Contents

Title and Copyright Information

Preface

Documentation Accessibility

Conventions

1 Introduction and Roadmap

Document Scope and Audience

Guide to This Document

Related Information

Tutorials and Samples

New and Changed Features for This Release

2 Understanding WebLogic Resource Security

Overview of Securing WebLogic Resources

Using Policies to Protect Multiple Resources

Protecting Policies by Type

Protecting a Hierarchy of Resources

Designing Roles and Policies for WebLogic Resources: Main Steps

Best Practices: Conditionalize Policies or Conditionalize Roles

Best Practices: Configure Entitlements Caching When Using WebLogic Providers

3 Resource Types You Can Secure with Policies

Administrative Resources

Application Resources

COM Resources

EJB Resources

Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) Resources

Java DataBase Connectivity (JDBC) Resources

JDBC Operations

Java Messaging Service (JMS) Resources

JMS Operations

Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) Resources

JNDI Operations

JMX Resources

Maintaining a Consistent Security Scheme

Server Resources

Permissions for the weblogic.Server Command and the Node Manager

Permissions for Using the weblogic.Server Command

Permissions for Using the Node Manager

URL Resources

Web Service Resources

Work Context Resources

4 Options for Securing Web Application and EJB Resources

Deployment Descriptors Not Required

Comparison of Security Models for Web Applications and EJBs

Discussion of Each Model

Metadata Annotations

Deployment Descriptor Only Model

Custom Roles Model

Custom Roles and Policies Model

Advanced Model

Understanding the Advanced Security Model

Understanding the Check Roles and Policies Setting

Understanding the When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs Setting

How the Check Roles and Policies and When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs Settings Interact

Understanding the Combined Role Mapping Enabled Setting

Usage Examples

Securing Web Applications and EJBs

5 Security Policies

Security Policy Storage and Prerequisites for Use

Default Root Level Security Policies

Security Policy Conditions

Basic Policy Conditions

Date and Time Policy Conditions

Context Element Policy Conditions

Protected Public Interfaces

Using the Administration Console to Manage Security Policies

6 Users, Groups, And Security Roles

Overview of Users and Groups

Default Groups

Runtime Groups

Best Practices: Add a User To the Administrators Group

Overview of Security Roles

Types of Security Roles: Global Roles and Scoped Roles

Default Global Roles

Security Role Conditions

Basic Role Conditions

Date and Time Role Conditions

Context Element Role Conditions

Using the Administration Console to Manage Users, Groups, and Roles

7 Using XACML Documents to Secure WebLogic Resources

Prerequisites

Adding a XACML Role or Policy to a Realm: Main Steps

Caution: Indeterminate Results Can Lock Out All Users

Determine Which Resource to Secure

Get the ID of the Resource to Secure

Create XACML Documents

Example: Defining Role Assignments

Example: Defining Authorization Policies

Use WebLogic Scripting Tool to Add the Role or Policy to the Realm

Verify That Your Roles and Policies Are in the Realm

Creating Roles and Polices for Custom MBeans

Determine the Resource IDs for a Custom MBean

Exporting Roles and Policies to XACML Documents

A Reference for XACML on WebLogic Server

Comparison of WebLogic Server and XACML Security Models

Comparison of Terminology

Description of Data Types

Action Identifiers

Examples

Environment Identifiers

Examples

Policy and PolicySet Identifiers

Examples

Resource Identifiers

Examples

Subject Identifiers

Examples

WebLogic Server Functions for XACML

Custom Data Type Variants

Examples

Miscellaneous Functions

Example

Time/Date Conversions

Arithmetic Conversions and Functions

Object Type Conversions

Object Comparisons

String Comparisons and Manipulations

Rule and Policy-Combining Algorithm

Oracle® Fusion Middleware

Securing Resources Using Roles and Policies for Oracle WebLogic Server

12c Release 1 (12.1.1)

E24421-02

January 2012

Documentation for security architects and administrators that describes how to use security roles and policies to determine who can access resources in a domain.

Oracle Fusion Middleware Securing Resources Using Roles and Policies for Oracle WebLogic Server, 12c Release 1 (12.1.1)

E24421-02

Copyright © 2007, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

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Preface

This preface describes the document accessibility features and conventions used in this guide—Securing Resources Using Roles and Policies for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Documentation Accessibility

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Access to Oracle Support

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Conventions

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Convention
Meaning

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italic

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1 Introduction and Roadmap

The WebLogic Security Service combines several layers of security features to prevent unauthorized access to your WebLogic Server domains. This document describes using roles and policies to determine who can access resources in a domain. The roles and policies feature fulfills the same function as the familiar Access Control List (ACL), but offers an improvement over ACLs: an ACL is static while roles and policies specify conditions under which users can access resources, and these conditions are evaluated at runtime.

The following sections describe the content and organization of this document:

Document Scope and Audience

Guide to This Document

Related Information

New and Changed Features for This Release

Document Scope and Audience

This document contains information that is useful for security architects and security administrators who are designing a security strategy for resources within a WebLogic Server domain. It includes information about resource types, options for securing Web applications and EJBs, different types of security roles and policies, and the components of a role and policy.

It is assumed that the reader is familiar with Java EE security and the other features of the WebLogic Security Service.

The information in this document is relevant during the design and development phases of a software project. This document does not address production phase administration topics. For links to WebLogic Server documentation and resources related to these topics, see Related Information.

Guide to This Document

The document is organized as follows:

This chapter, Chapter 1, "Introduction and Roadmap," introduces the organization of this guide.

Chapter 2, "Understanding WebLogic Resource Security," introduces terms and concepts, provides a workflow summary, and outlines the main steps for securing WebLogic resources.

Chapter 3, "Resource Types You Can Secure with Policies," describes the different types of WebLogic resources that can be secured using the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

Chapter 4, "Options for Securing Web Application and EJB Resources," describes options for securing EJB and Web application resources using deployment descriptors and/or the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

Chapter 5, "Security Policies," describes security policies, including WebLogic Server default security policies. Also describes the components of a security policy.

Chapter 6, "Users, Groups, And Security Roles," describes users and groups who access WebLogic resources, including WebLogic Server default groups. Also describes scoped security roles and global security roles, including WebLogic Server default global roles. A final section describes the components of a security role.

Chapter 7, "Using XACML Documents to Secure WebLogic Resources," describes the eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML), an XML language for expressing authorization policies and role assignments.

Appendix A, "Reference for XACML on WebLogic Server," describes the extensions that you can use when writing XACML 2.0 documents to protect resources on WebLogic Server and the restrictions that WebLogic Server places on XACML.

Related Information

Other WebLogic Server documents that may be of interest to security administrators wanting to secure WebLogic resources are:

Understanding Security for Oracle WebLogic Server—Summarizes the features of the WebLogic Security Service, including an overview of its architecture and capabilities. It is the starting point for understanding WebLogic security.

Securing Oracle WebLogic Server—Describes how to ensure that security is comprehensively configured for a WebLogic Server installation, including information about security providers, identity and trust and SSL.

"Use roles and policies to secure resources" in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help—Provides step-by-step instructions for using the WebLogic Server Administration Console to complete the tasks that this document describes.

These documents provide additional information about specific resource types:

"Securing Web Applications," "Securing Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs)" and "Using Java Security to Protect WebLogic Resources" in Programming Security for Oracle WebLogic Server

"Configuring Access Control" in Programming JCOM for Oracle WebLogic Server (COM resources)

"Security" in Programming Resource Adapters for Oracle WebLogic Server (EIS resources)

Securing WebLogic Web Services for Oracle WebLogic Server

Tutorials and Samples

Additional security documents are listed in "Code Examples and Sample Applications" in Understanding Oracle WebLogic Server.

New and Changed Features for This Release

For a comprehensive listing of the new WebLogic Server features introduced in this release, see What's New in Oracle WebLogic Server.

2 Understanding WebLogic Resource Security

This chapter describes terms and concepts, provides a workflow summary, and outlines the main steps for securing WebLogic resources.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Overview of Securing WebLogic Resources

Designing Roles and Policies for WebLogic Resources: Main Steps

Overview of Securing WebLogic Resources

To secure a resource in a WebLogic Server domain, you create a policy and an optional role. A resource is an entity (such as a Web Service or a server instance) or an action (such as a method in a Web Service or the act of shutting down a server instance). A policy specifies which users, groups, or roles can access the resource under a set of conditions. A security role, like a security group, grants an identity to a user. Unlike a group, however, membership in a role can be based on a set of conditions that are evaluated at runtime.

Figure 2-1 describes how you create roles and policies and how the Security Service uses them to determine whether a client can access a resource. A brief explanation follows the figure.

Figure 2-1 How a Policy Grants Access to a Resource

Before creating security policies and roles, Administrators statically assign users to groups, which can represent organizational boundaries. The same user can be a member of multiple groups. Figure 2-1 shows three groups with two users each. User 1 and User 3 are members of multiple groups.

Oracle recommends assigning users to groups because doing so increases efficiency for administrators who work with many users.

Administrators create a security role based on their organization's established business procedures. The security role consists of one or more conditions, which specify the circumstances under which a particular user, group, or other role should be granted the security role.

At runtime, the Security Service compares the groups against the role condition(s) to determine whether users in the group should be dynamically granted a security role. This process of comparing groups to roles is called role mapping. In Figure 2-1, Group 2 is the only group that is granted a security role.

Individual users can also be granted a security role, but this is a less typical practice.

Administrators create a security policy based on their organization's established business procedures. The security policy consists of one or more policy conditions which specify the circumstances under which a particular security role should be granted access to a WebLogic resource.

At runtime, the WebLogic Security Service uses the security policy to determine whether access to the protected WebLogic resource should be granted. Only users who are members of the group that is granted the security role can access the WebLogic resource. In Figure 2-1, User 3 and User 6 can access the protected WebLogic resource because they are members of Group 2, and Group 2 is granted the necessary security role.

Using Policies to Protect Multiple Resources

WebLogic Server provides two techniques for using a single policy to protect a collection of resources:

Protecting Policies by Type

Protecting a Hierarchy of Resources

Protecting Policies by Type

You can create a policy that protects all resources of a specific type. Such policies are called root-level policies. For example, you can create a root-level policy for the Web Service type. All Web Services that you deploy in the domain for which you have defined this root-level policy will be protected by the root-level policy.

If you define a policy for a specific Web Service, then the Web Service will be protected by its own policy and will ignore the root-level policy.

Protecting a Hierarchy of Resources

All of the resources within a Java EE application or module that you deploy exist within a hierarchy, and policies on resources higher in the hierarchy act as default policies for resources lower in the same hierarchy. Policies lower in a hierarchy always override policies higher in the hierarchy.

For example, EnterpriseApp1contains EJB ModuleA along with a Web application and a JDBC module (see Figure 2-2). You create a policy for EnterpriseApp1 and for method Y within EJB ModuleA. When an EJB client attempts to invoke method Y, the WebLogic Security Service enforces the specific policy and ignores the policy for the enterprise application.

When a client requests access to EJB method X (which is not protected by its own policy), the WebLogic Security Service asks:

Is there a policy for this EJB method? No, therefore go to the next higher level in the hierarchy.

Is there a policy for the EJB that contains this method? No, therefore go to the next higher level in the hierarchy.

Is there a policy for the EJB module that contains the method's parent EJB? No, therefore go to the next higher level in the hierarchy.

Is there a policy for the enterprise application that contains this URL pattern? Yes, use it. (If there were no such policy, the Security Service would have used the default root-level policy for EJBs.)

Figure 2-2 Hierarchy of Resources and Policies

You can see a visual representation of resource and policy hierarchies in the Administration Console on the security realm's Roles and Policies: Policies page. For information about accessing this page, see "Create policies for resource instances" in the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

Designing Roles and Policies for WebLogic Resources: Main Steps

To design a set of roles and policies that can secure the resources in your domain:

List all of the resources that will be in your domain and determine which ones should be accessed only by specific users or groups.

To see a list of all the types of resources that could be in any given domain, see Chapter 3, "Resource Types You Can Secure with Policies."

For planning purposes, organize the resources into the following categories:

Server resources, administrative resources, and JMX resources. Server resources determine who can start and stop server instances. Administrative resources determine who can complete such tasks as unlocking users who have been locked out of their accounts, uploading files (used during deployment), and viewing the domain and server logs. JMX resources determine who can change the configuration of servers, clusters, machines, and other components that are defined in the domain's configuration document (config.xml).

For these tasks, WebLogic Server already provides a detailed, layered security scheme that grants different types of access to eight security roles (Admin, Deployer, Operator, Monitor, Anonymous, AppTester, CrossDomainConnector, AdminChannelUser). For most environments, this security scheme is adequate and only requires you to assign users to the eight default security roles appropriately (see step 3).

While it is possible to modify some parts of this layered security scheme, such modifications are usually not needed and require careful planning to maintain consistency between the different layers. See Administrative Resources, Server Resources, and JMX Resources.

Web application resources and EJB resources, which determine who can access the Web applications and EJBs that you deploy in your domain.

The Java EE platform already provides a standard model for securing Web applications and EJBs. In this standard model, developers define role mappings and policies in the Web application or EJB deployment descriptors.

You can use the standard model or you can use the Administration Console to define polices and roles, which offers unified and dynamic security management. See Chapter 4, "Options for Securing Web Application and EJB Resources."

All other resources, which determine who can access the business logic and business content in the enterprise applications and other modules that you deploy or otherwise configure for the domain.

By default, these resources are not protected by policies; you must define policies to determine who can access them.

For each type of resource that you want to secure, determine if you need to create root-level policies, scoped policies, or a combination of both.

A root-level policy applies to all instances of a resource type. For example, if you define a root-level policy for the Web Services resource type, then the policy will apply to all Web Services in your domain.

A scoped policy applies to a specific resource instance and overrides a root-level policy.

See Chapter 5, "Security Policies."

Analyze your users and the resources that you want them to access. Organize users into security groups and roles as follows:

Add any user that you want to start and stop servers or to engage in other administrative tasks to one of the eight default global roles. The WebLogic Server security scheme allows only the eight global roles to perform many of these tasks.

For other users (that you do not want to access administrative or server resources but you do want to access other resources for which you have defined policies), create additional security groups and roles. Because role membership can be granted at runtime, you can place users or groups in roles based on business rules or the context of the request.

You can create global roles, which can be used in any policy, or scoped roles, which can be used only in a policy for a specific resource instance.

See Chapter 6, "Users, Groups, And Security Roles."

Use the Administration Console to create users, groups, roles, and policies:

To create the users and groups, see "Manage users and groups" in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

To create security roles, see "Manage security roles" in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

To create security policies, see "Manage security policies" in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

Best Practices: Conditionalize Policies or Conditionalize Roles

Because both roles and policies can evaluate a set of conditions at runtime, you should consider which parts of your security data should be static and which should be dynamic. For example, you might want some policies to always allow one specific role to access a resource, and then you use conditions in the role's definition to move users in and out of the roles as needed. In other cases, you might want a static role definition and create a policy that allows access to different roles at different times of the day.

As a general guideline, if you base the authorization decision on the resource instead of the entities (roles) who can access the resource, you would add conditions to the security policy. If you base authorization on who can access the resource, then you would add conditions to the security role.

For an example of authorization based on who can access the resource, consider a manager who is going on vacation. You can temporarily place a user in a Manager security role. Dynamically granting this security role means that you do not need to change or redeploy your application to allow for such a temporary arrangement. You simply specify the hours between which the temporary manager should have special privileges. Further, you do not need to remember to revoke these special privileges when the actual manager returns as you would if you temporarily added the user to a management group.

Best Practices: Configure Entitlements Caching When Using WebLogic Providers

The WebLogic Authorization provider (DefaultAuthorizer) and the WebLogic Role Mapping provider (DefaultRoleMapper) improve performance by caching the roles, predicates, and resource data that they look up. If you modify your realm to use these WebLogic providers, you can configure the maximum number of items that they store in the caches.

Note:

By default, security realms in newly created domains include the XACML Authorization and Role Mapping providers. The XACML providers use their own cache, but this cache is not configurable. WebLogic Server also includes the WebLogic Authorization provider (DefaultAuthorizer) and the Role Mapping provider (DefaultRoleMapper), which use a proprietary policy language. The DefaultAuthorizer and DefaultRoleMapper providers are the only WebLogic-provided security providers with configurable caches of entitlement data.

By default, the Weblogic Authorization and Role Mapping providers store the following number of items in each cache:

2000 items in the roles cache

This cache contains the name of each role that has been looked up and the policy that protects it.

