Allow Specific URL patterns to bypass Spring Security Login - spring

Question

I have a web application protected by spring security. However, there is one particular URL pattern that I do not want to apply any security to. I've tried a few different approaches, but none of them seem to be working. Whenever I attempt to go to that specific URL, I am forwarded to the spring_security_login page.
A piece of the web.xml:
<!-- NOT SECURE -->
<servlet>
<servlet-name>dontSecureServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>org.com.gov.lol.DontSecure</servlet-class>
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>dontSecureServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/dontSecure</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<!-- SECURE -->
<servlet>
<servlet-name>secureServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>org.com.gov.lol.Secure</servlet-class>
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>secureServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>*.htm</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<!-- SECURITY FILTER -->
<filter-mapping>
<filter-name>springSecurityFilterChain</filter-name>
<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
<dispatcher>REQUEST</dispatcher>
<dispatcher>ERROR</dispatcher>
</filter-mapping>
A piece of the security-context.xml:
<!-- This did not work -->
<http pattern="/dontSecure" security="none" />
<http entry-point-ref="entryPoint" use-expressions="true">
<custom-filter ref="customFilter" position="PRE_AUTH_FILTER" />
<!-- I've also tried adding the following here (with no luck) -->
<intercept-url pattern="/dontSecure" filters="none" />
<intercept-url pattern="/secureMe" requires-channel="https" />
<intercept-url pattern="/secureUs" requires-channel="https" />
</http>
<!-- I have even tried adding a separate <http> block just for /dontSecure -->
<http>
<intercept-url pattern="/dontSecure" security="none" />
</http>
Again, with any combination of the above configuration, the url /dontSecure is still forwarded to the spring login page.
Any ideas as to what could be causing this?
Cheers.
UPDATE
From the server logs, it seems that the /dontSecure url is loading the dontSecureServlet. However, an error seems to be generated and I am being forwareded the 404 error page (which is configured as /404.htm, which must be what brings me back to the login page).
I've included some extra snippits from the web.xml that I didn't think were relevant at first.

Answer 1

Try to change your intercept-url in your configuration with this one:
<intercept-url pattern="/dontSecure/**" access="permitAll" />
not in a separate <http> tag

Answer 2

The problem might be caused by the fact that your custom filter is getting applied to all the paths. You have to find a way to register your custom filter only for certain paths (I could show you how to do this in Spring Boot, but you probably aren't using it).