Deploying AcuSensor for JAVA - Linux (WebSphere + WAR file)

You can use AcuSensor to carry out interactive security testing (IAST) in your web application to confirm more vulnerabilities and further minimize false positives.  

For AcuSensor to operate, you need to download an agent and deploy it on your server. Please note that this agent is generated uniquely for each target website for security reasons.

The following article shows you how you can run a Java application in WebSphere and then use AcuSensor to run an interactive application security testing (IAST) scan for that application.

Information

  • This document was tested running WebSphere on Ubuntu 18.04.1 with Java version 1.8.0_181
  • This document assumes WebSphere is installed in /opt/wlp

Prerequisites

  • Install JAVA
  • Install Eclipse IDE for Enterprise JAVA and Web Developers
  • Install Eclipse Extensions from "Web, XML, Java EE, and OSGI Enterprise Development":
  • Eclipse Java EE Developer Tools
  • Eclipse Java Web Developer Tools
  • Eclipse Web Developer Tools
  • JST Server Adapters Extensions (Apache Tomcat)

Step 1: Preparing an example application using Eclipse IDE

Create your application

  1. Launch Eclipse IDE.
  2. From the menu, go to File > New > Project.

  1. On the New Project wizard, search for and select Dynamic Web Project.
  2. Select Next.
  3. On the Dynamic Web Project, do the following:
  1. Set the Project name field to axexample-java
  2. Set the Target runtime field to Apache Tomcat v8.5
  3. Set the Dynamic web module version field to 3.1
  4. Set the Configuration field to Default Configuration for Apache Tomcat v8.5

  1. Select Next.
  2. On the Java window, leave the default settings as they are.
  3. Select Next.
  4. On the Web Module step, enable Generate web.xml deployment descriptor.

  1. Select Finish.
  2. On the Open Associated Perspective? dialog, select No.
  3. Expand the axexample-java project
  4. Right-click on the src folder
  5. Select New > Other.
  6. Highlight Servlet.

  1. Select Next.
  2. On the Create Servlet window, do the following:
  1. Set the Java package field to com.mytest.axexample.
  2. Set the Class name field to axExampleJavaServlet.

  1. Select Finish.
  2. Edit the contents of the axExampleJavaServlet.java file to read as follows:

package com.mytest.axexample;

import java.io.IOException;

import java.io.PrintWriter;

import javax.servlet.ServletException;

import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;

import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;

import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;

import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

/**

 * Servlet implementation class HelloWorldServlet

 */

@WebServlet("/axExampleJavaServlet")

public class axExampleJavaServlet extends HttpServlet {

        private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

       

    /**

     * @see HttpServlet#HttpServlet()

     */

    public axExampleJavaServlet() {

        super();

        // TODO Auto-generated constructor stub

    }

        /**

         * @see HttpServlet#doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)

         */

        protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {

                PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();

                out.print("<html><body><h1>Test JAVA Site Example for WebSphere</h1><br>Welcome to the main page.<br></body></html>");

        }

        /**

         * @see HttpServlet#doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)

         */

        protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {

                // TODO Auto-generated method stub

                doGet(request, response);

        }

}

  1. Expand the axexample-java project, right-click on the axexample-java/src/main/webapp folder, and select New > File.

  1. Set the filename to index.html and select Finish.
  2. Edit the contents of the index.html file to read as follows:

<html>

  <head>

    <title>Test JAVA Site Example for WebSphere</title>

  </head>

  <body>

    <h1>Test JAVA Site Example for WebSphere</h1><br/><br/>

    <a href="axExampleJavaServlet">Click here to invoke servlet</a>

  </body>

</html>

  1. Make sure that the changes to both new files are saved
  2. Right-click on the axexample-java project, select Export…, search for the WAR file option and select it

  1. Select Next, then choose a destination for your exported WAR file.

  1. Ensure that the filename for your export file is axexample-java.war
  2. Select Finish.

Step 2: Preparing AcuSensor for Java

We will deploy the test application to the following URL: http://websphere-backend-proto.invicti.site:9080/axexample-java/ (In a production environment, you need to change this to the hostname you will use for your deployment).

  1. Create a new target for your URL
  2. Download AcuSensor for Java.
  3. Retain the AcuSensor (IAST and SCA) file for the next step
  4. On the WebSphere machine:
  1. Create a root folder /acusensor
  2. Copy the acusensor.jar file to /acusensor/acusensor.jar

Step 3: Preparing a folder for the AspectJWeaver component

On the WebSphere machine:

  1. Create a root folder /aspectjweaver
  2. Download AspectJWeaver from https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/aspectj/aspectjweaver/1.9.7/aspectjweaver-1.9.7.jar
  3. Copy the downloaded file into /aspectjweaver/aspectjweaver-1.9.7.jar

Step 4: Deploying AcuSensor and required components

On the WebSphere machine:

  1. Create a file /opt/wlp/usr/servers/defaultServer/jvm.options, and set the contents as follows:

-javaagent:/aspectjweaver/aspectjweaver-1.9.7.jar

-Dacusensor.debug.log=ON

  1. Edit the file /opt/wlp/usr/servers/defaultServer/server.xml, and just before the closing </server> tag, add the following:

  <library id="global">

    <fileset dir="/acusensor/" includes="AcuSensor.jar" />

  </library>

Step 5: Deploy your application

Copy your axexample-java.war file into the /opt/wlp/usr/servers/defaultServer/dropins folder.

Step 6: Start your WebSphere server

From the terminal, restart WebSphere with:

/opt/wlp/bin/server stop

/opt/wlp/bin/server start

Test and scan your web application

Point your browser to your web application to confirm it is running as intended; you will get the following:

Finally, run a scan on your target.

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