

public class UserRepository {
	@AuthorizeReturnObject
    Optional<User> findByName(String name) {
		// ...
    }
}
class UserRepository {
    @AuthorizeReturnObject
    fun findByName(name:String?): Optional<User?>? {
        // ...
    }
}

Then any User that is returned from findById will be secured like other Spring Security-protected components:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Autowired
UserRepository users;

@Test
void getEmailWhenProxiedThenAuthorizes() {
    Optional<User> securedUser = users.findByName("name");
    assertThatExceptionOfType(AccessDeniedException.class).isThrownBy(() -> securedUser.get().getEmail());
}
import jdk.incubator.vector.VectorOperators.Test
import java.nio.file.AccessDeniedException
import java.util.*

@Autowired
var users:UserRepository? = null

@Test
fun getEmailWhenProxiedThenAuthorizes() {
    val securedUser: Optional<User> = users.findByName("name")
    assertThatExceptionOfType(AccessDeniedException::class.java).isThrownBy{securedUser.get().getEmail()}
}

Using @AuthorizeReturnObject at the class level

@AuthorizeReturnObject can be placed at the class level. Note, though, that this means Spring Security will attempt to proxy any return object, including String, Integer and other types. This is often not what you want to do.

If you want to use @AuthorizeReturnObject on a class or interface whose methods return value types, like int, String, Double or collections of those types, then you should also publish the appropriate AuthorizationAdvisorProxyFactory.TargetVisitor as follows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
static Customizer<AuthorizationAdvisorProxyFactory> skipValueTypes() {
    return (factory) -> factory.setTargetVisitor(TargetVisitor.defaultsSkipValueTypes());
}
@Bean
open fun skipValueTypes() = Customizer<AuthorizationAdvisorProxyFactory> {
    it.setTargetVisitor(TargetVisitor.defaultsSkipValueTypes())
}

You can set your own AuthorizationAdvisorProxyFactory.TargetVisitor to customize the proxying for any set of types

Programmatically Proxying

You can also programmatically proxy a given object.

To achieve this, you can autowire the provided AuthorizationProxyFactory instance, which is based on which method security interceptors you have configured. If you are using @EnableMethodSecurity, then this means that it will by default have the interceptors for @PreAuthorize, @PostAuthorize, @PreFilter, and @PostFilter.

You can proxy an instance of user in the following way:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Autowired
AuthorizationProxyFactory proxyFactory;

@Test
void getEmailWhenProxiedThenAuthorizes() {
    User user = new User("name", "email");
    assertThat(user.getEmail()).isNotNull();
    User securedUser = proxyFactory.proxy(user);
    assertThatExceptionOfType(AccessDeniedException.class).isThrownBy(securedUser::getEmail);
}
@Autowired
var proxyFactory:AuthorizationProxyFactory? = null

@Test
fun getEmailWhenProxiedThenAuthorizes() {
    val user: User = User("name", "email")
    assertThat(user.getEmail()).isNotNull()
    val securedUser: User = proxyFactory.proxy(user)
    assertThatExceptionOfType(AccessDeniedException::class.java).isThrownBy(securedUser::getEmail)
}

Manual Construction

You can also define your own instance if you need something different from the Spring Security default.

For example, if you define an AuthorizationProxyFactory instance like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

import org.springframework.security.authorization.method.AuthorizationAdvisorProxyFactory.TargetVisitor;
import static org.springframework.security.authorization.method.AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor.preAuthorize;
// ...

AuthorizationProxyFactory proxyFactory = AuthorizationAdvisorProxyFactory.withDefaults();
// and if needing to skip value types
proxyFactory.setTargetVisitor(TargetVisitor.defaultsSkipValueTypes());
import org.springframework.security.authorization.method.AuthorizationAdvisorProxyFactory.TargetVisitor;
import org.springframework.security.authorization.method.AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor.preAuthorize

// ...

val proxyFactory: AuthorizationProxyFactory = AuthorizationProxyFactory(preAuthorize())
// and if needing to skip value types
proxyFactory.setTargetVisitor(TargetVisitor.defaultsSkipValueTypes())

