[ http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/JCR-351?page=all ]

Jukka Zitting updated JCR-351:
------------------------------

        Summary: Default to anonymous access when no Credentials are given  
(was: Default to superuser access when JAAS is not configured)
    Description: 
Even though JCR-348 made easier to start a Jackrabbit repository with default 
configuration, the user still needs to take care of the JAAS configuration. It 
would be more user-friendly to log a warning and default to superuser access 
rather than throwing a LoginException when JAAS has not been configured. This 
behaviour should be limited to only default credential logins (Session.login() 
with null Credentials) and it should be possible to disable it with a 
configuration option. We could even have this behaviour disabled by default, 
but enabled in the configuration file used with the JCR-348 automatic 
configuration.

This is a case against the "secure by default" design principle, but I think 
that in this case the benefits in easier setup outweight the security 
drawbacks, especially if coupled with the above restrictions and a clear 
documentation note about the insecure default.

[Update: As mentioned by Stefan, this is  not a JAAS configuration issue but a 
problem in handling null Credentials. A more proper alternative for superuser 
access would be to default to anonymous access when credentials are not given.]

  was:
Even though JCR-348 made easier to start a Jackrabbit repository with default 
configuration, the user still needs to take care of the JAAS configuration. It 
would be more user-friendly to log a warning and default to superuser access 
rather than throwing a LoginException when JAAS has not been configured. This 
behaviour should be limited to only default credential logins (Session.login() 
with null Credentials) and it should be possible to disable it with a 
configuration option. We could even have this behaviour disabled by default, 
but enabled in the configuration file used with the JCR-348 automatic 
configuration.

This is a case against the "secure by default" design principle, but I think 
that in this case the benefits in easier setup outweight the security 
drawbacks, especially if coupled with the above restrictions and a clear 
documentation note about the insecure default.


      Assign To: Jukka Zitting

> Default to anonymous access when no Credentials are given
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
>          Key: JCR-351
>          URL: http://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/JCR-351
>      Project: Jackrabbit
>         Type: Improvement
>   Components: security
>     Versions: 0.9
>     Reporter: Jukka Zitting
>     Assignee: Jukka Zitting
>     Priority: Minor

>
> Even though JCR-348 made easier to start a Jackrabbit repository with default 
> configuration, the user still needs to take care of the JAAS configuration. 
> It would be more user-friendly to log a warning and default to superuser 
> access rather than throwing a LoginException when JAAS has not been 
> configured. This behaviour should be limited to only default credential 
> logins (Session.login() with null Credentials) and it should be possible to 
> disable it with a configuration option. We could even have this behaviour 
> disabled by default, but enabled in the configuration file used with the 
> JCR-348 automatic configuration.
> This is a case against the "secure by default" design principle, but I think 
> that in this case the benefits in easier setup outweight the security 
> drawbacks, especially if coupled with the above restrictions and a clear 
> documentation note about the insecure default.
> [Update: As mentioned by Stefan, this is  not a JAAS configuration issue but 
> a problem in handling null Credentials. A more proper alternative for 
> superuser access would be to default to anonymous access when credentials are 
> not given.]

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