This chapter describes how security works with Apache ActiveMQ Artemis and how you can configure it.

1. Basic Configuration

Security is enabled by default. To disable security completely set the security-enabled property to false in the broker.xml file, e.g.:

<configuration...>
   <core...>
      ...
      <security-enabled>false</security-enabled>
      ...
   </core>
</configuration>

2. Caching Security Operations

For performance reasons both authentication and authorization is cached independently. Entries are removed from the caches (i.e. invalidated) either when the cache reaches its maximum size in which case the least-recently used entry is removed or when an entry has been in the cache "too long".

The size of the caches are controlled by the authentication-cache-size and authorization-cache-size configuration parameters. Both default to 1000. Using 0 will disable the corresponding cache.

How long cache entries are valid is controlled by security-invalidation-interval, which is in milliseconds. The default is 10000 ms.

3. Tracking the Validated User

To assist in security auditing the populate-validated-user option exists. If this is true then the server will add the name of the validated user to the message using the key _AMQ_VALIDATED_USER. For JMS and Stomp clients this is mapped to the key JMSXUserID. For users authenticated based on their SSL certificate this name is the name to which their certificate’s DN maps. If security-enabled is false and populate-validated-user is true then the server will simply use whatever user name (if any) the client provides. This option is false by default.

It’s also possible to set reject-empty-validated-user. If true the server will reject any message that doesn’t have a validated user. This option is false by default.

4. Role based security for addresses

Apache ActiveMQ Artemis contains a flexible role-based security model for applying security to queues, based on their addresses.

As explained in Using Core, Apache ActiveMQ Artemis core consists mainly of sets of queues bound to addresses. A message is sent to an address and the server looks up the set of queues that are bound to that address, the server then routes the message to those set of queues.

Apache ActiveMQ Artemis allows sets of permissions to be defined against the queues based on their address. An exact match on the address can be used or a wildcard match can be used.

There are different permissions that can be given to the set of queues which match the address. Those permissions are:

createAddress

This permission allows the user to create an address fitting the match.

deleteAddress

This permission allows the user to delete an address fitting the match.

createDurableQueue

This permission allows the user to create a durable queue under matching addresses.

deleteDurableQueue

This permission allows the user to delete a durable queue under matching addresses.

createNonDurableQueue

This permission allows the user to create a non-durable queue under matching addresses.

deleteNonDurableQueue

This permission allows the user to delete a non-durable queue under matching addresses.

send

This permission allows the user to send a message to matching addresses.

consume

This permission allows the user to consume a message from a queue bound to matching addresses.

browse

This permission allows the user to browse a queue bound to the matching address.

manage

This permission allows the user to invoke management operations by sending management messages to the management address.

The following two permissions pertain to operations on the management apis of the broker. They split management operations into two sets, read only for view, and edit for mutating operations. The split is controlled by a regular expression. Methods that match will require the view permission, all others require edit. The regular expression can be modified through the configuration attribute view-permission-method-match-pattern. These permissions are applicable to the management address and to MBean access. They are granted to match addresses prefixed with the management prefix.

view

This permission allows access to a read-only subset of management operations.

edit

This permission allows access to the mutating management operations, any operation not in the view set.

For each permission, a list of roles who are granted that permission is specified. If the user has any of those roles, he/she will be granted that permission for that set of addresses.

Let’s take a simple example, here’s a security block from broker.xml file:

<security-setting match="globalqueues.europe.#">
   <permission type="createDurableQueue" roles="admin"/>
   <permission type="deleteDurableQueue" roles="admin"/>
   <permission type="createNonDurableQueue" roles="admin, guest, europe-users"/>
   <permission type="deleteNonDurableQueue" roles="admin, guest, europe-users"/>
   <permission type="send" roles="admin, europe-users"/>
   <permission type="consume" roles="admin, europe-users"/>
</security-setting>

Using the default wildcard syntax the # character signifies "any sequence of words". Words are delimited by the . character. Therefore, the above security block applies to any address that starts with the string "globalqueues.europe.".

Only users who have the admin role can create or delete durable queues bound to an address that starts with the string "globalqueues.europe."

Any users with the roles admin, guest, or europe-users can create or delete temporary queues bound to an address that starts with the string "globalqueues.europe."

Any users with the roles admin or europe-users can send messages to these addresses or consume messages from queues bound to an address that starts with the string "globalqueues.europe."

The mapping between a user and what roles they have is handled by the security manager. Apache ActiveMQ Artemis ships with a user manager that reads user credentials from a file on disk, and can also plug into JAAS or JBoss Application Server security.

For more information on configuring the security manager, please see 'Changing the Security Manager'.

There can be zero or more security-setting elements in each xml file. Where more than one match applies to a set of addresses the more specific match takes precedence.

Let’s look at an example of that, here’s another security-setting block:

<security-setting match="globalqueues.europe.orders.#">
   <permission type="send" roles="europe-users"/>
   <permission type="consume" roles="europe-users"/>
</security-setting>

In this security-setting block the match globalqueues.europe.orders.# is more specific than the previous match globalqueues.europe.#. So any addresses which match globalqueues.europe.orders.# will take their security settings only from the latter security-setting block.

Note that settings are not inherited from the former block. All the settings will be taken from the more specific matching block, so for the address globalqueues.europe.orders.plastics the only permissions that exist are send and consume for the role europe-users. The permissions createDurableQueue, deleteDurableQueue, createNonDurableQueue, deleteNonDurableQueue are not inherited from the other security-setting block.

By not inheriting permissions, it allows you to effectively deny permissions in more specific security-setting blocks by simply not specifying them. Otherwise it would not be possible to deny permissions in sub-groups of addresses.

4.1. Fine-grained security using fully qualified queue name

In certain situations it may be necessary to configure security that is more fine-grained that simply across an entire address. For example, consider an address with multiple queues:

<addresses>
   <address name="foo">
      <anycast>
         <queue name="q1" />
         <queue name="q2" />
      </anycast>
   </address>
</addresses>

You may want to limit consumption from q1 to one role and consumption from q2 to another role. You can do this using the fully qualified queue name (i.e. FQQN) in the match of the security-setting, e.g.:

<security-setting match="foo::q1">
   <permission type="consume" roles="q1Role"/>
</security-setting>
<security-setting match="foo::q2">
   <permission type="consume" roles="q2Role"/>
</security-setting>
Wildcard matching doesn’t work in conjunction with FQQN. The explicit goal of using FQQN here is to be exact.

4.2. Applying view and edit permissions to the management api

The view and edit permissions are optionally applied to the management apis of the broker.

