How do I add method based security to a Spring Boot project?

Question

I want to add method based security to a Spring Boot project.

It seemed that all I would need is to add PermissionEvaluator and MethodSecurityExpressionHandler beans, annotate my WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter with @EnableGlobalMethodSecurity(prePostEnabled = true) and the method with @PreAuthorize("isAuthenticated() and hasPermission(#param, 'somePermissionName')").

But after adding a PermissionEvaluator bean

@Bean
public PermissionEvaluator permissionEvaluator() {
    HelloPermissionEvaluator bean = new HelloPermissionEvaluator();
    return bean;
}

I get an IllegalArgumentException: "A ServletContext is required to configure default servlet handling":

Exception in thread "main" org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'defaultServletHandlerMapping' defined in class path resource [org/springframework/web/servlet/config/annotation/DelegatingWebMvcConfiguration.class]: Instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Factory method [public org.springframework.web.servlet.HandlerMapping org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.WebMvcConfigurationSupport.defaultServletHandlerMapping()] threw exception; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: A ServletContext is required to configure default servlet handling
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.instantiateUsingFactoryMethod(ConstructorResolver.java:597)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.instantiateUsingFactoryMethod(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1094)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:989)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:504)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:475)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:304)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:228)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:300)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:195)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:703)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:760)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:482)
    at org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.refresh(EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java:120)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:648)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:311)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:909)
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:898)
    at com.domain.simple.Application.main(Application.java:14)
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Factory method [public org.springframework.web.servlet.HandlerMapping org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.WebMvcConfigurationSupport.defaultServletHandlerMapping()] threw exception; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: A ServletContext is required to configure default servlet handling
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.SimpleInstantiationStrategy.instantiate(SimpleInstantiationStrategy.java:188)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.instantiateUsingFactoryMethod(ConstructorResolver.java:586)
    ... 17 more
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: A ServletContext is required to configure default servlet handling
    at org.springframework.util.Assert.notNull(Assert.java:112)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.DefaultServletHandlerConfigurer.<init>(DefaultServletHandlerConfigurer.java:54)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.WebMvcConfigurationSupport.defaultServletHandlerMapping(WebMvcConfigurationSupport.java:346)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.DelegatingWebMvcConfiguration$$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$d7f296e3.CGLIB$defaultServletHandlerMapping$26(<generated>)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.DelegatingWebMvcConfiguration$$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$d7f296e3$$FastClassBySpringCGLIB$$48c20692.invoke(<generated>)
    at org.springframework.cglib.proxy.MethodProxy.invokeSuper(MethodProxy.java:228)
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassEnhancer$BeanMethodInterceptor.intercept(ConfigurationClassEnhancer.java:312)
    at org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.DelegatingWebMvcConfiguration$$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$d7f296e3.defaultServletHandlerMapping(<generated>)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:483)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.SimpleInstantiationStrategy.instantiate(SimpleInstantiationStrategy.java:166)
    ... 18 more

All I could find on the web is related to jUnit testing. Why is this exception being thrown? What am I missing? Do I have to add a ServletContext bean, and if so, how?

My requirements are Gradle, Spring Boot and java config (instead of XML config). The minimal and complete source follows:

---

Application.java

package com.domain.simple;

import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.EnableAutoConfiguration;
import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScan;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;

@EnableAutoConfiguration
@Configuration
@ComponentScan
public class Application {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Throwable {
        SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
    }

}

HelloController.java

package com.domain.simple;

import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import org.springframework.security.access.prepost.PreAuthorize;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PathVariable;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ResponseBody;

@Controller
public class HelloController {

    Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(HelloController.class);

    // @PreAuthorize("isAuthenticated() and hasPermission(#param, 'somePermissionName')")
    @RequestMapping(value = "/hello/{param}")
    @ResponseBody
    public String hello(@PathVariable("param") String param) {
        log.info("hello(" + param + ") called");
        return "Hello " + param;
    }
}

