Java Security

Chapter 5. The Access Controller

In this chapter, we’re going to examine Java’s access controller. While the security manager is the key to the security model of the Java sandbox, the access controller is the mechanism that the security manager actually uses to enforce its protections. The security manager may be king, but the access controller is really the power behind the throne.

The access controller is actually somewhat redundant. The purpose of the security manager is to determine whether or not particular operations should be permitted or denied. The purpose of the access controller is really the same: it decides whether access to a critical system resource should be permitted or denied. Hence, the access controller can do everything the security manager can do.

The reason there is both an access controller and a security manager is mainly historical: the access controller is only available in Java 1.2^[16] and subsequent releases. Before the access controller existed, the security manager had to rely on its internal logic to determine the security policy that should be in effect, and changing the security policy required changing the security manager itself. Starting with 1.2, the security manager is able to defer these decisions to the access controller. Since the security policy enforced by the access controller can be specified in a file, this allows a much more flexible mechanism for determining policies. The access controller also gives us a much simpler method of granting ...