Skip to content

Conversation

@devin-ai-integration
Copy link
Contributor

MBA-714: Create AuthenticationService Module Structure and Core Framework

Summary

This PR implements the foundational structure for a new AuthenticationService module to support NIST 800-53 compliant authentication in the USPTO Patent BulkDownloader project. This is a skeleton/framework implementation - it establishes the module structure, core interfaces, and placeholder classes but does not include actual authentication logic implementations.

Key Architectural Decision: Chose a lightweight approach WITHOUT Spring Security to maintain consistency with the existing plain Java architecture (Java 8, no Spring dependencies). Uses jBCrypt for password hashing instead.

What's Included:

  • New Maven module AuthenticationService with proper parent POM integration
  • 6 core framework classes in gov.uspto.auth.core/ (AuthenticationContext, AuthenticationProvider, AuthenticationResult, Principal, Credential, AuthenticationException)
  • 2 configuration classes (AuthenticationConfig, SecurityConstants with NIST 800-53 mappings)
  • 8 placeholder interface packages for future implementation (authenticator, identifier, identity, session, service, policy, crypto, storage)
  • 28 passing unit tests demonstrating the framework works
  • Module builds successfully and passes lint checks

What's NOT Included:

  • No actual authentication implementations (password validators, token generators, etc.)
  • No concrete implementations of the 8 placeholder interfaces
  • No integration with existing BulkDownloader or PatentDocument modules
  • No end-to-end authentication flows

Review & Testing Checklist for Human

  • Validate architectural decision: Review the choice to NOT use Spring Security. Is a lightweight approach appropriate for this project's needs, or should we reconsider Spring Security despite the added complexity?
  • Review thread-safety: Examine AuthenticationContext.java ThreadLocal usage carefully. In bulk processing scenarios with thread pools, is the cleanup mechanism (clear()) sufficient to prevent memory leaks?
  • Check dependency security: Verify that jBCrypt 0.4 (2014), Commons Codec 1.10 (2015), and other older Java 8-compatible dependencies don't have known security vulnerabilities
  • Verify module structure: Review the 9-package structure under gov.uspto.auth/. Does this organization make sense for future microservices authentication implementation?
  • Test module integration: Run mvn clean install from the project root to ensure the new module integrates properly with the existing build (note: there are 3 pre-existing test failures in PatentDocument module unrelated to this PR)

Test Plan

  1. Build the AuthenticationService module: cd AuthenticationService && mvn clean install
  2. Verify all 28 tests pass
  3. Review the test coverage in src/test/java/gov/uspto/auth/core/ to understand the framework behavior
  4. Examine the placeholder interfaces to understand the intended future implementation structure

Notes

Areas Flagged for Team Clarification:

  • Purpose of the storage/ package is unclear - implemented basic file-based storage interface but needs team input on actual requirements
  • Integration points with existing BulkDownloader module need to be defined
  • Priority of authentication mechanisms (password vs token vs certificate) should be established

Dependency Rationale:

  • All dependencies chosen for Java 8 compatibility to match existing project
  • JUnit 4.12 maintained for consistency (not JUnit 5)
  • jBCrypt 0.4 chosen as lightweight alternative to Spring Security for password hashing

NIST 800-53 Controls Addressed (framework only, implementations pending):
IA-1, IA-2, IA-4, IA-5, IA-9, IA-11, IA-12, AC-2, AC-7, AU-2


Link to Devin run: https://app.devin.ai/sessions/d5678f1ae3c8437da1860dc858cebc2e
Requested by: Jake Cosme (@jakexcosme)

…work

Implemented ticket MBA-714 to create the AuthenticationService module with NIST 800-53 compliant authentication framework.

## Architectural Decisions:

**Lightweight Approach (No Spring Security):**
- Chose NOT to use Spring Security to maintain consistency with existing plain Java architecture
- The project has NO Spring dependencies and uses Java 8 with minimal frameworks
- Using jBCrypt (0.4) for password hashing instead of Spring Security
- This avoids dependency bloat and maintains architectural consistency

**Dependency Choices:**
- JUnit 4.12: Maintained consistency with existing test framework
- Mockito 3.12.4: Java 8 compatible testing framework
- jBCrypt 0.4: Lightweight password hashing (NIST 800-53 IA-5 compliance)
- Commons Codec 1.10: Additional cryptographic utilities
- SLF4J 1.7.21: Consistent with existing logging framework
- Guava 26.0-jre: Consistent with existing utility library

## Implementation Summary:

**Module Structure:**
- Created AuthenticationService Maven module following existing project patterns
- Package structure: gov.uspto.auth with 9 sub-packages
- Updated parent POM to include new module

**Core Framework Classes (6 classes in auth/core/):**
1. AuthenticationContext - Thread-local authentication context with cleanup
2. AuthenticationProvider - Interface for multiple authentication mechanisms
3. AuthenticationResult - Result with audit trail for NIST 800-53 compliance
4. Principal - Authenticated user/service with roles and metadata
5. Credential - Abstract base class for different credential types
6. AuthenticationException - Base exception with error codes

**Configuration Classes:**
1. AuthenticationConfig - Configuration with properties file and env var support
2. SecurityConstants - NIST 800-53 control mappings and security constants

**Placeholder Interfaces (8 packages):**
- authenticator/ - Authenticator management (IA-5 compliance)
- identifier/ - Identifier management (IA-4 compliance)
- identity/ - Identity proofing (IA-12 compliance)
- session/ - Session management (IA-11 compliance)
- service/ - Service authentication (IA-9 compliance)
- policy/ - Authentication policies
- crypto/ - Cryptographic operations
- storage/ - File-based storage (basic interface, needs clarification)

**Testing:**
- Created 6 comprehensive unit test classes for core framework
- All 28 tests pass successfully
- Tests demonstrate thread-safety, validation, and error handling

**Build Status:**
- Module builds successfully with mvn clean install
- All tests pass (28 tests, 0 failures, 0 errors)
- Lint checks pass (mvn compile -DskipTests)

## NIST 800-53 Controls Addressed:
- IA-1: Identification and Authentication Policy
- IA-2: Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)
- IA-4: Identifier Management
- IA-5: Authenticator Management
- IA-9: Service Identification and Authentication
- IA-11: Re-authentication
- IA-12: Identity Proofing
- AC-2: Account Management
- AC-7: Unsuccessful Logon Attempts
- AU-2: Audit Events

## Areas Requiring Team Clarification:
1. Storage package purpose - implemented basic interface for file-based storage
2. Integration points with existing BulkDownloader module
3. Specific authentication mechanisms to prioritize (password, token, certificate)

Signed-off-by: Devin AI <devin@cognition.ai>
Co-Authored-By: Jake Cosme <jake@cognition.ai>
@devin-ai-integration
Copy link
Contributor Author

🤖 Devin AI Engineer

I'll be helping with this pull request! Here's what you should know:

✅ I will automatically:

  • Address comments on this PR. Add '(aside)' to your comment to have me ignore it.
  • Look at CI failures and help fix them

Note: I can only respond to comments from users who have write access to this repository.

⚙️ Control Options:

  • Disable automatic comment and CI monitoring

@jakexcosme jakexcosme merged commit 7ad0b8a into master Nov 8, 2025
1 check passed
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

None yet

Projects

None yet

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

1 participant