public interface

GSSCredential

implements Cloneable
org.ietf.jgss.GSSCredential
Known Indirect Subclasses

Class Overview

This interface encapsulates the GSS-API credentials for an entity. A credential contains all the necessary cryptographic information to enable the creation of a context on behalf of the entity that it represents. It may contain multiple, distinct, mechanism specific credential elements, each containing information for a specific security mechanism, but all referring to the same entity. A credential may be used to perform context initiation, acceptance, or both.

Credentials are instantiated using one of the createCredential methods in the GSSManager class. GSS-API credential creation is not intended to provide a "login to the network" function, as such a function would involve the creation of new credentials rather than merely acquiring a handle to existing credentials. The section on credential acquisition in the package level description describes how existing credentials are acquired in the Java platform. GSS-API implementations must impose a local access-control policy on callers to prevent unauthorized callers from acquiring credentials to which they are not entitled.

Applications will create a credential object passing the desired parameters. The application can then use the query methods to obtain specific information about the instantiated credential object. When the credential is no longer needed, the application should call the dispose method to release any resources held by the credential object and to destroy any cryptographically sensitive information.

This example code demonstrates the creation of a GSSCredential implementation for a specific entity, querying of its fields, and its release when it is no longer needed:

    GSSManager manager = GSSManager.getInstance();

    // start by creating a name object for the entity
    GSSName name = manager.createName("myusername", GSSName.NT_USER_NAME);

    // now acquire credentials for the entity
    GSSCredential cred = manager.createCredential(name,
                    GSSCredential.ACCEPT_ONLY);

    // display credential information - name, remaining lifetime,
    // and the mechanisms it has been acquired over
    System.out.println(cred.getName().toString());
    System.out.println(cred.getRemainingLifetime());

    Oid [] mechs = cred.getMechs();
    if (mechs != null) {
            for (int i = 0; i < mechs.length; i++)
                    System.out.println(mechs[i].toString());
    }

    // release system resources held by the credential
    cred.dispose();

See Also

Summary

Constants
int ACCEPT_ONLY Credential usage flag requesting that it be usable for context acceptance only.
int DEFAULT_LIFETIME A lifetime constant representing the default credential lifetime.
int INDEFINITE_LIFETIME A lifetime constant representing indefinite credential lifetime.
int INITIATE_AND_ACCEPT Credential usage flag requesting that it be usable for both context initiation and acceptance.
int INITIATE_ONLY Credential usage flag requesting that it be usable for context initiation only.
Public Methods
abstract void add(GSSName name, int initLifetime, int acceptLifetime, Oid mech, int usage)
Adds a mechanism specific credential-element to an existing credential.
abstract void dispose()
Releases any sensitive information that the GSSCredential object may be containing.
abstract boolean equals(Object another)
Tests if this GSSCredential asserts the same entity as the supplied object.
abstract Oid[] getMechs()
Returns a list of mechanisms supported by this credential.
abstract GSSName getName()
Retrieves the name of the entity that the credential asserts.
abstract GSSName getName(Oid mech)
Retrieves a Mechanism Name of the entity that the credential asserts.
abstract int getRemainingAcceptLifetime(Oid mech)
Returns the lifetime in seconds for the credential to remain capable of accepting security contexts using the specified mechanism.
abstract int getRemainingInitLifetime(Oid mech)
Returns the lifetime in seconds for the credential to remain capable of initiating security contexts using the specified mechanism.
abstract int getRemainingLifetime()
Returns the remaining lifetime in seconds for a credential.
abstract int getUsage(Oid mech)
Returns the credential usage mode for a specific mechanism.
abstract int getUsage()
Returns the credential usage mode.
abstract int hashCode()
Returns a hashcode value for this GSSCredential.

Constants

public static final int ACCEPT_ONLY

Credential usage flag requesting that it be usable for context acceptance only.

Constant Value: 2 (0x00000002)

public static final int DEFAULT_LIFETIME

A lifetime constant representing the default credential lifetime. This value it set to 0.

Constant Value: 0 (0x00000000)

public static final int INDEFINITE_LIFETIME

A lifetime constant representing indefinite credential lifetime. This value must is set to the maximum integer value in Java - Integer.MAX_VALUE.

Constant Value: 2147483647 (0x7fffffff)

public static final int INITIATE_AND_ACCEPT

Credential usage flag requesting that it be usable for both context initiation and acceptance.

Constant Value: 0 (0x00000000)

public static final int INITIATE_ONLY

Credential usage flag requesting that it be usable for context initiation only.

Constant Value: 1 (0x00000001)

Public Methods

public abstract void add (GSSName name, int initLifetime, int acceptLifetime, Oid mech, int usage)

Adds a mechanism specific credential-element to an existing credential. This method allows the construction of credentials, one mechanism at a time.

This routine is envisioned to be used mainly by context acceptors during the creation of acceptor credentials which are to be used with a variety of clients using different security mechanisms.

This routine adds the new credential element "in-place". To add the element in a new credential, first call clone to obtain a copy of this credential, then call its add method.

As always, GSS-API implementations must impose a local access-control policy on callers to prevent unauthorized callers from acquiring credentials to which they are not entitled. Non-default values for initLifetime and acceptLifetime cannot always be honored by the underlying mechanisms, thus callers should be prepared to call getRemainingInitLifetime and getRemainingAcceptLifetime on the credential.

