WORKERS AHEAD!

You are viewing the development documentation for the Apereo CAS server. The functionality presented here is not officially released yet. This is a work in progress and will be continually updated as development moves forward. You are most encouraged to test the changes presented.

Apache Tomcat - Embedded Servlet Container SSL Valve

The Apache Tomcat SSLValve is a way to get a client certificate from an SSL proxy (e.g. HAProxy or BigIP F5) running in front of Tomcat via an HTTP header. If you enable this, make sure your proxy is ensuring that this header does not originate with the client (e.g. the browser).

The following settings and properties are available from the CAS configuration catalog:

_{The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Required in the CAS configuration metadata. This flag indicates that the presence of the setting may be needed to activate or affect the behavior of the CAS feature and generally should be reviewed, possibly owned and adjusted. If the setting is assigned a default value, you do not need to strictly put the setting in your copy of the configuration, but should review it nonetheless to make sure it matches your deployment expectations.}

cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.enabled=false

Enable the SSL valve for apache tomcat.

org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.web.tomcat.CasEmbeddedApacheTomcatSslValveProperties.

_{How can I configure this property?}

Configuration properties can be included and activated using the following strategies.

Note

When possible, properties should be stored in lower-case kebab format, such as cas.property-name=value. The only possible exception to this rule is when naming actuator endpoints; The name of the actuator endpoints (i.e. ssoSessions) MUST remain in camelCase mode.

CAS properties can be specified using the Java configuration property syntax in any and all .properties files:

cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.enabled=...

This is the most common form of property configuration that is recognized by CAS, regardless of the actual property source, which might in fact be managed separately outside the CAS environment, by another system or cloud framework.

CAS properties can be specified using the YAML syntax:

cas: 
  server: 
    tomcat: 
      ssl-valve: 
        enabled: "..."

Note that YAML is very specific about structure and indentation. Be sure to verify the correctness of the final result with your YAML validator of choice.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as system properties, when the application is launched:

java -Dcas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.enabled="..." -jar build/libs/cas.war

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory. Note the placement of the system property which must be specified before the CAS web application is launched.

CAS properties can specified as system environment variables before the CAS web application is launched:

export CAS_SERVER_TOMCAT_SSL_VALVE_ENABLED="..."

java -jar build/libs/cas.war

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as command-line arguments, when the application is launched:

java -jar build/libs/cas.war --cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.enabled="..."

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

_{The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Optional in the CAS configuration metadata. This
flag indicates that the presence of the setting
is not immediately necessary in the end-user CAS configuration, because a default value is assigned or
the activation of the feature is not conditionally controlled by the setting value. In other words, you should only include this field in your
configuration if you need to modify the default value or if you need to turn on the feature controlled by the setting.}

cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-cipher-header=ssl_cipher

Allows setting a custom name for the ssl_cipher header. If not specified, the default of ssl_cipher is used.

org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.web.tomcat.CasEmbeddedApacheTomcatSslValveProperties.

_{How can I configure this property?}

Configuration properties can be included and activated using the following strategies.

Note

CAS properties can be specified using the Java configuration property syntax in any and all .properties files:

cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-cipher-header=ssl_cipher

CAS properties can be specified using the YAML syntax:

cas: 
  server: 
    tomcat: 
      ssl-valve: 
        ssl-cipher-header: "ssl_cipher"

Note that YAML is very specific about structure and indentation. Be sure to verify the correctness of the final result with your YAML validator of choice.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as system properties, when the application is launched:

java -Dcas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-cipher-header="ssl_cipher" -jar build/libs/cas.war

CAS properties can specified as system environment variables before the CAS web application is launched:

export CAS_SERVER_TOMCAT_SSL_VALVE_SSL_CIPHER_HEADER="ssl_cipher"

java -jar build/libs/cas.war

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as command-line arguments, when the application is launched:

java -jar build/libs/cas.war --cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-cipher-header="ssl_cipher"

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-cipher-user-key-size-header=ssl_cipher_usekeysize

Allows setting a custom name for the ssl_cipher_usekeysize header. If not specified, the default of ssl_cipher_usekeysize is used.

org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.web.tomcat.CasEmbeddedApacheTomcatSslValveProperties.

_{How can I configure this property?}

Configuration properties can be included and activated using the following strategies.

Note

CAS properties can be specified using the Java configuration property syntax in any and all .properties files:

cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-cipher-user-key-size-header=ssl_cipher_usekeysize

CAS properties can be specified using the YAML syntax:

cas: 
  server: 
    tomcat: 
      ssl-valve: 
        ssl-cipher-user-key-size-header: "ssl_cipher_usekeysize"

Note that YAML is very specific about structure and indentation. Be sure to verify the correctness of the final result with your YAML validator of choice.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as system properties, when the application is launched:

java -Dcas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-cipher-user-key-size-header="ssl_cipher_usekeysize" -jar build/libs/cas.war

CAS properties can specified as system environment variables before the CAS web application is launched:

export CAS_SERVER_TOMCAT_SSL_VALVE_SSL_CIPHER_USER_KEY_SIZE_HEADER="ssl_cipher_usekeysize"

java -jar build/libs/cas.war

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as command-line arguments, when the application is launched:

java -jar build/libs/cas.war --cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-cipher-user-key-size-header="ssl_cipher_usekeysize"

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-client-cert-header=ssl_client_cert

Allows setting a custom name for the ssl_client_cert header. If not specified, the default of ssl_client_cert is used.

org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.web.tomcat.CasEmbeddedApacheTomcatSslValveProperties.

_{How can I configure this property?}

Configuration properties can be included and activated using the following strategies.