Then you can wrap any instance of User as follows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Test
void getEmailWhenProxiedThenAuthorizes() {
	AuthorizationProxyFactory proxyFactory = AuthorizationAdvisorProxyFactory.withDefaults();
    User user = new User("name", "email");
    assertThat(user.getEmail()).isNotNull();
    User securedUser = proxyFactory.proxy(user);
    assertThatExceptionOfType(AccessDeniedException.class).isThrownBy(securedUser::getEmail);
}
@Test
fun getEmailWhenProxiedThenAuthorizes() {
    val proxyFactory: AuthorizationProxyFactory = AuthorizationAdvisorProxyFactory.withDefaults()
    val user: User = User("name", "email")
    assertThat(user.getEmail()).isNotNull()
    val securedUser: User = proxyFactory.proxy(user)
    assertThatExceptionOfType(AccessDeniedException::class.java).isThrownBy(securedUser::getEmail)
}

This feature does not yet support Spring AOT

Proxying Collections

AuthorizationProxyFactory supports Java collections, streams, arrays, optionals, and iterators by proxying the element type and maps by proxying the value type.

This means that when proxying a List of objects, the following also works:

  • Java

@Test
void getEmailWhenProxiedThenAuthorizes() {
	AuthorizationProxyFactory proxyFactory = AuthorizationAdvisorProxyFactory.withDefaults();
    List<User> users = List.of(ada, albert, marie);
    List<User> securedUsers = proxyFactory.proxy(users);
	securedUsers.forEach((securedUser) ->
        assertThatExceptionOfType(AccessDeniedException.class).isThrownBy(securedUser::getEmail));
}

Proxying Classes

In limited circumstances, it may be valuable to proxy a Class itself, and AuthorizationProxyFactory also supports this. This is roughly the equivalent of calling ProxyFactory#getProxyClass in Spring Framework’s support for creating proxies.

One place where this is handy is when you need to construct the proxy class ahead-of-time, like with Spring AOT.

Support for All Method Security Annotations

AuthorizationProxyFactory supports whichever method security annotations are enabled in your application. It is based off of whatever AuthorizationAdvisor classes are published as a bean.

Since @EnableMethodSecurity publishes @PreAuthorize, @PostAuthorize, @PreFilter, and @PostFilter advisors by default, you will typically need to do nothing to activate the ability.

SpEL expressions that use returnObject or filterObject sit behind the proxy and so have full access to the object.

Custom Advice

If you have security advice that you also want applied, you can publish your own AuthorizationAdvisor like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@EnableMethodSecurity
class SecurityConfig {
    @Bean
    static AuthorizationAdvisor myAuthorizationAdvisor() {
        return new AuthorizationAdvisor();
    }
}
@EnableMethodSecurity
internal class SecurityConfig {
    @Bean
    fun myAuthorizationAdvisor(): AuthorizationAdvisor {
        return AuthorizationAdvisor()
    }
]

And Spring Security will add that advisor into the set of advice that AuthorizationProxyFactory adds when proxying an object.

Working with Jackson

One powerful use of this feature is to return a secured value from a controller like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@RestController
public class UserController {
	@Autowired
    AuthorizationProxyFactory proxyFactory;

	@GetMapping
    User currentUser(@AuthenticationPrincipal User user) {
        return this.proxyFactory.proxy(user);
    }
}
@RestController
class UserController  {
    @Autowired
    var proxyFactory: AuthorizationProxyFactory? = null

    @GetMapping
    fun currentUser(@AuthenticationPrincipal user:User?): User {
        return proxyFactory.proxy(user)
    }
}

If you are using Jackson, though, this may result in a serialization error like the following:

com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.exc.InvalidDefinitionException: Direct self-reference leading to cycle

This is due to how Jackson works with CGLIB proxies. To address this, add the following annotation to the top of the User class:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@JsonSerialize(as = User.class)
public class User {

}
@JsonSerialize(`as` = User::class)
class User

Finally, you will need to publish a custom interceptor to catch the AccessDeniedException thrown for each field, which you can do like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Component
public class AccessDeniedExceptionInterceptor implements AuthorizationAdvisor {
    private final AuthorizationAdvisor advisor = AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor.preAuthorize();

