Question

i am working on spring security. but the j_spring_security serlvet seems not working. how do i debug the problem, or at least look for the root cause? i dont see any useful log files…

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

 <!--
  - Sample namespace-based configuration
  -
  -->

<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/security"
 xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd
                        http://www.springframework.org/schema/security http://www.springframework.org/schema/security/spring-security-3.0.xsd">

 <global-method-security pre-post-annotations="enabled">
  <!--
   AspectJ pointcut expression that locates our "post" method and
   applies security that way <protect-pointcut expression="execution(*
   bigbank.*Service.post*(..))" access="ROLE_TELLER"/>
  -->
 </global-method-security>

 <http use-expressions="true">
  <intercept-url pattern="/" access="permitAll" />
  <intercept-url pattern="/login/**" filters="none" />
  <intercept-url pattern="/static/**" filters="none" />
  <intercept-url pattern="/**" access="isAuthenticated()" />
  <form-login login-page="/login/login.jsp"
   default-target-url="/fileList.do" authentication-failure-url="/login/login.jsp?login_error=1" />
  <logout logout-success-url="/login/logout_success.jsp" />
  <!--
   Uncomment to enable X509 client authentication support <x509 />
  -->
  <!-- Uncomment to limit the number of sessions a user can have -->
  <session-management invalid-session-url="/timeout.jsp">
   <concurrency-control max-sessions="1"
    error-if-maximum-exceeded="true" />
  </session-management>
 </http>

EDIT

then i have checked out for errors and here is a cut of the log file

when i am logging off

DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:175) - Converted URL to lowercase, from: '/j_spring_security_logout'; to: '/j_spring_security_logout'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:182) - Candidate is: '/j_spring_security_logout'; pattern is /login/**; matched=false
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:175) - Converted URL to lowercase, from: '/j_spring_security_logout'; to: '/j_spring_security_logout'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:182) - Candidate is: '/j_spring_security_logout'; pattern is /static/**; matched=false
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:175) - Converted URL to lowercase, from: '/j_spring_security_logout'; to: '/j_spring_security_logout'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:182) - Candidate is: '/j_spring_security_logout'; pattern is /**; matched=true
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:350) - /j_spring_security_logout at position 1 of 10 in additional filter chain; firing Filter: 'org.springframework.security.web.session.ConcurrentSessionFilter@40ece0'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:350) - /j_spring_security_logout at position 2 of 10 in additional filter chain; firing Filter: 'org.springframework.security.web.context.SecurityContextPersistenceFilter@1041876'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (HttpSessionSecurityContextRepository.java:165) - Obtained a valid SecurityContext from SPRING_SECURITY_CONTEXT: 'org.springframework.security.core.context.SecurityContextImpl@86583dd2: Authentication: org.springframework.security.authentication.UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken@86583dd2: Principal: org.springframework.security.core.userdetails.User@2117c700: Username: rod; Password: [PROTECTED]; Enabled: true; AccountNonExpired: true; credentialsNonExpired: true; AccountNonLocked: true; Granted Authorities: ROLE_SUPERVISOR,ROLE_TELLER,ROLE_USER; Password: [PROTECTED]; Authenticated: true; Details: org.springframework.security.web.authentication.WebAuthenticationDetails@fffe3f86: RemoteIpAddress: 127.0.0.1; SessionId: C6056CE774DE3568943D98A05ABCC744; Granted Authorities: ROLE_SUPERVISOR, ROLE_TELLER, ROLE_USER'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:350) - /j_spring_security_logout at position 3 of 10 in additional filter chain; firing Filter: 'org.springframework.security.web.authentication.logout.LogoutFilter@174a6e2'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (LogoutFilter.java:93) - Logging out user 'org.springframework.security.authentication.UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken@86583dd2: Principal: org.springframework.security.core.userdetails.User@2117c700: Username: rod; Password: [PROTECTED]; Enabled: true; AccountNonExpired: true; credentialsNonExpired: true; AccountNonLocked: true; Granted Authorities: ROLE_SUPERVISOR,ROLE_TELLER,ROLE_USER; Password: [PROTECTED]; Authenticated: true; Details: org.springframework.security.web.authentication.WebAuthenticationDetails@fffe3f86: RemoteIpAddress: 127.0.0.1; SessionId: C6056CE774DE3568943D98A05ABCC744; Granted Authorities: ROLE_SUPERVISOR, ROLE_TELLER, ROLE_USER' and transferring to logout destination
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (AbstractAuthenticationTargetUrlRequestHandler.java:93) - Using default Url: /login/logout_success.jsp
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (DefaultRedirectStrategy.java:34) - Redirecting to '/crvWeb/login/logout_success.jsp'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (HttpSessionSecurityContextRepository.java:359) - HttpSession is now null, but was not null at start of request; session was invalidated, so do not create a new session
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (SecurityContextPersistenceFilter.java:89) - SecurityContextHolder now cleared, as request processing completed
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:175) - Converted URL to lowercase, from: '/login/logout_success.jsp'; to: '/login/logout_success.jsp'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:182) - Candidate is: '/login/logout_success.jsp'; pattern is /login/**; matched=true
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:139) -  has an empty filter list

