org.springframework.security.web.authentication.switchuser

Class SwitchUserFilter

java.lang.Object

org.springframework.web.filter.GenericFilterBean

org.springframework.security.web.authentication.switchuser.SwitchUserFilter

All Implemented Interfaces:

javax.servlet.Filter, org.springframework.beans.factory.Aware, org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanNameAware, org.springframework.beans.factory.DisposableBean, org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean, org.springframework.context.ApplicationEventPublisherAware, org.springframework.context.EnvironmentAware, org.springframework.context.MessageSourceAware, org.springframework.core.env.EnvironmentCapable, org.springframework.web.context.ServletContextAware

public class SwitchUserFilter
extends org.springframework.web.filter.GenericFilterBean
implements org.springframework.context.ApplicationEventPublisherAware, org.springframework.context.MessageSourceAware

Switch User processing filter responsible for user context switching.

This filter is similar to Unix 'su' however for Spring Security-managed web applications. A common use-case for this feature is the ability to allow higher-authority users (e.g. ROLE_ADMIN) to switch to a regular user (e.g. ROLE_USER).

This filter assumes that the user performing the switch will be required to be logged in as normal (i.e. as a ROLE_ADMIN user). The user will then access a page/controller that enables the administrator to specify who they wish to become (see switchUserUrl).

Note: This URL will be required to have appropriate security constraints configured so that only users of that role can access it (e.g. ROLE_ADMIN).

On a successful switch, the user's SecurityContext will be updated to reflect the specified user and will also contain an additional SwitchUserGrantedAuthority which contains the original user. Before switching, a check will be made on whether the user is already currently switched, and any current switch will be exited to prevent "nested" switches.

To 'exit' from a user context, the user needs to access a URL (see exitUserUrl) that will switch back to the original user as identified by the ROLE_PREVIOUS_ADMINISTRATOR.

To configure the Switch User Processing Filter, create a bean definition for the Switch User processing filter and add to the filterChainProxy. Note that the filter must come after the FilterSecurityInteceptor in the chain, in order to apply the correct constraints to the switchUserUrl. Example:

 <bean id="switchUserProcessingFilter" class="org.springframework.security.web.authentication.switchuser.SwitchUserFilter">
    <property name="userDetailsService" ref="userDetailsService" />
    <property name="switchUserUrl" value="/login/impersonate" />
    <property name="exitUserUrl" value="/logout/impersonate" />
    <property name="targetUrl" value="/index.jsp" />
 </bean>
 

See Also:

SwitchUserGrantedAuthority

Field Summary

Fields

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
protected org.springframework.context.support.MessageSourceAccessor	messages
static java.lang.String	ROLE_PREVIOUS_ADMINISTRATOR
static java.lang.String	SPRING_SECURITY_SWITCH_USERNAME_KEY

Fields inherited from class org.springframework.web.filter.GenericFilterBean

logger

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
SwitchUserFilter()