200 items in the predicates cache

This cache contains each predicate that the WebLogic entitlements engine has looked up.

5000 items in the resources cache

This cache contains the name of each resource that has been looked up and the policy that protects it.

If a cache exceeds its maximum size, the WebLogic entitlements engine removes the least recently used (LRU) item from the cache.

If the applications on a WebLogic Server instance use more than 2000 roles or 5000 resources, consider increasing the cache sizes. (The WebLogic providers include less than 50 predicates, so there is no need to increase the size of this cache.)

To change the maximum number of items that a cache contains, pass one of the following system properties in the java startup command for a WebLogic Server instance:

-Dweblogic.entitlement.engine.cache.max_role_count=max-roles

where max-roles is the maximum number of roles that you want to cache.

-Dweblogic.entitlement.engine.cache.max_predicate_count=max-predicates

where max-predicates is the maximum number of predicates that you want to cache.

-Dweblogic.entitlement.engine.cache.max_resource_count=max-resources

where max_resource_count is the maximum number of resources that you want to cache.

By default, the WebLogic providers add items to the cache as they use them. With this configuration, the initial lookup of entitlement data takes longer than subsequent lookups. You can, however, decrease the amount of time needed for an initial lookup by configuring a WebLogic Server instance to load the caches during its startup cycle. To do so, pass the following system property to the server's java startup command:

-Dweblogic.entitlement.engine.cache.preload=true

For example:

java -Dweblogic.entitlement.engine.cache.max_role_count=6001 -Dweblogic.entitlement.engine.cache.max_resource_count=3001 -Dweblogic.entitlement.engine.cache.preload=true weblogic.Server

3 Resource Types You Can Secure with Policies

This chapter describes the types of resources that you can secure using policies in WebLogic Server.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Administrative Resources

Application Resources

COM Resources

EJB Resources

Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) Resources

Java DataBase Connectivity (JDBC) Resources

Java Messaging Service (JMS) Resources

Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) Resources

JMX Resources

Server Resources

URL Resources

Web Service Resources

Work Context Resources

Administrative Resources

Policies for administrative resources determine who can complete such tasks as uploading files (used during deployment), viewing the domain and server logs, and unlocking users who have been locked out of their accounts.

For the most security-sensitive of these tasks, users must first be authorized by additional policies on a JMX resource (see Figure 3-1). For information about JMX resources and how to design roles and policies for activities that are protected by multiple resources, see JMX Resources.

Figure 3-1 Some Policies Overlap

Table 3-1 describes the administrative activities that administrative resources protect and which of these activities are also protected by additional JMX resources. For activities that are protected by multiple resources, the default policy in the JMX resource duplicates the protections in the Administrative resource.

Table 3-1 Activities And Default Policies For Administrative Resources

Administrative Activities
Default Policy Allows These Roles
Also Protected By a JMX Resource?

Upload files for deployment.

Admin, Deployer

No

Control access to these methods in the file download servlet:

ALL methods

wl_component_request

wl_ear_resource_request

ear_request

wl_xml_entity_request

wl_jsp_refresh_request

file

wl_init_replica_request

wl_file_realm_request

wl_managed_server_independence_request

Note: The file download servlet is used internally by WebLogic Server. Oracle recommends that you do not modify the default policies for any of its methods. They are listed here only for completeness.

Admin, Operator

No

Enable applications to use identity assertion.

The default policy for this activity specifies that an application must supply credentials for a user who is in the Admin role before it can successfully invoke the Authentication.assertIdentity() API.

See weblogic.security.services.Authentication in the Oracle WebLogic Server API Reference.

Admin

No

View domain and server logs through the Administration Console.

Admin, Deployer, Operator, Monitor

Yes

Unlock users who have been locked out of their accounts.

Admin

Yes

Application Resources

An application resource is an enterprise application, Web application, or other Java EE module that you deploy as a stand-alone application (for example, you can deploy Web Services and JDBC modules as stand-alone applications). You secure an application resource when you want to protect all resources that constitute the application. For example, securing an enterprise application protects access to all WebLogic resources within that application (see Figure 3-2).

Figure 3-2 Application Resource Protects All Resources

See Protecting a Hierarchy of Resources.

COM Resources

A COM resource represents a package that contains one or more jCOM classes. jCOM is a software bridge that allows bidirectional access between Java/Java EE objects deployed in WebLogic Server and Microsoft ActiveX components available within the Microsoft Office family of products, Visual Basic and C++ objects, and other Component Object Model/Distributed Component Object Model (COM/DCOM) environments.

A policy on a COM resource protects access to all jCOM objects in a package.

For related information, see "Configuring Access Control" in Programming JCOM for Oracle WebLogic Server.

EJB Resources

An EJB (Enterprise JavaBean) resource is an EJB deployment module (JAR), individual EJB, or individual method in an EJB. EJB resources exist within a hierarchy of resources, and at the top of the hierarchy is an application resource. See Appendix 2, "Protecting a Hierarchy of Resources."

Because the Java EE platform standardizes EJB security in deployment descriptors, WebLogic Server integrates this standard mechanism with its Security Service to give you a choice of techniques for securing EJB resources. For more information, see Appendix 4, "Options for Securing Web Application and EJB Resources."

Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) Resources

An EIS resource is a system-level software driver used by an application server, such as WebLogic Server, to connect to an Enterprise Information System. Oracle supports resource adapters developed by EIS vendors and third-party application developers. Resource adapters can be deployed in any application server supporting the applicable Java EE Platform Specification. Resource Adapters contain the Java code, and if necessary, the native components required to interact with the EIS.

To secure access to an EIS, create security policies and security roles for all resource adapters as a group, or for individual adapters. These resources exist within a hierarchy of resources, and at the top of the hierarchy is an application resource. See Protecting a Hierarchy of Resources.

For related information, see "Security" in Programming Resource Adapters for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Java DataBase Connectivity (JDBC) Resources

A Java DataBase Connectivity (JDBC) resource is a JDBC system resource, JDBC module that is part of an application, JDBC data source, or a specific method within a data source. If you deploy a JDBC module as a stand-alone application, the application is represented by an application resource (see Application Resources).

JDBC resources exist within a hierarchy of resources, and at the top of the hierarchy is an application resource. See Protecting a Hierarchy of Resources.

JDBC Operations

When you secure an individual data source, you can choose whether to protect JDBC operations using one or more of the following administrator methods:

admin—The following methods on the JDBCDataSourceRuntimeMBean are invoked as admin operations: clearStatementCache, suspend, forceSuspend, resume, shutdown, forceShutdown, start, getProperties, and poolExists.

reserve—Applications reserve a connection in the data source by looking up the data source and then calling getConnection.

Note:

Giving a user the reserve permission enables them to execute vendor-specific operations. Depending on the database vendor, some of these operations may have database security implications.

shrink—Shrinks the number of connections in the data source to the maximum of the currently reserved connections or to the initial size.

reset—Resets the data source connections by shutting down and re-establishing all physical database connections. This also clears the statement cache for each connection. You can only reset data source connections that are running normally.

All—An individual data source is protected by the union of the Admin, reserve, shrink, and reset administrator methods.

Notes:

Be aware of the following:

If a security policy controls access to connections in a multi data source, access checks are performed at both levels of the JDBC resource hierarchy (once at the multi data source level, and again at the individual data source level). As with all types of WebLogic resources, this double-checking ensures that the most specific security policy controls access.

If you use an Oracle database, you can also control access to JDBC resources using an Oracle Virtual Private Database (VPD). For more information, see "Programming with Oracle Virtual Private Databases" in Programming JDBC for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Java Messaging Service (JMS) Resources

A Java Messaging Service (JMS) resource is a JMS system resource, JMS module that is part of an application, JMS destination, or an operation within a destination. You can create security policies and roles for all destinations (JMS queues and JMS topics) as a group, or an individual destination (JMS queue or JMS topic) on a JMS server.

These resources exist within a hierarchy of resources, and at the top of the hierarchy is an application resource. See Protecting a Hierarchy of Resources.

JMS Operations

When you secure a specific destination on a JMS server, you can protect operations on the destination. By default, destinations are not protected. This means that any valid user for a WebLogic server instance can send, receive, and browse messages on a destination. Only users defined by the policy condition can access control of the destination. Valid protection operations are:

send—Required to send a message to a queue or a topic. This includes calls to the MessageProducer.send(), QueueSender.send(), and TopicPublisher.publish() methods, as well as the Messaging Bridge.

receive—Required to create a consumer on a queue or a topic. This includes calls to the Session.createConsumer(), Session.createDurableSubscriber(), QueueSession.createReceiver(), TopicSession.createSubscriber(), TopicSession.createDurableSubscriber(), Connection.createConnectionConsumer(), Connection.createDurableConnectionConsumer(), QueueConnection.createConnectionConsumer(), TopicConnection.createConnectionConsumer(), and TopicConnection.createDurableConnectionConsumer() methods, as well as the Messaging Bridge and message-driven beans.

browse—Required to view the messages on a queue using the QueueBrowser interface.

ALL—Required to send, receive, and browse methods on a destination.

Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) Resources

A Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) resource is a node in a server's JNDI tree. A policy on a JNDI resource determines who can access WebLogic Server entities and actions through JNDI. You can create a policy on the root node of the JNDI tree or on individual nodes.

JNDI Operations

For each JNDI node, you can create a policy for all operations or for one of the following operations:

modify—Whenever an application modifies the JNDI tree in any way (that is, adding, removing, changing) the current user must have permission to make the modification. This includes the bind(), rebind(), createSubContext(), destroySubContext(), and unbind() methods.

lookup—Whenever an application looks up an object in the JNDI tree, the current user must have permission to perform the lookup. This includes the lookup() and lookupLink() methods.

list—Whenever an application lists the contents of a context in JNDI, the current user must have permission to perform the listing operation. This includes the list() and listBindings() methods.

JMX Resources

A JMX resource is an MBean attribute or MBean operation. A policy on a JMX resource controls who can read or write MBean attributes or invoke operations.

WebLogic Server uses managed beans (MBeans) in the implementation of its management system. Almost all administrative activities require you to invoke an MBean operation or modify an MBean attribute using a Java Management Extensions (JMX) client. For example, the Administration Console is a JMX client. If you use it to change the value of a server's listen port, the Administration Console changes the value of an MBean attribute. The WebLogic Scripting Tool is also a JMX client. For more information, see "Understanding WebLogic Server MBeans" in Developing Custom Management Utilities With JMX for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Oracle provides a default set of JMX resources to protect WebLogic Server MBeans. (See "Default Security Policies for MBeans" in the Oracle WebLogic Server MBean Reference.) For MBean attributes and operations that represent particularly sensitive data or actions, WebLogic Server uses additional types of resources to secure access. For example, the ServerLifeCycleRuntimeMBean's shutdown() operation is protected by a JMX resource and a Server resource.

When a JMX client attempts to invoke an operation or change an attribute that is secured by a JMX resource and some other resource type, the client must satisfy the policies defined in both resources (see Figure 3-3).

Figure 3-3 MBean Server Checks with Both Resources

Maintaining a Consistent Security Scheme

The default configuration of groups, global roles, and security policies on all resources that are used to protect an entity or action create a consistent security scheme. You can, however, make modifications to that limit access in ways that you do not intend. Make sure that any modifications you make to the default security settings do not prevent a user from being authorized by both the JMX resource and other resource type. When you create or modify a security policy, consider taking the following action:

Always include the Admin and Operator global roles in policies for Server resources.

Failure to use the Operator global role or a security role nested within this default global role may result in inconsistent behavior by the WebLogic Security Service.

For a security policy on a deployable resource (such as an Web application or EJB module, Connector module, or startup/shutdown class), use the Deployer global role.

Server Resources

Policies for a server resource determine who can control the state of a WebLogic Server server instance.

When users start server instances by directly invoking the weblogic.Server class in a Java command, the policy on the Server resource is the only security check that occurs. All other tasks that change the state of a WebLogic Server instance require the use of the Administration Console, WebLogic Scripting Tool, Node Manager, or some other JMX client, and therefore require users to be authorized first by an additional JMX resource. See JMX Resources.

You can create security policies that apply to all WebLogic Server instances in a domain or to individual servers. If you define a policy for an individual server, you can protect all of its life cycle operations or define individual policies for each of the following operations:

boot—A user who tries to start a WebLogic Server instance, either an Administration Server or Managed Server, must have permission to do so. This action is typically initiated through a call to the java weblogic.Server command on the command line, by a configured start script (which in turn calls the java weblogic.Server command), or through the Node Manager capabilities that allow for remote start of WebLogic Server

shutdown—A user who tries to shut down a running WebLogic Server instance, either an Administration Server or Managed Server, must have permission to do so. This action is typically initiated through the WebLogic Server Administration Console or the WLST SHUTDOWN or FORCESHUTDOWN commands.

suspend—A user who tries to prohibit additional logins (logins other than for privileged administrative actions) to a running WebLogic Server instance, either an Administration Server or Managed Server, must have permission to do so. This action is typically initiated through the Administration Console.

resume—A user who tries to re-enable non-privileged logins to a running WebLogic Server instance, either an Administration Server or Managed Server, must have permission to do so. This action is typically initiated through the Administration Console.

All server resources inherit a default security policy that gives permission to the Admin and Operator global security roles.

Note:

If you enable the domain-wide administration port, then only the Admin role (and not Operator) can control the state of a WebLogic Server server instance. See "Configure the domain-wide administration port" in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

Caution:

Do not remove roles from the default security policies. Eliminating some of the existing security roles might negatively affect the functioning of WebLogic Server. However, if you like, you can make the default security policies more inclusive (for example, by adding new security roles). See Maintaining a Consistent Security Scheme.

Permissions for the weblogic.Server Command and the Node Manager

WebLogic Server provides two ways to start and shut down WebLogic Server instances (servers): the weblogic.Server command and the Node Manager. Because the underlying components for the weblogic.Server command and the Node Manager are different, the two commands use different authorization methods.

Permissions for Using the weblogic.Server Command

The weblogic.Server command, which you can use to start both Administration and Managed Servers, calls methods that are protected by a security policy on the Server resource. To use this command, you must satisfy the requirements of the security policy on the Server resource.

Some weblogic.Server arguments set attributes for MBeans. However, because these arguments modify an MBean before the server is in the RUNNING state, the security policy on the Server resource, not the protection on the MBean, is the authorizer. For example, a user in the Operator global role can use the -Dweblogic.ListenPort argument to change a server's default listen port, but once the WebLogic Server instance is running, this user cannot change the listen port value.

For more information about weblogic.Server, see "weblogic.Server Command-Line Reference" in the Command Reference for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Permissions for Using the Node Manager

The Node Manager uses both MBeans and the security policy on the Server resource to start a remote server.

If you configure a Node Manager on the host machine of a remote WebLogic Server instance, by default a user in the Admin or Operator global role can use the Node Manager to start the remote server.

For more information, see "Node Manager Overview" in Node Manager Administrator's Guide for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Shutting down a WebLogic Server instance involves both MBeans and the security policy on the Server resource. When a user issues a shutdown command, the server first determines whether that user is granted the Admin or Operator global role (per the MBean security layer). Then, after the MBean operations run, the server determines whether the security policy on the Server resource authorizes the user to shut down the server.

For more information about shutting down a WebLogic Server instance, see "Starting and Stopping Servers: Quick Reference" in Managing Server Startup and Shutdown for Oracle WebLogic Server.

URL Resources

A URL resource is a specific URL or URL pattern in a Web application. You can create a policy for a URL resource that protects all HTTP methods for a specified URL or URL pattern, or that protects only specific HTTP methods. These resources exist within a hierarchy of resources, and at the top of the hierarchy is an application resource. See Protecting a Hierarchy of Resources.

Because the Java EE platform standardizes Web application security in deployment descriptors, WebLogic Server integrates this standard mechanism with its Security Service to give you a choice of techniques for securing Web application resources. For more information, see Chapter 4, "Options for Securing Web Application and EJB Resources."

Web Service Resources

A Web Service resource is a Web Service module (WAR or JAR) or an operation within a Web Service module. Web Services are protected by the following hierarchy of resources:

The application resource for the parent application.

The Web Service resource for the Web Service module (WAR or JAR).

Individual Web Service resources for each Web Service operation.

If you implement the Web Service with standard Java objects, any of the above resources protect the Java objects.

If you implement the Web Service with an EJB any of the above or any of the following resources protect the EJB implementation:

The EJB resource for the EJB.

Individual EJB resources for each EJB method.

