Request process for unauthenticated users

The following conditions describe the request process for unauthenticated users:

• A user makes a request for a resource protected by WebSEAL. The protection on the resource does not require the user be authenticated. WebSEAL does not prompt the user to log in.

• WebSEAL builds an unauthenticated credential for the user.
• No entry is created in the WebSEAL session cache.
• The request proceeds, with this credential, to the protected Web object.
• The authorization service checks the permissions on the unauthenticated entry of the ACL for this object, and permits or denies the requested operation. The user can access resources that contain the correct permissions for the unauthenticated type category of user.
• Successful access to this object depends on the unauthenticated ACL entry containing at least the read (r) and traverse (T) permissions.

• If the user requires access to a resource not available to unauthenticated users, WebSEAL prompts the user to log in.
• A successful login changes the user's status to authenticated.

• If login is unsuccessful, a 403 "Forbidden" message is returned. However, the user can still continue to access other resources available to unauthenticated users.

Parent topic: Authenticated and unauthenticated access to resources