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	afterPropertiesSet()
protected Authentication	attemptExitUser(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest request) Attempt to exit from an already switched user.
protected Authentication	attemptSwitchUser(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest request) Attempt to switch to another user.
void	doFilter(javax.servlet.ServletRequest req, javax.servlet.ServletResponse res, javax.servlet.FilterChain chain)
protected boolean	requiresExitUser(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest request) Checks the request URI for the presence of exitUserUrl.
protected boolean	requiresSwitchUser(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest request) Checks the request URI for the presence of switchUserUrl.
void	setApplicationEventPublisher(org.springframework.context.ApplicationEventPublisher eventPublisher)
void	setAuthenticationDetailsSource(AuthenticationDetailsSource<javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest,?> authenticationDetailsSource)
void	setExitUserMatcher(RequestMatcher exitUserMatcher) Set the matcher to respond to exit user processing.
void	setExitUserUrl(java.lang.String exitUserUrl) Set the URL to respond to exit user processing.
void	setFailureHandler(AuthenticationFailureHandler failureHandler) Used to define custom behaviour when a switch fails.
void	setMessageSource(org.springframework.context.MessageSource messageSource)
void	setSuccessHandler(AuthenticationSuccessHandler successHandler) Used to define custom behaviour on a successful switch or exit user.
void	setSwitchAuthorityRole(java.lang.String switchAuthorityRole) Allows the role of the switchAuthority to be customized.
void	setSwitchFailureUrl(java.lang.String switchFailureUrl) Sets the URL to which a user should be redirected if the switch fails.
void	setSwitchUserAuthorityChanger(SwitchUserAuthorityChanger switchUserAuthorityChanger)
void	setSwitchUserMatcher(RequestMatcher switchUserMatcher) Set the matcher to respond to switch user processing.
void	setSwitchUserUrl(java.lang.String switchUserUrl) Set the URL to respond to switch user processing.
void	setTargetUrl(java.lang.String targetUrl) Sets the URL to go to after a successful switch / exit user request.
void	setUserDetailsChecker(UserDetailsChecker userDetailsChecker)
void	setUserDetailsService(UserDetailsService userDetailsService) Sets the authentication data access object.
void	setUsernameParameter(java.lang.String usernameParameter) Allows the parameter containing the username to be customized.

Methods inherited from class org.springframework.web.filter.GenericFilterBean

addRequiredProperty, createEnvironment, destroy, getEnvironment, getFilterConfig, getFilterName, getServletContext, init, initBeanWrapper, initFilterBean, setBeanName, setEnvironment, setServletContext

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

SPRING_SECURITY_SWITCH_USERNAME_KEY

public static final java.lang.String SPRING_SECURITY_SWITCH_USERNAME_KEY

See Also:

Constant Field Values

ROLE_PREVIOUS_ADMINISTRATOR

public static final java.lang.String ROLE_PREVIOUS_ADMINISTRATOR

See Also:

Constant Field Values

messages

protected org.springframework.context.support.MessageSourceAccessor messages

Constructor Detail

SwitchUserFilter

public SwitchUserFilter()

Method Detail

afterPropertiesSet

public void afterPropertiesSet()

Specified by:

afterPropertiesSet in interface org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean

Overrides:

afterPropertiesSet in class org.springframework.web.filter.GenericFilterBean

doFilter

public void doFilter(javax.servlet.ServletRequest req,
                     javax.servlet.ServletResponse res,
                     javax.servlet.FilterChain chain)
              throws java.io.IOException,
                     javax.servlet.ServletException

Specified by:

doFilter in interface javax.servlet.Filter

Throws:

java.io.IOException

javax.servlet.ServletException

attemptSwitchUser

protected Authentication attemptSwitchUser(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest request)
                                    throws AuthenticationException

Attempt to switch to another user. If the user does not exist or is not active, return null.

Returns:

The new Authentication request if successfully switched to another user, null otherwise.

Throws:

UsernameNotFoundException - If the target user is not found.

LockedException - if the account is locked.

DisabledException - If the target user is disabled.

AccountExpiredException - If the target user account is expired.

CredentialsExpiredException - If the target user credentials are expired.

AuthenticationException

attemptExitUser

protected Authentication attemptExitUser(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest request)
                                  throws AuthenticationCredentialsNotFoundException

Attempt to exit from an already switched user.

Parameters:

request - The http servlet request

Returns:

The original Authentication object or null otherwise.

Throws:

AuthenticationCredentialsNotFoundException - If no Authentication associated with this request.

requiresExitUser

protected boolean requiresExitUser(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest request)

Checks the request URI for the presence of exitUserUrl.

Parameters:

request - The http servlet request

Returns:

true if the request requires a exit user, false otherwise.

See Also:

setExitUserUrl(String)

requiresSwitchUser

protected boolean requiresSwitchUser(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest request)

Checks the request URI for the presence of switchUserUrl.

