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Spring / Spring Security

Difference between Spring Security 5 and 6.

Spring Security 6 (shipped with Spring Boot 3) represents a significant modernization of the framework, removing long-deprecated APIs and enforcing more secure defaults.

Note: Most changes in version 6 are designed to support Jakarta EE 9/10 and Java 17+.

1. Fundamental Baseline Changes

  • Java Version: Minimum requirement moved from Java 8/11 to Java 17.
  • Jakarta Migration: All javax.* imports (Servlets, Persistence) have been replaced by jakarta.*.

2. Configuration Overhaul

The most noticeable change for developers is the removal of the old configuration style.

Feature Spring Security 5 Spring Security 6
Setup Method Extending WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter Component-based (Bean-based) configuration
Request Matchers antMatchers(), mvcMatchers() Unified requestMatchers()
HTTP Authorization authorizeRequests() authorizeHttpRequests()
Method Security @EnableGlobalMethodSecurity @EnableMethodSecurity

3. Lambda DSL Requirement

Spring Security 6 forces the use of the Lambda DSL to make configurations more readable and less prone to order-dependent errors.

Spring Security 6 Example:

@Bean
public SecurityFilterChain filterChain(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
    http
        .csrf(csrf -> csrf.disable())
        .authorizeHttpRequests(auth -> auth
            .requestMatchers("/api/public/**").permitAll()
            .anyRequest().authenticated()
        );
    return http.build();
}

4. Security Hardening & Observability

  • Default Denial: In version 6, if a request does not match an explicit rule, it is denied by default (Defense-in-depth).
  • Lazy CSRF Tokens: CSRF tokens are no longer loaded on every request by default, which is better for performance in stateless applications.
  • Micrometer Support: Integrated observability for tracking security metrics and traces.

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