PKIX path building failed while making SSL connection

Question

I'm integrating with a Merchant Account called CommWeb and I'm sending an SSL post to their URL (https://migs.mastercard.com.au/vpcdps). When I try to send the post, I get the following exception:

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

The code (which I didn't write, and that already exists in our codebase) that performs the post is:

public static HttpResponse sendHttpPostSSL(String url, Map<String, String> params) throws IOException {
    PostMethod postMethod = new PostMethod(url);
    for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : params.entrySet()) {
        postMethod.addParameter(entry.getKey(), StringUtils.Nz(entry.getValue()));
    }

    HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
    int status = client.executeMethod(postMethod);
    if (status == 200) {
        StringBuilder resultBuffer = new StringBuilder();
        resultBuffer.append(postMethod.getResponseBodyAsString());
        return new HttpResponse(resultBuffer.toString(), "");
    } else {
        throw new IOException("Invalid response code: " + status);
    }
}

The documentation for the Merchant Account integration says nothing about certificates. They did provide some sample JSP code that seems to blindly accept certificates:

<%! // Define Static Constants
    // ***********************
public static X509TrustManager s_x509TrustManager = null;
public static SSLSocketFactory s_sslSocketFactory = null;

static {
        s_x509TrustManager = new X509TrustManager() {
        public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() { return new X509Certificate[] {}; } 
        public boolean isClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] chain) { return true; } 
        public boolean isServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] chain) { return true; } 
    };

    java.security.Security.addProvider(new com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider());
    try {
        SSLContext context = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
        context.init(null, new X509TrustManager[] { s_x509TrustManager }, null);
        s_sslSocketFactory = context.getSocketFactory();
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        throw new RuntimeException(e.getMessage());
    }
}

...
...
           // write output to VPC
            SSLSocket ssl = (SSLSocket)s_sslSocketFactory.createSocket(s, vpc_Host, vpc_Port, true);
            ssl.startHandshake();
            os = ssl.getOutputStream();
            // get response data from VPC
            is = ssl.getInputStream();
...
...
%>

Our webapp has a keystore, and I tried adding the certificate (which I exported from firefox) using the keytool command, but that didn't work and I got the same error. I've tried solutions on the web (importing the key and using System.setProperty) but that seems kind of clunky and it didn't work (gave me a NoSuchAlgorithmError). Any help is appreciated!

Clambake

#21076679 – Protactinium

Answer 1

Evidently the valicert class 3 CA certificate is not in your default truststore (which is probably the cacerts file in your JRE lib/security directory, but see the JSSE documentation for the full story).

You could add this certificate to the cacerts file, but I don't recommend this. Instead, I think you should create your own truststore file (which can be a copy of the cacerts file) and add the valicert root ca to this. Then point to this file with the javax.net.ssl.trustStore system property.

Laurin

I will try this out tomorrow. For now, I got it to work by creating a new socket factory that implements SecureProtocolSocketFactory from commons.httpclient. It blindly accepts the certificate. However, I want to change this and make it work the right way. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks! – Clambake

I'm just going to go ahead and accept your solution and add mine as a comment. I was able to figure it out only after looking at the documentation you pointed me to! – Clambake

Greg, can you explain to me "add the valicert root ca to this". What does it mean, and how it should be done? – Shorter

Answer 2

I figure I should update this answer with what I actually did. Using the documentation that GregS provided, I created a trust manager for valicert. In the trust manager, I load the certificate files:

public class ValicertX509TrustManager implements X509TrustManager {

    X509TrustManager pkixTrustManager;

    ValicertX509TrustManager() throws Exception {

        String valicertFile = "/certificates/ValicertRSAPublicRootCAv1.cer";
        String commwebDRFile = "/certificates/DR_10570.migs.mastercard.com.au.crt";
        String commwebPRODFile = "/certificates/PROD_10549.migs.mastercard.com.au.new.crt";

        Certificate valicert = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X509").generateCertificate(this.getClass().getResourceAsStream(valicertFile));
        Certificate commwebDR = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X509").generateCertificate(this.getClass().getResourceAsStream(commwebDRFile));
        Certificate commwebPROD = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X509").generateCertificate(this.getClass().getResourceAsStream(commwebPRODFile));