HelloPermissionEvaluator.java

package com.domain.simple;

import java.io.Serializable;

import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import org.springframework.security.access.PermissionEvaluator;
import org.springframework.security.core.Authentication;

public class HelloPermissionEvaluator implements PermissionEvaluator {

    Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(HelloPermissionEvaluator.class);

    @Override
    public boolean hasPermission(Authentication authentication,
            Object targetDomainObject, Object permission) {
        log.info("hasPermission(Authentication, Object, Object) called");
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean hasPermission(Authentication authentication,
            Serializable targetId, String targetType, Object permission) {
        log.error("hasPermission(Authentication, Serializable, String, Object) called");
        throw new RuntimeException("ID based permission evaluation currently not supported.");
    }
}

WebSecurityConfig.java

package com.domain.simple;

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScan;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.security.access.PermissionEvaluator;
import org.springframework.security.access.expression.method.DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler;
import org.springframework.security.access.expression.method.MethodSecurityExpressionHandler;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.authentication.builders.AuthenticationManagerBuilder;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.method.configuration.EnableGlobalMethodSecurity;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configuration.EnableWebSecurity;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configuration.WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter;

@Configuration
@ComponentScan
@EnableWebSecurity
@EnableGlobalMethodSecurity(prePostEnabled = true)
public class WebSecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {

    @Override
    protected void configure(AuthenticationManagerBuilder authManagerBuilder)
            throws Exception {
        authManagerBuilder.inMemoryAuthentication().withUser("user")
                .password("password").roles("USER");
    }

//    @Bean
//    public MethodSecurityExpressionHandler expressionHandler() {
//        DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler bean = new DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler();
//        bean.setPermissionEvaluator(permissionEvaluator());
//        return bean;
//    }

    // this causes an IllegalArgumentException ("A ServletContext is required to configure default servlet handling")
    @Bean
    public PermissionEvaluator permissionEvaluator() {
        HelloPermissionEvaluator bean = new HelloPermissionEvaluator();
        return bean;
    }

}

build.gradle

buildscript {
    repositories {
        maven { url "http://repo.spring.io/libs-snapshot" }
        mavenLocal()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:1.0.2.RELEASE")
    }
}

apply plugin: 'eclipse'
apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'spring-boot'

jar {
    baseName = 'simple'
    version =  '0.1.0'
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
    maven { url "http://repo.spring.io/libs-snapshot" }
}

dependencies {
    compile("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web")
    compile("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-security")
}

task wrapper(type: Wrapper) {
    gradleVersion = '1.12'
}

Answer 1

Try putting the PermissionEvaluator in a separate @Configuration class. You appear to be forcing it to be instantiated before the ServletContext is ready (Spring Security filters have to be created super early so this can happen).

Answer 2

Ran into similar issue. If you want to configure custom permission evaluator in expression handler, you can do something like this

public class SecurityPermissionEvaluator implements PermissionEvaluator 
    {
    //A is a spring managed bean on which permission evaluator depends
    private A a;

    @Autowired
    public  SecurityPermissionEvaluator(A a){
        this.a = a;
    }
    @Override
    public boolean hasPermission(Authentication authentication, Object targetDomainObject, Object permission) {

        return false;
    }
}

then

@Configuration
@EnableGlobalMethodSecurity(prePostEnabled = true)
public class WebSecurityConfiguration extends GlobalMethodSecurityConfiguration {

    @Autowired private A a;

    @Override
    protected MethodSecurityExpressionHandler createExpressionHandler() {
        DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler expressionHandler =
                new DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler();
        PermissionEvaluator permissionEvaluator = new SecurityPermissionEvaluator(a);
        expressionHandler.setPermissionEvaluator(permissionEvaluator);
        return expressionHandler;
    }

}

if you want to use Permission evaluator explicitly then along with above do as suggested by Dave ie define permission evaluator bean in its on config file.