Apache CXF Authentication and Authorization test-cases III

This is the third in a series of posts on authentication and authorization test-cases for web services using Apache CXF. The first post focused on authenticating and authorizing web service requests that included a username and password (WS-Security UsernameToken and HTTP/BA). The second article looked at more sophisticated ways of performing authentication and authorization, such as using X.509 certificates, using a SecurityTokenService (STS), using XACML and using Kerberos. This article will build on the previous articles to show how to perform Single Sign On (SSO) with Apache CXF.

The projects are as follows:

• cxf-shiro: This project uses Apache Shiro for authenticating and authorizating a UsernameToken, as covered in the first article. However, it also now includes an SSOTest, which shows how to use WS-SecureConversation for SSO. In this scenario an STS is co-located with the endpoint. The client sends the UsernameToken to the STS for authentication using Apache Shiro. The STS returns a token and a secret key to the client. The client then makes the service request including the token and using the secret key to sign a portion of the request, thus proving proof-of-possession. The client can then make repeated invocations without having to re-authenticate the UsernameToken credentials.
• cxf-sts:  This project shows how to use the CXF SecurityTokenService (STS) for authentication and authorization, as covered in the second article. It now includes an SSOTest to show how to achieve SSO with the STS. It demonstrates how the client caches the token after the initial invocation, and how it can make repeated invocations without having to re-authenticate itself to the STS.
• cxf-saml-sso: This project shows how to leverage SAML SSO with Apache CXF to achieve SSO for a JAX-RS service. CXF supports the POST + redirect bindings of SAML SSO for JAX-RS endpoints. As part of this demo, a mock CXF-based IdP is provided which authenticates a client using HTTP/BA and issues a SAML token using the CXF STS. Authorization is also demonstrated using roles embedded in the issued SAML token. 
• cxf-fediz-federation-sso: This project shows how to use the new CXF plugin of Apache Fediz 1.2.0 to authenticate and authorize clients of a JAX-RS service using WS-Federation. This feature will be documented more extensively at a future date, and is considered experimental for now. Please play around with it and provide feedback to the CXF users list.