Java Web application configuration file security solution

Java Web application configuration file security solution
This article mainly describes the security of configuration files for Java Web applications. Generally, Java Web applications have more or less configuration files. The configuration of data sources is related to database security. In addition, there are some file-based permission configurations, system Parameters of the application. In view of this situation, if the configuration file is obtained by illegal visitors, this poses great harm to application security and data security.

A common situation is that illegal users use vulnerability scanning tools to detect application vulnerabilities, upload scripts, and traverse the file directory structure of the application to obtain more information that is helpful to the system. For applications, a third-party framework may be used or key modules may be developed independently, which can still be identified and confirmed as a vulnerability.

 

It is extremely important to protect sensitive data of applications. The sensitive data mainly includes data source configuration information, system parameters, FTP configuration information, and permission access configuration.

 

In the face of the security problems faced by the above configuration files, the following describes a solution (configuration file encryption external method ). The configuration file encryption external method is to encrypt the configuration file information, and then store the configuration file in a directory (location) unrelated to the application directory ).

From the description of configuration file encryption, we can see that this method has obvious advantages:

1. The configuration file is encrypted to effectively include the configuration file information.

2. The configuration file is external, so that the configuration file cannot be obtained easily by detecting the application directory structure

3. The access permissions of the configuration file are effectively controlled.

 

The following is an overall idea of the configuration file encryption external method.

 

 

Refer to the instructions for each link:

1. Start by preparing the configuration file information

2. Configure the value of the environment variable as the encryption factor.

3. Use the encryption tool to encrypt the configuration file (depending on the information in 1, 2)

4. output the encrypted ciphertext file (content composition: encrypted information, encrypted parameters)

5. Set the environment variable to the ciphertext file name (that is, the path of the ciphertext file)

6. Use the environment variable 5 in the application to read the ciphertext File

7. Use a decryption tool to decrypt the ciphertext file and output the plaintext Information

8. The application uses plaintext information.

In the preceding eight steps: 1-4 is the encrypted configuration file, and 5-8 is the configuration file used by the application.

In addition, for the further security of Java Web applications, you can separate the encryption and decryption tool kit from the application, such as placing it under the CLASSPATH under the JRE or Web application server.

 

This article mainly describes the protection policies for sensitive data configuration files in Java Web applications. In other cases, the security of a Web application involves multiple aspects of security protection, such as application coding, web server configuration, host deployment, network, database, etc.