others-how to solve 'javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target' when trying to access an https URL using JAVA ?
1. Purpose
1.1 The problem
In this post, I will show you how to solve the javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target error when trying to access an https URL using JAVA.
[bswen1] 2023-03-20 08:24:19,813 -167924204 [RxCachedThreadScheduler-661] ERROR com.bswen.utils.HttpUtil.postMessage(HttpUtil.java:238) - IO Exception
javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
at sun.security.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Alerts.java:192)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.fatal(SSLSocketImpl.java:1937)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:302)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:296)
at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1478)
at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.processMessage(ClientHandshaker.java:212)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.processLoop(Handshaker.java:969)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.process_record(Handshaker.java:904)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:1050)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1363)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1391)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1375)
at org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLConnectionSocketFactory.createLayeredSocket(SSLConnectionSocketFactory.java:436)
at org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLConnectionSocketFactory.connectSocket(SSLConnectionSocketFactory.java:384)
at org.apache.http.impl.conn.DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.connect(DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.java:142)
at org.apache.http.impl.conn.PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager.connect(PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager.java:376)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.MainClientExec.establishRoute(MainClientExec.java:393)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.MainClientExec.execute(MainClientExec.java:236)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.ProtocolExec.execute(ProtocolExec.java:186)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.RetryExec.execute(RetryExec.java:89)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.RedirectExec.execute(RedirectExec.java:110)
at org.apache.http.impl.client.InternalHttpClient.doExecute(InternalHttpClient.java:185)
at org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient.execute(CloseableHttpClient.java:83)
at org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient.execute(CloseableHttpClient.java:108)
at com.bswen.utils.HttpUtil.postMessage(HttpUtil.java:223)
at com.bswen.utils.HttpUtil.sendMail(HttpUtil.java:160)
at com.bswen.service.JobService.doRealSendVerifyEmail(JobService.java:1812)
at com.bswen.service.JobService.lambda$verifyEmail$7(JobService.java:1748)
at com.bswen.service.JobService$$Lambda$13/1852749345.accept(Unknown Source)
at io.reactivex.internal.observers.LambdaObserver.onNext(LambdaObserver.java:63)
at io.reactivex.internal.operators.observable.ObservableSubscribeOn$SubscribeOnObserver.onNext(ObservableSubscribeOn.java:58)
at io.reactivex.internal.operators.observable.ObservableScalarXMap$ScalarDisposable.run(ObservableScalarXMap.java:248)
at io.reactivex.internal.operators.observable.ObservableJust.subscribeActual(ObservableJust.java:35)
at io.reactivex.Observable.subscribe(Observable.java:12090)
at io.reactivex.internal.operators.observable.ObservableSubscribeOn$SubscribeTask.run(ObservableSubscribeOn.java:96)
at io.reactivex.Scheduler$DisposeTask.run(Scheduler.java:578)
at io.reactivex.internal.schedulers.ScheduledRunnable.run(ScheduledRunnable.java:66)
at io.reactivex.internal.schedulers.ScheduledRunnable.call(ScheduledRunnable.java:57)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.access$201(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:180)
at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:293)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:387)
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(PKIXValidator.java:292)
at sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Validator.java:260)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.validate(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:324)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:229)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:124)
at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1460)
... 39 more
Caused by: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.build(SunCertPathBuilder.java:145)
at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.engineBuild(SunCertPathBuilder.java:131)
at java.security.cert.CertPathBuilder.build(CertPathBuilder.java:280)
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:382)
... 45 more
1.2 The environment
I am using JDK 1.8
2. Solution
2.1 The reason
As the following stacktrace shown , the error happened in the process of “validating the server’s certificate”, here is the flow chart of SSLHandShake process:
Caused by: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:387)
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(PKIXValidator.java:292)
at sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Validator.java:260)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.validate(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:324)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:229)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:124)
at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1460)
During the SSL handshake, both the client and the server need to prove its identity to the other, as the following picture shows, the client will store the server’s public key inside its local keystore file:
According to the error, the JDK can not find the server’s public key in local keystore. So we need to add the server’s cert manually.
