Configure app.policy files

 

Overview

The app.policy file is a default policy file shared by all of the WebSphere Application Server enterprise applications. The union of the permissions contained in the java.policy file, the server.policy file, the app.policy file, the application was.policy file and the permission specification of the ra.xml file are applied to the WebSphere Application Server enterprise application. The app.policy files are managed by configuration and file replication services. Changes made in these files are replicated to other nodes in the Network Deployment cell.

Note: The Signed By and the Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) principal keywords are not supported in the app.policy file. However, the Signed By keyword is supported in the following files: java.policy, server.policy, and the client.policy files. The JAAS principal keyword is supported in a JAAS policy file when it is specified by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) system property, java.security.auth.policy. You can statically set the authorization policy files in java.security.auth.policy with auth.policy.url.n=URL where URL is the location of the authorization policy.

 

Overview

If the default permissions for enterprise applications (the union of the permissions defined in the java.policy file, the server.policy file and the app.policy file) are enough, no action is required. The default app.policy file is used automatically. If a specific change is required to all of the enterprise applications in the cell, update the app.policy file. Syntax errors in the policy files cause start failures in the appservers. Edit these policy files carefully.

1. Extract the policy file.

   1. From the command prompt, enter...

      wsadmin> set obj [$AdminConfig extract cells/cell/node/node/app.policy c:/temp/test/app.policy]

2. Edit the extracted app.policy file with the Policy Tool.

3. Check in the policy file.

   1. Enter...

      wsadmin> $AdminConfig checkin cells/cell/nodes/node/app.policyc:/temp/test/was.policy $obj

 

Results

The default Java 2 security policies have been changed for the enterprise application.

 

Example

Symbol	Meaning
file:${application}	Permissions apply to all resources within the application
file:${jars}	Permissions apply to all utility Java archive (JAR) files within the application
file:${ejbComponent}	Permissions apply to enterprise bean resources within the application
file:${webComponent}	Permissions apply to Web resources within the application
file:${connectorComponent}	Permissions apply to connector resources both within the application and within stand-alone connector resources.

There are five embedded symbols provided to specify the path and name for java.io.FilePermission. These symbols enable flexible permission specifications. The absolute file path is fixed after the installation of the application.

Symbol	Meaning
${app.installed.path}	Path where the application is installed
${was.module.path}	Path where the module is installed
${current.cell.name}	Current cell name
${current.node.name}	Current node name
${current.server.name}	Current server name

Note: You cannot use the ${was.module.path} in the ${application} entry.

The app.policy file supplied by WebSphere Application Server resides at install_root/config/cells/cell/nodes/node/app.policy, which contains the following default permissions:

Note: In the following code sample, the first two lines related to permission java.io.FilePermission were split into two lines each due to the width of the printed page.

grant codeBase "file:${application}" {
  // The following are required by Java mail
  permission java.io.FilePermission "${was.install.root}${/}java${/}
  jre${/}lib${/}ext${/}mail.jar", "read";
  permission java.io.FilePermission "${was.install.root}${/}java${/}
  jre${/}lib${/}ext${/}activation.jar", "read";
};

grant codeBase "file:${jars}" {
  permission java.net.SocketPermission "*", "connect";
  permission java.util.PropertyPermission "*", "read";
};

grant codeBase "file:${connectorComponent}" {
  permission java.net.SocketPermission "*", "connect";
  permission java.util.PropertyPermission "*", "read";
};
grant codeBase "file:${webComponent}" {
  permission java.io.FilePermission "${was.module.path}${/}-", "read, write";
  permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "loadLibrary.*";
  permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "queuePrintJob";
  permission java.net.SocketPermission "*", "connect";
  permission java.util.PropertyPermission "*", "read";
};

grant codeBase "file:${ejbComponent}" {
 permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "queuePrintJob";
 permission java.net.SocketPermission "*", "connect";
 permission java.util.PropertyPermission "*", "read";
};

If all of the WebSphere Application Server enterprise applications in a cell require permissions that are not defined as defaults in the java.policy file, the server.policy file and the app.policyfile, then update the app.policy file. The symptom of a missing permission is the exception, java.security.AccessControlException. The missing permission is listed in the exception data, for example, java.security.AccessControlException: access denied (java.io.FilePermission C:\WebSphere\AppServer\java\jre\lib\ext\mail.jar read).

When a Java program receives this exception and adding this permission is justified, add a permission to the server.policy file, for example:

grant codeBase "file:<user client installed location>" {   
permission java.io.FilePermission 
"C:\WebSphere\AppServer\java\jre\lib\ext\mail.jar", "read"; };

To decide whether to add a permission, refer to the article AccessControlException.

 

What to do next

Restart all WebSphere Application Server enterprise applications to ensure that the updated app.policy file takes effect.

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Java 2 security policy files
AccessControlException

Migrating security configurations from previous releases
Configuring server.policy files
Configuring client.policy files
Configuring filter.policy files
Configuring java.policy files
Using PolicyTool to edit policy files
    

 

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