Spring Boot Security Review

Use when adding auth, handling input, creating endpoints, or dealing with secrets.

When to Activate

• Adding authentication (JWT, OAuth2, session-based)
• Implementing authorization (@PreAuthorize, role-based access)
• Validating user input (Bean Validation, custom validators)
• Configuring CORS, CSRF, or security headers
• Managing secrets (Vault, environment variables)
• Adding rate limiting or brute-force protection
• Scanning dependencies for CVEs

Authentication

• Prefer stateless JWT or opaque tokens with revocation list
• Use httpOnly, Secure, SameSite=Strict cookies for sessions
• Validate tokens with OncePerRequestFilter or resource server

@Component
public class JwtAuthFilter extends OncePerRequestFilter {
  private final JwtService jwtService;

  public JwtAuthFilter(JwtService jwtService) {
    this.jwtService = jwtService;
  }

  @Override
  protected void doFilterInternal(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response,
      FilterChain chain) throws ServletException, IOException {
    String header = request.getHeader(HttpHeaders.AUTHORIZATION);
    if (header != null && header.startsWith("Bearer ")) {
      String token = header.substring(7);
      Authentication auth = jwtService.authenticate(token);
      SecurityContextHolder.getContext().setAuthentication(auth);
    }
    chain.doFilter(request, response);
  }
}

Authorization

• Enable method security: @EnableMethodSecurity
• Use @PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')") or @PreAuthorize("@authz.canEdit(#id)")
• Deny by default; expose only required scopes

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/admin")
public class AdminController {

  @PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')")
  @GetMapping("/users")
  public List<UserDto> listUsers() {
    return userService.findAll();
  }

  @PreAuthorize("@authz.isOwner(#id, authentication)")
  @DeleteMapping("/users/{id}")
  public ResponseEntity<Void> deleteUser(@PathVariable Long id) {
    userService.delete(id);
    return ResponseEntity.noContent().build();
  }
}

Input Validation

• Use Bean Validation with @Valid on controllers
• Apply constraints on DTOs: @NotBlank, @Email, @Size, custom validators
• Sanitize any HTML with a whitelist before rendering

// BAD: No validation
@PostMapping("/users")
public User createUser(@RequestBody UserDto dto) {
  return userService.create(dto);
}

// GOOD: Validated DTO
public record CreateUserDto(
    @NotBlank @Size(max = 100) String name,
    @NotBlank @Email String email,
    @NotNull @Min(0) @Max(150) Integer age
) {}

@PostMapping("/users")
public ResponseEntity<UserDto> createUser(@Valid @RequestBody CreateUserDto dto) {
  return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.CREATED)
      .body(userService.create(dto));
}

SQL Injection Prevention

• Use Spring Data repositories or parameterized queries
• For native queries, use :param bindings; never concatenate strings

// BAD: String concatenation in native query
@Query(value = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE name = '" + name + "'", nativeQuery = true)

// GOOD: Parameterized native query
@Query(value = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE name = :name", nativeQuery = true)
List<User> findByName(@Param("name") String name);

// GOOD: Spring Data derived query (auto-parameterized)
List<User> findByEmailAndActiveTrue(String email);

Password Encoding

• Always hash passwords with BCrypt or Argon2 — never store plaintext
• Use PasswordEncoder bean, not manual hashing

@Bean
public PasswordEncoder passwordEncoder() {
  return new BCryptPasswordEncoder(12); // cost factor 12
}

// In service
public User register(CreateUserDto dto) {
  String hashedPassword = passwordEncoder.encode(dto.password());
  return userRepository.save(new User(dto.email(), hashedPassword));
}

CSRF Protection

• For browser session apps, keep CSRF enabled; include token in forms/headers
• For pure APIs with Bearer tokens, disable CSRF and rely on stateless auth

http
  .csrf(csrf -> csrf.disable())
  .sessionManagement(sm -> sm.sessionCreationPolicy(SessionCreationPolicy.STATELESS));

Secrets Management

• No secrets in source; load from env or vault
• Keep application.yml free of credentials; use placeholders
• Rotate tokens and DB credentials regularly

# BAD: Hardcoded in application.yml
spring:
  datasource:
    password: mySecretPassword123

# GOOD: Environment variable placeholder
spring:
  datasource:
    password: ${DB_PASSWORD}

# GOOD: Spring Cloud Vault integration
spring:
  cloud:
    vault:
      uri: https://vault.example.com
      token: ${VAULT_TOKEN}

Security Heade