Trusting all certificates using HttpClient over HT

Question

Recently posted a question regarding the HttpClient over Https (found here). I've made some headway, but I've run into new issues. As with my last problem, I can't seem to find an example anywhere that works for me. Basically, I want my client to accept any certificate (because I'm only ever pointing to one server) but I keep getting a javax.net.ssl.SSLException: Not trusted server certificate exception.

So this is what I have:

    public void connect() throws A_WHOLE_BUNCH_OF_EXCEPTIONS {

        HttpPost post = new HttpPost(new URI(PROD_URL));
        post.setEntity(new StringEntity(BODY));

        KeyStore trusted = KeyStore.getInstance("BKS");
        trusted.load(null, "".toCharArray());
        SSLSocketFactory sslf = new SSLSocketFactory(trusted);
        sslf.setHostnameVerifier(SSLSocketFactory.ALLOW_ALL_HOSTNAME_VERIFIER);

        SchemeRegistry schemeRegistry = new SchemeRegistry();
        schemeRegistry.register(new Scheme ("https", sslf, 443));
        SingleClientConnManager cm = new SingleClientConnManager(post.getParams(),
                schemeRegistry);

        HttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient(cm, post.getParams());
        HttpResponse result = client.execute(post);
    }

And here's the error I'm getting:

    W/System.err(  901): javax.net.ssl.SSLException: Not trusted server certificate 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.OpenSSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(OpenSSLSocketImpl.java:360) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.http.conn.ssl.AbstractVerifier.verify(AbstractVerifier.java:92) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLSocketFactory.connectSocket(SSLSocketFactory.java:321) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.http.impl.conn.DefaultClientConnectionOperator.openConnection(DefaultClientConnectionOperator.java:129) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.http.impl.conn.AbstractPoolEntry.open(AbstractPoolEntry.java:164) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.http.impl.conn.AbstractPooledConnAdapter.open(AbstractPooledConnAdapter.java:119) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultRequestDirector.execute(DefaultRequestDirector.java:348) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.http.impl.client.AbstractHttpClient.execute(AbstractHttpClient.java:555) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.http.impl.client.AbstractHttpClient.execute(AbstractHttpClient.java:487) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.http.impl.client.AbstractHttpClient.execute(AbstractHttpClient.java:465) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at me.harrisonlee.test.ssl.MainActivity.connect(MainActivity.java:129) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at me.harrisonlee.test.ssl.MainActivity.access$0(MainActivity.java:77) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at me.harrisonlee.test.ssl.MainActivity$2.run(MainActivity.java:49) 
    W/System.err(  901): Caused by: java.security.cert.CertificateException: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trust anchors set is empty 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(TrustManagerImpl.java:157) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.OpenSSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(OpenSSLSocketImpl.java:355) 
    W/System.err(  901):    ... 12 more 
    W/System.err(  901): Caused by: java.security.InvalidAlgorithmParameterException: the trust anchors set is empty 
    W/System.err(  901):    at java.security.cert.PKIXParameters.checkTrustAnchors(PKIXParameters.java:645) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at java.security.cert.PKIXParameters.<init>(PKIXParameters.java:89) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.TrustManagerImpl.<init>(TrustManagerImpl.java:89) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.TrustManagerFactoryImpl.engineGetTrustManagers(TrustManagerFactoryImpl.java:134) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at javax.net.ssl.TrustManagerFactory.getTrustManagers(TrustManagerFactory.java:226)W/System.err(  901):     at org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLSocketFactory.createTrustManagers(SSLSocketFactory.java:263) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLSocketFactory.<init>(SSLSocketFactory.java:190) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLSocketFactory.<init>(SSLSocketFactory.java:216) 
    W/System.err(  901):    at me.harrisonlee.test.ssl.MainActivity.connect(MainActivity.java:107) 
    W/System.err(  901):    ... 2 more

Answer 1

The code above in https://stackoverflow.com/a/6378872/1553004 is correct, except it MUST also call the hostname verifier:

    @Override
public Socket createSocket(Socket socket, String host, int port, boolean autoClose) throws IOException {
    SSLSocket sslSocket = (SSLSocket)sslContext.getSocketFactory().createSocket(socket, host, port, autoClose);
    getHostnameVerifier().verify(host, sslSocket);
    return sslSocket;
}

I signed up to stackoverflow expressly to add this fix. Heed my warning!