For RBAC on JMX MBean access they can replace the authorization section in management.xml as described at JMX authorization in broker.xml

For RBAC on management resources accessed via messages sent to the management address, the additional permissions are enabled by configuring management-message-rbac as described at Fine grained RBAC on management messages

The split between operations that require the view and edit permissions can be controlled via view-permission-method-match-pattern

5. Security Setting Plugin

Aside from configuring sets of permissions via XML these permissions can alternatively be configured via a plugin which implements org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server.SecuritySettingPlugin e.g.:

<security-settings>
   <security-setting-plugin class-name="org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server.impl.LegacyLDAPSecuritySettingPlugin">
      <setting name="initialContextFactory" value="com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory"/>
      <setting name="connectionURL" value="ldap://localhost:1024"/>
      <setting name="connectionUsername" value="uid=admin,ou=system"/>
      <setting name="connectionPassword" value="secret"/>
      <setting name="connectionProtocol" value="s"/>
      <setting name="authentication" value="simple"/>
   </security-setting-plugin>
</security-settings>

Most of this configuration is specific to the plugin implementation. However, there are two configuration details that will be specified for every implementation:

class-name

This attribute of security-setting-plugin indicates the name of the class which implements org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server.SecuritySettingPlugin.

setting

Each of these elements represents a name/value pair that will be passed to the implementation for configuration purposes.

See the JavaDoc on org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server.SecuritySettingPlugin for further details about the interface and what each method is expected to do.

5.1. Available plugins

5.1.1. LegacyLDAPSecuritySettingPlugin

This plugin will read the security information that was previously handled by LDAPAuthorizationMap and the cachedLDAPAuthorizationMap in Apache ActiveMQ Classic and turn it into Artemis security settings where possible. The security implementations of ActiveMQ Classic and Artemis don’t match perfectly so some translation must occur to achieve near equivalent functionality.

Here is an example of the plugin’s configuration:

<security-setting-plugin class-name="org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server.impl.LegacyLDAPSecuritySettingPlugin">
   <setting name="initialContextFactory" value="com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory"/>
   <setting name="connectionURL" value="ldap://localhost:1024"/>
   <setting name="connectionUsername" value="uid=admin,ou=system"/>
   <setting name="connectionPassword" value="secret"/>
   <setting name="connectionProtocol" value="s"/>
   <setting name="authentication" value="simple"/>
</security-setting-plugin>
class-name

The implementation is org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server.impl.LegacyLDAPSecuritySettingPlugin.

initialContextFactory

The initial context factory used to connect to LDAP. It must always be set to com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory (i.e. the default value).

connectionURL

Specifies the location of the directory server using an ldap URL, ldap://Host:Port. You can optionally qualify this URL, by adding a forward slash, /, followed by the DN of a particular node in the directory tree. For example, ldap://ldapserver:10389/ou=system. The default is ldap://localhost:1024.

connectionUsername

The DN of the user that opens the connection to the directory server. For example, uid=admin,ou=system. Directory servers generally require clients to present username/password credentials in order to open a connection.

connectionPassword

The password that matches the DN from connectionUsername. In the directory server, in the DIT, the password is normally stored as a userPassword attribute in the corresponding directory entry.

connectionProtocol

Currently the only supported value is a blank string. In future, this option will allow you to select the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) for the connection to the directory server.

This option must be set explicitly to an empty string, because it has no default value.
authentication

Specifies the authentication method used when binding to the LDAP server. Can take either of the values, simple (username and password, the default value) or none (anonymous).

Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) authentication is currently not supported.
destinationBase

Specifies the DN of the node whose children provide the permissions for all destinations. In this case the DN is a literal value (that is, no string substitution is performed on the property value). For example, a typical value of this property is ou=destinations,o=ActiveMQ,ou=system (i.e. the default value).

filter

Specifies an LDAP search filter, which is used when looking up the permissions for any kind of destination. The search filter attempts to match one of the children or descendants of the queue or topic node. The default value is (cn=*).

roleAttribute

Specifies an attribute of the node matched by filter, whose value is the DN of a role. Default value is uniqueMember.

adminPermissionValue

Specifies a value that matches the admin permission. The default value is admin.

readPermissionValue

Specifies a value that matches the read permission. The default value is read.

writePermissionValue

Specifies a value that matches the write permission. The default value is write.

enableListener

Whether or not to enable a listener that will automatically receive updates made in the LDAP server and update the broker’s authorization configuration in real-time. The default value is true.

Some LDAP servers (e.g. OpenLDAP) don’t support the "persistent search" feature which allows the "listener" functionality to work. For these servers set the refreshInterval to a value greater than 0.

refreshInterval

How long to wait (in seconds) before refreshing the security settings from the LDAP server. This can be used for LDAP servers which don’t support the "persistent search" feature needed for use with enableListener (e.g. OpenLDAP). Default is 0 (i.e. no refresh).

Keep in mind that this can be a potentially expensive operation based on how often the refresh is configured and how large the data set is so take care in how refreshInterval is configured.

mapAdminToManage

Whether or not to map the legacy admin permission to the manage permission. See details of the mapping semantics below. The default value is false.

allowQueueAdminOnRead

Whether or not to map the legacy read permission to the createDurableQueue, createNonDurableQueue, and deleteDurableQueue permissions so that JMS clients can create durable and non-durable subscriptions without needing the admin permission. This was allowed in ActiveMQ Classic. The default value is false.

The name of the queue or topic defined in LDAP will serve as the "match" for the security-setting, the permission value will be mapped from the ActiveMQ Classic type to the Artemis type, and the role will be mapped as-is.

ActiveMQ Classic only has 3 permission types - read, write, and admin. These permission types are described on their website. However, as described previously, ActiveMQ Artemis has 9 permission types - createAddress, deleteAddress, createDurableQueue, deleteDurableQueue, createNonDurableQueue, deleteNonDurableQueue, send, consume, browse, and manage. Here’s how the old types are mapped to the new types:

read

consume, browse

write

send

admin

createAddress, deleteAddress, createDurableQueue, deleteDurableQueue, createNonDurableQueue, deleteNonDurableQueue, manage (if mapAdminToManage is true)

As mentioned, there are a few places where a translation was performed to achieve some equivalence.:

  • This mapping doesn’t include the Artemis manage permission type by default since there is no type analogous for that in ActiveMQ Classic. However, if mapAdminToManage is true then the legacy admin permission will be mapped to the manage permission.

  • The admin permission in ActiveMQ Classic relates to whether or not the broker will auto-create a destination if it doesn’t exist and the user sends a message to it. Artemis automatically allows the automatic creation of a destination if the user has permission to send message to it. Therefore, the plugin will map the admin permission to the 6 aforementioned permissions in Artemis by default. If mapAdminToManage is true then the legacy admin permission will be mapped to the manage permission as well.

6. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Transport

When messaging clients are connected to servers, or servers are connected to other servers (e.g. via bridges) over an untrusted network then Apache ActiveMQ Artemis allows that traffic to be encrypted using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) transport.

For more information on configuring the SSL transport, please see Configuring the Transport.

7. User credentials

Apache ActiveMQ Artemis ships with three security manager implementations:

  • The flexible, pluggable ActiveMQJAASSecurityManager which supports any standard JAAS login module. Artemis ships with several login modules which will be discussed further down. This is the default security manager.

  • The ActiveMQBasicSecurityManager which doesn’t use JAAS and only supports auth via username & password credentials. It also supports adding, removing, and updating users via the management API. All user & role data is stored in the broker’s bindings journal which means any changes made to a primary broker will be available on its backup.

  • The legacy, deprecated ActiveMQSecurityManagerImpl that reads user credentials, i.e. user names, passwords and role information from properties files on the classpath called artemis-users.properties and artemis-roles.properties.