Parameters:

request - The http servlet request

Returns:

true if the request requires a switch, false otherwise.

See Also:

setSwitchUserUrl(String)

setApplicationEventPublisher

public void setApplicationEventPublisher(org.springframework.context.ApplicationEventPublisher eventPublisher)
                                  throws org.springframework.beans.BeansException

Specified by:

setApplicationEventPublisher in interface org.springframework.context.ApplicationEventPublisherAware

Throws:

org.springframework.beans.BeansException

setAuthenticationDetailsSource

public void setAuthenticationDetailsSource(AuthenticationDetailsSource<javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest,?> authenticationDetailsSource)

setMessageSource

public void setMessageSource(org.springframework.context.MessageSource messageSource)

Specified by:

setMessageSource in interface org.springframework.context.MessageSourceAware

setUserDetailsService

public void setUserDetailsService(UserDetailsService userDetailsService)

Sets the authentication data access object.

Parameters:

userDetailsService - The UserDetailService which will be used to load information for the user that is being switched to.

setExitUserUrl

public void setExitUserUrl(java.lang.String exitUserUrl)

Set the URL to respond to exit user processing.

Parameters:

exitUserUrl - The exit user URL.

setExitUserMatcher

public void setExitUserMatcher(RequestMatcher exitUserMatcher)

Set the matcher to respond to exit user processing. This is a shortcut for setExitUserMatcher(RequestMatcher)

Parameters:

exitUserMatcher - The exit matcher to use

setSwitchUserUrl

public void setSwitchUserUrl(java.lang.String switchUserUrl)

Set the URL to respond to switch user processing. This is a shortcut for setSwitchUserMatcher(RequestMatcher)

Parameters:

switchUserUrl - The switch user URL.

setSwitchUserMatcher

public void setSwitchUserMatcher(RequestMatcher switchUserMatcher)

Set the matcher to respond to switch user processing.

Parameters:

switchUserMatcher - The switch user matcher.

setTargetUrl

public void setTargetUrl(java.lang.String targetUrl)

Sets the URL to go to after a successful switch / exit user request. Use setSuccessHandler instead if you need more customized behaviour.

Parameters:

targetUrl - The target url.

setSuccessHandler

public void setSuccessHandler(AuthenticationSuccessHandler successHandler)

Used to define custom behaviour on a successful switch or exit user.

Can be used instead of setting targetUrl.

setSwitchFailureUrl

public void setSwitchFailureUrl(java.lang.String switchFailureUrl)

Sets the URL to which a user should be redirected if the switch fails. For example, this might happen because the account they are attempting to switch to is invalid (the user doesn't exist, account is locked etc).

If not set, an error message will be written to the response.

Use failureHandler instead if you need more customized behaviour.

Parameters:

switchFailureUrl - the url to redirect to.

setFailureHandler

public void setFailureHandler(AuthenticationFailureHandler failureHandler)

Used to define custom behaviour when a switch fails.

Can be used instead of setting switchFailureUrl.

setSwitchUserAuthorityChanger

public void setSwitchUserAuthorityChanger(SwitchUserAuthorityChanger switchUserAuthorityChanger)

Parameters:

switchUserAuthorityChanger - to use to fine-tune the authorities granted to subclasses (may be null if SwitchUserFilter should not fine-tune the authorities)

setUserDetailsChecker

public void setUserDetailsChecker(UserDetailsChecker userDetailsChecker)

setUsernameParameter

public void setUsernameParameter(java.lang.String usernameParameter)

Allows the parameter containing the username to be customized.

Parameters:

usernameParameter - the parameter name. Defaults to username

setSwitchAuthorityRole

public void setSwitchAuthorityRole(java.lang.String switchAuthorityRole)

Allows the role of the switchAuthority to be customized.

Parameters:

switchAuthorityRole - the role name. Defaults to ROLE_PREVIOUS_ADMINISTRATOR