Note

CAS properties can be specified using the Java configuration property syntax in any and all .properties files:

cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-client-cert-header=ssl_client_cert

CAS properties can be specified using the YAML syntax:

cas: 
  server: 
    tomcat: 
      ssl-valve: 
        ssl-client-cert-header: "ssl_client_cert"

Note that YAML is very specific about structure and indentation. Be sure to verify the correctness of the final result with your YAML validator of choice.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as system properties, when the application is launched:

java -Dcas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-client-cert-header="ssl_client_cert" -jar build/libs/cas.war

CAS properties can specified as system environment variables before the CAS web application is launched:

export CAS_SERVER_TOMCAT_SSL_VALVE_SSL_CLIENT_CERT_HEADER="ssl_client_cert"

java -jar build/libs/cas.war

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as command-line arguments, when the application is launched:

java -jar build/libs/cas.war --cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-client-cert-header="ssl_client_cert"

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-session-id-header=ssl_session_id

Allows setting a custom name for the ssl_session_id header. If not specified, the default of ssl_session_id is used.

org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.web.tomcat.CasEmbeddedApacheTomcatSslValveProperties.

_{How can I configure this property?}

Configuration properties can be included and activated using the following strategies.

Note

CAS properties can be specified using the Java configuration property syntax in any and all .properties files:

cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-session-id-header=ssl_session_id

CAS properties can be specified using the YAML syntax:

cas: 
  server: 
    tomcat: 
      ssl-valve: 
        ssl-session-id-header: "ssl_session_id"

Note that YAML is very specific about structure and indentation. Be sure to verify the correctness of the final result with your YAML validator of choice.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as system properties, when the application is launched:

java -Dcas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-session-id-header="ssl_session_id" -jar build/libs/cas.war

CAS properties can specified as system environment variables before the CAS web application is launched:

export CAS_SERVER_TOMCAT_SSL_VALVE_SSL_SESSION_ID_HEADER="ssl_session_id"

java -jar build/libs/cas.war

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

CAS properties can be passed to the CAS web application as command-line arguments, when the application is launched:

java -jar build/libs/cas.war --cas.server.tomcat.ssl-valve.ssl-session-id-header="ssl_session_id"

The above example assumes that the CAS web application is packaged as cas.war with an embedded server container and can be found in the build/libs directory.

Configuration Metadata

The collection of configuration properties listed in this section are automatically generated from the CAS source and components that contain the actual field definitions, types, descriptions, modules, etc. This metadata may not always be 100% accurate, or could be lacking details and sufficient explanations.

Be Selective

This section is meant as a guide only. Do NOT copy/paste the entire collection of settings into your CAS configuration; rather pick only the properties that you need. Do NOT enable settings unless you are certain of their purpose and do NOT copy settings into your configuration only to keep them as reference. All these ideas lead to upgrade headaches, maintenance nightmares and premature aging.

YAGNI

Note that for nearly ALL use cases, declaring and configuring properties listed here is sufficient. You should NOT have to explicitly massage a CAS XML/Java/etc configuration file to design an authentication handler, create attribute release policies, etc. CAS at runtime will auto-configure all required changes for you. If you are unsure about the meaning of a given CAS setting, do NOT turn it on without hesitation. Review the codebase or better yet, ask questions to clarify the intended behavior.

Naming Convention

Property names can be specified in very relaxed terms. For instance cas.someProperty, cas.some-property, cas.some_property are all valid names. While all forms are accepted by CAS, there are certain components (in CAS and other frameworks used) whose activation at runtime is conditional on a property value, where this property is required to have been specified in CAS configuration using kebab case. This is both true for properties that are owned by CAS as well as those that might be presented to the system via an external library or framework such as Spring Boot, etc.

Note

Settings and properties that are controlled by the CAS platform directly always begin with the prefix cas. All other settings are controlled and provided to CAS via other underlying frameworks and may have their own schemas and syntax. BE CAREFUL with the distinction. Unrecognized properties are rejected by CAS and/or frameworks upon which CAS depends. This means if you somehow misspell a property definition or fail to adhere to the dot-notation syntax and such, your setting is entirely refused by CAS and likely the feature it controls will never be activated in the way you intend.

Validation

Configuration properties are automatically validated on CAS startup to report issues with configuration binding, specially if defined CAS settings cannot be recognized or validated by the configuration schema. Additional validation processes are also handled via Configuration Metadata and property migrations applied automatically on startup by Spring Boot and family.

Indexed Settings

CAS settings able to accept multiple values are typically documented with an index, such as cas.some.setting[0]=value. The index [0] is meant to be incremented by the adopter to allow for distinct multiple configuration blocks.

Example HAProxy Configuration (snippet): Configure SSL frontend with cert optional, redirect to cas, if cert provided, put it on header.

frontend web-vip
  bind 192.168.2.10:443 ssl crt /var/lib/haproxy/certs/www.example.com.pem ca-file /var/lib/haproxy/certs/ca.pem verify optional
  mode http
  acl www-cert ssl_fc_sni if { www.example.com }
  acl empty-path path /
  http-request redirect location /cas/ if empty-path www-cert
  http-request del-header ssl_client_cert unless { ssl_fc_has_crt }
  http-request set-header ssl_client_cert -----BEGIN\ CERTIFICATE-----\ %[ssl_c_der,base64]\ -----END\ CERTIFICATE-----\  if { ssl_fc_has_crt }
  acl cas-path path_beg -i /cas
  reqadd X-Forwarded-Proto:\ https
  use_backend cas-pool if cas-path

backend cas-pool
  option httpclose
  option forwardfor
  cookie SERVERID-cas insert indirect nocache
  server cas-1 192.168.2.10:8080 check cookie cas-1