7.1. JAAS Security Manager

When using the Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) much of the configuration depends on which login module is used. However, there are a few commonalities for every case. The first place to look is in bootstrap.xml. Here is an example using the PropertiesLogin JAAS login module which reads user, password, and role information from properties files:

<jaas-security domain="PropertiesLogin"/>

No matter what login module you’re using, you’ll need to specify it here in bootstrap.xml. The domain attribute here refers to the relevant login module entry in login.config. For example:

PropertiesLogin {
    org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.PropertiesLoginModule required
        debug=true
        org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.user="artemis-users.properties"
        org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.role="artemis-roles.properties";
};

The login.config file is a standard JAAS configuration file. You can read more about this file on Oracle’s website. In short, the file defines:

  • an alias for an entry (e.g. PropertiesLogin)

  • the implementation class for the login module (e.g. org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.PropertiesLoginModule)

  • a flag which indicates whether the success of the login module is required, requisite, sufficient, or optional (see more details on these flags in the JavaDoc)

  • a list of configuration options specific to the login module implementation

By default, the location and name of login.config is specified on the Artemis command-line which is set by etc/artemis.profile on linux and etc\artemis.profile.cmd on Windows.

7.1.1. Dual Authentication

The JAAS Security Manager also supports another configuration parameter - certificate-domain. This is useful when you want to authenticate clients connecting with SSL connections based on their SSL certificates (e.g. using the CertificateLoginModule discussed below) but you still want to authenticate clients connecting with non-SSL connections with, e.g., username and password. Here’s an example of what would go in bootstrap.xml:

<jaas-security domain="PropertiesLogin" certificate-domain="CertLogin"/>

And here’s the corresponding login.config:

PropertiesLogin {
   org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.PropertiesLoginModule required
       debug=false
       org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.user="artemis-users.properties"
       org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.role="artemis-roles.properties";
};

CertLogin {
   org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.TextFileCertificateLoginModule required
       debug=true
       org.apache.activemq.jaas.textfiledn.user="cert-users.properties"
       org.apache.activemq.jaas.textfiledn.role="cert-roles.properties";
};

When the broker is configured this way then any client connecting with SSL and a client certificate will be authenticated using CertLogin and any client connecting without SSL will be authenticated using PropertiesLogin.

7.2. JAAS Login Modules

7.2.1. GuestLoginModule

Allows users without credentials (and, depending on how it is configured, possibly also users with invalid credentials) to access the broker. Normally, the guest login module is chained with another login module, such as a properties login module. It is implemented by org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.GuestLoginModule.

org.apache.activemq.jaas.guest.user

the user name to assign; default is "guest"

org.apache.activemq.jaas.guest.role

the role name to assign; default is "guests"

credentialsInvalidate

boolean flag; if true, reject login requests that include a password (i.e. guest login succeeds only when the user does not provide a password); default is false

debug

boolean flag; if true, enable debugging; this is used only for testing or debugging; normally, it should be set to false, or omitted; default is false

There are two basic use cases for the guest login module, as follows:

  • Guests with no credentials or invalid credentials.

  • Guests with no credentials only.

The following snippet shows how to configure a JAAS login entry for the use case where users with no credentials or invalid credentials are logged in as guests. In this example, the guest login module is used in combination with the properties login module.

activemq-domain {
  org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.PropertiesLoginModule sufficient
      debug=true
      org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.user="artemis-users.properties"
      org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.role="artemis-roles.properties";

  org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.GuestLoginModule sufficient
      debug=true
      org.apache.activemq.jaas.guest.user="anyone"
      org.apache.activemq.jaas.guest.role="restricted";
};

Depending on the user login data, authentication proceeds as follows:

  • User logs in with a valid password — the properties login module successfully authenticates the user and returns immediately. The guest login module is not invoked.

  • User logs in with an invalid password — the properties login module fails to authenticate the user, and authentication proceeds to the guest login module. The guest login module successfully authenticates the user and returns the guest principal.

  • User logs in with a blank password — the properties login module fails to authenticate the user, and authentication proceeds to the guest login module. The guest login module successfully authenticates the user and returns the guest principal.

The following snipped shows how to configure a JAAS login entry for the use case where only those users with no credentials are logged in as guests. To support this use case, you must set the credentialsInvalidate option to true in the configuration of the guest login module. You should also note that, compared with the preceding example, the order of the login modules is reversed and the flag attached to the properties login module is changed to requisite.

activemq-guest-when-no-creds-only-domain {
    org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.GuestLoginModule sufficient
        debug=true
       credentialsInvalidate=true
       org.apache.activemq.jaas.guest.user="guest"
       org.apache.activemq.jaas.guest.role="guests";

    org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.PropertiesLoginModule requisite
        debug=true
        org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.user="artemis-users.properties"
        org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.role="artemis-roles.properties";
};

Depending on the user login data, authentication proceeds as follows:

  • User logs in with a valid password — the guest login module fails to authenticate the user (because the user has presented a password while the credentialsInvalidate option is enabled) and authentication proceeds to the properties login module. The properties login module successfully authenticates the user and returns.

  • User logs in with an invalid password — the guest login module fails to authenticate the user and authentication proceeds to the properties login module. The properties login module also fails to authenticate the user. The net result is authentication failure.

  • User logs in with a blank password — the guest login module successfully authenticates the user and returns immediately. The properties login module is not invoked.

7.2.2. PropertiesLoginModule

The JAAS properties login module provides a simple store of authentication data, where the relevant user data is stored in a pair of flat files. This is convenient for demonstrations and testing, but for an enterprise system, the integration with LDAP is preferable. It is implemented by org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.PropertiesLoginModule.

org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.user

the path to the file which contains user and password properties

org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.role

the path to the file which contains user and role properties

org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.password.codec

the fully qualified class name of the password codec to use. See the password masking documentation for more details on how this works.

reload

boolean flag; whether or not to reload the properties files when a modification occurs; default is false

debug

boolean flag; if true, enable debugging; this is used only for testing or debugging; normally, it should be set to false, or omitted; default is false

In the context of the properties login module, the artemis-users.properties file consists of a list of properties of the form, UserName=Password. For example, to define the users system, user, and guest, you could create a file like the following:

system=manager
user=password
guest=password

Passwords in artemis-users.properties can be hashed. Such passwords should follow the syntax ENC(<hash>).

Hashed passwords can easily be added to artemis-users.properties using the user CLI command from the Artemis instance. This command will not work from the Artemis home, and it will also not work unless the broker has been started.

./artemis user add --user-command-user guest --user-command-password guest --role admin

This will use the default codec to perform a "one-way" hash of the password and alter both the artemis-users.properties and artemis-roles.properties files with the specified values.

The artemis-roles.properties file consists of a list of properties of the form, Role=UserList, where UserList is a comma-separated list of users. For example, to define the roles admins, users, and guests, you could create a file like the following:

admins=system
users=system,user
guests=guest

As mentioned above, the Artemis command-line interface supports a command to add a user. Commands to list (one or all) users, remove a user, and reset a user’s password and/or role(s) are also supported via the command-line interface as well as the normal management interfaces (e.g. JMX, web console, etc.).