Parameters
name the name of the principal for whom this credential is to be acquired. Use null to specify the default principal.
initLifetime the number of seconds that the credential element should remain valid for initiating of security contexts. Use GSSCredential.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME to request that the credentials have the maximum permitted lifetime for this. Use GSSCredential.DEFAULT_LIFETIME to request default credential lifetime for this.
acceptLifetime the number of seconds that the credential element should remain valid for accepting security contexts. Use GSSCredential.INDEFINITE_LIFETIME to request that the credentials have the maximum permitted lifetime for this. Use GSSCredential.DEFAULT_LIFETIME to request default credential lifetime for this.
mech the mechanism over which the credential is to be acquired.
usage the usage mode that this credential element should add to the credential. The value of this parameter must be one of: INITIATE_AND_ACCEPT, ACCEPT_ONLY, and INITIATE_ONLY.
Throws
GSSException containing the following major error codes: GSSException.DUPLICATE_ELEMENT, GSSException.BAD_MECH, GSSException.BAD_NAMETYPE, GSSException.NO_CRED, GSSException.CREDENTIALS_EXPIRED, GSSException.FAILURE

public abstract void dispose ()

Releases any sensitive information that the GSSCredential object may be containing. Applications should call this method as soon as the credential is no longer needed to minimize the time any sensitive information is maintained.

Throws
GSSException containing the following major error codes: GSSException.FAILURE

public abstract boolean equals (Object another)

Tests if this GSSCredential asserts the same entity as the supplied object. The two credentials must be acquired over the same mechanisms and must refer to the same principal.

Parameters
another another GSSCredential for comparison to this one
Returns
  • true if the two GSSCredentials assert the same entity; false otherwise.

public abstract Oid[] getMechs ()

Returns a list of mechanisms supported by this credential. It does not tell us which ones can be used to initiate contexts and which ones can be used to accept contexts. The application must call the getUsage method with each of the returned Oid's to determine the possible modes of usage.

Returns
  • an array of Oid's corresponding to the supported mechanisms.
Throws
GSSException containing the following major error codes: GSSException.FAILURE

public abstract GSSName getName ()

Retrieves the name of the entity that the credential asserts.

Returns
  • a GSSName representing the entity
Throws
GSSException containing the following major error codes: GSSException.FAILURE

public abstract GSSName getName (Oid mech)

Retrieves a Mechanism Name of the entity that the credential asserts. This is equivalent to calling canonicalize on the value returned by the other form of getName.

Parameters
mech the Oid of the mechanism for which the Mechanism Name should be returned.
Returns
  • a GSSName representing the entity canonicalized for the desired mechanism
Throws
GSSException containing the following major error codes: GSSException.BAD_MECH, GSSException.FAILURE

public abstract int getRemainingAcceptLifetime (Oid mech)

Returns the lifetime in seconds for the credential to remain capable of accepting security contexts using the specified mechanism. This method queries the acceptor credential element that belongs to the specified mechanism.

Parameters
mech the Oid of the mechanism whose acceptor credential element should be queried.
Returns
  • the number of seconds remaining in the life of this credential element. A return value of INDEFINITE_LIFETIME indicates that the credential element does not expire. A return value of 0 indicates that the credential element is already expired.
Throws
GSSException containing the following major error codes: GSSException.BAD_MECH, GSSException.FAILURE

public abstract int getRemainingInitLifetime (Oid mech)

Returns the lifetime in seconds for the credential to remain capable of initiating security contexts using the specified mechanism. This method queries the initiator credential element that belongs to the specified mechanism.

Parameters
mech the Oid of the mechanism whose intiator credential element should be queried.
Returns
  • the number of seconds remaining in the life of this credential element. A return value of INDEFINITE_LIFETIME indicates that the credential element does not expire. A return value of 0 indicates that the credential element is already expired.
Throws
GSSException containing the following major error codes: GSSException.BAD_MECH, GSSException.FAILURE

public abstract int getRemainingLifetime ()

Returns the remaining lifetime in seconds for a credential. The remaining lifetime is the minimum lifetime amongst all of the underlying mechanism specific credential elements.

Returns
  • the minimum remaining lifetime in seconds for this credential. A return value of INDEFINITE_LIFETIME indicates that the credential does not expire. A return value of 0 indicates that the credential is already expired.
Throws
GSSException containing the following major error codes: GSSException.FAILURE
See Also

public abstract int getUsage (Oid mech)

Returns the credential usage mode for a specific mechanism. In other words, it tells us if this credential can be used for initiating or accepting security contexts with a given underlying mechanism.

Parameters
mech the Oid of the mechanism whose credentials usage mode is to be determined.
Returns
Throws
GSSException containing the following major error codes: GSSException.BAD_MECH, GSSException.FAILURE

public abstract int getUsage ()

Returns the credential usage mode. In other words, it tells us if this credential can be used for initiating or accepting security contexts. It does not tell us which mechanism(s) has to be used in order to do so. It is expected that an application will allow the GSS-API to pick a default mechanism after calling this method.

Returns
Throws
GSSException containing the following major error codes: GSSException.FAILURE

public abstract int hashCode ()

Returns a hashcode value for this GSSCredential.

Returns
  • a hashCode value