How to implement REST token-based authentication with JAX-RS and Jersey Ask Question

How token-based authentication works

In token-based authentication, the client exchanges hard credentials (such as username and password) for a piece of data called token. For each request, instead of sending the hard credentials, the client will send the token to the server to perform authentication and then authorization.

In a few words, an authentication scheme based on tokens follow these steps:

1. The client sends their credentials (username and password) to the server.
2. The server authenticates the credentials and, if they are valid, generate a token for the user.
3. The server stores the previously generated token in some storage along with the user identifier and an expiration date.
4. The server sends the generated token to the client.
5. The client sends the token to the server in each request.
6. The server, in each request, extracts the token from the incoming request. With the token, the server looks up the user details to perform authentication.
   • If the token is valid, the server accepts the request.
   • If the token is invalid, the server refuses the request.
7. Once the authentication has been performed, the server performs authorization.
8. The server can provide an endpoint to refresh tokens.

What you can do with JAX-RS 2.0 (Jersey, RESTEasy and Apache CXF)

This solution uses only the JAX-RS 2.0 API, avoiding any vendor specific solution. So, it should work with JAX-RS 2.0 implementations, such as Jersey, RESTEasy and Apache CXF.

It is worthwhile to mention that if you are using token-based authentication, you are not relying on the standard Java EE web application security mechanisms offered by the servlet container and configurable via application's web.xml descriptor. It's a custom authentication.

Authenticating a user with their username and password and issuing a token

Create a JAX-RS resource method which receives and validates the credentials (username and password) and issue a token for the user:

@Path("/authentication")
public class AuthenticationEndpoint {

    @POST
    @Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
    @Consumes(MediaType.APPLICATION_FORM_URLENCODED)
    public Response authenticateUser(@FormParam("username") String username, 
                                     @FormParam("password") String password) {

        try {

            // Authenticate the user using the credentials provided
            authenticate(username, password);

            // Issue a token for the user
            String token = issueToken(username);

            // Return the token on the response
            return Response.ok(token).build();

        } catch (Exception e) {
            return Response.status(Response.Status.FORBIDDEN).build();
        }      
    }

    private void authenticate(String username, String password) throws Exception {
        // Authenticate against a database, LDAP, file or whatever
        // Throw an Exception if the credentials are invalid
    }

    private String issueToken(String username) {
        // Issue a token (can be a random String persisted to a database or a JWT token)
        // The issued token must be associated to a user
        // Return the issued token
    }
}

username=admin&password=123456

public class Credentials implements Serializable {

    private String username;
    private String password;
    
    // Getters and setters omitted
}

@POST
@Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
@Consumes(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
public Response authenticateUser(Credentials credentials) {

    String username = credentials.getUsername();
    String password = credentials.getPassword();
    
    // Authenticate the user, issue a token and return a response
}

{
  "username": "admin",
  "password": "123456"
}

Authorization: Bearer <token-goes-here>

@NameBinding
@Retention(RUNTIME)
@Target({TYPE, METHOD})
public @interface Secured { }

@Secured
@Provider
@Priority(Priorities.AUTHENTICATION)
public class AuthenticationFilter implements ContainerRequestFilter {

    private static final String REALM = "example";
    private static final String AUTHENTICATION_SCHEME = "Bearer";

    @Override
    public void filter(ContainerRequestContext requestContext) throws IOException {

        // Get the Authorization header from the request
        String authorizationHeader =
                requestContext.getHeaderString(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION);

        // Validate the Authorization header
        if (!isTokenBasedAuthentication(authorizationHeader)) {
            abortWithUnauthorized(requestContext);
            return;
        }

        // Extract the token from the Authorization header
        String token = authorizationHeader
                            .substring(AUTHENTICATION_SCHEME.length()).trim();

        try {

            // Validate the token
            validateToken(token);

        } catch (Exception e) {
            abortWithUnauthorized(requestContext);
        }
    }

    private boolean isTokenBasedAuthentication(String authorizationHeader) {

        // Check if the Authorization header is valid
        // It must not be null and must be prefixed with "Bearer" plus a whitespace
        // The authentication scheme comparison must be case-insensitive
        return authorizationHeader != null && authorizationHeader.toLowerCase()
                    .startsWith(AUTHENTICATION_SCHEME.toLowerCase() + " ");
    }

    private void abortWithUnauthorized(ContainerRequestContext requestContext) {

        // Abort the filter chain with a 401 status code response
        // The WWW-Authenticate header is sent along with the response
        requestContext.abortWith(
                Response.status(Response.Status.UNAUTHORIZED)
                        .header(HttpHeaders.WWW_AUTHENTICATE, 
                                AUTHENTICATION_SCHEME + " realm=\"" + REALM + "\"")
                        .build());
    }

    private void validateToken(String token) throws Exception {
        // Check if the token was issued by the server and if it's not expired
        // Throw an Exception if the token is invalid
    }
}

@Path("/example")
public class ExampleResource {

    @GET
    @Path("{id}")
    @Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
    public Response myUnsecuredMethod(@PathParam("id") Long id) {
        // This method is not annotated with @Secured
        // The authentication filter won't be executed before invoking this method
        ...
    }

    @DELETE
    @Secured
    @Path("{id}")
    @Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
    public Response mySecuredMethod(@PathParam("id") Long id) {
        // This method is annotated with @Secured
        // The authentication filter will be executed before invoking this method
        // The HTTP request must be performed with a valid token
        ...
    }
}

final SecurityContext currentSecurityContext = requestContext.getSecurityContext();
requestContext.setSecurityContext(new SecurityContext() {

        @Override
        public Principal getUserPrincipal() {
            return () -> username;
        }

    @Override
    public boolean isUserInRole(String role) {
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean isSecure() {
        return currentSecurityContext.isSecure();
    }

    @Override
    public String getAuthenticationScheme() {
        return AUTHENTICATION_SCHEME;
    }
});

@Context
SecurityContext securityContext;

@GET
@Secured
@Path("{id}")
@Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
public Response myMethod(@PathParam("id") Long id, 
                         @Context SecurityContext securityContext) {
    ...
}

Principal principal = securityContext.getUserPrincipal();
String username = principal.getName();

@Qualifier
@Retention(RUNTIME)
@Target({ METHOD, FIELD, PARAMETER })
public @interface AuthenticatedUser { }

@Inject
@AuthenticatedUser
Event<String> userAuthenticatedEvent;

userAuthenticatedEvent.fire(username);

@RequestScoped
public class AuthenticatedUserProducer {

    @Produces
    @RequestScoped
    @AuthenticatedUser
    private User authenticatedUser;
    
    public void handleAuthenticationEvent(@Observes @AuthenticatedUser String username) {
        this.authenticatedUser = findUser(username);
    }

    private User findUser(String username) {
        // Hit the the database or a service to find a user by its username and return it
        // Return the User instance
    }
}

@Inject
@AuthenticatedUser
User authenticatedUser;

Random random = new SecureRandom();
String token = new BigInteger(130, random).toString(32);