Warning

Management and CLI operations to manipulate user & role data are only available when using the PropertiesLoginModule.

In general, using properties files and broker-centric user management for anything other than very basic use-cases is not recommended. The broker is designed to deal with messages. It’s not in the business of managing users, although that functionality is provided at a limited level for convenience. LDAP is recommended for enterprise level production use-cases.

7.2.3. LDAPLoginModule

The LDAP login module enables you to perform authentication and authorization by checking the incoming credentials against user data stored in a central X.500 directory server. For systems that already have an X.500 directory server in place, this means that you can rapidly integrate ActiveMQ Artemis with the existing security database and user accounts can be managed using the X.500 system. It is implemented by org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.LDAPLoginModule.

initialContextFactory

must always be set to com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory

connectionURL

specify the location of the directory server using an ldap URL, ldap://Host:Port. You can optionally qualify this URL, by adding a forward slash, /, followed by the DN of a particular node in the directory tree. For example, ldap://ldapserver:10389/ou=system.

authentication

specifies the authentication method used when binding to the LDAP server. Can take either of the values, simple (username and password), GSSAPI (Kerberos SASL) or none (anonymous).

connectionUsername

the DN of the user that opens the connection to the directory server. For example, uid=admin,ou=system. Directory servers generally require clients to present username/password credentials in order to open a connection.

connectionPassword

the password that matches the DN from connectionUsername. In the directory server, in the DIT, the password is normally stored as a userPassword attribute in the corresponding directory entry.

saslLoginConfigScope

the scope in JAAS configuration (login.config) to use to obtain Kerberos initiator credentials when the authentication method is SASL GSSAPI. The default value is broker-sasl-gssapi.

connectionProtocol

currently, the only supported value is a blank string. In future, this option will allow you to select the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) for the connection to the directory server. This option must be set explicitly to an empty string, because it has no default value.

connectionTimeout

specifies the string representation of an integer representing the connection timeout in milliseconds. If the LDAP provider cannot establish a connection within that period, it aborts the connection attempt. The integer should be greater than zero. An integer less than or equal to zero means to use the network protocol’s (i.e., TCP’s) timeout value.

If connectionTimeout is not specified, the default is to wait for the connection to be established or until the underlying network times out.

When connection pooling has been requested for a connection, this property also determines the maximum wait time for a connection when all connections in the pool are in use and the maximum pool size has been reached. If the value of this property is less than or equal to zero under such circumstances, the provider will wait indefinitely for a connection to become available; otherwise, the provider will abort the wait when the maximum wait time has been exceeded. See connectionPool for more details.

readTimeout

specifies the string representation of an integer representing the read timeout in milliseconds for LDAP operations. If the LDAP provider cannot get a LDAP response within that period, it aborts the read attempt. The integer should be greater than zero. An integer less than or equal to zero means no read timeout is specified which is equivalent to waiting for the response infinitely until it is received.

If readTimeout is not specified, the default is to wait for the response until it is received.

userBase

selects a particular subtree of the DIT to search for user entries. The subtree is specified by a DN, which specifes the base node of the subtree. For example, by setting this option to ou=User,ou=ActiveMQ,ou=system, the search for user entries is restricted to the subtree beneath the ou=User,ou=ActiveMQ,ou=system node.

userSearchMatching

specifies an LDAP search filter, which is applied to the subtree selected by userBase. Before passing to the LDAP search operation, the string value you provide here is subjected to string substitution, as implemented by the java.text.MessageFormat class. Essentially, this means that the special string, {0}, is substituted by the username, as extracted from the incoming client credentials.

After substitution, the string is interpreted as an LDAP search filter, where the LDAP search filter syntax is defined by the IETF standard, RFC 2254. A short introduction to the search filter syntax is available from Oracle’s JNDI tutorial, Search Filters.

For example, if this option is set to (uid={0}) and the received username is jdoe, the search filter becomes (uid=jdoe) after string substitution. If the resulting search filter is applied to the subtree selected by the user base, ou=User,ou=ActiveMQ,ou=system, it would match the entry, uid=jdoe,ou=User,ou=ActiveMQ,ou=system (and possibly more deeply nested entries, depending on the specified search depth—​see the userSearchSubtree option).

userSearchSubtree

specify the search depth for user entries, relative to the node specified by userBase. This option is a boolean. false indicates it will try to match one of the child entries of the userBase node (maps to javax.naming.directory.SearchControls.ONELEVEL_SCOPE). true indicates it will try to match any entry belonging to the subtree of the userBase node (maps to javax.naming.directory.SearchControls.SUBTREE_SCOPE).

userRoleName

specifies the name of the multi-valued attribute of the user entry that contains a list of role names for the user (where the role names are interpreted as group names by the broker’s authorization plug-in). If you omit this option, no role names are extracted from the user entry.

roleBase

if you want to store role data directly in the directory server, you can use a combination of role options (roleBase, roleSearchMatching, roleSearchSubtree, and roleName) as an alternative to (or in addition to) specifying the userRoleName option. This option selects a particular subtree of the DIT to search for role/group entries. The subtree is specified by a DN, which specifes the base node of the subtree. For example, by setting this option to ou=Group,ou=ActiveMQ,ou=system, the search for role/group entries is restricted to the subtree beneath the ou=Group,ou=ActiveMQ,ou=system node.

roleName

specifies the attribute type of the role entry that contains the name of the role/group (e.g. C, O, OU, etc.). If you omit this option the full DN of the role is used.

roleSearchMatching

specifies an LDAP search filter, which is applied to the subtree selected by roleBase. This works in a similar manner to the userSearchMatching option, except that it supports two substitution strings, as follows:

  • {0} - substitutes the full DN of the matched user entry (that is, the result of the user search). For example, for the user, jdoe, the substituted string could be uid=jdoe,ou=User,ou=ActiveMQ,ou=system.

  • {1} - substitutes the received username. For example, jdoe.

For example, if this option is set to (member=uid={1}) and the received username is jdoe, the search filter becomes (member=uid=jdoe) after string substitution (assuming ApacheDS search filter syntax). If the resulting search filter is applied to the subtree selected by the role base, ou=Group,ou=ActiveMQ,ou=system, it matches all role entries that have a member attribute equal to uid=jdoe (the value of a member attribute is a DN).

+ This option must always be set to enable role searching because it has no default value. Leaving it unset disables role searching and the role information must come from userRoleName.

+ If you use OpenLDAP, the syntax of the search filter is (member:=uid=jdoe).

roleSearchSubtree

specify the search depth for role entries, relative to the node specified by roleBase. This option can take boolean values, as follows:

  • false (default) - try to match one of the child entries of the roleBase node (maps to javax.naming.directory.SearchControls.ONELEVEL_SCOPE).

