How to create custom methods for use in spring security expression language annotations

I would like to create a class that adds custom methods for use in spring security expression language for method-based authorization via annotations.

For example, I would like to create a custom method like 'customMethodReturningBoolean' to be used somehow like this:

  @PreAuthorize("customMethodReturningBoolean()")
  public void myMethodToSecure() { 
    // whatever
  }

My question is this. If it is possible, what class should I subclass to create my custom methods, how would I go about configuring it in the spring xml configuration files and come someone give me an example of a custom method used in this way?

None of the mentioned techniques will work anymore. It seems as though Spring has gone through great lengths to prevent users from overriding the SecurityExpressionRoot.

EDIT 11/19/14 Setup Spring to use security annotations:

<beans ... xmlns:sec="http://www.springframework.org/schema/security" ... >
...
<sec:global-method-security pre-post-annotations="enabled" />

Create a bean like this:

@Component("mySecurityService")
public class MySecurityService {
    public boolean hasPermission(String key) {
        return true;
    }
}

Then do something like this in your jsp:

<sec:authorize access="@mySecurityService.hasPermission('special')">
    <input type="button" value="Special Button" />
</sec:authorize>

Or annotate a method:

@PreAuthorize("@mySecurityService.hasPermission('special')")
public void doSpecialStuff() { ... }

Additionally, you may use Spring Expression Language in your @PreAuthorize annotations to access the current authentication as well as method arguments.

For example:

@Component("mySecurityService")
public class MySecurityService {
    public boolean hasPermission(Authentication authentication, String foo) { ... }
}

Then update your @PreAuthorize to match the new method signature:

@PreAuthorize("@mySecurityService.hasPermission(authentication, #foo)")
public void doSpecialStuff(String foo) { ... }

You'll need to subclass two classes.

First, set a new method expression handler

<global-method-security>
  <expression-handler ref="myMethodSecurityExpressionHandler"/>
</global-method-security>

myMethodSecurityExpressionHandler will be a subclass of DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler which overrides createEvaluationContext(), setting a subclass of MethodSecurityExpressionRoot on the MethodSecurityEvaluationContext.

For example:

@Override
public EvaluationContext createEvaluationContext(Authentication auth, MethodInvocation mi) {
    MethodSecurityEvaluationContext ctx = new MethodSecurityEvaluationContext(auth, mi, parameterNameDiscoverer);
    MethodSecurityExpressionRoot root = new MyMethodSecurityExpressionRoot(auth);
    root.setTrustResolver(trustResolver);
    root.setPermissionEvaluator(permissionEvaluator);
    root.setRoleHierarchy(roleHierarchy);
    ctx.setRootObject(root);

    return ctx;
}

Thanks ericacm, but it does not work for a few reasons:

• The properties of DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler are private (reflection visibility kludges undesirable)
• At least in my Eclipse, I can't resolve a MethodSecurityEvaluationContext object

The differences are that we call the existing createEvaluationContext method and then add our custom root object. Finally I just returned an StandardEvaluationContext object type since MethodSecurityEvaluationContext would not resolve in the compiler (they are both from the same interface). This is the code that I now have in production.

Make MethodSecurityExpressionHandler use our custom root:

public class CustomMethodSecurityExpressionHandler extends DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler  {
	
	// parent constructor
    public CustomMethodSecurityExpressionHandler() {
        super();
    }
	
    /**
     * Custom override to use {@link CustomSecurityExpressionRoot}
     * 
     * Uses a {@link MethodSecurityEvaluationContext} as the <tt>EvaluationContext</tt> implementation and
     * configures it with a {@link MethodSecurityExpressionRoot} instance as the expression root object.
     */
    @Override
    public EvaluationContext createEvaluationContext(Authentication auth, MethodInvocation mi) {
    	// due to private methods, call original method, then override it's root with ours
    	StandardEvaluationContext ctx = (StandardEvaluationContext) super.createEvaluationContext(auth, mi);
    	ctx.setRootObject( new CustomSecurityExpressionRoot(auth) );
        return ctx;
    }
}

This replaces the default root by extending SecurityExpressionRoot. Here I've renamed hasRole to hasEntitlement:

public class CustomSecurityExpressionRoot extends SecurityExpressionRoot  {

	// parent constructor
    public CustomSecurityExpressionRoot(Authentication a) {
        super(a);
    }
	
	/**
	 * Pass through to hasRole preserving Entitlement method naming convention
	 * @param expression
	 * @return boolean
	 */
    public boolean hasEntitlement(String expression) {
        return hasRole(expression);
    }

}

Finally update securityContext.xml (and make sure it's referenced from your applcationContext.xml):

<!-- setup method level security using annotations -->
<security:global-method-security
		jsr250-annotations="disabled"
        secured-annotations="disabled"
        pre-post-annotations="enabled">
    <security:expression-handler ref="expressionHandler"/>
</security:global-method-security>

<!--<bean id="expressionHandler" class="org.springframework.security.access.expression.method.DefaultMethodSecurityExpressionHandler">-->
<bean id="expressionHandler" class="com.yourSite.security.CustomMethodSecurityExpressionHandler" />

Note: the @Secured annotation will not accept this override as it runs through a different validation handler. So, in the above xml I disabled them to prevent later confusion.