---
title: SAIF.Presentation.Web.Controls.V2.Menu security and authorization
summary: Authorization requirements, externally sourced menu entitlement data, security enforcement points, and declarative CAS constraints.
status: draft
owner: SAIF documentation team
last_reviewed: 2026-08-18
library: SAIF.Presentation.Web.Controls.V2.Menu
reference_type: package
---

# SAIF.Presentation.Web.Controls.V2.Menu security and authorization

This page documents authorization mechanisms implemented or consumed by this library. Authentication is handled entirely by infrastructure (Windows/IIS integrated authentication) and is not application-level — this library reads the current identity from `HttpContext.Current.Request.LogonUserIdentity.Name` rather than performing any authentication itself.

## Authorization architecture

This library performs no authorization decisions of its own. It resolves the current Windows-authenticated identity to construct a per-user `NavigationContext`, then renders whatever menu/favorite items and toolbar button states that externally supplied, database-backed authorization data (`clsMenuAuthorizedItem` / `clsMenuAuthorizedItemCollection`, owned by `SAIF.Business.Menu`) indicates are authorized for that user*. The library is a pure rendering consumer of an authorization boundary owned outside this library's scope.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    User[Windows-authenticated user] --> Identity["HttpContext.Current.Request.LogonUserIdentity.Name"]
    Identity --> NavCtx[NavigationContext]
    NavCtx --> AuthItems["clsMenuAuthorizedItemCollection<br>(SAIF.Business.Menu, DB-backed)"]
    AuthItems --> SAIFMenu["SAIFMenu<br>(side panel: apps, categories, favorites)"]
    AuthItems --> SAIFMenuTop["SAIFMenuTop<br>(toolbar: CRUD/print/help buttons)"]
```

## AD resource catalog

None. This library does not reference Active Directory groups, `System.DirectoryServices`, or the WCF `SecurityService` pattern used elsewhere in the SAIF stack. Menu-item entitlement is sourced from database-driven "security groups" managed entirely within `SAIF.Business.Menu` (free-text `SECURITY_GROUP_TXT` values in `MENU_SECURITY`/`MENU_SECURITY_USER`), not Windows/AD groups**.

## Authorization enforcement points

### Attribute-based authorization

None. No MVC controller actions or declarative `[SAIFAuthorize]` attributes exist in this library — it is a WebForms server-control library, not a controller library.

### Programmatic authorization checks

| Class | Method | Resource / Role | Check type | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `SAIFMenu` | `AddLinks(NavigationData)` / `AddFavorites(NavigationData)` | Per-user authorized menu items and favorites | Rendering filter driven by externally supplied `clsMenuAuthorizedItemCollection`* | `SAIF.Presentation.Web.Controls.V2.Menu\SAIFMenu.vb` |
| `SAIFMenuTop` | `Page_PreLoad` | Current page's `IsDisplayInsert`/`IsDisplaySave`/`IsDisplayDelete`/`IsDisplayPrint`/`IsDisplayDownload`/`IsDisplaySavePreferences`/`IsDisplayHelp` flags | Toolbar button visibility/enablement driven by externally supplied `clsMenuAuthorizedItem` ("current page") state* | `SAIF.Presentation.Web.Controls.V2.Menu\SAIFMenuTop.vb` |

<!-- This library does not itself call IsAuthorized/IsInRole/HasAccess; it consumes pre-computed
     authorization state produced by SAIF.Business.Menu / NavigationContext (out of scope for this library). -->

## Data-level authorization

| Entity type | Validation method | Mechanism | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Menu item / favorite | `SAIFMenu.AddLinks` / `AddFavorites` | Renders only items present in the current user's `clsMenuAuthorizedItemCollection`, obtained from `NavigationContext` (populated per-user from the database in `SAIF.Business.Menu`, external to this library)* | `SAIF.Presentation.Web.Controls.V2.Menu\SAIFMenu.vb` |
| Current page / toolbar action | `SAIFMenuTop.Page_PreLoad` | Reads `CurrentPage`/`CurrentItem` (a `clsMenuAuthorizedItem`) via `NavigationContext.GetCurrentPage()` to set per-button visibility/enablement flags* | `SAIF.Presentation.Web.Controls.V2.Menu\SAIFMenuTop.vb` |