  • true — try to match any entry belonging to the subtree of the roleBase node (maps to javax.naming.directory.SearchControls.SUBTREE_SCOPE).

authenticateUser

boolean flag to disable authentication. Useful as an optimisation when this module is used just for role mapping of a Subject’s existing authenticated principals; default is true.

referral

specify how to handle referrals; valid values: ignore, follow, throw; default is ignore.

ignorePartialResultException

boolean flag for use when searching Active Directory (AD). AD servers don’t handle referrals automatically, which causes a PartialResultException to be thrown when referrals are encountered by a search, even if referral is set to ignore. Set to true to ignore these exceptions; default is false.

expandRoles

boolean indicating whether to enable the role expansion functionality or not; default false. If enabled, then roles within roles will be found. For example, role A is in role B. User X is in role A, which means user X is in role B by virtue of being in role A.

expandRolesMatching

specifies an LDAP search filter which is applied to the subtree selected by roleBase. Before passing to the LDAP search operation, the string value you provide here is subjected to string substitution, as implemented by the java.text.MessageFormat class. Essentially, this means that the special string, {0}, is substituted by the role name as extracted from the previous role search. This option must always be set to enable role expansion because it has no default value. Example value: (member={0}).

noCacheExceptions

comma separated list of class names or regular expressions to match exceptions which may be thrown during communication with the LDAP server; default is empty. Typically any failure to authenticate will be stored in the authentication cache so that the underlying security data store (e.g. LDAP) is spared any unnecessary traffic. For example, an application with the wrong password attempting to login multiple times in short order might adversely impact the LDAP server. However, in cases where the failure is, for example, due to a temporary network outage and the security-invalidation-interval is relatively high then not caching such failures would be better. Users can enumerate any relevant exceptions which the cache should ignore (e.g. java.net.ConnectException). The name of the exception or the regular expression should match the root cause from the relevant stack-trace. Users can confirm the configured exceptions are being skipped by enabling debug logging for org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.security.impl.SecurityStoreImpl.

debug

boolean flag; if true, enable debugging; this is used only for testing or debugging; normally, it should be set to false, or omitted; default is false

Any additional configuration option not recognized by the LDAP login module itself is passed as-is to the underlying LDAP connection logic.

Add user entries under the node specified by the userBase option. When creating a new user entry in the directory, choose an object class that supports the userPassword attribute (for example, the person or inetOrgPerson object classes are typically suitable). After creating the user entry, add the userPassword attribute, to hold the user’s password.

If you want to store role data in dedicated role entries (where each node represents a particular role), create a role entry as follows. Create a new child of the roleBase node, where the objectClass of the child is groupOfNames. Set the cn (or whatever attribute type is specified by roleName) of the new child node equal to the name of the role/group. Define a member attribute for each member of the role/group, setting the member value to the DN of the corresponding user (where the DN is specified either fully, uid=jdoe,ou=User,ou=ActiveMQ,ou=system, or partially, uid=jdoe).

If you want to add roles to user entries, you would need to customize the directory schema, by adding a suitable attribute type to the user entry’s object class. The chosen attribute type must be capable of handling multiple values.

7.2.4. CertificateLoginModule

The JAAS certificate authentication login module must be used in combination with SSL and the clients must be configured with their own certificate. In this scenario, authentication is actually performed during the SSL/TLS handshake, not directly by the JAAS certificate authentication plug-in. The role of the plug-in is as follows:

  • To further constrain the set of acceptable users, because only the user DNs explicitly listed in the relevant properties file are eligible to be authenticated.

  • To associate a list of groups with the received user identity, facilitating integration with the authorization feature.

  • To require the presence of an incoming certificate (by default, the SSL/TLS layer is configured to treat the presence of a client certificate as optional).

The JAAS certificate login module stores a collection of certificate DNs in a pair of flat files. The files associate a username and a list of group IDs with each DN.

The certificate login module is implemented by the following class:

org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.TextFileCertificateLoginModule

The following CertLogin login entry shows how to configure certificate login module in the login.config file:

CertLogin {
    org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.TextFileCertificateLoginModule
        debug=true
        org.apache.activemq.jaas.textfiledn.user="users.properties"
        org.apache.activemq.jaas.textfiledn.role="roles.properties";
};

In the preceding example, the JAAS realm is configured to use a single org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.TextFileCertificateLoginModule login module. The options supported by this login module are as follows:

debug

boolean flag; if true, enable debugging; this is used only for testing or debugging; normally, it should be set to false, or omitted; default is false

org.apache.activemq.jaas.textfiledn.user

specifies the location of the user properties file (relative to the directory containing the login configuration file).

org.apache.activemq.jaas.textfiledn.role

specifies the location of the role properties file (relative to the directory containing the login configuration file).

reload

boolean flag; whether or not to reload the properties files when a modification occurs; default is false

normalise

boolean flag; whether the DN values should be validated and normalised into the X500Name string format used for matching; default is false. Using this option can avoid the ambiguity around the string form of a DN that is discussed below. When true, the DN string is validated, and then normalised into the internal X500Name format.

In the context of the certificate login module, the users.properties file consists of a list of properties of the form, UserName=StringifiedSubjectDN or UserName=/SubjectDNRegExp/. For example, to define the users, system, user and guest as well as a hosts user matching several DNs, you could create a file like the following:

system=CN=system,O=Progress,C=US
user=CN=humble user,O=Progress,C=US
guest=CN=anon,O=Progress,C=DE
hosts=/CN=host\\d+\\.acme\\.com,O=Acme,C=UK/

Note that the backslash character has to be escaped because it has a special treatment in properties files.

Each username is mapped to a subject DN, encoded as a string (where the string encoding is specified by RFC 2253). For example, the system username is mapped to the CN=system,O=Progress,C=US subject DN. When performing authentication, the plug-in extracts the subject DN from the received certificate, converts it to the standard string format, and compares it with the subject DNs in the users.properties file by testing for string equality. Consequently, you must be careful to ensure that the subject DNs appearing in the users.properties file are an exact match for the subject DNs extracted from the user certificates.

Technically, there is some residual ambiguity in the DN string format. For example, the domainComponent attribute could be represented in a string either as the string, DC, or as the OID, 0.9.2342.19200300.100.1.25. Normally, you do not need to worry about this ambiguity. But it could potentially be a problem, if you changed the underlying implementation of the Java security layer.

The easiest way to obtain the subject DNs from the user certificates is by invoking the keytool utility to print the certificate contents. To print the contents of a certificate in a keystore, perform the following steps:

  1. Export the certificate from the keystore file into a temporary file. For example, to export the certificate with alias broker-localhost from the broker.ks keystore file, enter the following command:

    keytool -export -file broker.export -alias broker-localhost -keystore broker.ks -storepass password

    After running this command, the exported certificate is in the file, broker.export.

  2. Print out the contents of the exported certificate. For example, to print out the contents of broker.export, enter the following command:

    keytool -printcert -file broker.export

    Which should produce output similar to that shown here:

    Owner: CN=localhost, OU=broker, O=Unknown, L=Unknown, ST=Unknown, C=Unknown
    Issuer: CN=localhost, OU=broker, O=Unknown, L=Unknown, ST=Unknown, C=Unknown
    Serial number: 4537c82e
    Valid from: Thu Oct 19 19:47:10 BST 2006 until: Wed Jan 17 18:47:10 GMT 2007
    Certificate fingerprints:
             MD5:  3F:6C:0C:89:A8:80:29:CC:F5:2D:DA:5C:D7:3F:AB:37
             SHA1: F0:79:0D:04:38:5A:46:CE:86:E1:8A:20:1F:7B:AB:3A:46:E4:34:5C

    The string following Owner: gives the subject DN. The format used to enter the subject DN depends on your platform. The Owner: string above could be represented as either CN=localhost,\ OU=broker,\ O=Unknown,\ L=Unknown,\ ST=Unknown,\ C=Unknown or CN=localhost,OU=broker,O=Unknown,L=Unknown,ST=Unknown,C=Unknown.