	@Override
	public Object invoke(MethodInvocation invocation) throws Throwable {
		try {
			return invocation.proceed();
		} catch (AccessDeniedException ex) {
			return null;
		}
	}

	@Override
	public Pointcut getPointcut() {
		return this.advisor.getPointcut();
	}

	@Override
	public Advice getAdvice() {
		return this;
	}

	@Override
	public int getOrder() {
		return this.advisor.getOrder() - 1;
	}
}
@Component
class AccessDeniedExceptionInterceptor: AuthorizationAdvisor {
    var advisor: AuthorizationAdvisor = AuthorizationManagerBeforeMethodInterceptor.preAuthorize()

    @Throws(Throwable::class)
    fun invoke(invocation: MethodInvocation): Any? {
        return try  {
            invocation.proceed()
        } catch (ex:AccessDeniedException) {
            null
        }
    }

     val pointcut: Pointcut
     get() = advisor.getPointcut()

     val advice: Advice
     get() = this

     val order: Int
     get() = advisor.getOrder() - 1
}

Then, you’ll see a different JSON serialization based on the authorization level of the user. If they don’t have the user:read authority, then they’ll see:

{
    "name" : "name",
    "email" : null
}

And if they do have that authority, they’ll see:

{
    "name" : "name",
    "email" : "email"
}

You can also add the Spring Boot property spring.jackson.default-property-inclusion=non_null to exclude the null value, if you also don’t want to reveal the JSON key to an unauthorized user.

Providing Fallback Values When Authorization is Denied

There are some scenarios where you may not wish to throw an AuthorizationDeniedException when a method is invoked without the required permissions. Instead, you might wish to return a post-processed result, like a masked result, or a default value in cases where authorization denied happened before invoking the method.

Spring Security provides support for handling authorization denied on method invocation by using the @HandleAuthorizationDenied. The handler works for denied authorizations that happened in the @PreAuthorize and @PostAuthorize annotations as well as AuthorizationDeniedException thrown from the method invocation itself.

Let’s consider the example from the previous section, but instead of creating the AccessDeniedExceptionInterceptor to transform an AccessDeniedException to a null return value, we will use the handlerClass attribute from @HandleAuthorizationDenied:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

public class NullMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler implements MethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler { (1)

    @Override
    public Object handleDeniedInvocation(MethodInvocation methodInvocation, AuthorizationResult authorizationResult) {
        return null;
    }

}

@Configuration
@EnableMethodSecurity
public class SecurityConfig {

    @Bean (2)
    public NullMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler nullMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler() {
        return new NullMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler();
    }

}

public class User {
    // ...

    @PreAuthorize(value = "hasAuthority('user:read')")
    @HandleAuthorizationDenied(handlerClass = NullMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler.class)
    public String getEmail() {
        return this.email;
    }
}
class NullMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler : MethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler { (1)

    override fun handleDeniedInvocation(methodInvocation: MethodInvocation, authorizationResult: AuthorizationResult): Any {
        return null
    }

}

@Configuration
@EnableMethodSecurity
class SecurityConfig {

    @Bean (2)
    fun nullMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler(): NullMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler {
        return MaskMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler()
    }

}

class User (val name:String, @PreAuthorize(value = "hasAuthority('user:read')") @HandleAuthorizationDenied(handlerClass = NullMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler::class) val email:String) (3)
1 Create an implementation of MethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler that returns a null value
2 Register the NullMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler as a bean
3 Annotate the method with @HandleAuthorizationDenied and pass the NullMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler to the handlerClass attribute

And then you can verify that a null value is returned instead of the AccessDeniedException:

You can also annotate your class with @Component instead of creating a @Bean method

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Autowired
UserRepository users;

@Test
void getEmailWhenProxiedThenNullEmail() {
    Optional<User> securedUser = users.findByName("name");
    assertThat(securedUser.get().getEmail()).isNull();
}
@Autowired
var users:UserRepository? = null

@Test
fun getEmailWhenProxiedThenNullEmail() {
    val securedUser: Optional<User> = users.findByName("name")
    assertThat(securedUser.get().getEmail()).isNull()
}

Using the Denied Result From the Method Invocation

There are some scenarios where you might want to return a secure result derived from the denied result. For example, if a user is not authorized to see email addresses, you might want to apply some masking on the original email address, i.e. [email protected] would become use******@example.com.

