The play-pac4j project is an easy and powerful security library for Play framework v2 web applications which supports authentication and authorization, but also application logout and advanced features like CSRF protection. It's available under the Apache 2 license and based on the pac4j security engine.

Several versions of the library are available for the different versions of the Play framework and for the different languages:

It supports most mechanisms for:

• authentication: CAS, OAuth, SAML, OpenID Connect, LDAP, RDBMS, etc.
• authorization: role / permission checks, IP check, CSRF, ...

Main concepts:

1. A client represents an authentication mechanism. It performs the login process and returns a user profile. An indirect client is for UI authentication while a direct client is for web services authentication

2. An authorizer is meant to check authorizations on the authenticated user profile or on the current web context

3. The RequiresAuthentication annotation / function protects an url by checking that the user is authenticated and that the authorizations are checked, according to the clients and authorizers configuration. If the user is not authenticated, it starts / performs the login process

4. The CallbackController finishes the authentication process for an indirect client

Using play-pac4j is very straightforward. First you need to configure your application:

• First, you need to add a dependency on this library as well as on the appropriate pac4j submodules. Then, you must define the clients for authentication and the authorizers to check authorizations.

• Define the CallbackController to finish authentication processes if you use indirect clients (like Facebook).

Then you are ready to secure (part of) your application:

• Use the RequiresAuthentication annotation (in Java) or function (in Scala) to secure the urls of your web application (using the clientName parameter for authentication and the authorizerName parameter for authorizations).

• Alternatively, you can protect multiple URLs by using the SecurityFilter.

Just follow these easy steps:

Before you can protect your application, you need to add the necessary libraries and configure your application to use play-pac4j.

You need to add a dependency on the:

• play-pac4j library (groupId: org.pac4j, version: 2.2.0)

as well as on the appropriate pac4j submodules (groupId: org.pac4j, version: 1.8.8): the pac4j-oauth dependency for OAuth support, the pac4j-cas dependency for CAS support, the pac4j-ldap module for LDAP authentication, ...

All released artifacts are available in the Maven central repository.

Each authentication mechanism (Facebook, Twitter, a CAS server...) is defined by a client (implementing the org.pac4j.core.client.Client interface). All clients must be gathered in a org.pac4j.core.client.Clients class.

All Clients must be defined in a org.pac4j.core.config.Config object as well as the authorizers which will be used by the application. The Config is bound for injection in a SecurityModule (or whatever the name you call it).

public class SecurityModule extends AbstractModule {

    ...
    
    @Override
    protected void configure() {
        FacebookClient facebookClient = new FacebookClient("fbId", "fbSecret");
        TwitterClient twitterClient = new TwitterClient("twId", "twSecret");

        FormClient formClient = new FormClient(baseUrl + "/theForm", new SimpleTestUsernamePasswordAuthenticator());
        IndirectBasicAuthClient basicAuthClient = new IndirectBasicAuthClient(new SimpleTestUsernamePasswordAuthenticator());

        CasClient casClient = new CasClient();
        casClient.setCasLoginUrl("https://mycasserver/login");

        SAML2ClientConfiguration cfg = new SAML2ClientConfiguration("resource:samlKeystore.jks",
                "pac4j-demo-passwd", "pac4j-demo-passwd", "resource:openidp-feide.xml");
        cfg.setMaximumAuthenticationLifetime(3600);
        cfg.setServiceProviderEntityId("urn:mace:saml:pac4j.org");
        cfg.setServiceProviderMetadataPath(new File("target", "sp-metadata.xml").getAbsolutePath());
        final SAML2Client saml2Client = new SAML2Client(cfg);

        OidcClient oidcClient = new OidcClient();
        oidcClient.setClientID("id");
        oidcClient.setSecret("secret");
        oidcClient.setDiscoveryURI("https://accounts.google.com/.well-known/openid-configuration");
        oidcClient.addCustomParam("prompt", "consent");

        ParameterClient parameterClient = new ParameterClient("token", new JwtAuthenticator("salt"));

        Clients clients = new Clients("https://localhost:8080/callback", facebookClient, twitterClient, formClient,
                basicAuthClient, casClient, saml2Client, oidcClient, parameterClient);