<!-- This is page/menu-entitlement filtering, not object-ownership validation (e.g. policy/claim
     ownership) — no such ownership checks exist in this library. -->

## Segregation of duties

None. No segregation-of-duties rules were found in this library's source.

## Security interfaces and contracts

| Interface / Class | Role | Consumers | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `NavigationContext` | Resolves the current user's identity and holds the per-user authorized-menu-item collection used to gate rendering | `SAIFMenu`, `SAIFMenuTop` | `SAIF.Presentation.Web.MVC\NavigationContext.vb` (external to this library) |
| `clsMenuAuthorizedItem` / `clsMenuAuthorizedItemCollection` | Represents the set of menu items, favorites, and per-page action flags a user is entitled to see, populated from the database | `SAIFMenu`, `SAIFMenuTop` | `SAIF.Business.Menu` (external to this library) |

## Notable security-relevant findings

- **Windows/Integrated authentication dependency**: `SAIFMenu` and `SAIFMenuTop` both resolve the current user via `HttpContext.Current.Request.LogonUserIdentity.Name` (stripping the domain prefix before `\`), implying the hosting application relies on Windows/IIS integrated authentication rather than forms authentication*.
- **Externally gated Change Password link**: `SAIFMenu.AddFavorites` conditionally renders a "Change Password" favorite link only when `AppGlobal.EnvironmentService.IsClientExternal` is true, distinguishing internal-network from external-client deployments for which self-service security actions are surfaced*.
- **`Imports SAIF.Framework.Security`** appears in `SAIFMenu.vb`, but no explicit type from that namespace is referenced in the visible code — the import may be vestigial or used implicitly through inherited/extension behavior*.
- **`[AspNetHostingPermission]` declarative security (CAS)**: `SAIFImageButton` is decorated with `AspNetHostingPermissionAttribute` (`SecurityAction.Demand` and `SecurityAction.InheritanceDemand`, both `Level:=AspNetHostingPermissionLevel.Minimal`) — a legacy Code Access Security declaration limiting the minimum trust level under which the control (and any inheriting class) may run in medium/partial-trust IIS hosting scenarios.
- **Error/diagnostic exposure risk**: `SAIFMenu.RenderControl` and `SAIFMenuTop.RenderControl` catch all exceptions during rendering and write `ex.Message`, `ex.Source`, and `ex.StackTrace` directly into the rendered HTML output rather than logging them, which could leak internal implementation details to end users in a production error scenario*.

## Inherited security

### From `NavigationContext` and `clsMenuAuthorizedItem`/`clsMenuAuthorizedItemCollection` (`SAIF.Business.Menu`)

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| **Mechanism** | Database-table-driven, application-managed "security groups" (`MENU_SECURITY`, `MENU_SECURITY_USER`) — not Active Directory/Windows groups† |
| **Enforcement** | `clsMenuAuthorizedItemCollection` retrieves, per user, the set of menu items visible via a SQL join/union against the user's security-group membership, unsecured (public) items, and favorites† |
| **Origin** | `SAIF.Business.Menu` — `clsMenuAuthorizedItem`, `clsMenuAuthorizedItemCollection` |
| **Source** | Retrieved from indexed documentation via Legends CLI |

## Notes
> **Note:** Statements marked with * were inferred from code structure, naming conventions, or
> contextual evidence where direct confirmation was not available in source artifacts. Statements
> marked with ** could not be confirmed; treat as unknown until verified.

## Related documentation
- [Index](index.md)
- [Overview](overview.md)
- [Architecture](architecture.md)
- [Dependencies](dependencies.md)
- [Operations and processes](operations-processes.md)
- [Business rules](business-rules.md)
- [Control catalog](control-catalog.md)
- [Configuration](configuration.md)
- [API reference](api/index.md)

## Sources
- `SAIF.Presentation.Web.Controls.V2.Menu\SAIFMenu.vb`
- `SAIF.Presentation.Web.Controls.V2.Menu\SAIFMenuTop.vb`
- `SAIF.Presentation.Web.Controls.V2.Menu\SAIFImageButton.vb`