blocking access to static content folders

Question

I want to know how to block access to the static content folders in my web-app. right the folders are in inside the web-root folder in the war. like so:

    myapp/

       -css/
       -js/
       -swf/
         :
       WEB-INF/

I want the content to be visible only from the application when user is in a session. The content should be blocked if someone hits the url outside his/her session (after it has expired).

Its a groovy-grails app with spring and we are using tomcat server.

Answer 1

1. Normally, files under /WEB-INF are not accessible directly from outside. It is good practise to keep such files under /WEB-INF.

2. Securing using Web Security constraints. Here is the sample for restricting your folders:

    <security-constraint>
      <web-resource-collection>
        <web-resource-name >precluded methods</web-resource-name>
        <url-pattern >/css/*</url-pattern>
        <url-pattern >/js/*</url-pattern>
        <url-pattern >/swf/*</url-pattern>
        </web-resource-collection>
      <auth-constraint/>
    </security-constraint>
   

3. Most of the app servers have the support of masking the files or directories to the outside world. Please check their documentations.

   Tomcat Documentation