If you use an EJB to implement your Web Service, Oracle recommends that you create a policy at the application level. Policies on the Web Service module and individual Web Service operations apply only to Web Service clients. EJB clients can use RMI or JNDI to bypass the Web Service module and directly invoke EJB operations (see Figure 3-4).

Figure 3-4 Hierarchy of Resources for Web Service with EJB Implementation

For information on using Java annotations to secure Web Services, see "Configuring Message-Level Security" in Securing WebLogic Web Services for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Work Context Resources

Work Contexts enable Java EE developers to define and pass properties without including them in a remote call. A Work Context resource represents the operations that create, delete, read, or modify a property. You can use one Work Context resource for all operations of a given property, or you can create individual resources for each operation.

For more information, see "Best Practices for Application Design" in Programming RMI for Oracle WebLogic Server.

4 Options for Securing Web Application and EJB Resources

This chapter describes the options that WebLogic Server offers for securing your Web application and EJB resources, including the Java EE standard model.

In the Java EE standard model, you can secure Web applications and EJBs in either of the following ways:

Declaratively, using deployment descriptors or metadata annotations.

For EJB 3.x, EJB security metadata annotations can be specified directly in the EJB bean class to specify the roles that are allowed to invoke all, or a subset, of the EJB's methods.

Programmatically, as described in Using Programmatic Security With EJBs.

WebLogic Server supports the use of the EJBContext.isCallerInRole and EJBContext.getCallerPrincipal methods, and the use of the security-role-ref element in deployment descriptors, to implement programmatic authorization in EJBs.

Because this Java EE standard may be too inflexible for some environments, WebLogic Server also offers a choice of other, more flexible models in addition to supporting the Java EE standard.

Note:

If you are implementing security using JACC (Java Authorization Contract for Containers as defined in JSR 115), you must use the Java EE standard model. Other WebLogic Server models are not available and the security functions for Web applications and EJBs in the Administration Console are disabled. See "Using the Java Authorization Contract for Containers" in Programming Security for Oracle WebLogic Server.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Comparison of Security Models for Web Applications and EJBs

Understanding the Advanced Security Model

Securing Web Applications and EJBs

Note:

The instructions for EJB resources provided in this section also apply to Message-Driven Beans (MDBs).

Deployment Descriptors Not Required

As described in "What Was New and Changed in EJB 3.0", you are no longer required to create the deployment descriptor files (such as ejb-jar.xml). You can now use metadata annotations in the bean file itself to configure metadata. Annotations simplify the EJB development process by allowing a developer to specify within the Java class itself how the bean behaves in the container, requests for dependency injection, and so on. Annotations are an alternative to deployment descriptors that were required by older versions (2.x and earlier) of EJB.

You can still use XML deployment descriptors in addition to, or instead of, the metadata annotations if you so choose.

Note:

Deployment descriptor elements always override their annotation counterparts. In the case of conflicts, the deployment descriptor value overrides the annotation value.

Comparison of Security Models for Web Applications and EJBs

For EJBs, the application developer can make the deployer's task easier by using the security-related metadata annotations to specify the security roles that are allowed to invoke the EJB methods. If you use annotations or deployment descriptors, you choose a security model when you deploy each Web application or EJB and your choice is immutable for the lifetime of the deployment. If you want to use a different model, you must delete and redeploy the Web application or EJB.

Each deployment descriptor-based security model defines two types of behaviors for securing Web applications and EJBs: where roles and policies are defined and which URL patterns and EJB methods trigger the Security Service to perform security checks.

Table 4-1 compares the models.

Table 4-1 Security Model Behaviors

This Model...
Uses Roles and Policies From...
And Performs Security Checks...

Metadata Annotations

Categorized as Deployment Descriptor Only (Java EE standard) in the Administration Console

Metadata annotations in the EJB bean file itself specify the roles that are allowed to invoke all, or a subset, of the EJB's methods.

Only when clients request EJB methods that are protected by a role specified in an annotation.

You can use metadata annotations in conjunctions with deployment descriptor- and Administration Console-based mechanisms. In case of conflict, deployment descriptor elements always override their annotation counterparts.

Deployment Descriptor Only (Java EE standard)

The web.xml, weblogic.xml and ejb-jar.xml, weblogic-ejb-jar.xml deployment descriptors.

If roles have been defined for the application that contains the Web application or EJB, all roles are combined using a logical OR operation.

Only when clients request URLs or EJB methods that are protected by a policy in the deployment descriptor.

Deployment descriptor elements always override their annotation counterparts, if any.

Custom Roles

This model uses role mappings from a role mapping provider that you configure for the security realm. You can use the Administration Console to configure the provider. Any role mappings in the deployment descriptors or annotations are ignored.

The model uses the policies that are defined in the web.xml and ejb-jar.xml deployment descriptors.

Only when clients request URLs or EJB methods that are protected by a policy in the deployment descriptor.

Custom Roles and Policies

A role mapping provider and an authorization provider that you configure for the security realm. You can use the Administration Console to configure the providers.

Any role mappings or policies in the deployment descriptors or annotations are ignored.

For all URLs and EJB methods.

Advanced

Configurable.

You can configure this model to use only security data from annotations or deployment descriptors, use only the data from security providers, or import security data from deployment descriptors into the security provider databases to provide a baseline for further modifications.

Configurable.

Discussion of Each Model

The following sections describe each model and suggest scenarios under which each is appropriate.

Metadata Annotations

As described in "Overview of Metadata Annotations and EJB 3.0 Bean Files" in Programming Enterprise JavaBeans for Oracle WebLogic Server, the EJB programming model uses the metadata annotations feature (described at http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/releases/j2se15) in which you create an annotated EJB bean file and then use the WebLogic compile tool weblogic.appc (or its Ant equivalent wlappc) to compile the bean file into a Java class file and generate the associated EJB artifacts, such as the required EJB interfaces and deployment descriptors.

The following security-related annotations are available:

javax.annotation.security.DeclareRoles — Explicitly lists the security roles that will be used to secure the EJB.

javax.annotation.security.RolesAllowed — Specifies the security roles that are allowed to invoke all the methods of the EJB (when specified at the class-level) or a particular method (when specified at the method-level.)

javax.annotation.security.DenyAll — Specifies that the annotated method can not be invoked by any role.

javax.annotation.security.PermitAll — Specifies that the annotated method can be invoked by all roles.

javax.annotation.security.RunAs — Specifies the role which runs the EJB. By default, the EJB runs as the user who actually invokes it.

At deployment time, the deployer must then create these security roles if they do not already exist and map users to these roles using the WebLogic Server Administration Console to update your security realm. For details, see "Manage Security Roles" in the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

This model gives the application developer more control without having to implement programmatic authorization in EJBs.

Table 4-2 Metadata Annotations: Typical Scenario

Company A, Developer
Company A, Admin/Deployer

In Company A, a user in the role of developer performs the following tasks:

Adds one or more security-related metadata annotations.

Uses the WebLogic compile tool weblogic.appc (or its Ant equivalent wlappc) to compile the bean file.

Turns application over to the Admin/Deployer. Provides instructions as to which roles are required.

In Company A, a user in the role of administrator or deployer performs the following tasks:

Uses the WebLogic Server Administration Console to ensure that the roles exist and are properly mapped to groups and users.

To have only the annotations considered, deploys the application as Deployment Descriptor Only (Java EE standard) in the Administration Console.

You can use metadata annotations in conjunctions with deployment descriptor- and Administration Console-based mechanisms. If you do so, note the following:

In case of conflict, deployment descriptor elements always override their annotation counterparts. For example, if the annotation specifies Deny All for a method and the deployment descriptor specifies that the "Developer" role has access to that method, the "Developer" role does have access to the method.

If you specify Custom Roles in the Administration Console, any role mappings in the deployment descriptors or annotations are ignored.

See Securing Access to the EJB for an example simple stateless session EJB that uses all of the security-related annotations.

Deployment Descriptor Only Model

This is part of the standard Java EE model and is therefore a widely known technique for adding declarative security to Web applications and EJBs. It uses only roles and policies defined by a developer in the Java EE deployment descriptor (DD) and the WebLogic Server DD. It requires the security administrator to verify that the security principals (groups or users) in the deployment descriptors exist and are mapped properly in the security realm.

Note:

This model also affects application-scoped roles that apply to an EAR: with this model, the Security Service uses only the application-scoped roles defined in the WebLogic Server DD.

If a developer changes roles or policies in a deployment descriptor, WebLogic Server recognizes the change as soon as you redeploy the Web application, EJB, or EAR.

With this model, EJBs and URL patterns are not protected by roles and policies of a broader scope (such as a policy scoped to an entire Web application). If an EJB or URL pattern is not protected by a role or policy in the DD, then it is unprotected: anyone can access it. For example, if you create an application-scoped policy for an EAR and the EAR contains an EJB, the EJB will not be protected by the EAR's application-scoped policy.

This model is appropriate if developers and security administrators can closely coordinate their work, both upon initial deployment of the Web application or EJB and upon subsequent redeployments. Table 4-3 shows a typical scenario:

Table 4-3 Deployment Descriptors Only: Typical Scenario

Company A, Developer
Company A, Admin/Deployer

In Company A, a user in the role of developer performs the following tasks:

Maps EJBs and/or Web URLs to roles in the Java EE DD.

Maps roles to principals in the WebLogic Server DD.

Turns application over to the Admin/Deployer.

In Company A, a user in the role of administrator or deployer performs the following tasks:

Uses the WebLogic Server Administration Console to ensure that groups exist and are properly mapped to users.

Custom Roles Model

This security model uses policies defined in the Java EE DD and ignores any principal mappings in the WebLogic Server DD. The security administrator completes the role mappings using the Administration Console.

The model enables team members to focus on their areas of expertise. Web application and EJB developers need only to declare which URL patterns or EJB methods should be secured. Then the security administrator creates role mappings that fit within the existing hierarchy of roles and principals for a given realm.

If a developer changes policies in a deployment descriptor, WebLogic Server recognizes the change as soon as you redeploy the Web application or EJB. If an administrator changes role mappings, the changes take effect immediately without requiring a redeployment.

This model is appropriate if developers and administrators cannot closely coordinate their work or if role mappings change frequently. Table 4-4 shows a typical scenario:

Table 4-4 Customize Roles Only: Typical Scenario

Company A, ISV Developer; or Company B, Developer
Company B, Admin/Deployer

An ISV developer from Company A, or a developer from Company B, does the following tasks:

Maps EJBs/URLs to roles in Java EE deployment descriptor.

Turns application over to Admin/Deployer

An administrator or a deployer from Company B does the following task:

Uses the WebLogic Server Administration Console to define security roles.

Custom Roles and Policies Model

This security model offers unified and dynamic security management. It uses roles and policies that a security administrator has created using the Administration Console and ignores any roles and policies defined in deployment descriptors.

Instead of requiring developers to modify multiple deployment descriptors when organizational security requirements change, administrators can modify all security configurations from a centralized, graphical user interface. Users, groups, security roles, and security policies can all be defined using the Administration Console. As a result, the process of making changes based on updated security requirements becomes more efficient.

This model is appropriate if you require only that entire Web applications or EJBs be secured, but is less appropriate if you require fine-grained control of a large number of specific URL patterns or EJB methods. Such fine-grained control requires a developer to provide to administrators detailed information about the URL patterns or EJB methods that must be secured. If you require such fine-grained control, consider using the Custom Roles model (see Custom Roles Model).

The model also introduces a slight performance degradation because it checks permissions regardless of which URL a client requests or EJB method a client attempts to invoke.

Table 4-5 shows a typical scenario:

Table 4-5 Customize roles and Policies: Typical Scenario

Company A, Developer
Company A, Admin/Deployer

Provides no mappings in the Java EE or WebLogic Server DD.

Turns application over to Admin/Deployer

Uses the WebLogic Administration Console to define roles and policies for EJBs and Web applications.

Advanced Model

WebLogic Server provides this model primarily for backwards compatibility with releases prior to 9.0.

You can configure the following behaviors for this model (see Understanding the Combined Role Mapping Enabled Setting):

Perform security checks for all URLs and EJB methods or only those that are protected in the deployment descriptors.

(Not applicable if you configure this model to perform security checks only for URLs and EJB methods that are secured in deployment descriptors.) Use only roles and policies defined in the deployment descriptors, or use only roles and policies defined in the realm's security providers, or import security data from deployment descriptors into the realm's authorization provider or role mapping provider databases.

Oracle provides the ability to import security data for the following tasks:

As a step toward migrating to full security administration using the Administration Console. The import feature assumes that you want to use the WebLogic Server Administration Console exclusively to secure Web applications and EJBs, but you want to use the security data in deployment descriptors as a baseline.

To reinitialize security configurations for Web application and EJB resources to their original state, as specified in the deployment descriptors.

Once the data is imported, you can use the Administration Console to modify the security data.

Caution:

Importing security data introduces risks to the integrity of your security data. Each time you import the data, the Security Service attempts to remove all associated data from the provider databases and re-imports data from the deployment descriptors. If you modified the imported security data, then your modifications could become invalid or could be removed. If you import security data, follow the recommendations in "Manage security for Web applications and EJBs" in the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

(Not applicable if you configure this model to use only roles and policies defined in the realm's security providers.) Combine roles in parent applications with roles in the Web application or EJB, or override roles in parent applications.

If you change the configuration of this model, the change applies to all Web applications and EJBs that use this model. For example, you configure the Advanced model to perform security checks for all URLs and methods, and then you deploy several EJBs and configure them to use the Advanced model. The EJB container will request a security check any time a client tries to invoke any method in any of the several EJBs. If you then modify the Advance model to perform security checks only for the EJB methods that are protected in deployment descriptors, then the EJB container immediately begins to request security checks only for protected methods for the several EJBs.

Understanding the Advanced Security Model

Note:

This section applies only for those Web applications and EJBs that use the Advanced security model.

Three settings in the Administration Console configure the Advanced model: Check Roles and Policies, When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs, and Combined Role Mapping Enabled. Failure to understand these settings could result in incorrect or lost security data.

If you change the configuration of this model, the change applies to all Web applications and EJBs that use this model.

The following sections describe the settings for the Advanced security model:

Understanding the Check Roles and Policies Setting

Understanding the When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs Setting

How the Check Roles and Policies and When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs Settings Interact

Understanding the Combined Role Mapping Enabled Setting

Understanding the Check Roles and Policies Setting

The Check Roles and Policies setting determines whether the Security Service performs security checks for all URLs and EJB methods or only those that are protected in the deployment descriptors and annotations.

Set the value of Check Roles and Policies as follows:

To perform security checks only on Web application and EJB resources that have security specified in their associated deployment descriptors (DDs) and annotations, select Web applications and EJBs Protected in DD.

Note:

This selection is analogous to the Deployment Descriptor Only security model: the Security Service uses only roles and policies defined in a Web application or EJB's deployment descriptors and annotations.

To perform security checks on all Web application and EJB resources, regardless of whether there are any security settings in the deployment descriptors and annotations for these WebLogic resources, select All Web applications and EJBs.

Note:

With this selection, you can also configure the When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs setting.

Understanding the When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs Setting

The When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs setting determines whether the Security Service ignores role and policy data in deployment descriptors and annotations or imports the data into role mapping and authorization provider databases each time you deploy a Web application or EJB.

Note:

This setting is valid only if you have set Check Roles and Policies to All Web applications and EJBs.

Set the value of When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs as follows:

To secure Web application and EJB resources using only the WebLogic Server Administration Console, select Ignore Roles and Policies From DD (Deployment Descriptors). At this point you can begin to use the Administration Console to secure the resources. See "Create scoped security roles" and "Create policies for resource instances" in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

To import security data from the deployment descriptors and annotations., select Initialize Roles and Policies from DD.

Caution:

Importing security data introduces risks to the integrity of your security data. Each time you import security data, the Security Service attempts to remove all associated security data from the provider databases and re-imports data from the deployment descriptors and annotations. If you modified the imported security data, then your modifications could become invalid or could be removed. If you import security data, follow the recommended procedures in "Manage security for Web applications and EJBs" in the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

How the Check Roles and Policies and When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs Settings Interact

Table 4-6 shows how to achieve the behavior you want from the WebLogic Security Service using different combinations of the Check Roles and Policies and When Deploying Web Applications and EJBs settings.

Table 4-6 Interaction Between the Check Roles and Policies Setting and the When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs Setting

If you want to control security for...
and set security for Web application and EJB resources...
then set Check Roles and Policies to...
and set When Deploying Web Applications or EJBs to...

