In WebSphere Application Server Version 6.0.x, and later there
are many security enhancements for Web services. The enhancements include
supporting sections of the Web services security specifications and providing
architectural support for plugging in and extending the capabilities of security
tokens.
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. 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 6.0.x and later support the following specifications
and profiles:
For details on what parts of the previous specifications are supported
in WebSphere Application Server Version 6.0.x and later, 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 6.0.x and later, 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 6.0.x 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.
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:
- Rational Application Developer Version 6.0.x
- You can use Rational Application Developer Version 6.0.x to develop Web
services and configure the deployment descriptor and the binding file for
Web services security. The Rational Application Developer enables you to assemble
both Web and EJB modules.
- Rational Web Developer Version 6.0.x
- You can use Rational Web Developer Version 6.0.x to develop Web services
and configure the deployment descriptor and the binding file for Web services
security. However, you cannot assemble EJB modules using this tool. Instead,
use the Application Server Toolkit or the Rational Application Developer.
- Application Server Toolkit
- You can use the Application Server Toolkit (AST), which is an assembly
tool designer for WebSphere Application Server Version 6.0.x and later, 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 Version 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 6.0
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).
In
the first errata, the URIs for the X.509 token type and the X.509 Subject
Key Identifier value type were modified. WebSphere Application Server Version
6.0 was based on these modified URIs. After WebSphere Application Server Version
6.0 shipped, the OASIS Technical Committee reversed those changes, reverting
back to the original 1.0 profile URIs.
There could be interoperability
problems between WebSphere Application Server Version 6.0 and other vendor's
Web services products that are based on the current version of the profile.
WebSphere Application Server was fixed in versions 6.0.2 and 6.0.1.2 to comply
with the latest version of the profile. If WebSphere Application Server Version
6.0 is used in a heterogeneous environment with other vendor's Web services
products, it is recommended that the server be upgraded to version 6.0.1.2,
6.0.2, or later, or to install a service fix that includes APAR PK03507.
![[Version 6.0.2]](../../v602.gif)
FIPS support in WebSphere Application Server
In
WebSphere Application Server, Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS)
compliant algorithms for key encryption, data encryption, signature and digest
are supported. To enable this mode, select Use the Federal Information
Processing Standard (FIPS) in the Global security panel of the WebSphere
Administrative Console.
Once this option has been selected, and the
WebSphere Application Server has been restarted, the lists of available algorithms
that are displayed in the Web services security binding configuration panels
of the Administrative Console are then FIPS compliant algorithms.
If
a previously deployed application was configured to use a non-compliant algorithm,
that application no longer starts after the FIPS mode has been enabled in
WebSphere Application Server. The error message Unauthorized data encryption
method appears in the case of a non-compliant data encryption algorithm
. Similar errors are displayed for unauthorized key encryption, digest and
signature methods.
What is not supported
Web service security is still
fairly new and some of the standards are still being defined or standardized.
The following functionality is not supported in WebSphere Application Server
Versions 6.0.x and later:
- Application programming interfaces (API) do not exist for Web services
security in WebSphere Application Server Versions 6.0.x and later. The following
standards exist for the Java application programming interface for XML security
and Web services security:
- SAML token profile is not supported out of the box.
- WS-SecuredConversation is not supported out of the box.
- WS-Trust is not supported out of the box.
- WS-SecurityKerberos token profile is not supported out of the box.
- REL token profile is not supported.
- Web services security SOAP messages with an attachments profile (SwA)
is not supported.
- WS-I Basic Security Profile Version 1.0 is not supported.
- Non-Web services container managed client is not supported out of the
box.
For information on what is supported for Web services security
in WebSphere Application Server Version 6.0.x and later, see Supported functionality from OASIS specifications.