Enhancements from the supported Web services security specifications
Since
September 2002, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards (OASIS) has been developing the Web Services Security (WSS) for
SOAP message standard. In April 2004, OASIS released the Web Services security
Version 1.0 specification, which is a major milestone for securing Web services.
This specification is the foundation for other Web services security specifications
and is also the basis for the Basic Security Profile (WS-I BSP) Version 1.0
work, which is a working draft. See Basic Security Profile for more information. Web services
security Version 1.0 is a strategic move towards Web services security interoperability
and it is the first step in the Web services security roadmap. For more information
on the Web services security roadmap, see Security in a Web Services World: A Proposed Architecture
and Roadmap.
WebSphere Application Server Version
6 supports the following specifications and profiles:
For details on what parts of the previous specifications are supported
in WebSphere Application
Server version 6, see Supported functionality from OASIS specifications.
High level features overview in WebSphere Application Server Version
6.0.x and later
The Web Services Security for SOAP message Version
1.0 specification is designed to be flexible and accommodate the requirements
of Web services. For example, the specification does not have a mandatory
security token definition in the Web services security Version 1.0 specification.
Rather the specification defines a generic mechanism to associate the security
token with a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message. The use of security
tokens is defined in the various security token profiles such as:
For more information on security token profile development at
OASIS, see Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards.
Important: The wire format in
the Web services security Version 1.0 specification changed and is not compatible
with the previous drafts of the Web services security specification. It is
not possible to make an implementation of the wire format using a previous
draft of the Web services security specification to interoperate with the
Web Services Security Version 1.0 specification.
Support for pluggable
security tokens has been available since WebSphere Application Server Version
5.0.2. However, in WebSphere Application Server Version 6, the pluggable
architecture is enhanced to support the Web services security Version 1.0
specification, other profiles, and other Web services security specifications. WebSphere Application
Server Version 6 and later include the following key enhancements:
- Support for the client (sender or generator) to send multiple security
tokens in a SOAP message.
- Ability to derive keys from a security token for digital signature (verification)
and encryption (decryption).
- Support to sign or encrypt any element in a SOAP message. However, some
limitations exist. For example, encrypting some parts of a message might break
the SOAP message format. If you encrypt the SOAP body element, the SOAP message
format breaks.
- Support for signing the SOAP Envelope, the SOAP Header, and the Web services
security header.
- Ability to configure the order of the digital signature and encryption.
- Support for various mechanisms to reference the security tokens such as
direct references, key identifiers, key names, and embedded references.
- Support for the PKCS#7 format certificate revocation list (CRL) encoding
for an X.509 security token.
- Support for CRL verification.
- Ability to insert nonce and time stamps into elements within the Web services
security header, into signed elements, or into encrypted elements.
- Support for identity assertion using the Run As (invocation) identity
in the current security context for WebSphere Application Server.
- Support for a default binding, which is a set of default Web services
security bindings for applications.
- Ability to use pluggable digital signature (verification) and encryption
(decryption) algorithms.
- Support for the acceleration of hardware cryptographic devices.
- Support for secure keys.
- Support for the Basic Security Profile (WS-I BSP).
For more information on some of these enhancements, see Web services security enhancements.
Configuration
WebSphere Application Server Version
6 uses the deployment model for implementing the Web services security Version
1.0 specification, the Username token Version 1.0 profile, and the X.509 token
Version 1.0 profile. The deployment model is an extension of the Web services
deployment model for Java™ 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE).
The Web services security constraints are defined in the IBM® extension
deployment descriptor and the binding file based on the Web service port.
The
format of the deployment descriptor and the binding file is IBM proprietary
material and is not available. However, WebSphere Application Server provides
the following tools that you can use to edit the deployment descriptor and
the binding file:
- Application Server Toolkit
- You can use the Application Server Toolkit (AST), which is an assembly
tool designer for WebSphere Application Server Version 6, to specify
the deployment descriptor and the binding file for Web services security.
- WebSphere Application
Server Administrative Console
- You can use the administrative console to configure the Web services security
binding of a deployed application with Web services security constraints defined
in the deployment descriptor.
Important: The format of the deployment descriptor
and the binding file for Web services security in WebSphere Application Server Version
6.0.x and later is different from WebSphere Application Server Versions
5.0.2, 5.1, and 5.1.1. Web services security support in WebSphere Application
Server Versions 5.0.2, 5.1, and 5.1.1 is based on the Web services security
draft 13 specification and the username token draft 2 profile. Thus, this
support is deprecated. However, applications that you configured using the
Web service security Versions 5.0.2, 5.1, and 5.1.1 deployment descriptor
and binding file can work with WebSphere Application Server 6 and
later. These applications use a deployment descriptor and binding file that
emit SOAP message security using the draft 13 specification format. The Web
services security deployment descriptor and binding file for WebSphere Application
Server Version 6.0.x and later is available for a J2EE Version 1.4
application only. Therefore, the Web services security Version 1.0 specification
is supported for a J2EE Version 1.4 application only.
To take
advantage of implementations associated with the Web services security Version
1.0 specification, you must:
- Migrate existing applications to J2EE Version 1.4
- Reconfigure the Web services security constraints in the new deployment
descriptor and binding format
Important: An automatic process does not exist for migrating
the deployment descriptor and the binding file for Web services security from
the version 5.0.2, 5.1, and 5.1.1 format to the new version 6.0.x and
later format using the Rational® Web Developer and Application Server Toolkit.
You must migrate the configuration manually.
Important: The
Web services security support in WebSphere Application Server Version
6.1 is based in part on the OASIS specification titled Web Services Security:
X.509 Token Profile 1.0 plus the first errata (Errata 1.0).