Question

java ssl: unable to find valid certification path to requested target

Asked by: scuzzie

Hi experts,

Java newbie here. Trying to do a POST to a https://

I get:
sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target

It's a Verisign cert which should be included in Java shouldn't it? I shouldn't need to import a certificate or sign anything etc?

The error occurs when writing to the output stream.

I really need step-by-step help.

Thanks

HttpsURLConnection connection = (HttpsURLConnection) _url.openConnection();
      connection.setRequestMethod("POST");
 
      connection.setDoOutput(true);
      String body = "USER=" + URLEncoder.encode(_username, "UTF-8") + "&PASSWORD=" + URLEncoder.encode(_password, "UTF-8");
 
      byte[] bytes = body.getBytes();
      connection.setFixedLengthStreamingMode(bytes.length);
      connection.getOutputStream().write(bytes);
 
      connection.connect();
 
      if (connection.getResponseCode() == HttpsURLConnection.HTTP_MOVED_TEMP) {
        return connection.getHeaderField("Set-Cookie");
      }
      
      connection.disconnect();

                                  
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Asked On
2008-07-31 at 03:32:09ID23610405
Tags

java

,

ssl

,

https

,

certificate

,

cert

,

certification path

,

verisign

,

login

,

httpurlconnection

,

POST

Topics

Java Standard Edition

,

Java Programming Language

,

Encryption for Network Security

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
27

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Answers

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2008-07-31 at 03:35:16ID: 22128398

 

by: scuzziePosted on 2008-07-31 at 03:37:22ID: 22128409

Thanks, but the server is not using a test certificate.

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2008-07-31 at 03:42:34ID: 22128428

Nonetheless, it might *not* be in your keystore as you expect. You can import it though:

http://technojeeves.com/joomla/index.php?view=article&catid=37%3Afreebies&id=46%3Ajava-cert&option=com_content&Itemid=54

 

by: scuzziePosted on 2008-07-31 at 03:48:15ID: 22128448

I'll give that a go. My understanding was that since we are using Verisign, this shouldn't be an issue. Is that correct? Does it point to an incorrect installation of the cert on the server? Or an incorrect or incomplete installation of Java/NetBeans on my machine?

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2008-07-31 at 03:50:16ID: 22128459

Java travels pretty light with certs i'm afraid - it's not like your browser

 

by: objectsPosted on 2008-07-31 at 03:59:28ID: 22128512

it should be there
use the following to check the keystore

keytool -list -storepass changeit -noprompt -keystore blah/jre/lib/security/cacerts

if its not there first check u are using the correct keystore and then try this code

http://www.objects.com.au/java/qa/1236077575.html

let me know how you get on

 

by: scuzziePosted on 2008-07-31 at 04:12:38ID: 22128577

there are 6/7 verisign ones there for all the jre's i can find (including the jdk/jre one)

i am not specifying a keystore, so presumably it will use the same one as your keytool command does above?

i am reluctant to try importing the cert since i don't really know what i'm doing and it seems as though i shouldn't have to. presumably this will mean i will have to include code to import the cert for every user - is this the normal way of doing things? i will of course do it if that is definitely my next step, just wanted to check first!

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2008-07-31 at 04:23:05ID: 22128639

>>and then try this code

(already mentioned)

It could be you don't have the right Verisign ones, but your conclusions are correct, unless you disable cert checking for that domain programmatically

 

by: objectsPosted on 2008-07-31 at 04:24:14ID: 22128649

u shouldn't have to. have you checked the details of the public key coming back from the server?

what environemnt are you running in?  Some containers manage their own set of trusted certificates

 

by: scuzziePosted on 2008-07-31 at 04:28:25ID: 22128677

@CEHJ

I will definitely try the code if that's what I have to do. It seems I shouldn't have to do that which points to an error in my code/installation/environment. It seems that's what I need to track down.

@objects

How do I check the public key?

