Spring security added prefix “ROLE_” to all roles

Question

I have this code in my Web Security Config:

 @Override
protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
    http
            .authorizeRequests()
            .antMatchers("/api/**")
            .hasRole("ADMIN")
            .and()
            .httpBasic().and().csrf().disable();

}

So I added an user with "ADMIN" role in my database and I always get 403 error when I tryed loggin with this user, then I enabled log for spring and I found this line:

2015-10-18 23:13:24.112 DEBUG 4899 --- [nio-8080-exec-1] o.s.s.w.a.i.FilterSecurityInterceptor    : Secure object: FilterInvocation: URL: /api/user/login; Attributes: [hasRole('ROLE_ADMIN')]

Why Spring Security is looking for "ROLE_ADMIN" instead "ADMIN"?

Answer 1

As @olyanren sad, you can use hasAuthority() method in Spring 4 instead of hasRole(). I am adding JavaConfig example:

@Override
protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
    .authorizeRequests()
    .antMatchers("/api/**")
    .access("hasAuthority('ADMIN')")
    .and()
    .httpBasic().and().csrf().disable();
}

Answer 2

Spring security adds the prefix "ROLE_" by default.

If you want this removed or changed, take a look at

http://forum.spring.io/forum/spring-projects/security/51066-how-to-change-role-from-interceptor-url

EDIT: found this as well: Spring Security remove RoleVoter prefix

Answer 3

You can create a mapper to add _ROLE at the beginning of all of your roles:

@Bean
public GrantedAuthoritiesMapper authoritiesMapper() {
    SimpleAuthorityMapper mapper = new SimpleAuthorityMapper();
    mapper.setPrefix("ROLE_"); // this line is not required 
    mapper.setConvertToUpperCase(true); // convert your roles to uppercase
    mapper.setDefaultAuthority("USER"); // set a default role

    return mapper;
}

The you should add the mapper to your provider:

@Bean
public DaoAuthenticationProvider authenticationProvider() {
    DaoAuthenticationProvider provider = new DaoAuthenticationProvider();
    // your config ...
    provider.setAuthoritiesMapper(authoritiesMapper());

    return provider;
}

Answer 4

In Spring 4, there are two methods hasAuthority() and hasAnyAuthority() defined in org.springframework.security.access.expression.SecurityExpressionRoot class. These two methods checks only your custom role name without adding ROLE_ prefix. Definition as follows:

public final boolean hasAuthority(String authority) {
    return hasAnyAuthority(authority);
}
public final boolean hasAnyAuthority(String... authorities) {
    return hasAnyAuthorityName(null, authorities);
}
private boolean hasAnyAuthorityName(String prefix, String... roles) {
    Set<String> roleSet = getAuthoritySet();

    for (String role : roles) {
        String defaultedRole = getRoleWithDefaultPrefix(prefix, role);
        if (roleSet.contains(defaultedRole)) {
            return true;
        }
    }

    return false;
}
private static String getRoleWithDefaultPrefix(String defaultRolePrefix, String role) {
    if (role == null) {
        return role;
    }
    if (defaultRolePrefix == null || defaultRolePrefix.length() == 0) {
        return role;
    }
    if (role.startsWith(defaultRolePrefix)) {
        return role;
    }
    return defaultRolePrefix + role;
}

Example usage:

<http auto-config="false" use-expressions="true" pattern="/user/**"
      entry-point-ref="loginUrlAuthenticationEntryPoint">
    <!--If we use hasAnyAuthority, we can remove ROLE_ prefix-->
    <intercept-url pattern="/user/home/yoneticiler" access="hasAnyAuthority('FULL_ADMIN','ADMIN')"/>
    <intercept-url pattern="/user/home/addUser" access="hasAnyAuthority('FULL_ADMIN','ADMIN')"/>
    <intercept-url pattern="/user/home/addUserGroup" access="hasAuthority('FULL_ADMIN')"/>
    <intercept-url pattern="/user/home/deleteUserGroup" access="hasAuthority('FULL_ADMIN')"/>
    <intercept-url pattern="/user/home/**" access="hasAnyAuthority('FULL_ADMIN','ADMIN','EDITOR','NORMAL')"/>
    <access-denied-handler error-page="/403"/>
    <custom-filter position="FORM_LOGIN_FILTER" ref="customUsernamePasswordAuthenticationFilter"/>
    <logout logout-url="/user/logout"
            invalidate-session="true"
            logout-success-url="/user/index?logout"/>
    <!-- enable csrf protection -->
    <csrf/>
</http>   <beans:bean id="loginUrlAuthenticationEntryPoint"
            class="org.springframework.security.web.authentication.LoginUrlAuthenticationEntryPoint">
    <beans:constructor-arg value="/user"/>
</beans:bean>