RBAC in Java with Spring Boot

This tutorial adds role-based access control (RBAC) to a REST API built with Spring Boot and jCasbin. At the end, three roles (admin, editor, viewer) are allowed different HTTP methods on different routes, and the rules live in a policy file that you can change without touching the controllers.

The same model and policy work in every Casbin implementation, so you can reuse them in the Go, Node.js, and Python versions of this tutorial.

1. Add the dependency

In a Spring Boot 3 project that already has spring-boot-starter-web, add jCasbin to pom.xml. Use the latest version from Maven Central.

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.casbin</groupId>
    <artifactId>jcasbin</artifactId>
    <version>1.81.0</version>
</dependency>

2. Write the model

The model says what a request looks like and how it is matched against the policy. Save this as model.conf in the directory you start the application from:

[request_definition]
r = sub, obj, act

[policy_definition]
p = sub, obj, act

[role_definition]
g = _, _

[policy_effect]
e = some(where (p.eft == allow))

[matchers]
m = g(r.sub, p.sub) && keyMatch2(r.obj, p.obj) && regexMatch(r.act, p.act)

r = sub, obj, act: each request is a user, a URL path, and an HTTP method.
g = _, _: users can be assigned to roles.
g(r.sub, p.sub): the request's user must have the role named in the policy rule.
keyMatch2 matches paths such as /api/articles/:id, and regexMatch lets one rule list several methods. See Functions for the other built-in matchers.

3. Write the policy

Save this as policy.csv next to model.conf:

p, admin, /api/*, (GET)|(POST)|(PUT)|(DELETE)
p, editor, /api/articles, (GET)|(POST)
p, editor, /api/articles/:id, (GET)|(PUT)
p, viewer, /api/articles, GET
p, viewer, /api/articles/:id, GET

g, alice, admin
g, bob, editor
g, carol, viewer

Lines starting with p grant a role access to a path and a set of methods. Lines starting with g assign users to roles.

4. Add the interceptor

The interceptor calls enforce with the user, the path, and the method, and responds with 403 Forbidden when Casbin says no.

AuthorizationInterceptor.java
package com.example.rbac;

import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import org.casbin.jcasbin.main.Enforcer;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.HandlerInterceptor;

public class AuthorizationInterceptor implements HandlerInterceptor {

    private final Enforcer enforcer;

    public AuthorizationInterceptor(Enforcer enforcer) {
        this.enforcer = enforcer;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean preHandle(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, Object handler) throws Exception {
        // Replace this with the user from your session or JWT.
        String user = request.getHeader("X-User");
        if (user == null) {
            user = "";
        }

        if (enforcer.enforce(user, request.getRequestURI(), request.getMethod())) {
            return true;
        }
        response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_FORBIDDEN, "forbidden");
        return false;
    }
}

Create the Enforcer as a bean and register the interceptor for the API routes:

CasbinConfig.java
package com.example.rbac;

import org.casbin.jcasbin.main.Enforcer;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.InterceptorRegistry;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.WebMvcConfigurer;

@Configuration
public class CasbinConfig implements WebMvcConfigurer {

    @Bean
    public Enforcer enforcer() {
        return new Enforcer("model.conf", "policy.csv");
    }

    @Override
    public void addInterceptors(InterceptorRegistry registry) {
        registry.addInterceptor(new AuthorizationInterceptor(enforcer())).addPathPatterns("/api/**");
    }
}

A controller to protect:

ArticleController.java
package com.example.rbac;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.*;

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/articles")
public class ArticleController {

    @GetMapping
    public Map<String, Object> list() {
        return Map.of("articles", List.of());
    }

    @PostMapping
    @ResponseStatus(HttpStatus.CREATED)
    public Map<String, Object> create() {
        return Map.of("created", true);
    }

    @PutMapping("/{id}")
    public Map<String, Object> update(@PathVariable long id) {
        return Map.of("updated", id);
    }

    @DeleteMapping("/{id}")
    public Map<String, Object> delete(@PathVariable long id) {
        return Map.of("deleted", id);
    }
}

หมายเหตุ

new Enforcer("model.conf", "policy.csv") reads the two files from the working directory. Files packaged inside the application JAR under src/main/resources cannot be opened as file paths; keep the files outside the JAR, or load the policy from a database with an adapter.

The X-User header keeps the example short. Casbin handles authorization only; in a real application the user name comes from your authentication layer, such as Spring Security, a verified JWT, or a session.

5. Try it

mvn spring-boot:run

curl -i -X POST   -H "X-User: bob"   http://localhost:8080/api/articles     # 201, editors can create
curl -i -X DELETE -H "X-User: bob"   http://localhost:8080/api/articles/1   # 403, editors cannot delete
curl -i -X DELETE -H "X-User: alice" http://localhost:8080/api/articles/1   # 200, admins can
curl -i -X POST   -H "X-User: carol" http://localhost:8080/api/articles     # 403, viewers are read-only

6. Change roles at runtime

Roles and permissions are data, so you can change them while the server is running. Inject the Enforcer bean wherever you manage users:

enforcer.addRoleForUser("dave", "editor");            // dave becomes an editor
enforcer.deleteRoleForUser("bob", "editor");          // bob is no longer an editor
enforcer.addPolicy("editor", "/api/comments", "POST"); // editors may now post comments

List<String> roles = enforcer.getRolesForUser("alice"); // [admin]

The full list is in the RBAC API and the Management API.

Next steps

Store the policy in a database. Replace policy.csv with an adapter for JDBC, MyBatis, Hibernate, MongoDB, and others. Policy changes made through the API are then saved automatically.
Use the Spring Boot starter. casbin-spring-boot-starter creates the Enforcer and a JDBC adapter from application.yml.
Run more than one instance. Use a watcher so every instance reloads the policy when one of them changes it.
Multi-tenant applications. RBAC with domains gives a user different roles in different tenants.
Rules based on attributes. Combine roles with ABAC, for example "editors may update only their own articles".
Other frameworks. The middleware list has plugins for Spring Boot, Apache Shiro, JFinal, Nutz, and other frameworks.

1. Add the dependency​

2. Write the model​

3. Write the policy​

4. Add the interceptor​

5. Try it​

6. Change roles at runtime​

Next steps​