For those scenarios, you can override the handleDeniedInvocationResult from the MethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler, which has the MethodInvocationResult as an argument. Let’s continue with the previous example, but instead of returning null, we will return a masked value of the email:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

public class EmailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler implements MethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler { (1)

    @Override
    public Object handleDeniedInvocation(MethodInvocation methodInvocation, AuthorizationResult authorizationResult) {
        return "***";
    }

    @Override
    public Object handleDeniedInvocationResult(MethodInvocationResult methodInvocationResult, AuthorizationResult authorizationResult) {
        String email = (String) methodInvocationResult.getResult();
        return email.replaceAll("(^[^@]{3}|(?!^)\\G)[^@]", "$1*");
    }

}

@Configuration
@EnableMethodSecurity
public class SecurityConfig {

    @Bean (2)
    public EmailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler emailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler() {
        return new EmailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler();
    }

}

public class User {
    // ...

    @PostAuthorize(value = "hasAuthority('user:read')")
    @HandleAuthorizationDenied(handlerClass = EmailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler.class)
    public String getEmail() {
        return this.email;
    }
}
class EmailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler : MethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler {

    override fun handleDeniedInvocation(methodInvocation: MethodInvocation, authorizationResult: AuthorizationResult): Any {
        return "***"
    }

    override fun handleDeniedInvocationResult(methodInvocationResult: MethodInvocationResult, authorizationResult: AuthorizationResult): Any {
        val email = methodInvocationResult.result as String
        return email.replace("(^[^@]{3}|(?!^)\\G)[^@]".toRegex(), "$1*")
    }

}

@Configuration
@EnableMethodSecurity
class SecurityConfig {

    @Bean
    fun emailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler(): EmailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler {
        return EmailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler()
    }

}

class User (val name:String, @PostAuthorize(value = "hasAuthority('user:read')") @HandleAuthorizationDenied(handlerClass = EmailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler::class) val email:String) (3)
1 Create an implementation of MethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler that returns a masked value of the unauthorized result value
2 Register the EmailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler as a bean
3 Annotate the method with @HandleAuthorizationDenied and pass the EmailMaskingMethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler to the handlerClass attribute

And then you can verify that a masked email is returned instead of an AccessDeniedException:

Since you have access to the original denied value, make sure that you correctly handle it and do not return it to the caller.

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Autowired
UserRepository users;

@Test
void getEmailWhenProxiedThenMaskedEmail() {
    Optional<User> securedUser = users.findByName("name");
    // email is [email protected]
    assertThat(securedUser.get().getEmail()).isEqualTo("use******@example.com");
}
@Autowired
var users:UserRepository? = null

@Test
fun getEmailWhenProxiedThenMaskedEmail() {
    val securedUser: Optional<User> = users.findByName("name")
    // email is [email protected]
    assertThat(securedUser.get().getEmail()).isEqualTo("use******@example.com")
}

When implementing the MethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler you have a few options on what type you can return:

  • A null value.

  • A non-null value, respecting the method’s return type.

  • Throw an exception, usually an instance of AuthorizationDeniedException. This is the default behavior.

  • A Mono type for reactive applications.

Note that since the handler must be registered as beans in your application context, you can inject dependencies into them if you need a more complex logic. In addition to that, you have available the MethodInvocation or the MethodInvocationResult, as well as the AuthorizationResult for more details related to the authorization decision.

