Spring Security on Wildfly: error while executing the filter chain

🔒🌱🔒 Spring Security on Wildfly: error while executing the filter chain 🔒🌱🔒

Are you facing issues while integrating Spring Security SAML Extension with Spring Boot? Don't worry, you're not alone. Many developers have experienced similar problems. In this blog post, we will address a specific issue related to the execution of the filter chain and provide easy solutions to help you solve it.

🛠️ The Problem 🛠️

Based on the context you provided, it seems that the authentication process is failing on Undertow/WildFly, despite working fine on VMware vFabric tc Server and Tomcat.

According to the logs, the authentication process is being performed by the IdP, and your custom UserDetails implementation is executed correctly. However, Spring fails to set up and persist the privileges for the current user. The problem can be traced back to the FilterChainProxy class.

While debugging, you discovered that the FILTER_APPLIED attribute of ServletRequest has a null value at runtime, causing Spring to clear the SecurityContextHolder.

💡 The Solution 💡

Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem. To fix it, you need to set the FILTER_APPLIED attribute correctly before the doFilterInternal method is called. Here's how you can modify your code:

private final static String FILTER_APPLIED = FilterChainProxy.class.getName().concat(".APPLIED");

public void doFilter(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response, FilterChain chain)
        throws IOException, ServletException {
    boolean clearContext = request.getAttribute(FILTER_APPLIED) == null;
    if (clearContext) {
        try {
            request.setAttribute(FILTER_APPLIED, Boolean.TRUE);
            doFilterInternal(request, response, chain);
        } finally {
            SecurityContextHolder.clearContext();
            request.removeAttribute(FILTER_APPLIED);
        }
    } else {
        doFilterInternal(request, response, chain);
    }
}

By setting the FILTER_APPLIED attribute to Boolean.TRUE, you ensure that the authentication process proceeds as expected and the SecurityContextHolder is not cleared prematurely.

🏃‍♂️ Try it out! 🏃‍♀️

To quickly get back on track and make your integration work seamlessly on Undertow/WildFly, apply the code modification mentioned above. Test your application again and see if the authentication process succeeds and the privileges are properly set and persisted.

🔌 Get Involved! 🔌

We hope that this solution solves your problem and enables you to successfully integrate Spring Security SAML Extension with Spring Boot on Undertow/WildFly. If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, feel free to leave a comment below. Let's foster a supportive developer community and help each other overcome challenges!

📣 Share your success! 📣

If this solution worked for you, don't forget to share your success story with the community. Your experience might help other developers facing similar issues. Spread the knowledge and make the world of tech a better place for everyone! Happy coding! 😎💻