All Web application and EJB resources

using only the Administration Console

All Web applications and EJBs

Ignore Roles and Policies from DD

All Web application and EJB resources

by copying or reinitializing security data from the deployment descriptors and annotations into the configured Authorization and Role Mapping providers' databases when the Web application or EJB resource is deployed, then use one of the other techniques to modify security roles and security policies

Note: Security data is copied/reinitialized each time the Web application or EJB resource is deployed.

All Web applications and EJBs

Initialize Roles and Policies from DD

Only on Web applications and EJB methods that are specified in the deployment descriptors and annotations (default configuration)

using only the deployment descriptors and annotations

Web applications and EJBs Protected in DD

--

Understanding the Combined Role Mapping Enabled Setting

The Combined Role Mapping Enabled setting determines how the role mappings in the Enterprise Application, Web application, and EJB containers interact.

WebLogic Server provides this setting for backwards compatibility with 8.x versions. For all applications initially deployed in version 9.x, the default value for this setting is "true" (enabled). For all applications previously deployed in version 8.1 and upgraded to version 9.x, the default value is "false" (disabled). If either of the following is true, consider changing the default value for Combined Role Mapping Enabled:

You selected the Advanced security model for an 8.x application upgrade and want to use the combine role mapping behavior available in version 9.x.

You selected the Advanced security model for a 9.x application and want to use the role mapping behavior in version 8.x.

Table 4-7 compares how this setting affects security for Web applications and EJBs:

Table 4-7 How Combined Role Mapping Affects Security for Web Applications and EJBs

When Combined Role Mapping is Disabled...
When Combined Role Mapping is Enabled...

Role mappings for each container are exclusive to other containers unless defined by the <externally-defined> descriptor element.

Application role mappings are combined with EJB and Web application mappings so that all principal mappings are included. The Security Service combines the role mappings with a logical OR operator.

If one or more policies in the web.xml file specifies a role for which no role mapping exists in the weblogic.xml file, the Web application container assumes that the undefined role is the name of a principal. It therefore maps the assumed principal to the role name. For example, if the web.xml file contains the following stanza in one of its policies:

<auth-constraint>
  <role-name>PrivilegedUser</role-name>
</auth-constraint>

but the weblogic.xml file has no role mapping for PrivilegedUser, then the Web application container creates an in-memory mapping that is equivalent to the following stanza:

<security-role-assignment>
<role-name>PrivilegedUser</role-name>
<principal-name>PrivilegedUser </principal-name>
</security-role-assignment>

If one or more policies in the web.xml file specifies a role for which no mapping exists in the weblogic.xml file, the Web application container creates an empty map for the undefined role (that is, the role is explicitly defined as containing no principal). Therefore, no one can access URL patterns that are secured by such policies.

Role mappings for EJB methods must be defined in the weblogic-ejb-jar.xml file. Role mappings defined in the other containers are not used unless defined by the <externally-defined> descriptor element.

If one or more policies in the ejb-jar.xml file specifies a role for which no mapping exists in the weblogic-ejb-jar.xml file, the EJB container creates an empty map for the undefined role (that is, the role is explicitly defined as containing no principal). Therefore, no one can access methods that are secured by such policies.

Usage Examples

The following examples show the differences in role mapping behaviors depending on whether Combined Role Mapping is enabled or disabled.

Example for EAR, WAR and EJB

MyAppEar contains MyAppWAR which contains MyEJB. Role to Principal mappings (p1 and p2) are as follows:

EAR descriptor, myRole = p1

WAR descriptor, myRole = p2

EJB-JAR descriptor, myRole = empty

When Combined Role Mapping is enabled, the role mappings would be:

For the Ear container, myRole maps to p1.

For the WAR container, myRole maps to p1 or p2.

For the EJB container, myRole maps to p1.

When Combined Role Mapping is disabled, the role mappings would be

For the Ear container, myRole maps to p1.

For the WAR container, myRole maps to p2.

For the EJB container: Must be externally-defined or the deployment fails.

Example for EAR and WAR

MyAppEar contains MyAppWAR. Role to Principal mappings are as follows:

In MyAppEAR descriptor, myRole = p1

In MyAppWAR descriptor, myRole = (none defined)

When Combined Role Mapping is enabled, the role mappings would be:

For the Ear container, myRole maps to p1.

For the WAR container, myRole maps to p1.

The mapping is the same because of the combined role behavior.

When Combined Role Mapping is disabled, the role mappings would be:

For the Ear container, myRole maps to p1.

For the WAR container, myRole maps to MyRole.

The mapping is the same because if there is no mapping defined for the Web application, WebLogic Server copies the EAR mapping to the WAR mapping.

Securing Web Applications and EJBs

For metadata annotations, when you code an EJB you add the security-related annotations to specify the roles that are allowed to invoke all, or a subset, of the methods. At deployment time, the deployer must then create these security roles if they do not already exist and map users to these roles using the WebLogic Server Administration Console to update your security realm. For details, see "Manage Security Roles" in the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

For deployment descriptor- and Administration Console-based security, you choose a security model when you deploy each Web application or EJB, and your choice is immutable for the lifetime of the deployment. If you want to use a different model, you must delete and redeploy the Web application or EJB.

For information on using the Administration Console to deploy applications, choose a security model, modify roles and polices, and complete other related tasks, see "Manage Security for Web Applications and EJBs" in the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

If you plan to use deployment descriptors to secure Web applications or EJBs, see "Using Declarative Security With Web Applications" and "Using Declarative Security With EJBs" in Programming Security for Oracle WebLogic Server.

5 Security Policies

This chapter describes the features and functions of security policies, which specify who can access a WebLogic Server resource. You can create simple policies, such as "allow access if user is in Admin role," or more complex policies, such as "between the hours of 8 and 5, allow access if user is in Admin role."

This chapter includes the following sections:

Security Policy Storage and Prerequisites for Use

Default Root Level Security Policies

Security Policy Conditions

Protected Public Interfaces

Using the Administration Console to Manage Security Policies

For information on using security policies to protect multiple resources, see Using Policies to Protect Multiple Resources.

Security Policy Storage and Prerequisites for Use

Security policies for all resources other than Web Application resources and EJB resources are always stored in the security provider database of the Authorization provider that is configured in the default (active) security realm. The security realm that WebLogic Server provides stores policies in the embedded LDAP server.

For Web Application resources and EJB resources, the location of policies depends on the following:

If you implement security using JACC (Java Authorization Contract for Containers as defined in JSR 115), the policies are stored in the Web application or EJB deployment descriptors.

If you use the DDOnly model to secure a Web application or EJB, the policies are stored in the deployment descriptors.

If you use a security model that ignores the policies in the descriptors, then the Authorization provider determines where the policies are stored. The security realm that WebLogic Server provides stores policies in the embedded LDAP server.

If you use the Advanced security model, the location of policies depends on how you configure the model.

See Chapter 4, "Options for Securing Web Application and EJB Resources."

Each user or group that you add to a security policy must be defined in the security provider database of the Authentication provider that is configured in the active security realm. Each role that you add must be defined in the security provider database of the Role Mapping provider that is configured in the active security realm. The security realm that WebLogic Server provides is configured to use the WebLogic Authentication and WebLogic XACML Role Mapping providers, which store users, groups, and roles in the embedded LDAP server.

For more information about the WebLogic Authentication, Authorization, and Role Mapping providers, see "WebLogic Security Providers" in Understanding Security for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Default Root Level Security Policies

A root level policy is inherited by all instances of a specific resource type. Table 5-1 describes the default root level policies that are defined in the security realm that WebLogic Server installs. For information about the roles and groups that are named in these policies, see Chapter 6, "Users, Groups, And Security Roles."

Note:

You can access root level policies in the Administration Console. See "Create root level policies" in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

Table 5-1 Default Security Policies for WebLogic Resources

WebLogic Resource
Security Policy

Administrative resources

Default global role: Admin

Application resources

None

EIS (Resource Adapter) resources

Default group: Everyone

EJB resources

Default group: Everyone

COM resources

None

JDBC resources

Default group: Everyone

JNDI resources

Default group: Everyone

JMS resources

Default group: Everyone

Server resources

Default global roles:

Admin

Operator

Work Context

Default group: Everyone

URL resources

Default group: Everyone

Web Services resources

Default group: Everyone

Caution:

Do not modify the default root level policies for Administrative and Server resources to make them more restrictive. Eliminating some of the existing security roles might negatively impact the functioning of WebLogic Server. However, if you like, you can make the default security policies more inclusive (for example, by adding new security roles). See Maintaining a Consistent Security Scheme.

Security Policy Conditions

To determine who can access a resource, a policy contains one or more conditions. The most basic policy simply contains the name of a security role or a principal. For example, a basic policy might simply name the "Admin" global role. At runtime, the WebLogic Security Service interprets this policy as "allow access if user is in Admin role." You can create more complex conditions and combine them using the logical operators AND and OR (which is an inclusive OR). You can also negate any condition, which would prohibit access under the specified condition.

The WebLogic Server Authorization providers display three kinds of built-in policy conditions in the Administration Console:

Note:

These sections describe the conditions that are available in realms that use the WebLogic Authorization provider or the WebLogic XACML Authorization provider. If your security realm uses a third-party Authorization provider, refer to the third-party documentation for information on its capabilities.

Basic Policy Conditions

Date and Time Policy Conditions

Context Element Policy Conditions

Basic Policy Conditions

The basic policy conditions that are available in this release of WebLogic Server are:

User—Allows a specific user to access the resource. For example, you might create a condition indicating that only the user John can access the Deposit EJB.

Group—Allows all users or groups in the specified group to access the resource unless a User or Role condition contradicts the Group condition.

Role—Allows all users or groups in the specified role to access the resource unless a User or Group condition contradicts the Role condition. For example, if you create a Role condition that specifies "Admin" and a User condition that negates "joe", then user joe will be denied access even if he is in the Admin role.

Server is in Development Mode—Allows access if the server that hosts the resource is running in development mode. See "Creating a WebLogic Domain" in Creating Domains Using the Configuration Wizard.

Allow access to everyone—Allows access for all users, groups, and roles.

Deny access to everyone—Prohibits access for all users, groups, and roles.

Element requires signature by—(Used only when securing Web Services resources) Creates a condition for a security policy based on who has digitally signed an element in the SOAP request message that invokes a Web Service operation. For example, you might create a condition that says the getBalance operation can only be invoked if the AccountNumber element in the incoming SOAP request has been digitally signed by a user who is named joe.

To create an Element requires signature by condition, provide the following information:

Specify whether a group or a user is required to sign the SOAP element.

For example, enter user to specify that a user must sign the element.

The name of the user or group that must sign the element.

The name of the SOAP message element that must be digitally signed. Use the following format:

{Namespace}LocalPart

where LocalPart refers to the name of the element in the SOAP message that must be digitally signed and Namespace refers to its namespace. Use the WSDL of the Web Service to get these values.

For example:

{http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/}AccountNumber

Note:

You can specify only those elements that have already been configured to be digitally signed in the WS-Policy of the Web Service. For details, see "Configuring Message-Level Security" in Securing WebLogic Web Services for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Date and Time Policy Conditions

When you use any of the date and time conditions, the security policy grants access to all users for the date or time you specify, unless you further restrict the users by adding one of the other conditions. The date and time policy conditions available in this release of WebLogic Server are:

Access occurs between specified hours—Allows access during a specified time period. For example, you might create a condition granting access to users only during business hours.

Access occurs after—Allows access after a specified time. For example, you might create a condition that grants access to users after the business opens or after a certain date and time.

Access occurs before—Allows access before a specified time. For example, you might create a condition that grants access to users before the business closes or before a certain date and time.

Access occurs on specified days of the week—Allows access on specified days. For example, you might create a condition that grants access to users on week days.

Access occurs on the specified day of the month—Allows access on an ordinal day of the month. For example, you might create a condition that grants access to users only the first day of each month.

Access occurs after the specified day of the month—Allows access after an ordinal day in the month. For example, you might create a condition indicating that grants access to users after the 15th day of the month.

Access occurs before the specified day of the month—Allows access before an ordinal day in the month. For example, you might create a condition that grants access to users before the 15th day of the month.

Note:

The format for specifying the time in a time policy condition, such as Access occurs between specified hours, is locale-dependent. In English versions of WebLogic Server, the format is 12-hour based and is expressed as hh:mm:ss AM|PM, using the time zone local to the WebLogic Server instance. For example, to specify 8:30 p.m., use the format 08:30:00 PM.

Context Element Policy Conditions

You can use the context element conditions to create security policies based on the value of HTTP Servlet Request attributes, HTTP Session attributes, and EJB method parameters. WebLogic Server retrieves this information from the ContextHandler object and allows you to defined policy conditions based on the values. When using any of these conditions, it is your responsibility to ensure that the attribute or parameter/value pairs apply to the context in which you are using them. For more information, see "ContextHandlers and WebLogic Resources" in Developing Security Providers for Oracle WebLogic Server.

The context element role conditions available in this release of WebLogic Server are:

Context element defined—Allows access based on the existence of a specified attribute or parameter.

Context element's value equals a numeric constant—Allows access based on a specified attribute or parameter's number value (or string representing a double number) being equal to a specified double number.

Context element's value is greater than a numeric constant—Allows access based on a specified attribute or parameter's number value (or string representing a double number) being greater than a specified double number.

Context element's value is less than a numeric constant—Allows access based on a specified attribute or parameter's number value (or string representing a double number) being less than a specified double number.

Context element's value equals a string constant—Allows access based on a specified attribute or parameter's string value being equal to a specified string.

Protected Public Interfaces

The WebLogic Server Administration Console, the WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST), and MBean APIs are secured using the default security policies, which are based on the default global roles and default groups described in Table 6-2. Therefore, to use the Administration Console, a user must belong to one of these default groups or be granted one of these global roles. Additionally, administrative operations that require interaction with MBeans are secured using the MBean protections described in Maintaining a Consistent Security Scheme. Therefore, interaction with the following protected public interfaces typically must satisfy both security schemes.

The WebLogic Server Administration Console—The WebLogic Security Service verifies whether a particular user can access the Administration Console when the user attempts to log in. If a user attempts to invoke an operation for which they do not have access, they see an Access Denied error.

For information about using this public interface, see the "The WebLogic Server Administration Console" in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

The WebLogic Scripting Tool—The WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) is a command-line scripting interface that system administrators and operators can use to monitor and manage WebLogic Server instances and domains. The WebLogic Security Service verifies whether a particular user has permission to execute a WLST command when the user attempts to invoke the command. If a user attempts to invoke an operation for which the user does not have access, WebLogic Server throws a weblogic.management.NoAccessRuntimeException, which developers can catch explicitly in their programs. The server sends this exception to its log file, but you can also configure the server to send exceptions to standard out.

For information about using this public interface, see Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool.

Note:

WLST is a convenience utility that abstracts the interaction with the MBean APIs (described next). Therefore, for any administrative task you can perform using WLST, you can also perform using the MBean APIs.

MBean APIs—The WebLogic Security Service verifies whether a particular user has permission to access the API when the user attempts to perform an operation on the MBean. If a user attempts to invoke an operation for which the user does not have access, WebLogic Server throws a weblogic.management.NoAccessRuntimeException, which developers can catch explicitly in their programs. The server sends this exception to its log file, but you can also configure the server to send exceptions to standard out.

For information about using these APIs, see "Understanding WebLogic Server MBeans" in Developing Custom Management Utilities With JMX for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Using the Administration Console to Manage Security Policies

Note:

This section describes the features and functions that are available in security realms that are using the WebLogic Authorization provider or the WebLogic XACML Authorization provider. If your security realm uses a third-party Authorization provider, refer to the third-party documentation for information on how to add polices to the provider database.

You can use the WebLogic Administration Console to access WebLogic resources for creating and modifying security policies. For more information, see "Manage security policies" in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

6 Users, Groups, And Security Roles

This chapter describes the features and functions of users, groups, and security roles within security realms in WebLogic Server.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Overview of Users and Groups

Default Groups

Overview of Security Roles

Types of Security Roles: Global Roles and Scoped Roles

Default Global Roles

Security Role Conditions

Using the Administration Console to Manage Users, Groups, and Roles

Overview of Users and Groups

A user is an entity that can be authenticated. A user can be a person or a software entity, such as a Java client. Each user is given a unique identity within a security realm. For efficient security management, Oracle recommends adding users to groups. A group is a collection of users who usually have something in common, such as working in the same department in a company.

Default Groups

Table 6-1 lists the groups that WebLogic Server defines in the security realm that it installs. By default, if you add a user to one of these groups, you also place the user in one of the default global security roles (see Default Global Roles).

