# 11 — What changed in Spring Security 7

[← production checklist](10-production-checklist.md) · [README](../README.md)

Everything below was hit while building this repository against Spring Security **7.1.1**
on Spring Boot **4.1.1**, JDK **25**. Verified by compiling or by reading real responses,
not from release notes alone.

## `FACTOR_BEARER` in your authorities

Every bearer-token authentication now carries an extra authority:

```json
"authorities": ["FACTOR_BEARER", "ROLE_USER", "SCOPE_profile:read"]
```

It backs the new multi-factor authorization support —
`AuthorizationManagerFactories.multiFactor()`, `@EnableMultiFactorAuthentication`, and in
7.1 the `when` / `withWhen` conditions and `MultiFactorCondition.WEBAUTHN_REGISTERED`.
Harmless until a test asserts an exact authority set, or code assumes every authority
starts with `ROLE_` or `SCOPE_`.

## `resource_metadata` in every `WWW-Authenticate`

```
WWW-Authenticate: Bearer realm="jwt-auth-demo",
    resource_metadata="http://localhost:8080/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource"
```

Spring Security 7 adds `OAuth2ProtectedResourceMetadataFilter` to the resource-server
chain — RFC 9728, OAuth 2.0 Protected Resource Metadata. Visible in the
[resource-server chain](output/resource-server-loose.txt) and in the entry point's output
even on the manual profile, because `BearerTokenAuthenticationEntryPoint` emits it.

7.1 additionally includes `charset` in `WWW-Authenticate` ([gh-18755]).

## `NimbusJwtEncoder` builders (7.0+) and their method names

```java
NimbusJwtEncoder.withSecretKey(secretKey).algorithm(MacAlgorithm.HS256).build();
NimbusJwtEncoder.withKeyPair(rsaPublic, rsaPrivate).algorithm(SignatureAlgorithm.RS256).build();
NimbusJwtEncoder.withKeyPair(ecPublic, ecPrivate).build();
```

Two traps:

- the builder method is **`algorithm(..)`**, not `jwsAlgorithm(..)` — while the *decoder*
  builders use `macAlgorithm(..)` and `signatureAlgorithm(..)`;
- there is **no `keyId(..)`**. Set `kid` through `jwkPostProcessor(jwk -> jwk.keyID(..))`.

The pre-7.0 form still compiles:

```java
new NimbusJwtEncoder(new ImmutableSecret<>(secretKey));
```

`setJwkSelector(List::getFirst)` (6.5+) resolves the "multiple matching JWKs" exception.

## Three sibling classes, three packages

```java
org.springframework.security.oauth2.server.resource.web.BearerTokenAuthenticationEntryPoint
org.springframework.security.oauth2.server.resource.web.access.BearerTokenAccessDeniedHandler
org.springframework.security.oauth2.server.resource.web.authentication.BearerTokenAuthenticationFilter
```

Auto-import will confidently pick the wrong one. This cost a compile cycle here.

## Jackson 3

Spring Security 7 moves to Jackson 3 (`tools.jackson.*`). `SecurityJackson2Modules` is
replaced by `SecurityJacksonModules` with `JsonMapper.Builder`. Boot 4.1.1 resolves
`tools.jackson.core:jackson-databind:3.1.5`. If you serialise a `SecurityContext` — into
a session store, a cache, a Redis-backed denylist — that code changes. See the
[Jackson 2 to 3 migration guide](https://ankurm.com/jackson-3-migration-guide/).

## Boot 4 test slices moved

`@AutoConfigureMockMvc` is now `org.springframework.boot.webmvc.test.autoconfigure.AutoConfigureMockMvc`,
in `spring-boot-starter-webmvc-test`. Security test support is in
`spring-boot-starter-security-test`. `spring-boot-starter-test` alone no longer suffices.
[→ doc 08](08-testing.md)

## Boot 4.1: SpEL authority extraction

```yaml
spring:
  security:
    oauth2:
      resourceserver:
        jwt:
          authorities-claim-expressions: "['realm_access']['roles']"
          authority-prefix: "ROLE_"
```

Mutually exclusive with `authorities-claim-name` / `authorities-claim-delimiter`. This is
the property-only answer to Keycloak-style nested role claims, which previously needed a
custom converter.

## `csrf.spa()` is new in 7.0

```java
.csrf(csrf -> csrf.spa())
```

One call for `CookieCsrfTokenRepository` + `XorCsrfTokenRequestAttributeHandler` +
deferred token loading. Checked against the jars: absent from `spring-security-config`
6.4.7 and 6.5.1, present in 7.0.0. Several guides describe it as a 6.x feature.

## Other 7.1 additions worth knowing

- `RestClientOpaqueTokenIntrospector` ([gh-18745]) — the `RestClient`-based replacement for the `RestTemplate` introspector, for opaque rather than JWT tokens.
- `ConditionalAuthorizationManager` and `AllRequiredFactorsAuthorizationManager.anyOf` ([gh-18960]).
- `PreFlightRequestFilter` CORS support ([gh-18926]).
- `InetAddressMatcher` ([gh-18634]).
- WebAuthn now publishes authentication events ([gh-18113]).

## Migrating from 6.x

Spring Security's own advice: go to **6.5** first, use its opt-in switches to adopt the
7.0 behaviours one at a time, then upgrade. The 6.5 preparation steps exist precisely so
that the 7.0 jump is a version bump rather than a rewrite.

ankurm.com has a dedicated
[Spring Security 5 → 6 → 7 migration guide](https://ankurm.com/spring-security-5-to-6-to-7-migration-guide/).

[gh-18755]: https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-security/issues/18755
[gh-18745]: https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-security/issues/18745
[gh-18960]: https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-security/issues/18960
[gh-18926]: https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-security/issues/18926
[gh-18634]: https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-security/pull/18634
[gh-18113]: https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-security/issues/18113