2.2 The solution #1
We can request the server’s certificate manually , just create a java class as follows:
/*
* Copyright 2006 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*
* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
* modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
* are met:
*
* - Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
*
* - Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
* documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
*
* - Neither the name of Sun Microsystems nor the names of its
* contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
* from this software without specific prior written permission.
*
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS
* IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
* THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
* PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
* CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
* EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
* PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
* PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
* LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
* NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
* SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
*/
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.security.KeyStore;
import java.security.MessageDigest;
import java.security.cert.CertificateException;
import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;
import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
import javax.net.ssl.SSLException;
import javax.net.ssl.SSLSocket;
import javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory;
import javax.net.ssl.TrustManager;
import javax.net.ssl.TrustManagerFactory;
import javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager;
/**
* Two ways of Usage:
* 1.Compile it to class, and then run in command line: java InstallCert xxx.com
* 2.Run it in your IDE, and configure the runtime args to new String[]{"xxx.com"};
*
*/
public class InstallCert {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
// args = new String[]{"xxx.com"};
String host;
int port;
char[] passphrase;
if ((args.length == 1) || (args.length == 2)) {
String[] c = args[0].split(":");
host = c[0];
port = (c.length == 1) ? 443 : Integer.parseInt(c[1]);
String p = (args.length == 1) ? "changeit" : args[1];
passphrase = p.toCharArray();
} else {
System.out.println("Usage: java InstallCert <host>[:port] [passphrase]");
return;
}
File file = new File("jssecacerts");
if (file.isFile() == false) {
char SEP = File.separatorChar;
File dir = new File(System.getProperty("java.home") + SEP + "lib" + SEP + "security");
file = new File(dir, "jssecacerts");
if (file.isFile() == false) {
file = new File(dir, "cacerts");
}
}
System.out.println("Loading KeyStore " + file + "...");
InputStream in = new FileInputStream(file);
KeyStore ks = KeyStore.getInstance(KeyStore.getDefaultType());
ks.load(in, passphrase);
in.close();
SSLContext context = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
TrustManagerFactory tmf = TrustManagerFactory.getInstance(TrustManagerFactory.getDefaultAlgorithm());
tmf.init(ks);
X509TrustManager defaultTrustManager = (X509TrustManager) tmf.getTrustManagers()[0];
SavingTrustManager tm = new SavingTrustManager(defaultTrustManager);
context.init(null, new TrustManager[] { tm }, null);
SSLSocketFactory factory = context.getSocketFactory();
System.out.println("Opening connection to " + host + ":" + port + "...");
SSLSocket socket = (SSLSocket) factory.createSocket(host, port);
socket.setSoTimeout(10000);
try {
System.out.println("Starting SSL handshake...");
socket.startHandshake();
socket.close();
System.out.println();
System.out.println("No errors, certificate is already trusted");
} catch (SSLException e) {
System.out.println();
e.printStackTrace(System.out);
}
X509Certificate[] chain = tm.chain;
if (chain == null) {
System.out.println("Could not obtain server certificate chain");
return;
}
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
System.out.println();
System.out.println("Server sent " + chain.length + " certificate(s):");
System.out.println();
MessageDigest sha1 = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA1");
MessageDigest md5 = MessageDigest.getInstance("MD5");
for (int i = 0; i < chain.length; i++) {
X509Certificate cert = chain[i];
System.out.println(" " + (i + 1) + " Subject " + cert.getSubjectDN());
System.out.println(" Issuer " + cert.getIssuerDN());
sha1.update(cert.getEncoded());
System.out.println(" sha1 " + toHexString(sha1.digest()));
md5.update(cert.getEncoded());
System.out.println(" md5 " + toHexString(md5.digest()));
System.out.println();
}
System.out.println("Enter certificate to add to trusted keystore or 'q' to quit: [1]");