The roles.properties file consists of a list of properties of the form, Role=UserList, where UserList is a comma-separated list of users. For example, to define the roles admins, users, and guests, you could create a file like the following:

admins=system
users=system,user
guests=guest

7.2.5. SCRAMPropertiesLoginModule

The SCRAM properties login module implements the SASL challenge response for the SCRAM-SHA mechanism. The data in the properties file reference via org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.user needs to be generated by the login module it’s self, as part of user registration. It contains proof of knowledge of passwords, rather than passwords themselves. For more usage detail refer to SCRAM-SHA SASL Mechanism.

amqp-sasl-scram {
   org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.SCRAMPropertiesLoginModule required
       org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.user="artemis-users.properties"
       org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.role="artemis-roles.properties";
};

7.2.6. SCRAMLoginModule

The SCRAM login module converts a valid SASL SCRAM-SHA Authenticated identity into a JAAS User Principal. This Principal can then be used for role mapping.

{
   org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.SCRAMLoginModule
};

7.2.7. ExternalCertificateLoginModule

The external certificate login module is used to propagate a validated TLS client certificate’s subjectDN into a JAAS UserPrincipal. This allows subsequent login modules to do role mapping for the TLS client certificate.

org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.ExternalCertificateLoginModule required
    ;

7.2.8. PrincipalConversionLoginModule

The principal conversion login module is used to convert an existing validated Principal into a JAAS UserPrincipal. The module is configured with a list of class names used to match existing Principals. If no UserPrincipal exists, the first matching Principal will be added as a UserPrincipal of the same Name.

org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.PrincipalConversionLoginModule required
     principalClassList=org.apache.x.Principal,org.apache.y.Principal
    ;

7.2.9. Krb5LoginModule

The Kerberos login module is used to propagate a validated SASL GSSAPI kerberos token identity into a validated JAAS UserPrincipal. This allows subsequent login modules to do role mapping for the kerberos identity.

org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.Krb5LoginModule required
    ;

The simplest way to make the login configuration available to JAAS is to add the directory containing the file, login.config, to your CLASSPATH.

7.2.10. KubernetesLoginModule

The Kubernetes login module enables you to perform authentication and authorization by validating the Bearer token against the Kubernetes API. The authentication is done by submitting a TokenReview request that the Kubernetes cluster validates. The response will tell whether the user is authenticated and the associated username and roles. It is implemented by org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.KubernetesLoginModule.

ignoreTokenReviewRoles

when true, do not map roles from the TokenReview user groups. default false

org.apache.activemq.jaas.kubernetes.role

the optional path to the file which contains role mapping, useful when ignoreTokenReviewRoles=true

reload

boolean flag; whether or not to reload the properties file when a modification occurs; default is false

debug

boolean flag; if true, enable debugging; this is used only for testing or debugging; normally, it should be set to false, or omitted; default is false

The login module must be allowed to query the required Rest API. For that, it will use the available token under /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token. Besides, in order to trust the connection the client will use the ca.crt file existing in the same folder. These two files will be mounted in the container. The service account running the KubernetesLoginModule must be allowed to create::TokenReview. The system:auth-delegator role is typically use for that purpose.

The optional roles properties file consists of a list of properties of the form, Role=UserList, where UserList is a comma-separated list of users. For example, to define the roles admins, users, and guests, you could create a file like the following:

admins=system:serviceaccounts:example-ns:admin-sa
users=system:serviceaccounts:other-ns:test-sa

7.3. SCRAM-SHA SASL Mechanism

SCRAM (Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism) is an authentication mechanism that can establish mutual authentication using passwords. Apache ActiveMQ Artemis supports SCRAM-SHA-256 and SCRAM-SHA-512 SASL mechanisms to provide authentication for AMQP connections.

The following properties of SCRAM make it safe to use SCRAM-SHA even on unencrypted connections:

  • The passwords are not sent in the clear over the communication channel. The client is challenged to offer proof it knows the password of the authenticating user, and the server is challenged to offer proof it had the password to initialise its authentication store. Only the proof is exchanged.

  • The server and client each generate a new challenge for each authentication exchange, making it resilient against replay attacks.

7.3.1. Configuring the server to use SCRAM-SHA

The desired SCRAM-SHA mechanisms must be enabled on the AMQP acceptor in broker.xml by adding them to the saslMechanisms list url parameter. In this example, SASL is restricted to only the SCRAM-SHA-256 mechanism:

  <acceptor name="amqp">tcp://localhost:5672?protocols=AMQP;saslMechanisms=SCRAM-SHA-256;saslLoginConfigScope=amqp-sasl-scram

Of note is the reference to the sasl login config scope saslLoginConfigScope=amqp-sasl-scram that holds the relevant SCRAM login module. The mechanism makes use of JAAS to complete the SASL exchanges.

An example configuration scope for login.config that will implement SCRAM-SHA-256 using property files, is as follows:

amqp-sasl-scram {
   org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.SCRAMPropertiesLoginModule required
       org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.user="artemis-users.properties"
       org.apache.activemq.jaas.properties.role="artemis-roles.properties";
};

7.3.2. Configuring a user with SCRAM-SHA data on the server

With SCRAM-SHA, the server’s users properties file do not contain any passwords, instead they contain derivative data that can be used to respond to a challenge. The secure encoded form of the password must be generated using the main method of org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.SCRAMPropertiesLoginModule from the artemis-server module and inserting the resulting lines into your artemis-users.properties file.

java -cp "<distro-lib-dir>/*" org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.SCRAMPropertiesLoginModule <username> <password> [<iterations>]

An sample of the output can be found in the amqp examples, examples/protocols/amqp/sasl-scram/src/main/resources/activemq/server0/artemis-users.properties

7.4. Kerberos Authentication

You must have the Kerberos infrastructure set up in your deployment environment before the server can accept Kerberos credentials. The server can acquire its Kerberos acceptor credentials by using JAAS and a Kerberos login module. The JDK provides the Krb5LoginModule which executes the necessary Kerberos protocol steps to authenticate and obtain Kerberos credentials.

7.4.1. GSSAPI SASL Mechanism

Using SASL over AMQP, Kerberos authentication is supported using the GSSAPI SASL mechanism. With SASL doing Kerberos authentication, TLS can be used to provide integrity and confidentially to the communications channel in the normal way.

The GSSAPI SASL mechanism must be enabled on the AMQP acceptor in broker.xml by adding it to the saslMechanisms list url parameter: saslMechanisms="GSSAPI<,PLAIN, etc>.

<acceptor name="amqp">tcp://0.0.0.0:5672?protocols=AMQP;saslMechanisms=GSSAPI</acceptor>

The GSSAPI mechanism implementation on the server will use a JAAS configuration scope named amqp-sasl-gssapi to obtain its Kerberos acceptor credentials. An alternative configuration scope can be specified on the AMQP acceptor using the url parameter: saslLoginConfigScope=<some other scope>.

