It throws me 500 Failed to evaluate expression 'ROLE_USER' in spring security

Question

SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet [dispatcher] in context with path [/SecuritySpring] threw exception
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Failed to evaluate expression 'ROLE_USER'
    at org.springframework.security.access.expression.ExpressionUtils.evaluateAsBoolean(ExpressionUtils.java:14)
    at org.springframework.security.web.access.expression.WebExpressionVoter.vote(WebExpressionVoter.java:36)
    at org.springframework.security.web.access.expression.WebExpressionVoter.vote(WebExpressionVoter.java:18)
    at org.springframework.security.access.vote.AffirmativeBased.decide(AffirmativeBased.java:62)
    at org.springframework.security.access.intercept.AbstractSecurityInterceptor.beforeInvocation(AbstractSecurityInterceptor.java:232)
    at org.springframework.security.web.access.intercept.FilterSecurityInterceptor.invoke(FilterSecurityInterceptor.java:123)
    at org.springframework.security.web.access.intercept.FilterSecurityInterceptor.doFilter(FilterSecurityInterceptor.java:90)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.access.ExceptionTranslationFilter.doFilter(ExceptionTranslationFilter.java:114)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.session.SessionManagementFilter.doFilter(SessionManagementFilter.java:122)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.AnonymousAuthenticationFilter.doFilter(AnonymousAuthenticationFilter.java:111)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.servletapi.SecurityContextHolderAwareRequestFilter.doFilter(SecurityContextHolderAwareRequestFilter.java:168)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.savedrequest.RequestCacheAwareFilter.doFilter(RequestCacheAwareFilter.java:48)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.www.BasicAuthenticationFilter.doFilterInternal(BasicAuthenticationFilter.java:158)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:108)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.ui.DefaultLoginPageGeneratingFilter.doFilter(DefaultLoginPageGeneratingFilter.java:162)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.AbstractAuthenticationProcessingFilter.doFilter(AbstractAuthenticationProcessingFilter.java:205)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.logout.LogoutFilter.doFilter(LogoutFilter.java:120)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.csrf.CsrfFilter.doFilterInternal(CsrfFilter.java:96)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:108)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.header.HeaderWriterFilter.doFilterInternal(HeaderWriterFilter.java:64)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:108)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.context.request.async.WebAsyncManagerIntegrationFilter.doFilterInternal(WebAsyncManagerIntegrationFilter.java:53)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:108)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.context.SecurityContextPersistenceFilter.doFilter(SecurityContextPersistenceFilter.java:91)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:330)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy.doFilterInternal(FilterChainProxy.java:213)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:176)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.DelegatingFilterProxy.invokeDelegate(DelegatingFilterProxy.java:344)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.DelegatingFilterProxy.doFilter(DelegatingFilterProxy.java:261)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:243)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:210)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:222)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:123)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:502)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:171)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:100)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:953)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:408)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1041)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:603)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(AprEndpoint.java:2430)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(AprEndpoint.java:2419)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.springframework.expression.spel.SpelEvaluationException: EL1008E:(pos 0): Field or property 'ROLE_USER' cannot be found on object of type 'org.springframework.security.web.access.expression.WebSecurityExpressionRoot'
    at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.PropertyOrFieldReference.readProperty(PropertyOrFieldReference.java:217)
    at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.PropertyOrFieldReference.getValueInternal(PropertyOrFieldReference.java:85)
    at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.PropertyOrFieldReference.getValueInternal(PropertyOrFieldReference.java:78)
    at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.SpelNodeImpl.getTypedValue(SpelNodeImpl.java:113)
    at org.springframework.expression.spel.standard.SpelExpression.getValue(SpelExpression.java:105)
    at org.springframework.security.access.expression.ExpressionUtils.evaluateAsBoolean(ExpressionUtils.java:11)
    ... 58 more

spring-security.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--
To change this license header, choose License Headers in Project Properties.
To change this template file, choose Tools | Templates
and open the template in the editor.
-->


    <beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/security"
        xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" 
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-4.0.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/security
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/security/spring-security-4.0.xsd">

        <http auto-config="true">
            <intercept-url pattern="/admin**" access="ROLE_USER" />
        </http>

        <authentication-manager>
          <authentication-provider>
            <user-service>
            <user name="mkyong" password="123456" authorities="ROLE_USER" />
            </user-service>
          </authentication-provider>
        </authentication-manager>

    </beans:beans>

I am using spring security..

I have two pages 1) welcome - access to all 2) admin - access only by admin

when I am trying to access admin page, It throws me error of 500.

How can I solve the error?

(Is there any need to attach any files?)

Answer 1

If you are using Spring security 4.0 you should use hasRole('ROLE_ADMIN'). and also use "use-expressions=true"

So change to

<http auto-config="true" use-expressions="true">
    <intercept-url pattern="/admin**" access="hasRole('ROLE_ADMIN')" />
</http>

it will work fine for this.

Answer 2

You have a couple of typos. The first intercept-url line is missing single quotes around ROLE_ADMIN.

It should be

<intercept-url pattern="/admin**" access="hasRole('ROLE_ADMIN')" />