The swing client app that I'm writing is using jre1.6u7 on Vista Business SP1 using NetBeans 6.1

 

by: objectsPosted on 2008-07-31 at 04:29:54ID: 22128683

problem could well be in the servers cert.

and try the latest version of Java if you aren't already

 

by: objectsPosted on 2008-07-31 at 04:32:19ID: 22128697

> I will definitely try the code if that's what I have to d

you shouldn't have to,

> How do I check the public key?

browser is the easiest

and try a few other https sites to get a better idea if the problem is at your end.

 

by: scuzziePosted on 2008-07-31 at 04:35:12ID: 22128707

This is what I see running InstallCert on the domain:

What does this indicate? That I shouldn't be receiving errors?
??



run-single:
Loading KeyStore C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_07\jre\lib\security\cacerts...
Opening connection to www.!!!.com:443...
Starting SSL handshake...

No errors, certificate is already trusted

Server sent 2 certificate(s):

 1 Subject CN=www.!!!.com, OU="Member, VeriSign Trust Network", OU=Authenticated by VeriSign, OU=Terms of use at www.verisign.co.uk/rpa (c)05, OU=Website, O=!!!, L=London, ST=London, C=GB
   Issuer  CN=VeriSign Class 3 Secure Server CA, OU=Terms of use at https://www.verisign.com/rpa (c)05, OU=VeriSign Trust Network, O="VeriSign, Inc.", C=US
   sha1    a0 2e 12 2f 35 c9 d1 61 28 fb 92 71 dc a4 d8 49 54 79 38 51
   md5     b4 0e 26 9e 21 92 b0 34 63 3e f7 c3 88 97 b6 11

 2 Subject CN=VeriSign Class 3 Secure Server CA, OU=Terms of use at https://www.verisign.com/rpa (c)05, OU=VeriSign Trust Network, O="VeriSign, Inc.", C=US
   Issuer  OU=Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority, O="VeriSign, Inc.", C=US
   sha1    18 85 90 e9 48 78 47 8e 33 b6 19 4e 59 fb bb 28 ff 08 88 d5
   md5     2a c8 48 c0 85 f3 27 de 32 29 44 bb b0 2c 79 f8

Enter certificate to add to trusted keystore or 'q' to quit: [1]

 

by: objectsPosted on 2008-07-31 at 04:38:02ID: 22128719

> No errors, certificate is already trusted

appears to be already trusted. Double check against the certs you listed earlier


and here is some light reading for you :)

http://mindprod.com/jgloss/certificate.html

 

by: scuzziePosted on 2008-07-31 at 04:58:28ID: 22128816

Well it seems I've solved it.

It seems having the "Compress JAR file" packagin option checked causes this error. See attached image.

Please let me know if this is a bug in Java/NetBeans let me know and I'll try to find the appropriate place to submit it.

Thank you very much for your expert help!

 

by: objectsPosted on 2008-07-31 at 05:17:00ID: 22128917

certainly sounds like a bug. Sun are the people to tell.

 

by: scuzziePosted on 2008-07-31 at 05:26:27ID: 22128972

Java or NetBeans?

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2008-07-31 at 05:54:30ID: 22129162

Glad you got it fixed. Are you saying that if you don't select 'compress jar file' it works?

 

by: scuzziePosted on 2008-07-31 at 05:56:08ID: 22129172

So am I! Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2008-07-31 at 06:06:00ID: 22129251

You could eliminate NB as a cause by compressing it using jar outisde NB

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2008-07-31 at 06:06:05ID: 22129254

You could eliminate NB as a cause by compressing it using jar outisde NB

 

by: scuzziePosted on 2008-07-31 at 06:08:32ID: 22129285

I'm new to Java. Happy to do this but don't know how.

 

by: objectsPosted on 2008-07-31 at 16:56:10ID: 22134488

> Java or NetBeans?

up to them to determine just describe the scenario.

> I'm new to Java. Happy to do this but don't know how.

Have you tried recreating the compressed jar in nb and running again to see if the problem comes back.
Seems a strange bug so worth checking if something else didn't actually fix it and the uncompressing was a coincidence.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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