JavaTM 2 Platform
Standard Ed. 5.0

java.net
Class SocketPermission

java.lang.Object
  extended by java.security.Permission
      extended by java.net.SocketPermission
All Implemented Interfaces:
Serializable, Guard

public final class SocketPermission
extends Permission
implements Serializable

This class represents access to a network via sockets. A SocketPermission consists of a host specification and a set of "actions" specifying ways to connect to that host. The host is specified as

    host = (hostname | IPv4address | iPv6reference) [:portrange]
    portrange = portnumber | -portnumber | portnumber-[portnumber]
 
The host is expressed as a DNS name, as a numerical IP address, or as "localhost" (for the local machine). The wildcard "*" may be included once in a DNS name host specification. If it is included, it must be in the leftmost position, as in "*.sun.com".

The format of the IPv6reference should follow that specified in RFC 2732: Format for Literal IPv6 Addresses in URLs:

    ipv6reference = "[" IPv6address "]"
For example, you can construct a SocketPermission instance as the following:
    String hostAddress = inetaddress.getHostAddress();
    if (inetaddress instanceof Inet6Address) {
        sp = new SocketPermission("[" + hostAddress + "]:" + port, action);
    } else {
        sp = new SocketPermission(hostAddress + ":" + port, action);
    }
 
or
    String host = url.getHost();
    sp = new SocketPermission(host + ":" + port, action);
 

The full uncompressed form of an IPv6 literal address is also valid.

The port or portrange is optional. A port specification of the form "N-", where N is a port number, signifies all ports numbered N and above, while a specification of the form "-N" indicates all ports numbered N and below.

The possible ways to connect to the host are

 accept
 connect
 listen
 resolve
 
The "listen" action is only meaningful when used with "localhost". The "resolve" action is implied when any of the other actions are present. The action "resolve" refers to host/ip name service lookups.

As an example of the creation and meaning of SocketPermissions, note that if the following permission:

   p1 = new SocketPermission("puffin.eng.sun.com:7777", "connect,accept");
 
is granted to some code, it allows that code to connect to port 7777 on puffin.eng.sun.com, and to accept connections on that port.

Similarly, if the following permission:

   p1 = new SocketPermission("puffin.eng.sun.com:7777", "connect,accept");
   p2 = new SocketPermission("localhost:1024-", "accept,connect,listen");
 
is granted to some code, it allows that code to accept connections on, connect to, or listen on any port between 1024 and 65535 on the local host.

Note: Granting code permission to accept or make connections to remote hosts may be dangerous because malevolent code can then more easily transfer and share confidential data among parties who may not otherwise have access to the data.

See Also:
Permissions, SocketPermission

Constructor Summary
SocketPermission(String host, String action)
          Creates a new SocketPermission object with the specified actions.
 
Method Summary
 boolean equals(Object obj)
          Checks two SocketPermission objects for equality.
 String getActions()
          Returns the canonical string representation of the actions.
 int hashCode()
          Returns the hash code value for this object.
 boolean implies(Permission p)
          Checks if this socket permission object "implies" the specified permission.
 PermissionCollection newPermissionCollection()
          Returns a new PermissionCollection object for storing SocketPermission objects.
 
Methods inherited from class java.security.Permission
checkGuard, getName, toString
 
Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait
 

Constructor Detail

SocketPermission

public SocketPermission(String host,
                        String action)
Creates a new SocketPermission object with the specified actions. The host is expressed as a DNS name, or as a numerical IP address. Optionally, a port or a portrange may be supplied (separated from the DNS name or IP address by a colon).

To specify the local machine, use "localhost" as the host. Also note: An empty host String ("") is equivalent to "localhost".

The actions parameter contains a comma-separated list of the actions granted for the specified host (and port(s)). Possible actions are "connect", "listen", "accept", "resolve", or any combination of those. "resolve" is automatically added when any of the other three are specified.

Examples of SocketPermission instantiation are the following:

    nr = new SocketPermission("www.catalog.com", "connect");
    nr = new SocketPermission("www.oracle.com:80", "connect");
    nr = new SocketPermission("*.sun.com", "connect");
    nr = new SocketPermission("*.edu", "resolve");
    nr = new SocketPermission("204.160.241.0", "connect");
    nr = new SocketPermission("localhost:1024-65535", "listen");
    nr = new SocketPermission("204.160.241.0:1024-65535", "connect");
 

Parameters:
host - the hostname or IPaddress of the computer, optionally including a colon followed by a port or port range.
action - the action string.
Method Detail

implies

public boolean implies(Permission p)
Checks if this socket permission object "implies" the specified permission.

More specifically, this method first ensures that all of the following are true (and returns false if any of them are not):

Then implies checks each of the following, in order, and for each returns true if the stated condition is true:

If none of the above are true, implies returns false.

Specified by:
implies in class Permission
Parameters:
p - the permission to check against.
Returns:
true if the specified permission is implied by this object, false if not.

equals

public boolean equals(Object obj)
Checks two SocketPermission objects for equality.

Specified by:
equals in class Permission
Parameters:
obj - the object to test for equality with this object.
Returns:
true if obj is a SocketPermission, and has the same hostname, port range, and actions as this SocketPermission object. However, port range will be ignored in the comparison if obj only contains the action, 'resolve'.
See Also:
Object.hashCode(), Hashtable

hashCode

public int hashCode()
Returns the hash code value for this object.

Specified by:
hashCode in class Permission
Returns:
a hash code value for this object.
See Also:
Object.equals(java.lang.Object), Hashtable

getActions

public String getActions()
Returns the canonical string representation of the actions. Always returns present actions in the following order: connect, listen, accept, resolve.

Specified by:
getActions in class Permission
Returns:
the canonical string representation of the actions.

newPermissionCollection

public PermissionCollection newPermissionCollection()
Returns a new PermissionCollection object for storing SocketPermission objects.

SocketPermission objects must be stored in a manner that allows them to be inserted into the collection in any order, but that also enables the PermissionCollection implies method to be implemented in an efficient (and consistent) manner.

Overrides:
newPermissionCollection in class Permission
Returns:
a new PermissionCollection object suitable for storing SocketPermissions.

JavaTM 2 Platform
Standard Ed. 5.0

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For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java 2 SDK SE Developer Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.

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