Unable to find valid certification path to requested target - error even after cert imported

I have a Java client trying to access a server with a self-signed certificate.

When I try to Post to the server, I get the following error:

> unable to find valid certification path to requested target

Having done some research on the issue, I then did the following.

1. Saved my servers domain name as a root.cer file.
2. In my Glassfish server's JRE, I ran this:
   keytool -import -alias example -keystore cacerts -file root.cer
3. To check the cert was added to my cacert successfully, I did this:
   keytool -list -v -keystore cacerts
   I can see the cert is present.
4. I then restarted Glassfish and retired the 'post'.

I am still getting thesame error.

I have a feeling this is because my Glassfish is not actually reading the cacert file that I have amended but maybe some other one.

Have any of you had this issue and can push me in the right direction?

Unfortunately - it could be many things - and lots of app servers and other java 'wrappers' are prone to play with properties and their 'own' take on keychains and what not. So it may be looking at something totally different.

Short of truss-ing - I'd try:

java -Djavax.net.debug=all -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=trustStore ...

to see if that helps. Instead of 'all' one can also set it to 'ssl', key manager and trust manager - which may help in your case. Setting it to 'help' will list something like below on most platforms.

Regardless - do make sure you fully understand the difference between the keystore (in which you have the private key and cert you prove your own identity with) and the trust store (which determines who you trust) - and the fact that your own identity also has a 'chain' of trust to the root - which is separate from any chain to a root you need to figure out 'who' you trust.

all            turn on all debugging
ssl            turn on ssl debugging

The   following can be used with ssl:
    record       enable per-record tracing
    handshake    print each handshake message
    keygen       print key generation data
    session      print session activity
    defaultctx   print default SSL initialization
    sslctx       print SSLContext tracing
    sessioncache print session cache tracing
    keymanager   print key manager tracing
    trustmanager print trust manager tracing
    pluggability print pluggability tracing

    handshake debugging can be widened with:
    data         hex dump of each handshake message
    verbose      verbose handshake message printing

    record debugging can be widened with:
    plaintext    hex dump of record plaintext
    packet       print raw SSL/TLS packets

Source: # See http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/guide/security/jsse/JSSERefGuide.html#Debug

Here is the solution , follow the below link Step by Step :

http://www.mkyong.com/webservices/jax-ws/suncertpathbuilderexception-unable-to-find-valid-certification-path-to-requested-target/

JAVA FILE : which is missing from the blog

/*
 * 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.*;
import java.net.URL;

import java.security.*;
import java.security.cert.*;

import javax.net.ssl.*;

public class InstallCert {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
	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);
	}
    }

}

You need to configuring JSSE System Properties, specifically point to client certificate store.

Via command line:

java -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=truststores/client.ts com.progress.Client

or via Java code:

import java.util.Properties;
    ...
	Properties systemProps = System.getProperties();
	systemProps.put("javax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword","passwordForKeystore");
	systemProps.put("javax.net.ssl.keyStore","pathToKeystore.ks");
    systemProps.put("javax.net.ssl.trustStore", "pathToTruststore.ts");
    systemProps.put("javax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword","passwordForTrustStore");
    System.setProperties(systemProps);
    ...

For more refer to details on RedHat site.

(repost from my other response)
Use cli utility keytool from java software distribution for import (and trust!) needed certificates

Sample:

0. From cli change dir to jre\bin

1. Check keystore (file found in jre\bin directory)
   keytool -list -keystore ..\lib\security\cacerts
   Password is changeit

2. Download and save all certificates in chain from needed server.

3. Add certificates (before need to remove "read-only" attribute on file ..\lib\security\cacerts), run:

   keytool -alias REPLACE_TO_ANY_UNIQ_NAME -import -keystore.\lib\security\cacerts -file "r:\root.crt"

accidentally I found such a simple tip. Other solutions require the use of InstallCert.Java and JDK

source: http://www.java-samples.com/showtutorial.php?tutorialid=210

I had the same problem with sbt.
It tried to fetch dependencies from repo1.maven.org over ssl
but said it was "unable to find valid certification path to requested target url".
so I followed this post and still failed to verify a connection.
So I read about it and found that the root cert is not enough, as was suggested by the post,so -
the thing that worked for me was importing the intermediate CA certificates into the keystore.
I actually added all the certificates in the chain and it worked like a charm.

Solution when migrating from JDK 8 to JDK 10

• The certificates are really different
  • JDK 10 has 80, while JDK 8 has 151
• JDK 10 has been recently added the certs
  • https://dzone.com/articles/openjdk-10-now-includes-root-ca-certificates
  • http://openjdk.java.net/jeps/319

JDK 10

root@c339504909345:/opt/jdk-minimal/jre/lib/security #  keytool -cacerts -list
Enter keystore password:
Keystore type: JKS
Keystore provider: SUN

Your keystore contains 80 entries

JDK 8

root@c39596768075:/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre/lib/security/cacerts #  keytool -cacerts -list
Enter keystore password:
Keystore type: JKS
Keystore provider: SUN

Your keystore contains 151 entries

Steps to fix

• I deleted the JDK 10 cert and replaced it with the JDK 8
• Since I'm building Docker Images, I could quickly do that using Multi-stage builds
  • I'm building a minimal JRE using jlink as /opt/jdk/bin/jlink \ --module-path /opt/jdk/jmods...

