Spring Security vs Apache Shiro: Which One to Use?

In the past, reliable and high-speed internet connectivity was a luxury enjoyed only by users in the developed nations. However, in recent years, the internet has become considerably much cheaper all around the world.

According to Internet World Stats, only 26.6 percent of the world’s population had access to the internet back in 2009. Fast forward a decade and over 58 percent of the world’s population is connected to the internet, and that number is only snowballing.

Such massive growth in the number of internet users has motivated businesses to provide their services through applications as it allows them to reach the target audience cost-effectively.

At the same time, with millions of applications available, hackers have not shifted their focus from exploiting operating system vulnerabilities to application security loopholes.

This is because businesses focus more on the user interface and features of an application than its security. Security is often an afterthought, thus failing to secure the application on a fundamental level.

How to Improve Application Security in the Fundamental Level?

Incorporating a security framework is the best way to ensure that all the critical security features exist in the application without having to include them separately. Moreover, implementation of a framework also lets developers tweak the basic security features on the basis of the nature of the application that is being developed.

When it comes to app development, Java is the most commonly opted programming language because of its extensive developer community, maturity, and cross-platform support.

Among all the security frameworks for Java, Spring Security and Apache Shiro are two of the most popular ones. Implementing either of these frameworks helps developers to include critical security features within their application without developing each of them from scratch.

However, given that both are strong contenders among developers, the question arises – between Spring Security and Apache Shiro, which framework should you implement in your application?

In order to help you understand the differences between the two, let us now explain to you the key features of Spring Security and Apache Shiro.

Features of Spring Security

• Compatible with LDAP: The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an open protocol for application development that helps in accessing and maintaining the information stored in distributed directories.
• Basic Access Authentication: This feature enables users to send their username and password along with passing a request through the network for authentication.
• OAuth 2.0 Login: Allows users to log in to an application using their existing Google or GitHub account by implementing the Authorization Code Grant specified within the OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework.
• Digest Access Authentication: Adds an extra layer of protection over Basic Access Authentication by requesting the browser to confirm user identity before passing any sensitive information through the network.
• React Support: Starting with the latest Spring Security v5.0, the framework supports React Web Runtime and the React programming language.
• Single Sign-On: Allows users to access different applications using a single account username and password.
• Modern Password Encoder: The latest version of Spring Security incorporates the DelegatingPasswordEncoder, which resolves all the issues faced with the NoOpPasswordEncoder.
• HTTP Authorization: Performs HTTP authorization on web URL requests with the help of regular expressions or Apache Ant.
• Remember Me: Saves the login credentials of an account using HTTP cookies so that the same user does not have to perform login operation again until they sign out manually.

Features of Apache Shiro

• Developer-Friendly: Apache Shiro is easily the most manageable Java security framework as it’s easy to understand and implement. The interface and class names are relative to their function, which makes them easier to remember.
• Very Low Dependency Requirements: The standalone Apache Shiro configuration requires only one of slf4j.jar and slf4j-api.jar bindings. Configuration of web-based apps requires the addition of commons-beanutils-core.jar. Rest of the dependencies only need to be added based on the implemented features.
• Ability to Recover Data from Multiple Sources: Developers can access data from multiple sources using protocols such as LDAP, ActiveDirectory, JDBC, etc.
• Inbuilt POJO-based Session Management: Boasts of enterprise-level session management that works both in web-based and standalone environments where distributed/clustered sessions and SSO (Single Sign-On) functionalities are necessary.
• Better Access Control: Controls user access based on fine-grain permissions or roles.
• Better Security: Apache Shiro implements simple yet powerful cryptography APIs to provide better application security than what is contained in Java by default.
• Improve App Performance: Enhances the performance of applications by utilizing the first-class cache support available within Apache Shiro.
• Robust Low-Configuration Framework: This feature helps in securing resources and URL of an application as well as performing other functions such as Remember Me, automated handling of logging in and logging out, and more.
• Better Session Control: Uses heterogeneous client sessions instead of stateful session beans or httpSession, thus allowing developers to remove any environmental dependency of application. Furthermore, session states can be shared by applets, web apps, and C# apps irrespective of their deployed environment.

Spring Security or Apache Shiro: Which One to Use?

Support for OAuth 2.0 and Digest Authentication are two significant advantages of Spring Security. Moreover, there is an active community support and better documentation which will ease out lots of tasks for developers.

On the other hand, simple coding and cryptography implementation are two of the huge benefits of Apache Shiro. Furthermore, Shiro supports full session clustering across any type of web container. Even though lack of OAuth and Digest Authentication support is a letdown, support for both these protocols are expected to appear in future versions.

To conclude, the decision on whether to use Spring Security or Apache Shiro for application security depends on the features that need to be included, as well as developer preference.

Author Bio:

Johnny Morgan Technical writer with a keen interest in new technology and innovation areas. He focuses on web architecture, web technologies, Java/J2EE, open source, WebRTC, big data and CRM. He is also associated with Aegis Infoways which offers Java Development services In India.