Spring Boot Security Interview Questions

🟢 Beginner Level

  1. What is Spring Security and how does it work with Spring Boot?
  2. How do you enable Spring Security in a Spring Boot application?
  3. What are the default configurations provided by Spring Security?
  4. What is the difference between @PreAuthorize and @Secured annotations?
  5. How do you configure in-memory authentication in Spring Boot?
  6. What is the purpose of the WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter class?

🟡 Intermediate Level

  1. How do you secure REST APIs using Spring Security?
  2. What is the difference between Authentication and Authorization?
  3. How do you configure a custom login form with Spring Security?
  4. How do you implement role-based access control (RBAC) in Spring Boot?
  5. What is CSRF and how does Spring Security handle it?
  6. How can you disable CSRF protection for certain endpoints (e.g., APIs)?

🔴 Advanced Level

  1. How do you integrate JWT (JSON Web Token) with Spring Boot Security?
  2. What are stateless vs. stateful authentication in Spring Security?
  3. How do you implement OAuth2 authentication in a Spring Boot app?
  4. Explain how to secure a microservices architecture using Spring Cloud Gateway and Spring Security.
  5. How do you manage user sessions and session timeouts in Spring Security?
  6. How do you secure endpoints based on dynamic permissions from a database?

✅ Bonus Practical Questions:

  • “Walk me through securing a REST API using JWT and Spring Boot.”
  • “How would you prevent brute-force attacks in a Spring Boot app?”
  • “What tools do you use for monitoring and auditing security events?”

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