So, here's the different paths and the sequence of the commands...

# Java 8
COPY --from=marcellodesales-springboot-builder-jdk8 /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre/lib/security/cacerts /etc/ssl/certs/java/cacerts

# Java 10
RUN rm -f /opt/jdk-minimal/jre/lib/security/cacerts
RUN ln -s /etc/ssl/certs/java/cacerts /opt/jdk-minimal/jre/lib/security/cacerts

I came across this error while trying to access a https url from my application which was using self-signed certificate. What they provide is a .cert file and I was not sure where to put that. I solved it the following way:

keytool location is under JDK/bin folder

Method 1: Add the certificate to default Java Truststore - cacerts:

keytool -import -alias myCert -file C://certificate.cert -keystore C://Program Files//Java//jdk1.8.0_271//jre//lib//security//cacerts

Password: changeit

Method 2:

Create a Trust Store:

keytool -import -alias myCert -file C://certificate.cert -keystore myTrustStore

It gives you the following prompts, which can be filled up as:

Enter keystore password:changeit
Re-enter new password:changeit
Trust this certificate?yes

This will create a myTrustStore file inside a folder where you ran this command. Copy this "mytrustStore" to a convenient location.

Use the Trust Store:

While you are running your application/server pass these JVM arguments:

-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=C://myTrustStore -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword=changeit

I am working on a tutorial for REST web services at www.udemy.com (REST Java Web Services). The example in the tutorial said that in order to have SSL, we must have a folder called "trust_store" in my eclipse "client" project that should contain a "key store" file (we had a "client" project to call the service, and "service" project that contained the REST web service - 2 projects in the same eclipse workspace, one the client, the other the service). To keep things simple, they said to copy "keystore.jks" from the glassfish app server (glassfish\domains\domain1\config\keystore.jks) we are using and put it into this "trust_store" folder that they had me make in the client project. That seems to make sense: the self-signed certs in the server's key_store would correspond to the certs in the client trust_store. Now, doing this, I was getting the error that the original post mentions. I have googled this and read that the error is due to the "keystore.jks" file on the client not containing a trusted/signed certificate, that the certificate it finds is self-signed.

To keep things clear, let me say that as I understand it, the "keystore.jks" contains self-signed certs, and the "cacerts.jks" file contains CA certs (signed by the CA). The "keystore.jks" is the "keystore" and the "cacerts.jks" is the "trust store". As "Bruno", a commenter, says above, "keystore.jks" is local, and "cacerts.jks" is for remote clients.

So, I said to myself, hey, glassfish also has the "cacerts.jks" file, which is glassfish's trust_store file. cacerts.jsk is supposed to contain CA certificates. And apparently I need my trust_store folder to contain a key store file that has at least one CA certificate. So, I tried putting the "cacerts.jks" file in the "trust_store" folder I had made, on my client project, and changing the VM properties to point to "cacerts.jks" instead of "keystore.jks". That got rid of the error. I guess all it needed was a CA cert to work.

This may not be ideal for production, or even for development beyond just getting something to work. For instance you could probably use "keytool" command to add CA certs to the "keystore.jks" file in the client. But anyway hopefully this at least narrows down the possible scenarios that could be going on here to cause the error.

ALSO: my approach seemed to be useful for the client (server cert added to client trust_store), it looks like the comments above to resolve the original post are useful for the server (client cert added to server trust_store). Cheers.

Eclipse project setup:

• MyClientProject
• src
• test
• JRE System Library
• ...
• trust_store
  ---cacerts.jks ---keystore.jks

Snippet from MyClientProject.java file:

static {
  // Setup the trustStore location and password
  System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStore","trust_store/cacerts.jks");
  // comment out below line
  System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStore","trust_store/keystore.jks");
  System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword", "changeit");
  //System.setProperty("javax.net.debug", "all");
	
  // for localhost testing only
  javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultHostnameVerifier(new javax.net.ssl.HostnameVerifier() {
        public boolean verify(String hostname, javax.net.ssl.SSLSession sslSession) {
          return hostname.equals("localhost");
        }

  });
}

My problem was that a Cloud Access Security Broker, NetSkope, was installed on my work laptop through a software update. This was altering the certificate chain and I was still not able to connect to the server through my java client after importing the entire chain to my cacerts keystore. I disabled NetSkope and was able to successfully connect.

Check if the file $JAVA_HOME/lib/security/cacerts exists! In my case it was not a file but a link to /etc/ssl/certs/java/cacerts and also this was a link to itself (WHAT???) so due to it JVM can't find the file.

