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Spring Security

Spring Security is a powerful and highly customizable authentication and access-control framework for Java applications. It provides comprehensive security services for Spring-based applications, protecting against common vulnerabilities and supporting various authentication mechanisms.

Key Features

Authentication

Support for multiple authentication mechanisms including form-based, HTTP Basic, OAuth2, JWT, and LDAP.

Authorization

Fine-grained access control with method-level and URL-based security using annotations and expressions.

CSRF Protection

Built-in protection against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks with token-based validation.

Session Management

Advanced session management with concurrent session control and session fixation protection.

Use Cases

User Authentication: Implementing login and user management systems
API Security: Securing REST APIs with JWT tokens or OAuth2
Role-Based Access: Controlling access based on user roles and permissions
Single Sign-On: Implementing SSO with SAML or OAuth2
Microservices Security: Securing microservices architectures with token-based authentication

Example Usage

Basic security configuration:

@Configuration
@EnableWebSecurity
public class SecurityConfig {
    
    @Bean
    public SecurityFilterChain filterChain(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
        http
            .authorizeHttpRequests(authz -> authz
                .requestMatchers("/public/**").permitAll()
                .requestMatchers("/admin/**").hasRole("ADMIN")
                .anyRequest().authenticated()
            )
            .formLogin(form -> form
                .loginPage("/login")
                .permitAll()
            )
            .logout(logout -> logout
                .logoutSuccessUrl("/")
                .permitAll()
            );
        return http.build();
    }
}

Dependencies

Add the following dependency:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
</dependency>

Method-Level Security

Secure methods using annotations:

@PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')")
public void deleteUser(Long id) {
    // Only admins can execute this method
}

@Secured("ROLE_USER")
public User getUser(Long id) {
    // Only authenticated users can access
}