Table 6-1 Default Groups

Group Name
Membership

Administrators

By default, this group contains the user information entered as part of the installation process (that is, the Configuration Wizard), and the system user if the WebLogic Server instance is running Compatibility security. Any user assigned to the Administrators group is granted the Admin security role by default.

See Best Practices: Add a User To the Administrators Group.

Deployers

By default, this group is empty. Any user assigned to the Deployers group is granted the Deployer security role by default.

Operators

By default, this group is empty. Any user assigned to the Operators group is granted the Operator security role by default.

Monitors

By default, this group is empty. Any user assigned to the Monitors group is granted the Monitor security role by default.

AppTesters

By default, this group is empty. Any user assigned to the AppTesters group is granted the AppTester security role by default.

CrossDomainConnectors

By default, this group is empty. Any user assigned to the CrossDomainConnectors group is granted the CrossDomainConnector security role by default.

AdminChannelUsers

By default, this group is empty. Any user assigned to the AdminChannelUsers group is granted the AdminChannelUser security role by default.

OracleSystemGroup

By default, this group contains the user OracleSystemUser and is granted the OracleSystemRole role by default.

Runtime Groups

At runtime, WebLogic Server places all users in the following groups:

users. This group contains all users who have been authenticated.

everyone. This group contains all anonymous users and, because it contains the users group, all users who have been authenticated.

Unlike the groups in Table 6-1 (or other groups that you create), you cannot add or remove users directly to these groups; WebLogic Server assigns users to them dynamically. These groups do not appear in the Administration Console's Groups tab and they are not exported with the authentication database.

Best Practices: Add a User To the Administrators Group

Oracle recommends that you add at least one user to the Administrators group in addition to the user you defined at installation (using the Configuration wizard). Having at least two administrators at all times helps protect against a single admin user being locked out from a potential security breach. Also, avoid using predictable user names like "system", "admin", or "Administrator".

Overview of Security Roles

A security role is an identity granted to users or groups based on specific conditions. Multiple users or groups can be granted the same security role and a user or group can be in more than one security role. Security roles are used by policies to determine who can access a WebLogic resource. (See Chapter 5, "Security Policies.")

Like a security group, a role grants an identity to a user. Security roles differ from groups as follows:

Security roles can be scoped to specific WebLogic resources within a single application in a WebLogic Server domain. Groups, on the other hand, are always scoped to an entire WebLogic Server domain. See Types of Security Roles: Global Roles and Scoped Roles.

Security roles are computed and granted to users or groups dynamically, based on conditions such as user name, group membership, or the time of day. Groups are static.

The process of computing and granting roles is referred to as role mapping and occurs just before the WebLogic Security Service renders an access decision for a protected WebLogic resource. An access decision is the component of an Authorization provider that determines whether a subject has permission to perform a given operation on a WebLogic resource. (See "Access Decisions" in Developing Security Providers for Oracle WebLogic Server.)

Types of Security Roles: Global Roles and Scoped Roles

There are two types of security roles in WebLogic Server:

A global security role can be used in any security policy. Oracle provides several default global roles that you can use out of the box to secure your WebLogic resources; these are described in Default Global Roles.

Note:

If you are implementing security using JACC (Java authorization Contract for Containers as defined in JSR 115) global security roles cannot be used.

A scoped role can be used only in policies that are defined for a specific instance of a WebLogic resource (such as a method on an EJB or a branch of a JNDI tree). You might never need to use scoped roles. They are provided for their flexibility and are an extra feature for advanced customers.

Default Global Roles

Table 6-2 lists the global roles that WebLogic Server defines in the security realm that it installs. The table also summarizes the access that the default security policies grant to each role and indicates which groups are in each role by default.

Caution:

Do not delete these roles. They are used in the default security policies that protect most types of WebLogic resources. In addition, they are used by the MBean security layer. If you delete the Admin role, no one will be able to modify the configuration of a running domain. See Maintaining a Consistent Security Scheme.

Table 6-2 Default Global Roles, Privileges, and Default Group Assignments

Global Role
Default Policies Grant Access To...
Default Conditions Include This Group...

Admin

View the server configuration, including the encrypted value of some encrypted attributes.

Modify the entire server configuration.

Deploy Enterprise Applications and Web application, EJB, Java EE Connector, and Web Service modules.

Start, resume, and stop servers.

Administrators

AdminChannelUser

Access the administrative channel, AdminChannel.

AdminChannelUsers, Administrators, Deployers, Operators, Monitors, and AppTesters

Anonymous

All users (the group everyone) are granted this global role.

Note: This global role is provided as a convenience, and can be specified in the weblogic.xml and weblogic-ejb-jar.xml deployment descriptors. See "weblogic.xml Deployment Descriptor Elements" in Developing Web Applications, Servlets, and JSPs for Oracle WebLogic Server and "ejb-jar Deployment Descriptor Reference" in Programming Enterprise JavaBeans, Version 2.1, for Oracle WebLogic Server.

everyone

Deployer

View the server configuration, including some encrypted attributes related to deployment activities.

Change startup and shutdown classes, Web applications, JDBC data pool connections, EJB, Java EE Connector, Web Service, and WebLogic Tuxedo Connector components. If applicable, edit deployment descriptors.

Access deployment operations in the Java EE Deployment Implementation (JSR-88). See "Understanding WebLogic Server Deployment" in Deploying Applications to Oracle WebLogic Server.

Deployers

Operator

View the server configuration, except for encrypted attributes.

Start, resume, and stop servers.

Operators

Monitor

View the server configuration, except for encrypted attributes.

This security role effectively provides read-only access to the WebLogic Server Administration Console, WLST, and MBean APIs.

Monitors

AppTester

Access applications for testing purposes that are running in Administration mode. For more information, see "Administration Mode for Isolating Production Applications" in Deploying Applications to Oracle WebLogic Server.

AppTesters

CrossDomainConnector

Make inter-domain calls from foreign domains. For more information, see "Enabling Trust Between WebLogic Server Domains" in Securing Oracle WebLogic Server.

CrossDomainConnectors

OracleSystemRole

Assert identity on behalf of users whose WS-Security tokens have been authenticated.

Note: This global role is provided for use by Oracle Web Services Manager.

OracleSystemGroup

Security Role Conditions

To determine who is in a security role at runtime, a role contains one or more conditions. For example, a basic role might simply name the "Administrator" group. At runtime, the WebLogic Security Service interprets this policy as "place the Administrator group in this role." You can create more complex conditions and combine them using the logical operators AND and OR (which is an inclusive OR). You can also negate any condition, which would make sure that a user is not in the role. The entire collection of conditions must be true for a user or group to be granted the security role. More restrictive expressions should come later in a role statement.

The WebLogic Server Role Mapping providers display three kinds of built-in policy conditions in the Administration Console:

Note:

These sections describe the conditions that are available in realms that use the WebLogic Role Mapping provider or the WebLogic XACML Role Mapping provider. If your security realm uses a third-party Role Mapping provider, refer to the third-party documentation for information on its capabilities.

Basic Role Conditions

Date and Time Role Conditions

Context Element Role Conditions

Basic Role Conditions

The basic role conditions available in this release of WebLogic Server are:

User—Adds the specified user to the role. For example, you might create a condition indicating that only the user John can be granted the BankTeller security role.

Group—Adds the specified group to the role. For example, you might create a condition indicating that only users in the group FullTimeBankEmployees can be granted the BankTeller security role.

As a minimum requirement, Oracle recommends this role condition for more efficient security management.

Server is in development mode—Adds principals to the role only when the server is running in development mode. See "Creating a WebLogic Domain" in Creating Domains Using the Configuration Wizard.

Allow access to everyone—Adds all users and groups to the role.

Deny access to everyone—Prevents any user or group from being in the role.

Date and Time Role Conditions

When you use any of the date and time role conditions, the security role is granted to all users for the date or time you specify, unless you further restrict the users by adding one of the other role conditions. The date and time role conditions available in this release of WebLogic Server are:

Access occurs between specified hours—Adds principals to the role only during the specified time period. For example, you might create a condition indicating that the BankTeller security role can only be granted to users when the bank is open.

Access occurs after—Adds principals to the role only if the current time is after a specified time. For example, you might create a condition indicating that the BankTeller security role can only be granted to users after the bank opens or after a certain date and time.

Access occurs before—Adds principals to the role only if the current time is before a specified time. For example, you might create a condition indicating that the BankTeller security role can only be granted to users before the bank closes or before a certain date and time.

Access occurs on specified days of the week—Adds principals to the role only on specified days. For example, you might create a condition indicating that the BankTeller security role can only be granted to users on week days.

Access occurs on the specified day of the month—Adds principals to the role only on an ordinal day of the month. For example, you might create a condition indicating that the BankTeller security role can only be granted to users on the first day of each month.

Access occurs after the specified day of the month—Creates a condition for a security role based on a time after an ordinal day in the month. For example, you might create a condition indicating that the BankTeller security role can only be granted to users after the 15th day of the month.

Access occurs before the specified day of the month—Adds principals to the role only if the current day is before an ordinal day in the month. For example, you might create a condition indicating that the BankTeller security role can only be granted to users before the 15th day of the month.

Context Element Role Conditions

You can use the context element conditions to create security roles based on the value of HTTP Servlet Request attributes, HTTP Session attributes, and EJB method parameters. WebLogic Server retrieves this information from the ContextHandler object and allows you to defined role conditions based on the values. When using any of these conditions, it is your responsibility to ensure that the attribute or parameter/value pairs apply to the context in which you are using them. For more information, see "ContextHandlers and WebLogic Resources" in Developing Security Providers for Oracle WebLogic Server.

The context element role conditions available in this release of WebLogic Server are:

Context element defined—Adds principals to the role based on the existence of a specified attribute or parameter.

Context element's value equals a numeric constant—Adds principals to the role based on a specified attribute or parameter's number value (or string representing a double number) being equal to a specified double number.

Context element's value is greater than a numeric constant—Adds principals to the role based on a specified attribute or parameter's number value (or string representing a double number) being greater than a specified double number.

Context element's value is less than a numeric constant—Adds principals to the role based on a specified attribute or parameter's number value (or string representing a double number) being less than a specified double number

Context element's value equals a string constant—Adds principals to the role based on a specified attribute or parameter's string value being equal to a specified string.

Using the Administration Console to Manage Users, Groups, and Roles

Note:

This section describes the features that are available in realms that use the WebLogic Authentication provider and the WebLogic Role Mapping provider or the WebLogic XACML Role Mapping provider. If your security realm uses a third-party Authentication or Role Mapping provider, refer to the third-party documentation for information on its capabilities.

For information on adding users and groups to a security realm, see "Manage users and groups" in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

For information on creating security roles, see "Manage security roles" in Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

7 Using XACML Documents to Secure WebLogic Resources

This chapter describes how to use the eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML), an XML language for expressing authorization policies and role assignments, to secure WebLogic resources. You can create roles and policies in an XACML document and then use the WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) to add them to your security realm. This is useful if you need to create security roles or policies that are more complex than can be created with the Administration Console, or if you are required to use a standard language. You can also export your realm's roles and policies to a XACML document and then import the document in other WebLogic Server realms.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Prerequisites

Adding a XACML Role or Policy to a Realm: Main Steps

Creating Roles and Polices for Custom MBeans

Exporting Roles and Policies to XACML Documents

Caution:

Always create a backup of a domain before you load XACML documents into a security realm. If you make a typographical or other type of error in an attribute description, you can cause the XACML provider to evaluate your realm's roles and polices as indeterminate, which locks all users (including the administrative user) out of the domain. See Caution: Indeterminate Results Can Lock Out All Users.

The WebLogic Server XACML Authorization Provider and the WebLogic Server XACML Role Mapping Provider implement the XACML 2.0 Core Specification, available at http://docs.oasis-open.org/xacml/2.0/access_control-xacml-2.0-core-spec-os.pdf.

Prerequisites

Note the following prerequisites for using XACML documents to secure WebLogic resources:

To add XACML authorization policies to a security realm, the realm must use either the WebLogic Server XACML Authorization Provider or a third party authorization provider that implements the weblogic.management.security.authorization.PolicyStoreMBean interface.

To add XACML role assignments to a security realm, the realm must use either the WebLogic Server XACML Role Mapping Provider or a third party authorization provider that implements the weblogic.management.security.authorization.PolicyStoreMBean interface.

To secure a resource with a XACML authorization or role policy, you need the resource identifier (ID). Because WebLogic Server creates an immutable, unique ID when you deploy or create a resource, you must deploy the resource before creating a policy for it.

To secure an EJB or Web application, you must deploy using the Custom Roles or Custom Roles and Policies security model. You cannot use a XACML document to create roles and polices for an EJB or Web application that you have deployed using the Deployment Descriptor Only security model. See Comparison of Security Models for Web Applications and EJBs.

Adding a XACML Role or Policy to a Realm: Main Steps

You can create a XACML document that describes roles and policies and then use the WebLogic Scripting Tool to add the policy or role to your security realm.

The main steps for this process are as follows:

Determine Which Resource to Secure

Get the ID of the Resource to Secure

Create XACML Documents

Use WebLogic Scripting Tool to Add the Role or Policy to the Realm

Verify That Your Roles and Policies Are in the Realm

Caution: Indeterminate Results Can Lock Out All Users

The XACML specification requires that if the decision engine is unable to process a decision point, the engine returns a result of indeterminate. Depending on the combining algorithms that you use for a decision point and its associated decision points, an indeterminate result can propagate to the top of the decision and cause the provider to deny access to all requests.

For example, the following attribute specifies MustBePresent='true' and contains a spelling mistake (ancester instead of ancestor). It will evaluate as indeterminate and will cause the security provider to deny access:

<ResourceAttributeDesignator
    AttributeId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:resource:resource-ancester"
    DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string"
    MustBePresent="true"/>

Determine Which Resource to Secure

WebLogic Server organizes its resources into a hierarchy. If you use the Administration Console or a Java EE deployment descriptor (instead of a XACML document) to secure WebLogic resources, policies that you create on resources that are higher in the hierarchy act as default policies for resources lower in the same hierarchy. Policies lower in a hierarchy always override policies higher in the hierarchy.

Your XACML document can encode this hierarchical protection scheme, though XACML's hierarchical model differs slightly from WebLogic Server. See Comparison of WebLogic Server and XACML Security Models.

Get the ID of the Resource to Secure

WebLogic Server creates an immutable, unique identifier (ID) when you deploy or create a resource, and your XACML document must include a resource identifier that specifies the WebLogic Server ID.

To find the ID that WebLogic Server has assigned to a resource:

Enable security auditing for your realm by configuring an Auditing provider.

See in "Configure Auditing providers" the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help. Take note of the location in which the Auditing provider saves its log files (by default, in the server's logs directory).

Deploy or create the resource.

Send a request from an external client to the resource.

For example, use a Web Service client to invoke a Web Service method that you want to secure.This will trigger an event that causes the Auditing provider to generate a message for the resource.

Note:

The Web Service client needs to authenticate itself before it can be granted access to the Weblogic resource that is secured by the roles and policies specified in the XACML document.

Open the log file for the Auditing provider and find the entry for the event that you triggered.

For example, if you configure the WebLogic Server Default Auditor to generate messages for severity level INFORMATION and higher, when you invoke the sayHello method from a Web Service named SimpleSoapPort, the audit log contains the following entries, one from the Role Mapping provider and the other from the Authorization provider:

#### Audit Record Begin <Mar 30, 2006 9:24:12 AM>
<Severity =INFORMATION>
<<<Event Type = RoleManager Audit Event ><Subject: 0>
<<webservices>><type=<webservices>,
application=webservicesJwsSimpleEar, contextPath=/jws_basic_simple,
webService=SimpleSoapPort, method=sayHello,
signature={java.lang.String}><>>> Audit Record End ####
#### Audit Record Begin <Mar 30, 2006 9:24:12 AM>
<Severity =SUCCESS>
<<<Event Type = Authorization Audit Event V2 ><Subject: 0>
<ONCE><<webservices>><type=<webservices>,
application=webservicesJwsSimpleEar, contextPath=/jws_basic_simple,
webService=SimpleSoapPort, method=sayHello,
signature={java.lang.String}>>> Audit Record End ####

The resource ID for the sayHello method is:

type=<webservices>,
application=webservicesJwsSimpleEar, contextPath=/jws_basic_simple,
webService=SimpleSoapPort, method=sayHello,
signature={java.lang.String}

Edit the resource ID from the auditing record to specify the resource that you want to protect.

The IDs in the audit log are for resources that are at the bottom of the WebLogic Server resource hierarchy. Typically, instead of creating policies for a specific operation (such as a Web Service or EJB method or an HTTP method on a specific URL), you design policies for resources higher in the hierarchy, such as for a URL pattern or an entire Web Service.