        KeyStore keyStore = KeyStore.getInstance("JKS");
        keyStore.load(null, "".toCharArray());
        keyStore.setCertificateEntry("valicert", valicert);
        keyStore.setCertificateEntry("commwebDR", commwebDR);
        keyStore.setCertificateEntry("commwebPROD", commwebPROD);

        TrustManagerFactory trustManagerFactory = TrustManagerFactory.getInstance("PKIX");
        trustManagerFactory.init(keyStore);

        TrustManager trustManagers[] = trustManagerFactory.getTrustManagers();

        for(TrustManager trustManager : trustManagers) {
            if(trustManager instanceof X509TrustManager) {
                pkixTrustManager = (X509TrustManager) trustManager;
                return;
            }
        }

        throw new Exception("Couldn't initialize");
    }

    public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] chain, String authType) throws CertificateException {
        pkixTrustManager.checkServerTrusted(chain, authType);
    }

    public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] chain, String authType) throws CertificateException {
        pkixTrustManager.checkServerTrusted(chain, authType);
    }

    public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
        return pkixTrustManager.getAcceptedIssuers();
    }
}

Now, using this trust manager, I had to create a socket factory:

public class ValicertSSLProtocolSocketFactory implements ProtocolSocketFactory {

    private SSLContext sslContext = null;

    public ValicertSSLProtocolSocketFactory() {
        super();
    }

    private static SSLContext createValicertSSLContext() {
        try {
            ValicertX509TrustManager valicertX509TrustManager = new ValicertX509TrustManager();
            SSLContext context = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
            context.init(null, new ValicertX509TrustManager[] { valicertX509TrustManager}, null);
            return context;
        }

        catch(Exception e) {
            Log.error(Log.Context.Net, e);
            return null;
        }
    }

    private SSLContext getSSLContext() {
        if(this.sslContext == null) {
            this.sslContext = createValicertSSLContext();
        }

        return this.sslContext;
    }

    public Socket createSocket(String host, int port, InetAddress clientHost, int clientPort) throws IOException {
        return getSSLContext().getSocketFactory().createSocket(host, port, clientHost, clientPort);
    }

    public Socket createSocket(final String host, final int port, final InetAddress localAddress, final int localPort, final HttpConnectionParams params) throws IOException {
        if(params == null) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Parameters may not be null");
        }

        int timeout = params.getConnectionTimeout();
        SocketFactory socketFactory = getSSLContext().getSocketFactory();

        if(timeout == 0) {
            return socketFactory.createSocket(host, port, localAddress, localPort);
        }

        else {
            Socket socket = socketFactory.createSocket();
            SocketAddress localAddr = new InetSocketAddress(localAddress, localPort);
            SocketAddress remoteAddr = new InetSocketAddress(host, port);
            socket.bind(localAddr);
            socket.connect(remoteAddr, timeout);
            return socket;
        }
    }

    public Socket createSocket(String host, int port) throws IOException {
        return getSSLContext().getSocketFactory().createSocket(host, port);
    }

    public Socket createSocket(Socket socket, String host, int port, boolean autoClose) throws IOException {
        return getSSLContext().getSocketFactory().createSocket(socket, host, port, autoClose);
    }

    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        return ((obj != null) && obj.getClass().equals(ValicertSSLProtocolSocketFactory.class));
    }

    public int hashCode() {
        return ValicertSSLProtocolSocketFactory.class.hashCode();
    }
}

Now I just register a new protocol:

Protocol.registerProtocol("vhttps", new Protocol("vhttps", new ValicertSSLProtocolSocketFactory(), 443));
PostMethod postMethod = new PostMethod(url);
for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : params.entrySet()) {
    postMethod.addParameter(entry.getKey(), StringUtils.Nz(entry.getValue()));
}

HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
int status = client.executeMethod(postMethod);
if (status == 200) {
    StringBuilder resultBuffer = new StringBuilder();
    resultBuffer.append(postMethod.getResponseBodyAsString());
    return new HttpResponse(resultBuffer.toString(), "");
} else {
    throw new IOException("Invalid response code: " + status);
}

The only disadvantage is that I had to create a specific protocol (vhttps) for this particular certificate.

Clambake