Deciding What to Return Based on Available Parameters

Consider a scenario where there might be multiple mask values for different methods, it would be not so productive if we had to create a handler for each of those methods, although it is perfectly fine to do that. In such cases, we can use the information passed via parameters to decide what to do. For example, we can create a custom @Mask annotation and a handler that detects that annotation to decide what mask value to return:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

import org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationUtils;

@Target({ ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE })
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public @interface Mask {

    String value();

}

public class MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler implements MethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler {

    @Override
    public Object handleDeniedInvocation(MethodInvocation methodInvocation, AuthorizationResult authorizationResult) {
        Mask mask = AnnotationUtils.getAnnotation(methodInvocation.getMethod(), Mask.class);
        return mask.value();
    }

}

@Configuration
@EnableMethodSecurity
public class SecurityConfig {

    @Bean
    public MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler maskAnnotationDeniedHandler() {
        return new MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler();
    }

}

@Component
public class MyService {

    @PreAuthorize(value = "hasAuthority('user:read')")
    @HandleAuthorizationDenied(handlerClass = MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler.class)
    @Mask("***")
    public String foo() {
        return "foo";
    }

    @PreAuthorize(value = "hasAuthority('user:read')")
    @HandleAuthorizationDenied(handlerClass = MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler.class)
    @Mask("???")
    public String bar() {
        return "bar";
    }

}
import org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationUtils

@Target(AnnotationTarget.FUNCTION, AnnotationTarget.CLASS)
@Retention(AnnotationRetention.RUNTIME)
annotation class Mask(val value: String)

class MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler : MethodAuthorizationDeniedHandler {

    override fun handleDeniedInvocation(methodInvocation: MethodInvocation, authorizationResult: AuthorizationResult): Any {
        val mask = AnnotationUtils.getAnnotation(methodInvocation.method, Mask::class.java)
        return mask.value
    }

}

@Configuration
@EnableMethodSecurity
class SecurityConfig {

    @Bean
    fun maskAnnotationDeniedHandler(): MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler {
        return MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler()
    }

}

@Component
class MyService {

    @PreAuthorize(value = "hasAuthority('user:read')")
    @HandleAuthorizationDenied(handlerClass = MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler::class)
    @Mask("***")
    fun foo(): String {
        return "foo"
    }

    @PreAuthorize(value = "hasAuthority('user:read')")
    @HandleAuthorizationDenied(handlerClass = MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler::class)
    @Mask("???")
    fun bar(): String {
        return "bar"
    }

}

Now the return values when access is denied will be decided based on the @Mask annotation:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Autowired
MyService myService;

@Test
void fooWhenDeniedThenReturnStars() {
    String value = this.myService.foo();
    assertThat(value).isEqualTo("***");
}

@Test
void barWhenDeniedThenReturnQuestionMarks() {
    String value = this.myService.foo();
    assertThat(value).isEqualTo("???");
}
@Autowired
var myService: MyService

@Test
fun fooWhenDeniedThenReturnStars() {
    val value: String = myService.foo()
    assertThat(value).isEqualTo("***")
}

@Test
fun barWhenDeniedThenReturnQuestionMarks() {
    val value: String = myService.foo()
    assertThat(value).isEqualTo("???")
}

Combining with Meta Annotation Support

You can also combine the @HandleAuthorizationDenied with other annotations in order to reduce and simplify the annotations in a method. Let’s consider the example from the previous section and merge @HandleAuthorizationDenied with @Mask:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Target({ ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE })
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@HandleAuthorizationDenied(handlerClass = MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler.class)
public @interface Mask {

    String value();

}

@Mask("***")
public String myMethod() {
    // ...
}
@Target(AnnotationTarget.FUNCTION, AnnotationTarget.CLASS)
@Retention(AnnotationRetention.RUNTIME)
@HandleAuthorizationDenied(handlerClass = MaskAnnotationDeniedHandler::class)
annotation class Mask(val value: String)

@Mask("***")
fun myMethod(): String {
    // ...
}

Now you do not have to remember to add both annotations when you need a mask behavior in your method. Make sure to read the Meta Annotations Support section for more details on the usage.

Migrating from @EnableGlobalMethodSecurity

If you are using @EnableGlobalMethodSecurity, you should migrate to @EnableMethodSecurity.