You can derive the following resource IDs from the resource ID from the previous step:

The ID for the Web Service that contains the sayHello method is:

type=<webservices>,
application=webservicesJwsSimpleEar, contextPath=/jws_basic_simple,
webService=SimpleSoapPort

The ID for the application that contains the Web Service is:

type=<application>,
application=webservicesJwsSimpleEar

Note that resource ID for an application specifies type=<application>.

The ID for the Web Service type, which you would use to create a root-level policy for all Web Services is:

type=<webservices>

For information about root-level policies and the hierarchy of resources, see Using Policies to Protect Multiple Resources.

Create XACML Documents

If you want to create role assignments and authorization policies, create two XACML documents: one that describes your roles and another that describes your policies. You load one of the documents into the Role Mapping provider's store and the other into the Authorization provider's store.

For information about using XACML to describe WebLogic Server resources, see Appendix A, "Reference for XACML on WebLogic Server."

Example: Defining Role Assignments

The syntax for describing role assignments in a XACML document is specified in the OASIS RBAC Profile specification, available at http://docs.oasis-open.org/xacml/2.0/access_control-xacml-2.0-rbac-profile1-spec-os.pdf. (WebLogic Server supports only a subset of this specification.)

The syntax requires the following elements:

A Policy parent element.

Under Policy, a Target element.

Under Target, at least one Resource element that contains the following ResourceMatch elements:

(Optional) One ResourceMatch element to identify the name of the role. If you do not include this ResourceMatch element, then the role policy applies to all roles in the realm. The MatchId attribute may specify function identifiers and, thus, wildcard role names. The DataType attribute must specify the string type.

(Optional) Another ResourceMatch element to identify the WebLogic resource to which the role applies. If you do not include this ResourceMatch element, the role applies to all WebLogic resources.

Under Target, an Action element that indicates that the policy applies to a role instead of some other type of resource.

Under Policy, one or more Rule elements that define which users, groups, or roles are in the role.

The XACML document in Example 7-1 specifies that a role named MyRole role can be used with the SimpleSoapPort Web Service. It also specifies that the webServiceGroup group is in the role.

Note:

When specifying values in the <AttributeValue> element, you must not include extraneous space characters. In particular:

Do not precede the first value with more than a single space character.

When specifying multiple values, do not separate each value by more than a single space character.

Make sure there are no space characters that follow the last value.

For example:

<AttributeValue datatype>value1, value2, value3</AttributeValue>

Example 7-1 XACML Policy for a Role

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Policy xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:policy:schema:os" PolicyId="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:myRolePolicy" RuleCombiningAlgId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:rule-combining-algorithm:first-applicable">
   <Description>Grp(group1)</Description>
   <Target>
    <Resources>
     <Resource>
      <ResourceMatch MatchId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:string-equal">
        <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">type=&lt;webservices&gt;, application=webservicesJwsSimpleEar, contextPath=/jws_basic_simple, webService=SimpleSoapPort</AttributeValue>
        <ResourceAttributeDesignator AttributeId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:resource:resource-ancestor-or-self" DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string" MustBePresent="true"/>
      </ResourceMatch>
      <ResourceMatch MatchId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:string-equal">
        <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">MyRole</AttributeValue>
        <ResourceAttributeDesignator AttributeId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:subject:role" DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string" MustBePresent="true"/>
      </ResourceMatch>
     </Resource>
    </Resources>
    <Actions>
     <Action>
       <ActionMatch MatchId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:anyURI-equal">
         <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#anyURI">urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:actions:enableRole</AttributeValue>
         <ActionAttributeDesignator AttributeId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:action:action-id" DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#anyURI" MustBePresent="true"/>
       </ActionMatch>
     </Action>
    </Actions>
   </Target>
   <Rule RuleId="primary-rule" Effect="Permit">
    <Condition>
      <Apply FunctionId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:string-is-in">
        <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">webServiceGroup</AttributeValue>
        <SubjectAttributeDesignator AttributeId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:subject:group" DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string"/>
      </Apply>
    </Condition>
   </Rule>
   <Rule RuleId="deny-rule" Effect="Deny"/>
</Policy>

Example: Defining Authorization Policies

The XACML document in Example 7-2 specifies that only the MyRole role can access the SimpleSoapPort Web Service.

Example 7-2 XACML Policy for a Web Service

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Policy xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:policy:schema:os" PolicyId="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:myPolicy" RuleCombiningAlgId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:rule-combining-algorithm:first-applicable">
   <Description>Rol(MyRole)</Description>
   <Target>
    <Resources>
     <Resource>
      <ResourceMatch MatchId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:string-equal">
        <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">type=&lt;webservices&gt;, application=webservicesJwsSimpleEar, contextPath=/jws_basic_simple, webService=SimpleSoapPort</AttributeValue>
        <ResourceAttributeDesignator AttributeId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:resource:resource-ancestor-or-self" DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string" MustBePresent="true"/>
      </ResourceMatch>
     </Resource>
    </Resources>
   </Target>
   <Rule RuleId="primary-rule" Effect="Permit">
    <Condition>
     <Apply FunctionId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:string-is-in">
       <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">MyRole</AttributeValue>
       <SubjectAttributeDesignator AttributeId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:subject:role" DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string"/>
     </Apply>
    </Condition>
   </Rule>
   <Rule RuleId="deny-rule" Effect="Deny"/>
</Policy>

Use WebLogic Scripting Tool to Add the Role or Policy to the Realm

The WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) is a command-line scripting interface that you can use to load your XACML document into a WebLogic security realm.

You can use WLST in interactive mode or script mode. You cannot use WLST in offline mode; the Authentication provider and Role Mapping provider can update their policy stores only when the Administration Server is running.

For information about using script mode, see "Using the WebLogic Scripting Tool" in Oracle WebLogic Scripting Tool.

The following steps describe using the WLST interactive mode:

Start the WebLogic Server instance that contains the realm you want to configure.

Open a command prompt and set up the environment for running WLST.

One way to set up the environment is as follows:

Change to the root directory of the domain.

Invoke the setWLSenv script (the Domain Configuration Wizard creates this script for you when you create the domain).

Change to the directory that contains your XACML document.

To start WLST and connect to a WebLogic Server instance that is listening at localhost:7001, enter the following commands:

java weblogic.WLST

This command returns a WLST prompt.

connect('username','password','localhost:7001')

where username and password are credentials for an administrative user.

To load a XACML document into a Java String object, enter the following commands:

xacmlFile = open('myfile','r')

where myfile is the name of your XACML document.

xacmlDoc = xacmlFile.read()

(Optional) To verify that you have loaded your document into a String, enter:

print(xacmlDoc)

The command prints the value of the xacmlDoc variable to standard out.

To load role assignments into the WebLogic XACML Role Mapper, enter the following commands:

cd ('SecurityConfiguration/mydomain/Realms/myrealm/RoleMappers/XACMLRoleMapper')

where

mydomain is the name of your WebLogic Server domain

myrealm is the name of your domain's security realm

cmo.addPolicy(xacmlDoc) or cmo.addPolicySet(xacmlDoc), depending on whether your XACML document contains a Policy or PolicySet.

To load authorization policies into the WebLogic XACML Authorizer, repeat step 5 to load your XACML policies document, Then enter the following commands:

cd ('SecurityConfiguration/mydomain/Realms/myrealm/Authorizers/XACMLAuthorizer')

where

mydomain is the name of your WebLogic Server domain

myrealm is the name of your domain's security realm

cmo.addPolicy(xacmlDoc) or cmo.addPolicySet(xacmlDoc), depending on whether your XACML document contains a Policy or PolicySet.

To see a full list of operations that you can use to add, modify, or delete policies, see XACMLAuthorizerMBean in Oracle WebLogic Server MBean Reference.

Verify That Your Roles and Policies Are in the Realm

The WebLogic Server Administration Console does not display roles and policies that you add from a XACML document.

Instead, to verify that your roles and policies were added to the realm, see Exporting Roles and Policies to XACML Documents.

Creating Roles and Polices for Custom MBeans

A Managed Bean (MBean) is a standard for exposing management data and operations for a resource. Your application developers can greatly reduce the cost of operating and maintaining your applications by creating MBeans (custom MBeans) to monitor and manage your applications. See Developing Manageable Applications With JMX for Oracle WebLogic Server.

If you register custom MBeans in a WebLogic Server MBean server, you can create a XACML document that defines who can access your MBeans. In addition to the prerequisites described in Prerequisites, note that your MBean's object name must include a "Type=value" key property.

The main steps for creating roles and policies for custom MBeans are:

Determine the Resource IDs for a Custom MBean

Create XACML Documents

Use WebLogic Scripting Tool to Add the Role or Policy to the Realm

Verify That Your Roles and Policies Are in the Realm

Determine the Resource IDs for a Custom MBean

When you register a custom MBean with a WebLogic MBean server, the WebLogic security service creates two resource IDs for each attribute in the MBean: one for the attribute's getter method and another for the setter. It creates one resource ID for each MBean operation.

The IDs use the following pattern:

type=<jmx>, operation=type-of-access, application=,
mbeanType=type-name, target=attribute-or-operation

where:

type-of-access specifies the type of access that the policy secures. Use one of the following values:

get

Indicates that the policy controls who can read one or more MBean attributes.

set

Indicates that the policy controls who can write one or more MBean attributes.

invoke

Indicates that the policy controls who can invoke one or more MBean operations.

create

Indicates that the policy controls who can use the MBean-server's create method to create an instance of an MBean.

unregister

Indicates that the policy controls who can use the MBean-server's unregister method to unregister an instance of an MBean.

type-name is the value of the MBean object name's Type key property.

attribute-or-operation is the name of an MBean attribute or operation.

For example, if you create an MBean that contains a single attribute named NewUserCount and an operation named clearNewUserCount, and if you register the MBean under the object name medrec:Name=AdminReportMBean,Type=CustomMBeanType, then the security service creates the following resource IDs:

type=<jmx>, operation=get, application=, mbeanType=CustomMBeanType,
target=NewUserCount

type=<jmx>, operation=set, application=, mbeanType=CustomMBeanType,
target=NewUserCount

type=<jmx>, operation=clearNewUserCount, application=,
mbeanType=CustomMBeanType,target=

Exporting Roles and Policies to XACML Documents

To see a XACML representation of all roles and policies that are in your security realm, you can export the data from the Authorization and Role Mapping providers.

Caution:

Do not attempt round-trip editing of roles and policies. That is, do not export roles and policies, modify the XACML documents, and then import the modified documents. Editing exported files might result in an unusable WebLogic Server configuration and is not supported.

For information on how to export security data, see "Export data from a security provider" in the Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

A Reference for XACML on WebLogic Server

The eXtensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) is an XML language for expressing authorization policies and role assignments. XACML offers extension points so that vendors such as Oracle can express vendor-specific resources, data types, and functions in XACML.

The WebLogic Server XACML Authorization Provider and XACML Role Mapping Provider:

Implement and extend the OASIS XACML 2.0 Core Specification, available at http://docs.oasis-open.org/xacml/2.0/access_control-xacml-2.0-core-spec-os.pdf

Partially implement the Core and Hierarchical Role Based Access Control (RBAC) Profile of XACML 2.0, described in the OASIS RBAC specification at http://docs.oasis-open.org/xacml/2.0/access_control-xacml-2.0-rbac-profile1-spec-os.pdf

The following sections describe the extensions that you can use when writing XACML 2.0 documents to protect resources on WebLogic Server and the restrictions that WebLogic Server places on XACML:

Comparison of WebLogic Server and XACML Security Models

Action Identifiers

Environment Identifiers

Policy and PolicySet Identifiers

Resource Identifiers

Subject Identifiers

WebLogic Server Functions for XACML

Rule and Policy-Combining Algorithm

This document describes only the WebLogic Server extensions and restrictions for XACML. For a complete reference of the XACML 2.0 language, see the OASIS XACML 2.0 Core Specification and the OASIS RBAC specification.

Comparison of WebLogic Server and XACML Security Models

The WebLogic Server model for representing resources and policies follows the model of Java EE deployment descriptors. This Java EE model creates a hierarchy of resources in which roles and authorization policies at the top of the hierarchy protect resources that are lower in the hierarchy. (See Protecting a Hierarchy of Resources.) Policies lower in a hierarchy always override policies higher in the hierarchy. The higher levels of the resource hierarchy contain enterprise applications, Web applications, and EJBs. The lowest levels of the resource hierarchy contain EJB methods, HTTP methods on specific URL patterns, and MBean getters and setters.

The XACML model also recognizes a hierarchy of resources. Unlike the native WebLogic Server model, your XACML policies must specify how to interpret cases in which a resource is protected by its own policy and by a policy on the resource's parent or ancestor.

In addition, a XACML document typically distinguishes between a resource and the actions of a resource. For example, a XACML document defines a resource such as an EJB, and then defines an action within the EJB resource to represent a method in the EJB. The native WebLogic Server model considers an EJB and each EJB method to be resources. See Figure A-1.

Figure A-1 WebLogic Resource Hierarchy Includes Methods

While it is possible to describe an action such as an EJB method as a XACML resource, a more natural expression in XACML would define an EJB as a resource and an EJB method as an action within the resource.

Comparison of Terminology

The WebLogic Server terminology for describing resources and policies follows the model of Java EE deployment descriptors. This Java EE model uses the following terms to describe key concepts:

Role, which contains one or more conditions that describe which users or groups are in the role at any given time. A role expression is a collection of conditions and the name of a user or group whom the conditions add to the role. The collection of expressions is the role statement.

Policy, which contains one or more conditions that describe who can access a resource at any given time. A policy expression is a collection of conditions and the name of a user, group, or role whom the conditions allow access. The collection of expressions is the policy statement.

In XACML, a set of rules comprise a policy, and policies can be used to determine who is in a role or who can access a resource. In general, a XACML policy is equivalent to a role statement or policy statement in WebLogic Server.

Description of Data Types

Oracle implements support for all of the data types that are required by the XACML core specification. It supports additional, standard XML data types and provides a group of custom data types. This document uses the bea: prefix to indicate that a data type is a custom Oracle type.

For a description of all data types that the WebLogic XACML providers recognize, see com.bea.common.security.xacml.Type in Oracle WebLogic Server API Reference.

Action Identifiers

XACML uses an Action element to identify an operation in a resource or a hierarchy of resources.

WebLogic Server supports all of the XACML Action identifiers, as described in the XACML 2.0 Core Specification, and adds support for an additional one that can appear anywhere that a standard XACML environment identifier can appear.

To identify operations in WebLogic Server resources (for example, to identify a specific EJB method), use action identifiers as described in Table A-1.

Note:

While it is possible to use a resource identifier to describe an operation such as an EJB method, a more natural expression in XACML would use an action identifier. See Comparison of WebLogic Server and XACML Security Models.

Table A-1 Action Identifiers

To Identify...
Use This Identifier...

An operation

Attribute ID: urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:action:action-id

Data Type: string

Value: Depends on the type of resource that contains the operation. See Table A-2.

When the provider performs a security check

Attribute ID: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:action:direction

Data Type: string

Values: ONCE, PRIOR, or POST

The WebLogic Security SPI contains an optional feature that enables containers to specify when a provider performs a security check on a request:

ONCE requests an authorization check once with no preference of whether it is done before or after an operation.

PRIOR requests an authorization check prior to processing the request.

POST requests an authorization check after the request has been processed but before the results have been returned.

You can use this direction identifier to match requests that have been checked ONCE, PRIOR, or POST.

For more information, see weblogic.security.spi.Direction in the Oracle WebLogic Server API Reference, which is the object type that is used to pass ONCE, PRIOR, or POST to the security provider.

Note: Using a Direction object in a decision is optional for Authorization providers. The WebLogic Server XACML Authorization provider supports only the ONCE value.

Table A-2 describes the value that you specify for the action-id identifier.

Table A-2 Value for the action-id Identifier

If the operation is in this resource type...
Specify...

Admin

The name of an administrative activity that is protected by an Admin resource. For example, UserLockout.

For a list of valid values, see the action parameter for the weblogic.security.service.AdminResource constructor in the Oracle WebLogic Server API Reference.

Application

The name of the application as displayed in the Administration Console.

Control

The name of a method in a Java control. Java controls are reusable components that you can create and use anywhere within a WebLogic Platform application.

EJB

The name of an EJB method. For example, mymethod. If the method is overloaded, all methods with the specified method name will be matched.

JDBC

The name of an administrative activity that is protected by a JDBC resource.