String line = reader.readLine().trim();
int k;
try {
k = (line.length() == 0) ? 0 : Integer.parseInt(line) - 1;
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
System.out.println("KeyStore not changed");
return;
}
X509Certificate cert = chain[k];
String alias = host + "-" + (k + 1);
ks.setCertificateEntry(alias, cert);
OutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("jssecacerts");
ks.store(out, passphrase);
out.close();
System.out.println();
System.out.println(cert);
System.out.println();
System.out.println("Added certificate to keystore 'jssecacerts' using alias '" + alias + "'");
}
private static final char[] HEXDIGITS = "0123456789abcdef".toCharArray();
private static String toHexString(byte[] bytes) {
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(bytes.length * 3);
for (int b : bytes) {
b &= 0xff;
sb.append(HEXDIGITS[b >> 4]);
sb.append(HEXDIGITS[b & 15]);
sb.append(' ');
}
return sb.toString();
}
private static class SavingTrustManager implements X509TrustManager {
private final X509TrustManager tm;
private X509Certificate[] chain;
SavingTrustManager(X509TrustManager tm) {
this.tm = tm;
}
public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
}
public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] chain, String authType) throws CertificateException {
throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
}
public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] chain, String authType) throws CertificateException {
this.chain = chain;
tm.checkServerTrusted(chain, authType);
}
}
}
Note:
Suppose the jssecacerts file was generated for other domain names before, and now you want to add a new domain name to the jdk certificate. At this time, if you directly regenerate the jssecacerts file, it will overwrite the old one in %JAVA_HOME%\jre\lib\security. The previous domain name information will be lost.
Based on this situation, you need to proceed as follows:(Backup your jssecacerts before operation)
- Run
InstallCertto generatejssecacerts(this step is to know where InstallCert generates jssecacerts) - Copy the original
%JAVA_HOME%\jre\lib\security\jssecacertsfile and replace the newly generated jssecacerts file - Run InstallCert again to add the new domain name to
jssecacerts
On the whole, it is actually a process of adding hosts. PS: Pay attention to backup before operation, and jssecacerts is a fixed name, do not modify it at will.
2.3 The solution #2
As the error happened when validating the server’s certificate, we can just ignore this process, e.g. Make the client just trust the server’s domain, do NOT validate the server’s certificate.
Ignoring a server’s certificate during SSL/TLS handshake is generally not recommended as it may expose your application to security risks. However, in some cases such as testing or debugging, you may want to disable certificate validation temporarily.
In Java, you can disable certificate validation by creating a custom TrustManager that accepts all certificates. Here is an example:
import javax.net.ssl.*;
import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;
public class TrustAllManager implements X509TrustManager {
public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] cert, String authType) {}
public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] cert, String authType) {}
public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
return new X509Certificate[0];
}
}
// Disable SSL/TLS certificate validation
TrustManager[] trustAllCerts = new TrustManager[] { new TrustAllManager() };
SSLContext sslContext = SSLContext.getInstance("SSL");
sslContext.init(null, trustAllCerts, null);
HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultSSLSocketFactory(sslContext.getSocketFactory());
// Make a request to the server
URL url = new URL("https://example.com");
HttpsURLConnection con = (HttpsURLConnection) url.openConnection();
con.setRequestMethod("GET");
con.connect();
In this example, we create a custom TrustManager called TrustAllManager that accepts all certificates without verification. Then, we initialize an SSLContext with the TrustManager array and set it as the default SSLSocketFactory for all HTTPS connections.
Note that disabling certificate validation in this way should only be used for testing and debugging purposes and not in production environments. It’s also important to understand the security risks involved before disabling certificate validation.
3. Summary
In this post, I demonstrated how to sovle the sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target error when trying to access an HTTPS URL in Java, the keypoint is to make sure that the server’s certificate is located in your local keystore or you can just igore the validation. That’s it, thanks for your reading.