Replace global method security with method security

@EnableGlobalMethodSecurity and <global-method-security> are deprecated in favor of @EnableMethodSecurity and <method-security>, respectively. The new annotation and XML element activate Spring’s pre-post annotations by default and use AuthorizationManager internally.

This means that the following two listings are functionally equivalent:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@EnableGlobalMethodSecurity(prePostEnabled = true)
@EnableGlobalMethodSecurity(prePostEnabled = true)
<global-method-security pre-post-enabled="true"/>

and:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@EnableMethodSecurity
@EnableMethodSecurity
<method-security/>

For applications not using the pre-post annotations, make sure to turn it off to avoid activating unwanted behavior.

For example, a listing like:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@EnableGlobalMethodSecurity(securedEnabled = true)
@EnableGlobalMethodSecurity(securedEnabled = true)
<global-method-security secured-enabled="true"/>

should change to:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

  • Xml

@EnableMethodSecurity(securedEnabled = true, prePostEnabled = false)
@EnableMethodSecurity(securedEnabled = true, prePostEnabled = false)
<method-security secured-enabled="true" pre-post-enabled="false"/>

Use a Custom @Bean instead of subclassing DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler

As a performance optimization, a new method was introduced to MethodSecurityExpressionHandler that takes a Supplier<Authentication> instead of an Authentication.

This allows Spring Security to defer the lookup of the Authentication, and is taken advantage of automatically when you use @EnableMethodSecurity instead of @EnableGlobalMethodSecurity.

However, let’s say that your code extends DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler and overrides createSecurityExpressionRoot(Authentication, MethodInvocation) to return a custom SecurityExpressionRoot instance. This will no longer work because the arrangement that @EnableMethodSecurity sets up calls createEvaluationContext(Supplier<Authentication>, MethodInvocation) instead.

Happily, such a level of customization is often unnecessary. Instead, you can create a custom bean with the authorization methods that you need.

For example, let’s say you are wanting a custom evaluation of @PostAuthorize("hasAuthority('ADMIN')"). You can create a custom @Bean like this one:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

class MyAuthorizer {
	boolean isAdmin(MethodSecurityExpressionOperations root) {
		boolean decision = root.hasAuthority("ADMIN");
		// custom work ...
        return decision;
	}
}
class MyAuthorizer {
	fun isAdmin(val root: MethodSecurityExpressionOperations): boolean {
		val decision = root.hasAuthority("ADMIN");
		// custom work ...
        return decision;
	}
}

and then refer to it in the annotation like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@PreAuthorize("@authz.isAdmin(#root)")
@PreAuthorize("@authz.isAdmin(#root)")

I’d still prefer to subclass DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler

If you must continue subclassing DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler, you can still do so. Instead, override the createEvaluationContext(Supplier<Authentication>, MethodInvocation) method like so:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Component
class MyExpressionHandler extends DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler {
    @Override
    public EvaluationContext createEvaluationContext(Supplier<Authentication> authentication, MethodInvocation mi) {
		StandardEvaluationContext context = (StandardEvaluationContext) super.createEvaluationContext(authentication, mi);
        MethodSecurityExpressionOperations delegate = (MethodSecurityExpressionOperations) context.getRootObject().getValue();
        MySecurityExpressionRoot root = new MySecurityExpressionRoot(delegate);
        context.setRootObject(root);
        return context;
    }
}
@Component
class MyExpressionHandler: DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler {
    override fun createEvaluationContext(val authentication: Supplier<Authentication>,
        val mi: MethodInvocation): EvaluationContext {
		val context = super.createEvaluationContext(authentication, mi) as StandardEvaluationContext
        val delegate = context.getRootObject().getValue() as MethodSecurityExpressionOperations
        val root = MySecurityExpressionRoot(delegate)
        context.setRootObject(root)
        return context
    }
}

Further Reading

Now that you have secured your application’s requests, please secure its requests if you haven’t already. You can also read further on testing your application or on integrating Spring Security with other aspects of you application like the data layer or tracing and metrics.