For a list of valid values, see the action parameter for the weblogic.security.service.JDBCResource constructor in the Oracle WebLogic Server API Reference.

JMS

The name of an administrative activity that is protected by a JMS resource.

For a list of valid values, see the action parameter for the weblogic.security.service.JMSResource constructor in the Oracle WebLogic Server API Reference.

JMX

The name of an operation in a WebLogic Server MBean. For example, shutdown.

JNDI

The name of an administrative activity that is protected by a JNDI resource.

For a list of valid values, see the action parameter for the weblogic.security.service.JNDIResource constructor in the Oracle WebLogic Server API Reference.

Server

The name of a server life cycle activity that is protected by a Server resource. For example, boot.

For a list of valid values, see Server Resources.

URL

The name of an HTTP method. For example, POST.

Web Service

The name of a Web Service method. For example, mymethod.

Work Context

The name of an administrative activity that is protected by a Work Context resource.

For a list of valid values, see the action parameter for the weblogic.security.service.WorkContextResource constructor in the Oracle WebLogic Server API Reference.

All others

The following string: access

Examples

The following example uses an Action element to specify that the target is mymethod within the SimpleSoap Web Service.

Note:

When specifying values in the <AttributeValue> element, you must not include extraneous space characters. In particular:

Do not precede the first value with more than a single space character.

When specifying multiple values, do not separate each value by more than a single space character.

Make sure there are no space characters that follow the last value.

For example:

<AttributeValue datatype>value1, value2, value3</AttributeValue>

<Target>
  <Resources>
   <Resource>
   <ResourceMatch
    MatchId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:string-equal">
    <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">type=&lt;webservices&gt;, application=webservicesJwsSimpleEar,contextPath=/jws_basic_simple, webService=SimpleSoapPort</AttributeValue>
    <ResourceAttributeDesignator
     AttributeId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:resource:resource-ancestor"
     DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string"
     MustBePresent="true"/>
   </ResourceMatch>
  </Resource>
  </Resources>
  <ActionMatch
    MatchId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:string-equal">
    <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">mymethod</AttributeValue>
     <ActionAttributeDesignator
      AttributeId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:action:action-id"
      DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string"
      MustBePresent="true"/>
  </ActionMatch>
</Target>

Environment Identifiers

XACML uses an optional Environment element to describe conditions in the operating environment that must be met before providing access to a target. For example, an Environment element can specify a time and date range within which access is allowed.

WebLogic Server supports all of the XACML Environment identifiers (see the OASIS XACML 2.0 Core Specification at http://docs.oasis-open.org/xacml/2.0/access_control-xacml-2.0-core-spec-os.pdf) and adds support for an additional one that can appear anywhere that a standard XACML environment identifier can appear. Table A-3 lists and provides the values that can be specified for identifiers that can be used to hold values that the container passes to the provider.

Table A-3 WebLogic Server Environment Identifiers

Identifier
Value and Description

Attribute ID:

urn:bea:xacml:2.0:environment:context:key

In this identifier, key specifies a ContextHandler element name as defined in "ContextHandlers and WebLogic Resources" in Developing Security Providers for Oracle WebLogic Server. A ContextHandler is a WebLogic class that obtains additional context and container-specific information from the resource container and represents the information as a list of name/value pairs.

Data Type:

bea:Object, string, or double

Value:

The value of the ContextHandler element that you want to match.

Examples

The following example uses an Environment element to match value of a WebLogic Server listen port. Such an element could create a policy that requires a request to come through listen port 9001:

<Environment>
   <EnvironmentMatch
      MatchId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:double-equal">
      <EnvironmentAttributeDesignator
           AttributeId="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:environment:context:com.bea.cont
           extelement.channel.Port"
            DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#double"/>
      <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#double">9001</AttributeValue>
   </EnvironmentMatch>
</Environment>

Policy and PolicySet Identifiers

XACML uses a Policy element to contain one or more rules and a PolicySet element to contain one or more policies. Each element must include the PolicySetId attribute to provide a unique identification. The XACML specification requires PolicySetId identifiers to be legal URI values.

XACML documents use the PolicySetId to include a specific Policy or PolicySet element within another PolicySet element. WebLogic Server uses the PolicySetId as the key in the Authorization provider or Role Mapping provider's policy store.

WebLogic Server reserves URI values beginning with urn:bea: for its internal use. While you cannot create your own policies with URIs that begin with urn:bea:, you can use these values to include Oracle's policies in your policy sets.

Examples

The following example is a valid identifier for a Policy element:

<Policy
    PolicyId="urn:mycompany:myapplication:policyid:1"
...>

The following example is a valid reference to the Policy element above:

<PolicyIdReference>
    urn:mycompany:myapplication:policyid:1
</PolicyIdReference>

Resource Identifiers

XACML uses a Resource element to represent data, a service, or a system component.

WebLogic Server supports all of the XACML Resource identifiers, as described in the XACML 2.0 Core Specification.

To identify a WebLogic Server resource, use resource identifiers as described in Table A-4. For information about WebLogic Server resources, see Chapter 3, "Resource Types You Can Secure with Policies."

Table A-4 WebLogic Server Resource Identifiers

To identify a...
Use the following identifier...

Resource

Attribute ID: urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:resource:resource-id

Data Type: string

Value: A collection of name and value pairs that specify the WebLogic Server resource type and the location of the resource in the WebLogic Server resource hierarchy. WebLogic Server generates these identifiers.

Note that a policy that uses this identifier will not protect resources that are below the specified resource. For example, if you use this identifier for a policy on a Web Service module, the policy will not protect methods within the Web Service.

See Get the ID of the Resource to Secure.

Resource and its ancestors

Attribute ID: urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:resource:resource-ancestor-or-self

Data Type: string

Values: A collection of name and value pairs that specify a WebLogic Server resource type. WebLogic Server generates these identifiers.

See Get the ID of the Resource to Secure.

Parent of a resource

Attribute ID: urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:resource:resource-parent

Data Type: string

Values: A collection of name and value pairs that specify a WebLogic Server resource type. WebLogic Server generates these identifiers.

See Get the ID of the Resource to Secure.

Ancestor of a resource

Attribute ID: urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:resource:resource-ancestor

Data Type: string

Values: A collection of name and value pairs that specify a WebLogic Server resource type. WebLogic Server generates these identifiers.

See Get the ID of the Resource to Secure.

Examples

The following example Resource element matches a Web Service named SimpleSoapPort and all methods within that Web Service:

<Resource>
   <ResourceMatch
    MatchId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:string-equal">
    <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">type=&lt;webservices&gt;, application=webservicesJwsSimpleEar, contextPath=/jws_basic_simple, webService=SimpleSoapPort</AttributeValue>
    <ResourceAttributeDesignator
     AttributeId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:resource:resource-ancestor"
     DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string"
     MustBePresent="true"/>
   </ResourceMatch>
</Resource>

Subject Identifiers

XACML uses a Subject element to represent an actor whose attributes may be referenced by a predicate.

WebLogic Server supports all of the XACML Subject identifiers, as described in the XACML 2.0 Core Specification.

To identify a WebLogic Server user, group, or role as defined in a WebLogic Server realm, use subject identifiers as described Table A-5.

Table A-5 WebLogic Subject Identifiers

To identify a...
Use the following identifier...

User principal

Attribute ID: urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:subject:subject-id

Data Type: string

Value: Name of a WebLogic Server user principal.

Group principal

Attribute ID: urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:subject:group

Data Type: string

Values: Name of a WebLogic Server group principal.

Role

Attribute ID: urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:subject:role

Data Type: string

Values: Names of one or more roles as resolved by a XACML Role Mapping provider.

Note: WebLogic Server supports only a subset of the RBAC Profile specification, which is the specification that defines this attribute.

Subject who has signed a SOAP document

Attribute ID: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:subject:context:com.bea.contextelement.webservice.Integrity{{namespace}element}

where namespace and element are the namespace and element that was signed.

For example:

urn:bea:xacml:2.0:subject:context:com.bea. contextelement.webservice.Integrity{{ http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/}Body}

Data Type: string

Values: The Java subject who has signed the element (either user ID or group ID).

Examples

For an example of a XACML document that uses identifiers from Table A-7 to define a security role that can be used to protect access to a Web Service, see Example 7-2.

WebLogic Server Functions for XACML

The following sections describe the functions that the WebLogic Server XACML providers support in addition to the functions described in the XACML Core Specification:

Custom Data Type Variants

Miscellaneous Functions

Time/Date Conversions

Arithmetic Conversions and Functions

Object Type Conversions

Object Comparisons

String Comparisons and Manipulations

Custom Data Type Variants

The following function identifiers specify functions that are direct ports of standard XACML functions and operate on XML and WebLogic Server data types long, float, decimal and bea:Character. For a description of these data types, see com.bea.common.security.xacml.Type in Oracle WebLogic Server API Reference.

In this list, type refers to the names of the data types (long, float, decimal or character):

urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-equal
urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-greater-than
urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-greater-than-or-equal
urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-less-than
urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-less-than-or-equal
urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-one-and-only
urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-bag-size urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-is-in
urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-bag urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-intersection
urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-union
urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-at-least-one-member-of
urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-subset
urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-set-equals

For information on functions that compare bea:Objects, see Object Comparisons.

Examples

The following example is a Condition that uses urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:character-equal to compare two bea:characters:

<Condition>
   <Apply FunctionId="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:character-equal">
     <AttributeValue DataType="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:data-type:character">Q</AttributeValue>
     <AttributeValue DataType="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:data-type:character">Q</AttributeValue>
   </Apply>
</Condition>

Miscellaneous Functions

Table A-6 lists the miscellaneous functions that WebLogic Server provides in addition to the standard XACML functions.

Table A-6 Miscellaneous WebLogic Server XACML Functions

Function
Description

in-development-mode

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:in-development-mode

Input Type: null

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes no arguments and returns true if the WebLogic Server instance that hosts the realm is in development mode

See "Creating a WebLogic Domain" in Creating Domains Using the Configuration Wizard.

instance-method

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:instance-method

Input Type: bea:Object, string, Bag of bea:Class, [bea:Object ... ]

Return Type: bea:Object

Description: This function invokes a method on a bea:Object that the container makes available in the current context.

The function takes the following arguments:

bea:Object. A Java object whose method will be invoked. Use the urn:bea:xacml:2.0:environment:context:key environment identifier to specify the bea:Object. See Environment Identifiers.

string. The method name.

Bag of bea:Class. The Java classes that are declared in the method's signature. Use Oracle's string-to-class function to create the required classes. See Object Type Conversions.

Zero or more bea:Objects. Each object contains a parameter value to pass to the method. Use Oracle's object conversion functions to create the required objects. See Object Type Conversions.

The function returns the return value of the invoked method as a bea:Object. Methods that return void may not be invoked.

instance-method-match

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:instance-method-match

Input Type: bea:Object, string, [bea:Object ... ]

Return Type: bea:Object

Description: This function invokes a method on a bea:Object that the container makes available in the current context.

The function takes the following arguments:

bea:Object. A Java object whose method will be invoked. Use the urn:bea:xacml:2.0:environment:context:key environment identifier to specify the bea:Object. See Environment Identifiers.

string. The method name.

Zero or more bea:Objects. Each object contains a parameter value to pass to the method. Use Oracle's object conversion functions to create the required objects. See Object Type Conversions.

This function uses the method name and the class types of the parameter bea:Objects to find the appropriate method in the target bea:Object. If the target bea:Object does not exactly one method that matches the parameters, then the function result is indeterminate.

The function returns the return value of the invoked method as a bea:Object. Methods that return void may not be invoked.

instance-method-v2

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:instance-method-v2

Input Type: bea:Class, bea:Object, string, Bag of bea:Class, [bea:Object ... ]

Return Type: bea:Object

Description: This function invokes a method on a bea:Object that the container makes available in the current context.

The function takes the following arguments:

bea:Class. The class type of the bea:Object. Use Oracle's string-to-class function to create the class. See Object Type Conversions.

bea:Object. A Java object whose method will be invoked. Use the urn:bea:xacml:2.0:environment:context:key environment identifier to specify the bea:Object. See Environment Identifiers.

string. The method name.

Bag of bea:Class. The Java classes that are declared in the method's signature. Use Oracle's string-to-class function to create the required classes. See Object Type Conversions.

Zero or more bea:Objects. Each object contains a parameter value to pass to the method. Use Oracle's object conversion functions to create the required objects. See Object Type Conversions.

The function returns the return value of the invoked method as a bea:Object. Methods that return void may not be invoked.

instance-method-match-v2

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:instance-method-match-v2

Input Type: bea:Class, bea:Object, string, [bea:Object ... ]

Return Type: bea:Object

Description: This function uses the class type of the bea:Object, method name, and the class types of the parameter bea:Objects to find the appropriate method in the target bea:Object. If the target bea:Object does not contain exactly one method that matches the parameters, then the function result is indeterminate.

The function takes the following arguments:

bea:Class. The class type of the bea:Object. Use Oracle's string-to-class function to create the class. See Object Type Conversions.

bea:Object. A Java object whose method will be invoked. Use the urn:bea:xacml:2.0:environment:context:key environment identifier to specify the bea:Object. See Environment Identifiers.

string. The method name.

Zero or more bea:Objects. Each object contains a parameter value to pass to the method. Use Oracle's object conversion functions to create the required objects. See Object Type Conversions.

The function returns the return value of the invoked method as a bea:Object. Methods that return void may not be invoked.

instance-method-match-v3

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:instance-method-match-v3

Input Type: string, bea:Object, string, Bag of string,[bea:Object... ]

Return Type: bea:Object

Description: This function uses the class name of the bea:Object, method name, and the class types of the parameter bea:Objects to find the appropriate method in the target bea:Object. If the target bea:Object does not contain exactly one method that matches the parameters, then the function result is indeterminate.

This function invokes uses the Java reflection API to invoke a method on a specified bea:Object. The function takes the following arguments:

String. The name of the bea:Object's class type.

bea:Object. A Java object whose method will be invoked. Use the urn:bea:xacml:2.0:environment:context:key environment identifier to specify the bea:Object. See Environment Identifiers.

String. The method name.

Bag of string. The class names of the parameters in the method signature.

Zero or more bea:Objects. Each object contains a parameter value to pass to the method. Use Oracle's object conversion functions to create the required objects. See Object Type Conversions.

The function returns the return value of the invoked method as a bea:Object. Methods that return void may not be invoked.

Example

The following policy uses the instance-method function to invoke the HttpServletRequest.getAuthType() method on requests that match a specific URL pattern (see javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest.getAuthType() in the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 API Specification, available at http://download.oracle.com/javaee/6/api/javax/servlet/http/HttpServletRequest.html#getAuthType). The WebLogic Server ContextHandler makes this HttpServletRequest object available to the Authorization and Role Mapping providers for all requests that come through the servlet container. Any policy for a URL resource can invoke this or other HttpServletRequest methods.

Example A-1 Policy That Invokes HttpServletRequest.getAuthType()

<Policy xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:policy:schema:os"
   PolicyId="urn:sample:xacml:2.0:function:instance-method"
   RuleCombiningAlgId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:rule-combining-algorithm:
     first-applicable">
  <Description>function:instance-method</Description>
  <Target>
    <Resources>
      <Resource>
         <ResourceMatch
            MatchId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:string-equal">
            <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">type=&lt;url&gt;, application=MedRecEAR, contextPath=,uri=/docs/*</AttributeValue>
             <ResourceAttributeDesignator
               AttributeId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:2.0:resource:
                  resource-ancestor-or-self"
               DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string"
                MustBePresent="true"/>
         </ResourceMatch>
      </Resource>
    </Resources>
  </Target>
  <!-- Declaring the instance-method function as a variable because this policy
       invokes it multiple times.
  -->
  <VariableDefinition VariableId="authType">
    <Apply FunctionId="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:instance-method">
      <!-- Passing the HttpServletRequest object to the function, which the
           BEA ContextHandler makes available to the security framework.
      -->
      <Apply FunctionId="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-one-and-only">
        <EnvironmentAttributeDesignator
           DataType="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:data-type:object"
           AttributeId="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:environment:context:com.bea.
              contextelement.servlet.HttpServletRequest" />
      </Apply>
      <!--  Passing "getAuthType()" as the name of the HttpServletRequest
             method to invoke
      -->
      <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">getAuthType</AttributeValue>
      <!-- Because the getAuthType() method signature contains no parameters,
           pass an empty bag of Class.
      -->
      <Apply FunctionId="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:class-bag" />
    </Apply>
  </VariableDefinition>
  <!-- Creating a rule that allows access to the resource only if
       the getAuthType() returns a non-null value and if the non-null
       value is "CLIENT_CERT"
  -->
  <Rule RuleId="primary-rule" Effect="Permit">
    <Condition>
      <Apply FunctionId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:and">
        <Apply FunctionId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:not">
          <Apply FunctionId="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-is-null">
            <VariableReference VariableId="authType" />
          </Apply>
        </Apply>
        <Apply
           FunctionId="urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:function:string-equal">
           <!-- Because the instance-method function returns a bea:Object,
                 this policy wraps the function in an object-to-string function,
                 which enables comparison a of the function output with another
                 string.
           -->
           <Apply FunctionId="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-to-string">
              <VariableReference VariableId="authType" />
           </Apply>
           <!--  Declaring a String object to compare to the
                 HttpServletRequest.getAuthType() return value.
           -->
           <AttributeValue DataType="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string">CLIENT_CERT</AttributeValue>
         </Apply>
       </Apply>
    </Condition>
  </Rule>
  <Rule RuleId="deny-rule" Effect="Deny" />
</Policy>

Time/Date Conversions

Table A-7 lists the functions that Oracle provides to convert XACML times and dates to different data types.

