Weblogic Security Constraints Not Working Properly (Doc ID 1362629.1)

Last updated on FEBRUARY 06, 2019

Applies to:

Oracle WebLogic Server - Version 10.3 and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Symptoms

Problem with the security-constraint implementation on Weblogic server 10.3. Attached a sample application to illustrate the problem.

Essentially the problem is -

Assume the following in the web.xml:

<security-constraint>

<display-name>Administrator User Only Resources</display-name>

<web-resource-collection>

<web-resource-name>AdministratorUsersOnly</web-resource-name>

<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>

</web-resource-collection>

<auth-constraint>

<role-name>Administrators</role-name>

</auth-constraint>

</security-constraint>

<security-constraint>

<display-name>Inaccessible Resources</display-name>

<web-resource-collection>

<web-resource-name>NoAccess</web-resource-name>

<url-pattern>/doc2/*</url-pattern>

<url-pattern>*.pdf</url-pattern>

</web-resource-collection>

<auth-constraint/>

</security-constraint>

In section "SRV.12.8.1 Combining Constraints" of the Servlet 2.4 spec it say:

"The special case of an authorization constraint that names no roles shall combine with any other constraints to override their affects and cause access to be precluded."

Following this, the resource "NoAccess" above should take precedence and preclude access even though the previous constraint grants access. Unfortunately it does not for the *.pdf pattern, but does for the /doc2/* pattern.

When you access the application you will be offered the following files to access:

readme.pdf

doc1/readme.pdf

doc2/readme.pdf

Based on the above rules, all should present the user with a 403 error. However, only the doc2/readme.pdf does.

When the WLS 8.1 application is rewritten with a similar rule set it worked correctly, but when rewritten for 10.3 and deployed it is allowing access to files that should be blocked which is a major security hole.

Reference:

http://download.oracle.com/otndocs/jcp/servlet-2.4-fr-spec-oth-JSpec/