POST request with wrong credentials returns 405 instead of 401

petrgon :

I'm trying to create new POST endpoint in Spring secured by a Spring Security. The endpoint is working. If I provide correct data and credentials the server process the request and returns 200. If I provide incorrect credentials I get 405 and I expect 401.

I found something similar to my problem but I think it is not my case. Same question without response.

I also tried to change the controller's request method from POST to GET and changed the request from POST to GET and it worked! For wrong credentials a received 401 and for correct one 200.

Here is my configuration:

Controller

@Controller
@RequestMapping(value = "/api/v1")
@Secured(UserRoles.ROLE_USER)
public class ApiController {

    @RequestMapping(value = "/test", method = RequestMethod.POST, consumes = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
    @ResponseStatus(value = HttpStatus.OK)
    @ResponseBody
    public ResponseEntity<String> handleRequest(@RequestBody DataBody dataBody, Model model, Locale locale) {
        try{
            //do something
            return new ResponseEntity<>("received", HttpStatus.OK);
        } catch (SomeProblemException e) {
            return new ResponseEntity<>(e.toString(), HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST);
        }
    }

Security Context

    <!-- In Memory Authentication Manager -->
    <sec:authentication-manager id="inMemoryAuthManager" >
        <sec:authentication-provider>
            <sec:user-service properties="WEB-INF/classes/usersRoles.properties"/>    
            <sec:password-encoder hash="bcrypt" />
        </sec:authentication-provider>
    </sec:authentication-manager>

    <!-- Definition of access rules for API -->
    <sec:http use-expressions="true" pattern="/api/**" create-session="stateless"
        authentication-manager-ref="inMemoryAuthManager">
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/api/**"
            access="hasRole('ROLE_USER')"/>
        <sec:http-basic/>
    </sec:http>

    <!-- Definition of access rules for WEB GUI. -->
    <sec:http use-expressions="true"
        authentication-manager-ref="inMemoryAuthManager">
        <!-- Resources and errors do not need authorization. -->
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/favicon.ico" access="permitAll"/>
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/css/**" access="permitAll"/>
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/img/**" access="permitAll"/>
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/js/**" access="permitAll"/>
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/fonts/**" access="permitAll"/>
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/error/**" access="permitAll"/>
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/login" access="permitAll"/>
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/login.do" access="permitAll"/>

        <!-- The rest of pages need authorized user with role ROLE_USER. -->
        <sec:intercept-url pattern="/**"
            access="hasRole('ROLE_USER')"/>
        <!-- Configuration of login page. -->
        <sec:form-login login-page="/login"
            login-processing-url="/login.do"
            authentication-failure-url="/login?error=true"
            default-target-url="/applications" username-parameter="username"
            password-parameter="password"/>
        <!-- Redirect from logout page. -->
        <sec:logout logout-url="/logout"
            logout-success-url="/login?logout=true" invalidate-session="true"
            delete-cookies="JSESSIONID"/>
        <!-- Redirect for forbidden page. -->
        <sec:access-denied-handler error-page="/error?err=403"/>
        <!-- Port configuration. -->
        <sec:port-mappings>
            <sec:port-mapping http="8080" https="8443"/>
        </sec:port-mappings>
        <sec:headers>
            <sec:frame-options policy="DENY"/>
            <sec:content-type-options/>
            <sec:xss-protection block="true"/>
        </sec:headers>
    </sec:http>    

HTTP Request (Postman)

POST /api/v1/test HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:8080
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Basic bWFudGfmZjptYW50YQ==
User-Agent: PostmanRuntime/7.15.2
Accept: */*
Host: localhost:8080

{
    "something": "data",
    "somethingelse": "data"
}

HTTP Response (Postman)

Status 405

WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="Spring Security Application"
Allow: GET

I use Spring Security 3.2.10-RELEASE. I tried to enable Spring Security log but I failed.

petrgon :

The problem was here:

@Controller
public class ErrorController {
    @RequestMapping("/error")
    public String error(@RequestParam(value = "err", required = false) Integer paramErrorCode, Locale locale,
            ModelMap model, HttpServletRequest httpRequest) {
         // Do something   
     }

I had a controller, which handles error screens, but it supported only GET method. When I changed it to both GET and POST it started work.

---

Solution:

@Controller
public class ErrorController {
    @RequestMapping(value = "/error" method = {RequestMethod.GET, RequestMethod.POST})
    public String error(@RequestParam(value = "err", required = false) Integer paramErrorCode, Locale locale,
            ModelMap model, HttpServletRequest httpRequest) {
         // Do something   
     }

---

Not sure what cause the redirection if web.xml

<error-page>
    <location>/error</location>
</error-page>

or securitycontext.xml

<sec:access-denied-handler error-page="/error?err=403"/>