        Config config = new Config(clients);
        config.addAuthorizer("admin", new RequireAnyRoleAuthorizer("ROLE_ADMIN"));
        config.addAuthorizer("custom", new CustomAuthorizer());
        config.setHttpActionAdapter(new DemoHttpActionAdapter());
        bind(Config.class).toInstance(config);
    }
}

class SecurityModule(environment: Environment, configuration: Configuration) extends AbstractModule {

  override def configure(): Unit = {

    val facebookClient = new FacebookClient("fbId", "fbSecret")
    val twitterClient = new TwitterClient("twId", "twSecret")

    val formClient = new FormClient(baseUrl + "/theForm", new SimpleTestUsernamePasswordAuthenticator())
    val basicAuthClient = new IndirectBasicAuthClient(new SimpleTestUsernamePasswordAuthenticator())

    val casClient = new CasClient()
    casClient.setCasLoginUrl("https://mycasserver/login")

    val cfg = new SAML2ClientConfiguration("resource:samlKeystore.jks", "pac4j-demo-passwd", "pac4j-demo-passwd", "resource:openidp-feide.xml")
    cfg.setMaximumAuthenticationLifetime(3600)
    cfg.setServiceProviderEntityId("urn:mace:saml:pac4j.org")
    cfg.setServiceProviderMetadataPath(new File("target", "sp-metadata.xml").getAbsolutePath())
    val saml2Client = new SAML2Client(cfg)

    val oidcClient = new OidcClient()
    oidcClient.setClientID("id")
    oidcClient.setSecret("secret")
    oidcClient.setDiscoveryURI("https://accounts.google.com/.well-known/openid-configuration")
    oidcClient.addCustomParam("prompt", "consent")

    val parameterClient = new ParameterClient("token", new JwtAuthenticator("salt"))

    val clients = new Clients("https://localhost:8080/callback", facebookClient, twitterClient, formClient,
      basicAuthClient, casClient, saml2Client, oidcClient, parameterClient)

    val config = new Config(clients)
    config.addAuthorizer("admin", new RequireAnyRoleAuthorizer("ROLE_ADMIN"))
    config.addAuthorizer("custom", new CustomAuthorizer())
    config.setHttpActionAdapter(new DemoHttpActionAdapter())
    bind(classOf[Config]).toInstance(config)
  }
}

"https://localhost:8080/callback" is the url of the callback endpoint (see below). It may not be defined for REST support / direct clients only.

Notice the config.setHttpActionAdapter call to define the way to handle specific HTTP actions (like redirections, forbidden / unauthorized pages). The only available implementation is currently the DefaultHttpActionAdapter, but you can subclass it to define your own HTTP 401 / 403 error pages for example.

Indirect clients rely on external identity providers (like Facebook) and thus require to define a callback endpoint in the application where the user will be redirected after login at the identity provider. For REST support / direct clients only, this callback endpoint is not necessary.
It must be defined in the routes file:

GET    /callback   org.pac4j.play.CallbackController.callback()

You can also configure it by defining an instance in the SecurityModule.

CallbackController callbackController = new CallbackController();
callbackController.setDefaultUrl("/");
bind(CallbackController.class).toInstance(callbackController);

val callbackController = new CallbackController()
callbackController.setDefaultUrl("/")
bind(classOf[CallbackController]).toInstance(callbackController)

And using it in the routes file:

GET    /callback   @org.pac4j.play.CallbackController.callback()

The defaultUrl parameter defines where the user will be redirected after login if no url was originally requested.

At this moment play-pac4j allows you to secure your application in two ways:

1. Configure security per Action.
2. Use the SecurityFilter.

You can protect an url and require the user to be authenticated by a client (and optionally have the appropriate authorizations) by using the RequiresAuthentication annotation or function.

