SAML assertion exceptions within EJB

Question

Okay, I'll try to keep this simple:<br /><br />We are implementing the standard LC Java API's for rendering forms (using the FormsServiceClient) and then transforming the rendered content to PDF/A using the outputClient. Since we have a lot of simultaneous requests the logic is implemented within a stateless session EJB. <br /><br />I instantiate the ServiceClientFactory within the EJB's init() method and then store the ServiceClientFactory reference as a class variable so that on subsequent business method invocations, the same ServiceClientFactory object can be reused (without going throug the overhead of instantiating one on each req). (Note that on each request, I create a new FormsServiceClient or OutputClient using the SAME ServiceClientFactory object). I have some questions/concerns:<br /><br />1) Is this form of reuse of the ServiceClientFactory object okay?<br /><br />2) We keep getting the following error:<br />><i>" <Warning> <com.adobe.idp.common.errors.exception.IDPLoggedException> <000000> <UserM:GENERIC_WARNING: [Thread Hashcode: 668113225] | [AuthenticationManagerBean] errorCode:12804 errorCodeHEX:0x3204 message:Could not validate SAML Token --- Assertion is not valid. Current time is greater than NOTonOrAfter time specified in the Assertion>"</i><br /><br />After a simple restart of the EJB, the error goes away. How can this be fixed? What's causing this?<br /><br />Any help would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

PROBLEM
Using the same instance of ServiceClientFactory to remotely invoke the services exposed by the LiveCycle container can lead to
exception related to assertion expiry
Solution
To handle the timeout use the ThrowHandler mechanism provided by the ServiceClientFactory framework
Detailed explanation
LiveCycle provides a client sdk for java based client to invoke its services remotely.
An invocation involves Creation of a ServiceClientFactory instance Setting the user credential in thefactory instance Pass that factory to a service client or use that to create InvocationRequest directly
Use the client to make the actual request.
For more details refer to Invoking
LiveCycle ES Using the Java API .
A ServiceClientFactory instance once created is valid for a ceratin
period of time which is by default 120 min. if the same instance is used to invoke beyond this period then it would lead to an exception stating that
the session has expired [com.adobe.idp.um.api.impl.AuthenticationManagerImpl]
errorCode:16421 errorCodeHEX:0x4025 message:Could not validate SAML
Token --- Assertion has expired and hence not valid for user
[administrator@DefaultDom]. Its valid till time [Thu Oct 22
17:07:53 IST
2009] was found to be before the current time [Thu Oct
22 17:58:18 IST 2009]
This is not an issue if the ServiceClientFactory instance is used for short duration. However if you are going to perform a long
running task like converting large number of documents to pdf ,applying policies to them etc then it would be an issue.
Session Expiry
Before fxing the issue some info on what is session expiry.
When you use a ServiceClientFactory instance to invoke the service following fow happens
You set the credentials in the properties and invoke theservice
LiveCycle on server side validates the credentials and issues a Context. It is sort of a ticket which can be reused later instead of the actual credentials.
Upon receiving the response from the server the ServiceClientFactory instance deletes its own copy of credentials and instead stores the Context For later invocations this Context instance is passed instead of the user credentials
This whole fow is done to ensure that user's credentials are not sent for each remote call thus improving the security.
For more information on Context refer to
User Identity in LiveCycle .
Solution
To fx this issue you would have to re authenticate to LiveCycle and get the Context reissued. the best way to do that is to make use of the ThrowHandler provided by the ServiceClientFactory framework
STEP1 -  Create a Throwhandler
* This ThrowHandler caches the user credentials and uses them
to refresh the Context in the
* ServiceClientFactory upon expiry.
private static class SimpleTimeoutThrowHandler implements
ThrowHandler {
private String username;
private String password;
public SimpleTimeoutThrowHandler(String username, String
password) {
this.username = username;
this.password = password;
public boolean handleThrowable(Throwable t, ServiceClient
sc,
ServiceClientFactory scf, MessageDispatcher md,
InvocationRequest ir, int numTries) throws
DSCException {
if(timeoutError(t)){
//The call to AuthenticationManager do not require
authentication so the default properties
//are suffcient
AuthenticationManager am =
new
AuthenticationManagerServiceClient(ServiceClientFactory.createInstance(getDefaultPropertie s()));
AuthResult ar = null;
try {
ar =
am.authenticate(username,password.getBytes());
} catch (UMException e) {
throw new IllegalStateException(e);
Context ctx = new Context();
ctx.initPrincipal(ar);
//Refresh the ServiceClientFactory instance with
the new context
scf.setContext(ctx);
logger.info("Refreshed the context associated with
ServiceCLientFactory");
//Now tell SCF to try the invocation again
return true;
//Check so that we do not wrap the exception again
if(t instanceof DSCException)
throw (DSCException)t;
if(t instanceof RuntimeException)
throw (RuntimeException)t;
// how is it possible to get this far?
throw new IllegalStateException(t);
private boolean timeoutError(Throwable t) {
if(!(t.getCause() instanceof UMException)){
return false;
UMException ue = (UMException) t.getCause();
//Check that UMException is due to the
assertion/context expiry
if(UMConstants.ErrorCodes.E_TOKEN_INVALID ==
ue.getErrCode()){
return true;
return false;
This ThrowHandler would be invoked by the ServiceClientFactory upon receiving any exception. The handler would then determine if its a timeout related exception and then would refresh the Context associated with the factory instance and tells it to retry the invocation.
STEP - 2 Register the handler
ServiceClientFactory.installThrowHandler(new
SimpleTimeoutThrowHandler(username, password));
Note: The handler should be registered only once in the application
STEP 3 - Perform your invocation
Following sample would try to apply policies on all the fles present in a directory
Properties p = getDefaultProperties();
p.setProperty(DSC_CREDENTIAL_USERNAME, username);
p.setProperty(DSC_CREDENTIAL_PASSWORD, password);
ServiceClientFactory scf =
ServiceClientFactory.createInstance(p);
//Now do some long running operation
String inputDirName ="path-to-input-dir";
String outDirName = "path-to-out-dir";
String policyName = "the-policy-name";
File inDir = new File(inputDirName);
File outDir = new File(outDirName);
RightsManagementClient rmClient = new
RightsManagementClient(scf);
DocumentManager docManager = rmClient.getDocumentManager();
//Iterate over all the pdf in the inDir and apply the
policies. If this takes a
for(File pdfFile : inDir.listFiles()){
Document inDoc = new Document(pdfFile, false);
Document securedDoc = docManager.applyPolicy(inDoc,
pdfFile.getName(), null, policyName, null, null);
securedDoc.copyToFile(new
File(outDir,pdfFile.getName()));
Now the invocation would complete even if it takes a long time. if any session expiry occurs then our ThrowHandler would take care of that.
here's a sample:
TimeOutSample.zip