Configure the client for response digital signature verification... choosing the verification method

Prior to completing these steps, read either of the following topics to become familiar with the Security Extensions tab and the Port Binding tab in the Web Services Editor within the Application Server Toolkit...

Use these two tabs to configure the Web Services Security extensions and Web Services Security bindings, respectively. Also, specify which message parts contain digital signature information that must be verified by the client. See Configuring the client for response digital signature verification: verifying the message parts to specify which message parts are digitally signed by the server and must be verified by the client. The message parts specified for the server response sender must match the message parts specified for the client response receiver. Likewise, the digital signature method chosen for the server must match the digital signature method used by the client. Complete the following steps to configure the client for response digital signature verification. The steps describe how to modify the extensions to indicate which digital signature method the client will use during verification.

  1. Launch the WAS Toolkit and either click Windows > Open Prospective > Java or Windows > Open Prospective > Resource.

  2. Select the Web services enabled EJB or Web module.

  3. In the Package Explorer window, locate the META-INF directory for an EJB module or the WEB-INF directory for a Web module.

  4. Right-click the webservicesclient.xml file, select Open With > Web Services Client Editor.

  5. Click the Port Binding tab.

  6. Expand the Security Response Receiver Binding Configuration > Signing Information section.

  7. Click Edit to select a digital signature method.The signing info dialog displays and either select or enter the following information...

    • Canonicalization method algorithm

    • Digest method algorithm

    • Signature method algorithm

    • Signing key name

    • Signing key locator

    For more conceptual information on digitally signing SOAP messages, see XML digital signature. The following table describes the purpose for each of these selections. Some of the following definitions are based on the XML-Signature specification, which can be found at: http://www.w3.org/TR/xmldsig-core .

    Name Purpose
    Canonicalization method algorithm The canonicalization method algorithm is used to canonicalize the <SignedInfo> element before it is digested as part of the signature operation.
    Digest method algorithm The digest method algorithm is the algorithm applied to the data after transforms are applied, if specified, to yield the <DigestValue>. The signing of the <DigestValue> binds resource content to the signer key. The algorithm selected for the client response receiver configuration must match the algorithm selected in the server response sender configuration.
    Signature method algorithm The signature method is the algorithm that is used to convert the canonicalized <SignedInfo> element into the <SignatureValue> element. The algorithm selected for the client response receiver configuration must match the algorithm selected in the server response sender configuration.
    Use certificate path reference or Trust any certificate When a message is signed, the public key used to sign it is transmitted with the message. To validate this public key at the receiving end, configure a certificate path reference. By selecting User certificate path reference, configure a trust anchor reference and certificate store reference to validate the certificate sent with the message. By selecting trust any certificate, the signature is validated by the certificate sent with the message without the certificate itself being validated.
    Use certificate path reference: Trust anchor reference A trust anchor is a configuration that refers to a keystore that contains trusted, self-signed certificates and certificate authority (CA) certificates. These certificates are trusted certificates that you can use with any applications in your deployment.
    Use certificate path reference: Certificate store reference A certificate store is a configuration that has a collection of X.509 certificates. These certificates are not trusted for all applications in your deployment, but might be used as an intermediary to validate certificates for an application.

If you configure the client and server signing information correctly, but receive a Soap body not signed error when executing the client, you might need to configure the actor. You can configure the actor in the following locations on the client in the Web Services Client Editor within the WAS Toolkit:

You must configure the same actor strings for the Web service on the server, which processes the request and sends the response back. Configure the actor in the following locations in the Web Services Editor within the WAS Toolkit...

The actor information on both the client and server must refer to the same exact string. When the actor fields on the client and server match, the request or response is acted upon instead of being forwarded downstream. The actor fields might be different when you have Web services acting as a gateway to other Web services. However, in all other cases, make sure that the actor information matches on the client and server. When Web services are acting as a gateway and they do not have the same actor configured as the request passing through the gateway, Web services do not process the message from a client. Instead, these Web services send the request downstream. The downstream process that contains the correct actor string processes the request. The same situation occurs for the response. Therefore, it is important that you verify that the appropriate client and server actor fields are synchronized.

You have specified which method the client uses to verify the digital signature in the message parts.

After you configure the server for response signing and the client for request digital signature verification, verify that you have configured the client and the server to handle the message request.

 

See Also

Trust anchors
Collection certificate store
Securing Web services using XML digital signature
Configuring the server security bindings using the Assembly Toolkit
Configuring the server security bindings using the administrative console
Configuring the client for response digital signature verification: Verifying the message parts
Configuring trust anchors using the Assembly Toolkit
Configuring trust anchors using the administrative console
Configuring the server-side collection certificate store using the Assembly Toolkit
Configuring the client-side collection certificate store using the Assembly Toolkit
Configuring the client-side collection certificate store using the administrative console
Configuring default collection certificate stores at the server level in the WAS administrative console