This version is still in development and is not considered stable yet. For the latest stable version, please use Spring Security 6.3.4!

Authorize ServerHttpRequest

Spring Security provides support for authorizing the incoming HTTP requests. By default, Spring Security’s authorization will require all requests to be authenticated. The explicit configuration looks like:

All Requests Require Authenticated User
  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Bean
SecurityWebFilterChain springSecurityFilterChain(ServerHttpSecurity http) {
    http
        .authorizeExchange(exchanges -> exchanges
            .anyExchange().authenticated()
        )
        .httpBasic(withDefaults())
        .formLogin(withDefaults());
    return http.build();
}
@Bean
fun springSecurityFilterChain(http: ServerHttpSecurity): SecurityWebFilterChain {
    return http {
        authorizeExchange {
            authorize(anyExchange, authenticated)
        }
        formLogin { }
        httpBasic { }
    }
}

We can configure Spring Security to have different rules by adding more rules in order of precedence.

Multiple Authorize Requests Rules
  • Java

  • Kotlin

import static org.springframework.security.authorization.AuthorityReactiveAuthorizationManager.hasRole;
// ...
@Bean
SecurityWebFilterChain springWebFilterChain(ServerHttpSecurity http) {
	http
		// ...
		.authorizeExchange((authorize) -> authorize                          (1)
			.pathMatchers("/resources/**", "/signup", "/about").permitAll()  (2)
			.pathMatchers("/admin/**").hasRole("ADMIN")                      (3)
			.pathMatchers("/db/**").access((authentication, context) ->      (4)
				hasRole("ADMIN").check(authentication, context)
					.filter(decision -> !decision.isGranted())
					.switchIfEmpty(hasRole("DBA").check(authentication, context))
			)
			.anyExchange().denyAll()                                         (5)
		);
	return http.build();
}
@Bean
fun springSecurityFilterChain(http: ServerHttpSecurity): SecurityWebFilterChain {
    return http {
        authorizeExchange {                                                           (1)
            authorize(pathMatchers("/resources/**", "/signup", "/about"), permitAll)  (2)
            authorize("/admin/**", hasRole("ADMIN"))                                  (3)
            authorize("/db/**", { authentication, context ->                          (4)
                hasRole("ADMIN").check(authentication, context)
                    .filter({ decision -> !decision.isGranted() })
                    .switchIfEmpty(hasRole("DBA").check(authentication, context))
            })
            authorize(anyExchange, denyAll)                                           (5)
        }
        // ...
    }
}
1 There are multiple authorization rules specified. Each rule is considered in the order they were declared.
2 We specified multiple URL patterns that any user can access. Specifically, any user can access a request if the URL starts with "/resources/", equals "/signup", or equals "/about".
3 Any URL that starts with "/admin/" will be restricted to users who have the authority "ROLE_ADMIN". You will notice that since we are invoking the hasRole method we do not need to specify the "ROLE_" prefix.
4 Any URL that starts with "/db/" requires the user to have both "ROLE_ADMIN" and "ROLE_DBA". This demonstrates the flexibility of providing a custom ReactiveAuthorizationManager allowing us to implement arbitrary authorization logic. For simplicity, the sample uses a lambda and delegate to the existing AuthorityReactiveAuthorizationManager.hasRole implementation. However, in a real world situation applications would likely implement the logic in a proper class implementing ReactiveAuthorizationManager.
5 Any URL that has not already been matched on is denied access. This is a good strategy if you do not want to accidentally forget to update your authorization rules.