Table A-7 WebLogic Server Time/Date Conversions

Function
Description

dateTime-dayOfMonth

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:dateTime-dayOfMonth

Input Type: dateTime

Return Type: integer

Description: This function takes a single argument of type dateTime and returns an integer value that represents the day of month implied by the dateTime input.

The first day of the month is represented with a value of 1.

dateTime-dayOfMonthMaximum

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:dateTime-dayOfMonthMaximum

Input Type: dateTime

Return Type: integer

Description: This function takes a single argument of type dateTime and returns an integer value that represents the value of the last day of the month.

For example, if the dateTime describes a time in the month of December, the function returns 31 (because December has a maximum of 31 days). This function adjusts the value returned for February on leap years.

dateTime-dayOfWeek

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:dateTime-dayOfWeek

Input Type: dateTime

Return Type: integer

Description: This function takes a single argument of type dateTime and returns an integer value that indicates the day of the week implied by the dateTime input.

Sunday is the first day of the week and has a value of 1.

dateTime-secondsOfDay

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:dateTime-secondsOfDay

Input Type: dateTime

Return Type: integer

Description: This function takes a single argument of type dateTime and returns an integer value that indicates the number of whole seconds that have elapsed in the day that is indicated by the dateTime input.

dayTimeDuration-timeZoneOffset

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:dayTimeDuration-timeZoneOffset

Input Type: null

Return Type: dayTimeDuration

Description: This function takes no arguments and returns a dayTimeDuration value that indicates the time-zone offset between the local time and GMT time.

string-to-dateTime

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-to-dateTime

Input Type: string

Return Type: dateTime

Description: This function takes a single argument of type string and returns the argument as a dateTime.

string-to-date

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-to-date

Input Type: string

Return Type: date

Description: This function takes a single argument of type string and returns the argument as a date.

object-to-dateTime

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-to-dateTime

Input Type: bea:Object

Return Type: dateTime

Description: This function takes a single argument of type bea:Object and returns the value as a dateTime object. If the bea:Object is an instance of java.util.Calendar, then its value is returned directly. If the bea:Object is an instance of java.security.Timestamp or java.util.Date, this function converts the bea:Object to java.util.Calendar and returns the Calendar value. Otherwise, this function converts the bea:Object to java.lang.String and parses the String into a dateTime value.

object-to-date

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-to-date

Input Type: bea:Object

Return Type: date

Description: This function takes a single argument of type bea:Object and returns the value as a date object. If the bea:Object is an instance of java.util.Calendar, then its value is returned directly. If the bea:Object is an instance of java.util.Date, this function converts the bea:Object to java.util.Calendar and returns the Calendar value. Otherwise, this function converts the bea:Object to java.lang.String and parses the String into a date value.

Arithmetic Conversions and Functions

Table A-8 lists the functions that Oracle provides to convert arithmetic values to different Input Types and to extend the basic set of arithmetic functions specified by XACML.

Table A-8 WebLogic Server Arithmetic Conversions and Functions

Function
Description

float-to-double

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:float-to-double

Input Type: float

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type float and returns the argument as a double.

long-to-double

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:long-to-double

Input Type: long

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type long and returns the argument as a double.

long-to-float

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:long-to-float

Input Type: long

Return Type: float

Description: This function takes a single argument of type long and returns the argument as a float.

integer-to-float

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:integer-to-float

Input Type: integer

Return Type: float

Description: This function takes a single argument of type integer and returns the argument as a float.

integer-to-long

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:integer-to-long

Input Type: integer

Return Type: long

Description: This function takes a single argument of type integer and returns the argument as a long.

string-to-double

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-to-double

Input Type: string

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type string and returns the argument as a double.

string-to-long

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-to-long

Input Type: string

Return Type: long

Description: This function takes a single argument of type string and returns the argument as a long.

string-to-integer

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-to-integer

Input Type: string

Return Type: integer

Description: This function takes a single argument of type string and returns the argument as a integer.

string-to-float

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:integer-to-long

Input Type: string

Return Type: float

Description: This function takes a single argument of type string and returns the argument as a float.

to-degrees

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:to-degrees

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double, converts the value from radians to degrees, and returns the degrees value as a double.

to-radians

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:to-radians

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double, converts the value from degrees to radians, and returns the radians value as a double.

acos

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:acos

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double and returns the arc cosine of the argument as a double.

asin

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:asin

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double and returns the arc sine of the argument as a double.

atan

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:atan

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double and returns the arc tangent of the argument as a double.

atan2

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:atan2

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes two arguments of type double that represent the x and y coordinates of a point. It returns a double value which is the theta component of the point in polar coordinates for the r value that corresponds to the x coordinate.

ceil

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:ceil

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double and returns a double value that is the smallest mathematical integer that is greater than or equal to the argument value.

cos

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:cos

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double and returns the cosine of the argument as a double.

exp

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:exp

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double and returns a double value that is Euler's number, e, raised to the power of the argument value.

ieee-remainder

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:ieee-remainder

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes two arguments of type double and returns a double value that is the remainder operation result of the two arguments as described in the IEEE 754 standard. See http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/754/.

log

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:log

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double and the natural logarithm as a double.

maximum

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:maximum

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes two arguments of type double and returns the larger of the two values as a double.

minimum

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:minimum

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes two arguments of type double and returns the smaller of the two values as a double.

pow

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:pow

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes two arguments of type double and returns a double value that is the result of taking the first argument value to the power of the second argument value.

random-number

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:random-number

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes two arguments of type double and returns a double value that is a random number greater than or equal to the first argument and less than the second argument.

rint

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:rint

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double and returns a double value that is the mathematical integer that is closest to the argument value. If the higher and lower integer values are equally close, then the even value is returned.

sqrt

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:sqrt

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double and returns the square root as a double.

tan

URI: uurn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:tan

Input Type: double

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type double and returns the tangent as a double.

Object Type Conversions

WebLogic Server provides a collection of functions for converting XACML data into Java objects. The URI for each function in this collection is as follows:

urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-to-object

where type is the name of a XACML data type. Table A-9 lists all data types and the Java object that the corresponding function returns.

For example, this function returns "test" as a java.lang.String object:

<Apply
  FunctionId="urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-to-object">test</Apply>

Table A-9 Data to Java Object Conversion

When type equals...
The urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:type-to-object function returns...

character

java.lang.Character

string

java.lang.String

boolean

java.lang.Boolean

integer

java.lang.Integer

double

java.lang.Double

float

java.lang.Float

long

java.lang.Long

decimal

java.lang.Double

base64Binary

java.lang.Byte[]

hexBinary

java.lang.Byte[]

date

java.util.Calendar

time

java.util.Calendar

dateTime

java.util.Calendar

dayTimeDuration

java.lang.Long

yearMonthDuration

java.lang.Integer

rfc822Name

java.lang.String

x500Name

java.lang.String

anyURI

java.net.URI

ipAddress

java.lang.String

dnsAddress

java.lang.String

Table A-10 lists the functions that Oracle provides to convert strings or Java objects to different data or object types. To pass objects that the container makes available to the current context, use the urn:bea:xacml:2.0:environment:context:key environment identifier to specify the bea:Object. See Environment Identifiers.

Table A-10 WebLogic Server Object Conversions

Function
Description

string-to-class

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-to-class

Input Type: string

Return Type: bea:Class

Description: This function takes a single argument of type string, invokes java.lang.Class.forName() on the argument value, and returns the result as a bea:Class.

object-to-string

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-to-string

Input Type: bea:Object

Return Type: string

Description: This function takes a single argument of type bea:Object, invokes java.lang.Object.toString() on the argument value, and returns the result as a string.

object-to-double

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-to-double

Input Type: bea:Object

Return Type: double

Description: This function takes a single argument of type bea:Object and returns the value as a double. If the bea:Object is an instance of double, then its value is used directly. If the bea:Object is an instance of java.lang.Number, then this function invokes Number.doubleValue() on the value. Otherwise, this function converts the bea:Object to a java.lang.String and parses the String into a double.

object-to-integer

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-to-integer

Input Type: bea:Object

Return Type: integer

Description: This function takes a single argument of type bea:Object and returns the value as integer. If the bea:Object is an instance of java.lang.Integer, then its value is used directly. If the bea:Object is an instance of java.lang.Number, then this function invokes Number.intValue() on the value. Otherwise, this function converts the bea:Object to java.lang.String and parses the String into an integer.

Object Comparisons

Table A-11 lists the functions that Oracle provides to compare Java objects.

Table A-11 WebLogic Server Object Comparisons

Function
Description

object-is-null

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-is-null

Input Type: bea:Object

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes a single argument of type bea:Object and returns a boolean value indicating whether the object reference is equal to the Java keyword null. If there is no object that corresponds to the given object reference, this function returns true.

object-equal

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-equal

Input Type: bea:Object, bea:Object

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes two arguments of type bea:Object, invokes java.lang.Object.equals(), and returns a boolean value indicating whether the two Objects are equal.

For information about the java.lang.Object.equals() method, see http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/lang/Object.html#equals%28java.lang.Object%29

object-greater-than

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-greater-than

Input Type: bea:Object, bea:Object

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes two arguments of type bea:Object and returns a boolean value indicating whether the first bea:Object is greater than the second bea:Object. The two bea:Objects must implement java.lang.Comparable, else the evaluation is indeterminate.

object-greater-than-or-equal

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-greater-than-or-equal

Input Type: bea:Object, bea:Object

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes two arguments of type bea:Object and returns a boolean value indicating whether the first bea:Object is greater than or equal to the second bea:Object. The two bea:Objects must implement java.lang.Comparable, else the evaluation is indeterminate.

object-less-than

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-less-than

Input Type: bea:Object, bea:Object

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes two arguments of type bea:Object and returns a boolean value indicating whether the first bea:Object is less than the second bea:Object. The two bea:Objects must implement java.lang.Comparable, else the evaluation is indeterminate.

object-less-than-or-equal

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-less-than-or-equal

Input Type: bea:Object, bea:Object

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes two arguments of type bea:Object and returns a boolean value indicating whether the first bea:Object is less than or equal to the second bea:Object. The two bea:Objects must implement java.lang.Comparable, else the evaluation is indeterminate.

object-collection-contains

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-collection-contains

Input Type: bea:Object, bea:Object

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes two arguments of type bea:Object and returns a boolean that indicates whether the first bea:Object contains the second bea:Object, as determined by Collection.contains(). The first bea:Object must implement java.util.Collection, else the evaluation is indeterminate.

For information about the Collection.contains() method, see http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/Collection.html#contains%28java.lang.Object%29.

object-collection-contains-all

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:object-collection-contains-all

Input Type: bea:Object, bea:Object

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes two arguments of type bea:Object and returns a boolean that indicates whether the first bea:Object contains all of the second bea:Object as determined by Collection.containsAll(). Both bea:Objects must implement java.util.Collection, else the evaluation is indeterminate.

For information about the Collection.containsAll() method, see http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/Collection.html#containsAll%28java.util.Collection%29.

String Comparisons and Manipulations

Table A-12 lists the functions that Oracle provides to compare Java objects.

Table A-12 WebLogic Server String Comparisons and Manipulations

Function
Description

string-char-at

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-char-at

Input Type: string, integer

Return Type: bea:Character

Description: This function takes two arguments of type string and integer, searches in the string for the character that is in the position indicated by the Integer, and returns the character as a bea:Character.

string-compare-to-ignore-case

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-compare-to-ignore-case

Input Type: string, string

Return Type: integer

This function takes two arguments of type string and returns an integer that indicates how the two string arguments compare:

0 if the strings are identical

Less than 0 if the first string lexically precedes the second string

Greater than 0 if the first string lexically follows the second string

Comparisons are preformed without considering case.

string-contains

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-contains

Input Type: string, string

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes two arguments of type string and returns a boolean value that indicates whether the first string contains the value of the second string as a substring.

string-starts-with

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-starts-with

Input Type: string, string

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes two arguments of type string and returns a boolean value that indicates whether the first string value starts with the value of the second string.

string-ends-with

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-ends-with

Input Type: string, string

Return Type: boolean

Description: This function takes two arguments of type string and returns a boolean that indicates whether the first string value ends with the value of the second string.

string-length

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-length

Input Type: string

Return Type: integer

Description: This function takes a single argument of type string and returns an integer that indicates the length of the string value.

string-replace

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-replace

Input Type: string, bea:Character, bea:Character

Return Type: string

Description: This function takes three arguments of type string, bea:Character, and bea:Character, replaces in the string all instances of the first bea:Character value with the value of the second bea:Character, and returns the result as a string.

string-substring

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-substring

Input Type: string, integer, integer

Return Type: string

Description: This function takes three arguments of type string, integer, and integer, and returns a string that is the substring of the string argument from and including the index of the first integer argument to but excluding the index of the second integer argument.

string-normalize-to-upper-case

URI: urn:bea:xacml:2.0:function:string-normalize-to-upper-case

Input Type: string

Return Type: string

Description: This function takes a single argument of type string, normalizes it to upper case, and returns the result as a string.

Rule and Policy-Combining Algorithm

If multiple PolicySets apply to a decision, their results are combined using the following algorithm:

urn:oasis:names:tc:xacml:1.0:policy-combining-algorithm:deny-overrides

This figure shows the way in which some policies may overlap. For example, the policies for administrative resources, which determine who can complete such tasks as uploading or downloading files, viewing the domain and server logs, and unlocking users, may be superseded by policies on JMX resources if some of those tasks are particularly security-sensitive.

This figure shows how protecting an application resource has the effect of protecting access to all WebLogic resources within that application, such as the EJB, JDBC, and web application resources that are part of that application. For example, if the application resource is protected by the scoped role SpecialUser1 and the scoped policy "Allow access to roles SpecialUser1 and global role Admin," the WebLogic resources that are part of that application are automatically protected by the same policies.

This figure shows the hierarchy of resources for a Web Service that is implemented by an EJB. At the top of the resource hierarchy is the application resource for the Web Service's parent application. Below, in order, is the URL resource for the Web Service URL pattern, the Web Service resource for the Web Service Module, the Web Service resource for the invoked operation, and the EJB resource for the Web Service EJB.

This graphic shows the hierarchy of resources and policies in the WebLogic Security Service. At the center of the figure are a number of resources that can be protected by policies: an application resource, several EJB resources, a web application resource, and a JDBC resource. Policies may be set individually on each resource by establishing the role for which access is allowed under the conditions set by those policies.

This figure shows how the WebLogic resource hierarchy includes methods on those resources. The WebLogic Server resource hierarchy is on the left, showing the EJB resource for EJB1 on top, and below are the EJB resources for methods X and Y on EJB1. The XACML resource hierarchy is shown on the right for contrast. The EJB resource itself encompasses the EJB as well as the methods on the EJB.

This figure shows how a policy grants access to a resource. At the top are three groups of users. As a user from one of the groups attempts to access a resource, the WebLogic Security Service determines whether the role condition established by the policy determines whether users in the group may dynamically granted a role. If so, the Role Mapping service maps the group to which the user is a member to the role corresponding to the policy. Next the policy statement is evaluated to determine whether the policy condition is met. If so, access to the resource is granted for this particular user.

This figure shows that when a JMX client attempts to change an MBean attribute or invoke an MBean operation that is secured by a JMX resource, the client must be authorized to access both the JMX resource as well as the MBean attribute itself.

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