An example configuration scope for login.config that will pick up a Kerberos keyTab for the Kerberos acceptor Principal amqp/localhost is as follows:

amqp-sasl-gssapi {
    com.sun.security.auth.module.Krb5LoginModule required
    isInitiator=false
    storeKey=true
    useKeyTab=true
    principal="amqp/localhost"
    debug=true;
};

7.5. Role Mapping

On the server, a Kerberos or SCRAM-SHA JAAS authenticated Principal must be added to the Subject’s principal set as an Apache ActiveMQ Artemis UserPrincipal using the corresponding Apache ActiveMQ Artemis Krb5LoginModule or SCRAMLoginModule login modules. They are separate to allow conversion and role mapping to be as restrictive or permissive as desired.

The PropertiesLoginModule or LDAPLoginModule can then be used to map the authenticated Principal to an Apache ActiveMQ Artemis Role. Note that in the case of Kerberos, the Peer Principal does not exist as an Apache ActiveMQ Artemis user, only as a role member.

In the following example, any existing Kerberos authenticated peer will convert to an Apache ActiveMQ Artemis user principal and will have role mapping applied by the LDAPLoginModule as appropriate.

activemq {
  org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.Krb5LoginModule required
    ;
  org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.LDAPLoginModule optional
    initialContextFactory=com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory
    connectionURL="ldap://localhost:1024"
    authentication=GSSAPI
    saslLoginConfigScope=broker-sasl-gssapi
    connectionProtocol=s
    userBase="ou=users,dc=example,dc=com"
    userSearchMatching="(krb5PrincipalName={0})"
    userSearchSubtree=true
    authenticateUser=false
    roleBase="ou=system"
    roleName=cn
    roleSearchMatching="(member={0})"
    roleSearchSubtree=false
    ;
};

7.6. Basic Security Manager

As the name suggests, the ActiveMQBasicSecurityManager is basic. It is not pluggable like the JAAS security manager and it only supports authentication via username and password credentials. Furthermore, the Hawtio-based web console requires JAAS. Therefore you will still need to configure a login.config if you plan on using the web console. However, this security manager may still may have a couple of advantages depending on your use-case.

All user & role data is stored in the bindings journal (or bindings table if using JDBC). The advantage here is that in a primary/backup use-case any user management performed on the primary broker will be reflected on the backup upon failover.

Typically LDAP would be employed for this kind of use-case, but not everyone wants or is able to administer an independent LDAP server. One significant benefit of LDAP is that user data can be shared between multiple active brokers. However, this is not possible with the ActiveMQBasicSecurityManager or, in fact, any other configuration potentially available out of the box. Nevertheless, if you just want to share user data between a single live/backup pair then the basic security manager may be a good fit for you.

User management is provided by the broker’s management API. This includes the ability to add, list, update, and remove users & roles. As with all management functions, this is available via JMX, management messages, HTTP (via Jolokia), web console, etc. These functions are also available from the ActiveMQ Artemis command-line interface. Having the broker store this data directly means that it must be running in order to manage users. There is no way to modify the bindings data manually.

To be clear, any management access via HTTP (e.g. web console or Jolokia) will go through Hawtio JAAS. MBean access via JConsole or other remote JMX tool will go through the basic security manager. Management messages will also go through the basic security manager.

7.6.1. Configuration

The configuration for the ActiveMQBasicSecurityManager happens in bootstrap.xml just like it does for all security manager implementations. Start by removing <jaas-security /> section and add <security-manager /> configuration as described below.

The ActiveMQBasicSecurityManager requires some special configuration for the following reasons:

  • the bindings data which holds the user & role data cannot be modified manually

  • the broker must be running to manage users

  • the broker often needs to be secured from first boot

If, for example, the broker was configured to use the ActiveMQBasicSecurityManager and was started from scratch then no clients would be able to connect because there would be no users & roles configured. However, in order to configure users & roles one would need to use the management API which would require the proper credentials. It’s a catch-22 problem. Therefore, it is essential to configure "bootstrap" credentials that will be automatically created when the broker starts. There are properties to define either:

  • a single user whose credentials can then be used to add other users

  • properties files from which to load users & roles in bulk

Here’s an example of the single bootstrap user configuration:

<broker xmlns="http://activemq.apache.org/schema">

   <security-manager class-name="org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.ActiveMQBasicSecurityManager">
      <property key="bootstrapUser" value="myUser"/>
      <property key="bootstrapPassword" value="myPass"/>
      <property key="bootstrapRole" value="myRole"/>
   </security-manager>

   ...
</broker>
bootstrapUser

The name of the bootstrap user.

bootstrapPassword

The password for the bootstrap user; supports masking.

bootstrapRole

The role of the bootstrap user.

If your use-case requires multiple users to be available when the broker starts then you can use a configuration like this:

<broker xmlns="http://activemq.apache.org/schema">

   <security-manager class-name="org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.ActiveMQBasicSecurityManager">
      <property key="bootstrapUserFile" value="artemis-users.properties"/>
      <property key="bootstrapRoleFile" value="artemis-roles.properties"/>
   </security-manager>

   ...
</broker>
bootstrapUserFile

The name of the file from which to load users. This is a properties file formatted exactly the same as the user properties file used by the PropertiesLoginModule. This file should be on the broker’s classpath (e.g. in the etc directory).

bootstrapRoleFile

The role of the bootstrap user. This is a properties file formatted exactly the same as the role properties file used by the PropertiesLoginModule. This file should be on the broker’s classpath (e.g. in the etc directory).

Regardless of whether you configure a single bootstrap user or load many users from properties files, any user with which additional users are created should be in a role with the appropriate permissions on the activemq.management address. For example if you’ve specified a bootstrapUser then the bootstrapRole will need the following permissions:

  • createNonDurableQueue

  • createAddress

  • consume

  • manage

  • send

For example:

<security-setting match="activemq.management.#">
   <permission type="createNonDurableQueue" roles="myRole"/>
   <permission type="createAddress" roles="myRole"/>
   <permission type="consume" roles="myRole"/>
   <permission type="manage" roles="myRole"/>
   <permission type="send" roles="myRole"/>
</security-setting>

Any bootstrap credentials will be reset whenever you start the broker no matter what changes may have been made to them at runtime previously, so depending on your use-case you should decide if you want to leave bootstrap configuration permanent or if you want to remove it after initial configuration.

8. Mapping external roles

Roles from external authentication providers (i.e. LDAP) can be mapped to internally used roles. The is done through role-mapping entries in the security-settings block:

<security-settings>
   [...]
   <role-mapping from="cn=admins,ou=Group,ou=ActiveMQ,ou=system" to="my-admin-role"/>
   <role-mapping from="cn=users,ou=Group,ou=ActiveMQ,ou=system" to="my-user-role"/>
</security-settings>
Role mapping is additive. That means the user will keep the original role(s) as well as the newly assigned role(s).
This role mapping only affects the roles which are used to authorize queue access through the configured acceptors. It can not be used to map the role required to access the web console.

