Home/ Questions/Q 1038987
In Process

The Archive Base Latest Questions

Editorial Team
  • 0
Asked: 2026-05-16T15:02:38+00:00

I’m in the process of writing a server application that mainly allows people to

  • 0

I’m in the process of writing a server application that mainly allows people to submit jobs to a DRM system (e.g. TORQUE) over RMI. The application needs to run as root so that it can submit proxy jobs (where a job is run as a user other than the user who submits it), however this obviously isn’t secure – the user name is simply a string parameter in the RMI. Anyone could pass any user name in and have a job run as that user.

What’s the best way to get Java to authenticate this user name against authorised users of the system (with the aid of a password that would also be passed in)? I’ve had a look at JAAS and Apache Shiro, but they seem to be all about creating your own authentication methods. I want to use the system’s existing authentication methods (Unix-like system), whatever they happen to be. Essentially if the user can SSH in, they’re all right.

Share

Leave an answer

You must login to add an answer.

Need An Account,

1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    If your backend uses LDAP (which is possible if you have to manage a relatively large number of users for which a local /etc/passwd might be tedious), you can use JAAS and the existing LdapLoginModule.

    If you want to authenticate against you local system (assuming Linux server) without this, it looks like JAAS-PAM might be able to help, although I’ve never tried it.

    • 0