@RequiresAuthentication(clientName = "FacebookClient")
public Result facebookIndex() {
    return protectedIndex();
}

The following parameters can be defined:

• clientName (optional): the list of client names (separated by commas) used for authentication. If the user is not authenticated, direct clients are tried successively then if the user is still not authenticated and if the first client is an indirect one, this client is used to start the authentication. Otherwise, a 401 HTTP error is returned. If the client_name request parameter is provided, only the matching client is selected
• authorizerName (optional): the list of authorizer names (separated by commas) used to check authorizations. If the user is not authorized, a 403 HTTP error is returned. By default (if blank), the user only requires to be authenticated to access the resource. The following authorizers are available by default:
  • hsts to use the StrictTransportSecurityHeader authorizer, nosniff for XContentTypeOptionsHeader, noframe for XFrameOptionsHeader , xssprotection for XSSProtectionHeader , nocache for CacheControlHeader or securityHeaders for the five previous authorizers
  • csrfToken to use the CsrfTokenGeneratorAuthorizer with the DefaultCsrfTokenGenerator (it generates a CSRF token and adds it to the request and save it in the pac4jCsrfToken cookie), csrfCheck to check that this previous token has been sent as the pac4jCsrfToken header or parameter in a POST request and csrf to use both previous authorizers.

def facebookIndex = RequiresAuthentication("FacebookClient") { profile =>
  Action { request =>
    Ok(views.html.protectedIndex(profile))
  }
}

This function is available by using the org.pac4j.play.scala.Security trait. You must notice that the user profile is returned along the RequiresAuthentication function.

The following functions are available:

• RequiresAuthentication[A]
• RequiresAuthentication[A](clientName: String)
• RequiresAuthentication[A](clientName: String, authorizerName: String)
• RequiresAuthentication[A](parser: BodyParser[A], clientName: String, authorizerName: String)

In order to protect multiple urls at the same tine, you can configure the SecurityFilter. You need to configure your application to include the SecurityFilter as follows:

First define a Filters class in your application (if you have not yet done so).

In Java:

package filters;

import org.pac4j.play.filters.SecurityFilter;
import play.http.HttpFilters;
import play.api.mvc.EssentialFilter;

import javax.inject.Inject;

public class Filters implements HttpFilters {

    private final SecurityFilter securityFilter;

    @Inject
    public Filters(SecurityFilter securityFilter) {
        this.securityFilter = securityFilter;
    }

    @Override
    public EssentialFilter[] filters() {
        return new EssentialFilter[] {securityFilter};
    }
}

In Scals:

package filters

import javax.inject.Inject
import org.pac4j.play.filters.SecurityFilter
import play.api.http.HttpFilters

/**
 * Configuration of all the Play filters that are used in the application.
 */
class Filters @Inject()(securityFilter: SecurityFilter) extends HttpFilters {

  def filters = Seq(securityFilter)

}

Then tell your application to use the filters in application.conf:

play.http.filters = "filters.Filters"

See for more information on the use of filters in Play the Play documentation on Filters.

Rules for the security filter can be supplied in application.conf. An example is shown below. It consists of a list of filter rules, where the key is a regular expression that will be used to match the url. Make sure that the / is escaped by \ to make a valid regular expression.

For each regex key, there are two subkeys: authorizers and clients. Here you can define the correct values, like you would supply to the RequireAuthentication method in controllers. There two exceptions: authorizers can have two special values: _authenticated_ and _anonymous_.

_anonymous_ will disable authentication and authorization for urls matching the regex. _authenticated_ will require authentication, but will set clients and authorizers both to null.

Rules are applied top to bottom. The first matching rule will define which clients and authorizers are used. When not provided, the value will be null.

pac4j.security.rules = [
  # Admin pages need a special authorizer and do not support login via Twitter.
  {"/admin/.*" = {
    authorizers = "admin"
    clients = "FormClient"
  }}
  # Rules for the REST services. These don't specify a client and will return 401
  # when not authenticated.
  {"/restservices/.*" = {
    authorizers = "_authenticated_"
  }}
  # The login page needs to be publicly accessible.
  {"/login.html" = {
    authorizers = "_anonymous_"
  }}
  # 'Catch all' rule to make sure the whole application stays secure.
  {".*" = {
    authorizers = "_authenticated_"
    clients = "FormClient,TwitterClient"
  }}
]

You need to inherit from the UserProfileController and call the getUserProfile() method.

You need to extend from the Security trait and call the getUserProfile(request: RequestHeader) function.

You can also directly use the ProfileManager.get(true) method (false not to use the session, but only the current HTTP request) and the ProfileManager.isAuthenticated() method.

