CORS with spring-boot and angularjs not working

Question

I am trying to call REST endpoints on one application (spring-boot application) from another (angularjs). The applications are running on the following hosts and ports.

• REST application, using spring boot, http://localhost:8080
• HTML application, using angularjs, http://localhost:50029

I am also using spring-security with the spring-boot application. From the HTML application, I can authenticate to the REST application, but, thereafter, I still cannot access any REST endpoint. For example, I have an angularjs service defined as follows.

adminServices.factory('AdminService', ['$resource', '$http', 'conf', function($resource, $http, conf) {
    var s = {};
    s.isAdminLoggedIn = function(data) {
        return $http({
            method: 'GET',
            url: 'http://localhost:8080/api/admin/isloggedin',
            withCredentials: true,
            headers: {
                'X-Requested-With': 'XMLHttpRequest'
            }
        });
    };
    s.login = function(username, password) {
        var u = 'username=' + encodeURI(username);
        var p = 'password=' + encodeURI(password);
        var r = 'remember_me=1';
        var data = u + '&' + p + '&' + r;

        return $http({
            method: 'POST',
            url: 'http://localhost:8080/login',
            data: data,
            headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}
        });
    };
    return s;
}]);

The angularjs controller looks like the following.

adminControllers.controller('LoginController', ['$scope', '$http', 'AdminService', function($scope, $http, AdminService) {
    $scope.username = '';
    $scope.password = '';

    $scope.signIn = function() {
        AdminService.login($scope.username, $scope.password)
            .success(function(d,s) {
                if(d['success']) {
                    console.log('ok authenticated, call another REST endpoint');
                    AdminService.isAdminLoggedIn()
                        .success(function(d,s) {
                            console.log('i can access a protected REST endpoint after logging in');
                        })
                        .error(function(d, s) { 
                            console.log('huh, error checking to see if admin is logged in');
                            $scope.reset();
                        });
                } else {
                    console.log('bad credentials?');
                }
            })
            .error(function(d, s) {
                console.log('huh, error happened!');
            });
    };
}]);

On the call to http://localhost:8080/api/admin/isloggedin, I get a 401 Unauthorized.

On the REST application side, I have a CORS filter that looks like the following.

@Component
@Order(Ordered.HIGHEST_PRECEDENCE)
public class CORSFilter implements Filter {

    @Override
    public void destroy() { }

    @Override
    public void doFilter(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res, FilterChain chain)
            throws IOException, ServletException {
        HttpServletResponse response = (HttpServletResponse) res;
        HttpServletRequest request = (HttpServletRequest) req;

        response.setHeader("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "http://localhost:50029");
        response.setHeader("Access-Control-Allow-Methods", "POST, PUT, GET, OPTIONS, DELETE");
        response.setHeader("Access-Control-Max-Age", "3600");
        response.setHeader("Access-Control-Allow-Headers", "X-Requested-With, X-Auth-Token");
        response.setHeader("Access-Control-Allow-Credentials", "true");

        if(!"OPTIONS".equalsIgnoreCase(request.getMethod())) {
            chain.doFilter(req, res);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void init(FilterConfig config) throws ServletException { }
}

My spring security configuration looks like the following.

@Configuration
@EnableWebSecurity
public class WebSecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {

    @Autowired
    private RestAuthenticationEntryPoint restAuthenticationEntryPoint;

    @Autowired
    private JsonAuthSuccessHandler jsonAuthSuccessHandler;

    @Autowired
    private JsonAuthFailureHandler jsonAuthFailureHandler;

    @Autowired
    private JsonLogoutSuccessHandler jsonLogoutSuccessHandler;

    @Autowired
    private AuthenticationProvider authenticationProvider;

    @Autowired
    private UserDetailsService userDetailsService;

    @Autowired
    private PersistentTokenRepository persistentTokenRepository;

    @Value("${rememberme.key}")
    private String rememberMeKey;

    @Override
    protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
        http
            .csrf().disable()
            .exceptionHandling()
            .authenticationEntryPoint(restAuthenticationEntryPoint)
                .and()
            .authorizeRequests()
                .antMatchers("/api/admin/**").hasRole("ADMIN")
                .antMatchers("/", "/admin", "/css/**", "/js/**", "/fonts/**", "/api/**").permitAll()
                .anyRequest().authenticated()
                .and()
            .formLogin()
                .successHandler(jsonAuthSuccessHandler)
                .failureHandler(jsonAuthFailureHandler)
                .permitAll()
                .and()
            .logout()
                .deleteCookies("remember-me", "JSESSIONID")
                .logoutSuccessHandler(jsonLogoutSuccessHandler)
                .permitAll()
                .and()
            .rememberMe()
                .userDetailsService(userDetailsService)
                .tokenRepository(persistentTokenRepository)
                .rememberMeCookieName("REMEMBER_ME")
                .rememberMeParameter("remember_me")
                .tokenValiditySeconds(1209600)
                .useSecureCookie(false)
                .key(rememberMeKey);
    }

    @Autowired
    public void configureGlobal(AuthenticationManagerBuilder auth) throws Exception {
        auth
            .authenticationProvider(authenticationProvider);
    }
}

All the handlers are doing is writing out a JSON response like {success: true} based on if the user logged in, failed to authenticate, or logged out. The RestAuthenticationEntryPoint looks like the following.

@Component
public class RestAuthenticationEntryPoint implements AuthenticationEntryPoint {

    @Override
    public void commence(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp, AuthenticationException ex)
            throws IOException, ServletException {
        resp.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_UNAUTHORIZED, "Unauthorized");
    }

}

Any ideas on what I am missing or doing wrong?

Answer 1

I had been into the similar situation. After doing research and testing, here is my findings:

1. With Spring Boot, the recommended way to enable global CORS is to declare within Spring MVC and combined with fine-grained @CrossOrigin configuration as:

   @Configuration
   public class CorsConfig {
   
       @Bean
       public WebMvcConfigurer corsConfigurer() {
           return new WebMvcConfigurerAdapter() {
               @Override
               public void addCorsMappings(CorsRegistry registry) {
                   registry.addMapping("/**").allowedMethods("GET", "POST", "PUT", "DELETE").allowedOrigins("*")
                           .allowedHeaders("*");
               }
           };
       }
   }
   

2. Now, since you are using Spring Security, you have to enable CORS at Spring Security level as well to allow it to leverage the configuration defined at Spring MVC level as:

   @EnableWebSecurity
   public class WebSecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {
   
       @Override
       protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
           http.cors().and()...
       }
   }
   

   Here is very excellent tutorial explaining CORS support in Spring MVC framework.

Answer 2

If you want to enable CORS without using filters or without config file just add

@CrossOrigin

to the top of your controller and it work.