and then login again . spring says i am having an active session and didnt allow the login

note the exception in log
Reason: Maximum sessions of 1 for this principal exceeded.

DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:175) - Converted URL to lowercase, from: '/j_spring_security_check'; to: '/j_spring_security_check'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:182) - Candidate is: '/j_spring_security_check'; pattern is /login/**; matched=false
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:175) - Converted URL to lowercase, from: '/j_spring_security_check'; to: '/j_spring_security_check'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:182) - Candidate is: '/j_spring_security_check'; pattern is /static/**; matched=false
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:175) - Converted URL to lowercase, from: '/j_spring_security_check'; to: '/j_spring_security_check'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:182) - Candidate is: '/j_spring_security_check'; pattern is /**; matched=true
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:350) - /j_spring_security_check at position 1 of 10 in additional filter chain; firing Filter: 'org.springframework.security.web.session.ConcurrentSessionFilter@40ece0'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:350) - /j_spring_security_check at position 2 of 10 in additional filter chain; firing Filter: 'org.springframework.security.web.context.SecurityContextPersistenceFilter@1041876'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (HttpSessionSecurityContextRepository.java:141) - HttpSession returned null object for SPRING_SECURITY_CONTEXT
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (HttpSessionSecurityContextRepository.java:87) - No SecurityContext was available from the HttpSession: org.apache.catalina.session.StandardSessionFacade@e3fda4. A new one will be created.
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:350) - /j_spring_security_check at position 3 of 10 in additional filter chain; firing Filter: 'org.springframework.security.web.authentication.logout.LogoutFilter@174a6e2'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:350) - /j_spring_security_check at position 4 of 10 in additional filter chain; firing Filter: 'org.springframework.security.web.authentication.UsernamePasswordAuthenticationFilter@1786a3c'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (AbstractAuthenticationProcessingFilter.java:193) - Request is to process authentication
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (ProviderManager.java:117) - Authentication attempt using org.springframework.security.authentication.dao.DaoAuthenticationProvider
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (AbstractAuthenticationProcessingFilter.java:318) - Authentication request failed: org.springframework.security.web.authentication.session.SessionAuthenticationException: Maximum sessions of 1 for this principal exceeded
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (AbstractAuthenticationProcessingFilter.java:319) - Updated SecurityContextHolder to contain null Authentication
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (AbstractAuthenticationProcessingFilter.java:320) - Delegating to authentication failure handlerorg.springframework.security.web.authentication.SimpleUrlAuthenticationFailureHandler@21447f
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (SimpleUrlAuthenticationFailureHandler.java:56) - Redirecting to /login/login.jsp?login_error=1
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (DefaultRedirectStrategy.java:34) - Redirecting to '/crvWeb/login/login.jsp?login_error=1'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (SecurityContextPersistenceFilter.java:89) - SecurityContextHolder now cleared, as request processing completed
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:175) - Converted URL to lowercase, from: '/login/login.jsp'; to: '/login/login.jsp'
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:182) - Candidate is: '/login/login.jsp'; pattern is /login/**; matched=true
DEBUG [http-8080-2] (FilterChainProxy.java:139) -  has an empty filter list

why isnt my log off working? how can i look for the cause?

Answer 1

i dont see any useful log files…

Have you configured logging in your webapp to set the logging level to DEBUG? Spring / SpringSecurity output a lot of useful stuff at that level.

EDIT

Your logfiles are typically written to $CATALINA_HOME/logs, but that depends on your logging properties.

The simple way to configure a webapp’s logging (assuming log4j) is to put a log4j.properties or log4j.xml file into the webapp’s /WEB-INF/classes directory.

If you want to access resource files via the classpath, they also need to be in the classes directory. However if you can access them other ways they could be anywhere in the webapp tree. (You could even put the resources outside of the tree, but then you’d have issues with deploying them.)

These questions are all addressed more comprehensively in the relevant Tomcat and Log4j documentation. And possibly also in the Spring “getting started” documentation.