The retrieved profile is at least a CommonProfile, from which you can retrieve the most common properties that all profiles share. But you can also cast the user profile to the appropriate profile according to the provider used for authentication. For example, after a Facebook authentication:

FacebookProfile facebookProfile = (FacebookProfile) commonProfile;

You can log out the current authenticated user using the ApplicationLogoutController defined in the routes file:

GET  /logout  org.pac4j.play.ApplicationLogoutController.logout()

To perfom the logout, you must call the /logout url. A blank page is displayed by default unless an url request parameter is provided. In that case, the user will be redirected to this specified url (if it matches the logout url pattern defined) or to the default logout url otherwise.

You can configure this controller by defining an instance in the SecurityModule.

ApplicationLogoutController logoutController = new ApplicationLogoutController();
logoutController.setDefaultUrl("/");
bind(ApplicationLogoutController.class).toInstance(logoutController);

val logoutController = new ApplicationLogoutController()
logoutController.setDefaultUrl("/")
bind(classOf[ApplicationLogoutController]).toInstance(logoutController)

And using it in the routes file:

GET  /logout  @org.pac4j.play.ApplicationLogoutController.logout()

The following parameters can be defined:

• defaultUrl (optional): the default logout url if the provided url parameter does not match the logoutUrlPattern (by default: /)
• logoutUrlPattern (optional): the logout url pattern that the logout url must match (it's a security check, only relative urls are allowed by default).

Upgrade to Play 2.5

The separate Scala and Java projects have been merged. You need to change the dependency play-pac4j-java or play-pac4j-scala to simply play-pac4j.

The getUserProfile method of the Security trait returns a Option[CommonProfile] instead of just a UserProfile.

The DataStore concept is replaced by the pac4j SessionStore concept. The PlayCacheStore does no longer need to be bound in the security module. A new session store could be defined using the config.setSessionStore method.

The DefaultHttpActionAdapter does not need to be bound in the security module, but must to be set using the config.setHttpActionAdapter method.

play-pac4j v2.0 is a huge refactoring of the previous version 1.5. It takes advantage of the new features of pac4j v1.8 (REST support, authorizations, configuration objects...) and is fully based on dependency injection -> see Play 2.4 migration guide.

In Java, the SecurityController and JavaController are deprecated and you need to use the UserProfileController to get the user profile (you can also use the ProfileManager object directly).

The "target url" concept has disappeared as it was too complicated, it could be simulated though.

The SecurityCallbackController is deprecated and you must use the CallbackController. The logout support has been moved to the ApplicationLogoutController.

The JavaWebContext and ScalaWebContext have been merged into a new PlayWebContext.

The StorageHelper has been removed, replaced by the PlayCacheStore implementation where you can set the timeouts. You can provide your own implementation of the CacheStore if necessary.

The PlayLogoutHandler has been moved to the org.pac4j.play.cas.logout package and renamed as PlayCacheLogoutHandler (it relies on the Play Cache).

The static specific Config has been replaced by the default org.pac4j.core.config.Config object to define the clients (authentication) and the authorizers (authorizations).

Custom 401 / 403 HTTP error pages must now be defined by overriding the DefaultHttpActionAdapter.

The isAjax parameter is no longer available as AJAX requests are now automatically detected. The stateless parameter is no longer available as the stateless nature is held by the client itself. The requireAnyRole and requieAllRoles parameters are no longer available and authorizers must be used instead (with the authorizerName parameter).

Two demo webapps: play-pac4j-java-demo & play-pac4j-scala-demo are available for tests and implement many authentication mechanisms: Facebook, Twitter, form, basic auth, CAS, SAML, OpenID Connect, JWT...

Test them online: https://play-pac4j-java-demo.herokuapp.com and https://play-pac4j-scala-demo.herokuapp.com.

See the release notes. Learn more by browsing the play-pac4j Javadoc and the pac4j Javadoc.

If you have any question, please use the following mailing lists:

• pac4j users
• pac4j developers

The version 2.2.1-SNAPSHOT is under development.

Maven artifacts are built via Travis: and available in the Sonatype snapshots repository. This repository must be added in the resolvers of your build.sbt file:

resolvers ++= Seq( Resolver.mavenLocal,
    "Sonatype snapshots repository" at "https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/",
    "Pablo repo" at "https://raw.github.com/fernandezpablo85/scribe-java/mvn-repo/")