9. SASL

AMQP supports SASL. The following mechanisms are supported: PLAIN, EXTERNAL, ANONYMOUS, GSSAPI, SCRAM-SHA-256, SCRAM-SHA-512. The published list can be constrained via the amqp acceptor saslMechanisms property.

EXTERNAL will only be chosen if a subject is available from the TLS client certificate.

10. Changing the username/password for clustering

In order for cluster connections to work correctly, each node in the cluster must make connections to the other nodes. The username/password they use for this should always be changed from the installation default to prevent a security risk.

Please see Management for instructions on how to do this.

11. Securing the console

Artemis comes with a web console that allows user to browse Artemis documentation via an embedded server. By default the web access is plain HTTP. It is configured in bootstrap.xml:

<web path="web">
    <binding uri="http://localhost:8161">
        <app url="console" war="console.war"/>
    </binding>
</web>

Alternatively you can edit the above configuration to enable secure access using HTTPS protocol. e.g.:

<web path="web">
    <binding uri="https://localhost:8443"
             keyStorePath="${artemis.instance}/etc/keystore.jks"
             keyStorePassword="password">
        <app url="jolokia" war="jolokia-war-1.3.5.war"/>
    </binding>
</web>

As shown in the example, to enable https the first thing to do is config the bind to be an https url. In addition, You will have to configure a few extra properties described as below.

keyStorePath

The path of the key store file.

keyStorePassword

The key store’s password.

clientAuth

The boolean flag indicates whether or not client authentication is required. Default is false.

trustStorePath

The path of the trust store file. This is needed only if clientAuth is true.

trustStorePassword

The trust store’s password.

11.1. Config access using client certificates

The web console supports authentication with client certificates, see the following steps:

  • Add the certificate login module to the login.config file, i.e.

    activemq-cert {
     org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.jaas.TextFileCertificateLoginModule required
         debug=true
         org.apache.activemq.jaas.textfiledn.user="cert-users.properties"
         org.apache.activemq.jaas.textfiledn.role="cert-roles.properties";
    };
  • Change the hawtio realm to match the realm defined in the login.config file for the certificate login module. This is configured in the artemis.profile via the system property -Dhawtio.role=activemq-cert.

  • Create a key pair for the client and import the public key in a truststore file.

    keytool -storetype pkcs12 -keystore client-keystore.p12 -storepass securepass -keypass securepass -alias client -genkey -keyalg "RSA" -keysize 2048 -dname "CN=ActiveMQ Artemis Client, OU=Artemis, O=ActiveMQ, L=AMQ, S=AMQ, C=AMQ" -ext bc=ca:false -ext eku=cA
    keytool -storetype pkcs12 -keystore client-keystore.p12 -storepass securepass -alias client -exportcert -rfc > client.crt
    keytool -storetype pkcs12 -keystore client-truststore.p12 -storepass securepass -keypass securepass -importcert -alias client-ca -file client.crt -noprompt
  • Enable secure access using HTTPS protocol with client authentication, use the truststore file created in the previous step to set the trustStorePath and trustStorePassword:

    <web path="web">
       <binding uri="https://localhost:8443"
                keyStorePath="${artemis.instance}/etc/server-keystore.p12"
                keyStorePassword="password"
                clientAuth="true"
                trustStorePath="${artemis.instance}/etc/client-truststore.p12"
                trustStorePassword="password">
          <app url="jolokia" war="jolokia-war-1.3.5.war"></app>
       </binding>
    </web>
  • Use the private key created in the previous step to set up your client, i.e. if the client app is a browser install the private key in the browser.

12. Controlling JMS ObjectMessage deserialization

Artemis provides a simple class filtering mechanism with which a user can specify which packages are to be trusted and which are not. Objects whose classes are from trusted packages can be deserialized without problem, whereas those from 'not trusted' packages will be denied deserialization.

Artemis keeps a deny list to keep track of packages that are not trusted and a allow list for trusted packages. By default both lists are empty, meaning any serializable object is allowed to be deserialized. If an object whose class matches one of the packages in deny list, it is not allowed to be deserialized. If it matches one in the allow list the object can be deserialized. If a package appears in both deny list and allow list, the one in deny list takes precedence. If a class neither matches with deny list nor with the allow list, the class deserialization will be denied unless the allow list is empty (meaning the user doesn’t specify the allow list at all).

A class is considered as a 'match' if:

  • its full name exactly matches one of the entries in the list.

  • its package matches one of the entries in the list or is a sub-package of one of the entries.

For example, if a class full name is "org.apache.pkg1.Class1", some matching entries could be:

  • org.apache.pkg1.Class1 - exact match.

  • org.apache.pkg1 - exact package match.

  • org.apache — sub package match.

A * means 'match-all' in a deny or allow list.

12.1. Config via Connection Factories

To specify the allow and deny lists one can use the URL parameters deserializationDenyList and deserializationAllowList. For example, using JMS:

ActiveMQConnectionFactory factory = new ActiveMQConnectionFactory("vm://0?deserializationDenyList=org.apache.pkg1,org.some.pkg2");

The above statement creates a factory that has a deny list contains two forbidden packages, "org.apache.pkg1" and "org.some.pkg2", separated by a comma.

12.2. Config via system properties

There are two system properties available for specifying deny list and allow list:

org.apache.activemq.artemis.jms.deserialization.allowlist

comma separated list of entries for the allow list.

org.apache.activemq.artemis.jms.deserialization.denylist

comma separated list of entries for the deny list.

Once defined, all JMS object message deserialization in the VM is subject to checks against the two lists. However if you create a ConnectionFactory and set a new set of deny/allow lists on it, the new values will override the system properties.

12.3. Config for resource adapters

Message beans using a JMS resource adapter to receive messages can also control their object deserialization via properly configuring relevant properties for their resource adapters. There are two properties that you can configure with connection factories in a resource adapter:

deserializationDenyList

comma separated values for deny list

deserializationAllowList

comma separated values for allow list

These properties, once specified, are eventually set on the corresponding internal factories.

13. Masking Passwords

For details about masking passwords in broker.xml please see the Masking Passwords chapter.

14. Custom Security Manager

The underpinnings of the broker’s security implementation can be changed if so desired. The broker uses a component called a "security manager" to implement the actual authentication and authorization checks. By default, the broker uses org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.ActiveMQJAASSecurityManager to provide JAAS integration, but users can provide their own implementation of org.apache.activemq.artemis.spi.core.security.ActiveMQSecurityManager5 and configure it in bootstrap.xml using the security-manager element, e.g.:

<broker xmlns="http://activemq.apache.org/schema">

   <security-manager class-name="com.foo.MySecurityManager">
      <property key="myKey1" value="myValue1"/>
      <property key="myKey2" value="myValue2"/>
   </security-manager>

   ...
</broker>

The security-manager example demonstrates how to do this is more detail.

15. Per-Acceptor Security Domains

It’s possible to override the broker’s JAAS security domain by specifying a security domain on an individual acceptor. Simply use the securityDomain parameter and indicate which domain from your login.config to use, e.g.:

<acceptor name="myAcceptor">tcp://127.0.0.1:61616?securityDomain=mySecurityDomain</acceptor>

Any client connecting to this acceptor will be have security enforced using mySecurityDomain.