Solution: Copy the real cacerts file (you can do it from another JDK) to /etc/ssl/certs/java/ directory and it'll solve your problem :)

In my case I was facing the problem because in my tomcat process specific keystore was given using

-Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=/pathtosomeselfsignedstore/truststore.jks

Wheras I was importing the certificate to the cacert of JRE/lib/security and the changes were not reflecting. Then I did below command where /tmp/cert1.test contains the certificate of the target server

keytool -import -trustcacerts -keystore /pathtosomeselfsignedstore/truststore.jks -storepass password123 -noprompt -alias rapidssl-myserver -file /tmp/cert1.test

We can double check if the certificate import is successful

keytool -list -v -keystore /pathtosomeselfsignedstore/truststore.jks

and see if your taget server is found against alias rapidssl-myserver

In my case, I was getting error connecting to AWS Gov Postgres RDS. There is a separate link for GOV RDS CA certs- https://s3.us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com/rds-downloads/rds-combined-ca-us-gov-bundle.pem

Add this pem certs to cacerts of java. You can use below script.

------WINDOWDS STEPS-------

1. Use VSCODE editor and install openssl, keytool plugins
2. create a dir in C:/rds-ca
3. place 'cacerts' file and below script file - 'addCerts.sh' inside dir 'rd-ca'
4. run from vscode: 4.1 cd /c/rds-ca/ 4.2 ./addCerts.sh
5. Copy cacerts to ${JAVA_HOME}/jre/lib/security

Script code:

#!/usr/bin/env sh

OLDDIR="$PWD"

CACERTS_FILE=cacerts

cd /c/rds-ca

echo "Downloading RDS certificates..."

curl  https://s3.us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com/rds-downloads/rds-combined-ca-us-gov-bundle.pem > rds-combined-ca-bundle.pem

csplit -sk rds-combined-ca-bundle.pem "/-BEGIN CERTIFICATE-/" "{$(grep -c 'BEGIN CERTIFICATE' rds-combined-ca-bundle.pem | awk '{print $1 - 2}')}"

for CERT in xx*; do
    # extract a human-readable alias from the cert
    ALIAS=$(openssl x509 -noout -text -in $CERT |
                   perl -ne 'next unless /Subject:/; s/.*CN=//; print')
    echo "importing $ALIAS"
    
    keytool -import \
            -keystore  $CACERTS_FILE \
            -storepass changeit -noprompt \
            -alias "$ALIAS" -file $CERT
done

cd "$OLDDIR"
echo "$NEWDIR"

Wasted a lot of time on that issue. If you imported the certificate and you can see it listed here.

keytool -list -v -keystore $JAVA_HOME/lib/security/cacerts

Then create the new one, with the following command, replace SITE_NAME, SITE_PORT, CERTIFICATE_NAME and path to save file.

echo -n | openssl s_client -connect SITE_NAME:SITE_PORT  \
| openssl x509 > /path/to/save/CERTIFICATE_NAME.cert

In my case, I experienced problem using Keycloak with Spring. After I created certificate with this command and imported to keystore, the problem was solved and it works fine

*** note for eclipse / Sts users: because eclipse uses it's own jre, you should add certs to it's own jre. I had this issue until I added certs to Sts's jre. Ssl log:

`javax.net.ssl|DEBUG|1A|restartedMain|2021-12-06 23:04:00.874` IRST|TrustStoreManager.java:113|trustStore is: D:\sts-4.12.0.RELEASE\plugins\org.eclipse.justj.openjdk.hotspot.jre.full.win32.x86_64_16.0.2.v20210721-1149\jre\lib\security\cacerts

This is the full path: "sts-4.12.0.RELEASE\plugins\org.eclipse.justj.openjdk.hotspot.jre.full.win32.x86_64_16.0.2.v20210721-1149\jre\lib\security\cacerts"

I created a ubuntu on my windows 10 laptop and I ran into issue when I was trying to load CMAK site download from https://github.com/yahoo/CMAK site. First it gave fatal ssl error.

openssl s_client -showcerts -servername github.com -connect github.com:443 </dev/null 2>/dev/null | sed -n -e '/BEGIN\ CERTIFICATE/,/END\ CERTIFICATE/ p'  > github-com.pem

and use the following command (make sure you put right path for ca-cert)

cat github-com.pem | sudo tee -a /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

Then use the following statement (make sure the path for cert is correct):

git config --global http.sslCAinfo /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

Then I was able to download CMAK but ran into issue when i tried ./sbt clean statement. It was giving a pkix path error. The reason is that I do not have my company issue cert stored in my cacert file.

I have downloaded the company cert (google on how to do it) and followed this article to add my downloaded cert to cacert file. Used sudo update-ca-certificates one more time before ./sbt. It worked for me.

Note: You may have to switch between root and exit when you are following above steps.

I added this in my pom.xml file and it worked for me

<build>
		<plugins>
			<plugin>
				<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
				<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
				<version>3.0.0-M5</version>
			</plugin>
		</plugins>
</build>