java.lang.Object | +----java.lang.SecurityManager
public abstract class SecurityManager
extends Object
The security manager is an abstract class that allows applications to implement a security policy. It allows an application to determine, before performing a possibly unsafe or sensitive operation, what the operation is and whether the operation is being performed by a class created via a class loader rather than installed locally. Classes loaded via a class loader (especially if they have been downloaded over a network) may be less trustworthy than classes from files installed locally. The application can allow or disallow the operation.
The SecurityManager class contains many methods with names that begin with the word check. These methods are called by various methods in the Java libraries before those methods perform certain potentially sensitive operations. The invocation of such a check method typically looks like this:
SecurityManager security = System.getSecurityManager();
if (security != null) {
security.checkXXX(argument, . . . );
}
The security manager is thereby given an opportunity to prevent completion of the operation by throwing an exception. A security manager routine simply returns if the operation is permitted, but throws a SecurityException if the operation is not permitted. The only exception to this convention is checkTopLevelWindow, which returns a boolean value.
The current security manager is set by the setSecurityManager method in class System. The current security manager is obtained by the getSecurityManager method.
The default implementation of each of the checkXXX methods is to assume that the caller does not have permission to perform the requested operation.