Answer 2

The API of HttpComponents has got changed. It works with the code below.

public static HttpClient getTestHttpClient() {
    try {
        SSLSocketFactory sf = new SSLSocketFactory(new TrustStrategy(){
            @Override
            public boolean isTrusted(X509Certificate[] chain,
                    String authType) throws CertificateException {
                return true;
            }
        }, new AllowAllHostnameVerifier());

        SchemeRegistry registry = new SchemeRegistry();
        registry.register(new Scheme("https",8444, sf));
        ClientConnectionManager ccm = new ThreadSafeClientConnManager(registry);
        return new DefaultHttpClient(ccm);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        return new DefaultHttpClient();
    }
}

Answer 3

I'm adding a response for those that use the httpclient-4.5, and probably works for 4.4 as well.

import java.security.cert.CertificateException;
import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;

import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
import org.apache.http.client.HttpResponseException;
import org.apache.http.client.fluent.ContentResponseHandler;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
import org.apache.http.conn.ssl.NoopHostnameVerifier;
import org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLConnectionSocketFactory;
import org.apache.http.conn.ssl.TrustStrategy;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClients;
import org.apache.http.ssl.SSLContextBuilder;



public class HttpClientUtils{

public static HttpClient getHttpClientWithoutSslValidation_UsingHttpClient_4_5_2() {
    try {
        SSLContextBuilder builder = new SSLContextBuilder();
        builder.loadTrustMaterial(null, new TrustStrategy() {
            @Override
            public boolean isTrusted(X509Certificate[] chain, String authType) throws CertificateException {
                return true;
            }
        });
        SSLConnectionSocketFactory sslsf = new SSLConnectionSocketFactory(builder.build(), new NoopHostnameVerifier());
        CloseableHttpClient httpclient = HttpClients.custom().setSSLSocketFactory(sslsf).build(); 
        return httpclient;
    } catch (Exception e) {
        throw new RuntimeException(e);
    }
}
}

Answer 4

Note: Do not implement this in production code you are ever going to use on a network you do not entirely trust. Especially anything going over the public internet.

Your question is just what I want to know. After I did some searches, the conclusion is as follows.

In HttpClient way, you should create a custom class from org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLSocketFactory, not the one org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLSocketFactory itself. Some clues can be found in this post Custom SSL handling stopped working on Android 2.2 FroYo.

An example is like ...

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.Socket;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;
import java.security.KeyManagementException;
import java.security.KeyStore;
import java.security.KeyStoreException;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.security.UnrecoverableKeyException;
import java.security.cert.CertificateException;
import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;

import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
import javax.net.ssl.TrustManager;
import javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager;

import org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLSocketFactory;
public class MySSLSocketFactory extends SSLSocketFactory {
    SSLContext sslContext = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");

    public MySSLSocketFactory(KeyStore truststore) throws NoSuchAlgorithmException, KeyManagementException, KeyStoreException, UnrecoverableKeyException {
        super(truststore);

        TrustManager tm = new X509TrustManager() {
            public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] chain, String authType) throws CertificateException {
            }

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

            public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
                return null;
            }
        };

        sslContext.init(null, new TrustManager[] { tm }, null);
    }

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

    @Override
    public Socket createSocket() throws IOException {
        return sslContext.getSocketFactory().createSocket();
    }
}

and use this class while creating instance of HttpClient.

public HttpClient getNewHttpClient() {
    try {
        KeyStore trustStore = KeyStore.getInstance(KeyStore.getDefaultType());
        trustStore.load(null, null);

        MySSLSocketFactory sf = new MySSLSocketFactory(trustStore);
        sf.setHostnameVerifier(SSLSocketFactory.ALLOW_ALL_HOSTNAME_VERIFIER);

        HttpParams params = new BasicHttpParams();
        HttpProtocolParams.setVersion(params, HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1);
        HttpProtocolParams.setContentCharset(params, HTTP.UTF_8);

        SchemeRegistry registry = new SchemeRegistry();
        registry.register(new Scheme("http", PlainSocketFactory.getSocketFactory(), 80));
        registry.register(new Scheme("https", sf, 443));

        ClientConnectionManager ccm = new ThreadSafeClientConnManager(params, registry);

        return new DefaultHttpClient(ccm, params);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        return new DefaultHttpClient();
    }
}

BTW, the link below is for someone who is looking for HttpURLConnection solution. Https Connection Android

I have tested the above two kinds of solutions on froyo, and they all work like a charm in my cases. Finally, using HttpURLConnection may face the redirect problems, but this is beyond the topic.

Note: Before you decide to trust all certificates, you probably should know the site full well and won't be harmful of it to end-user.

Indeed, the risk you take should be considered carefully, including the effect of hacker's mock site mentioned in the following comments that I deeply appreciated. In some situation, although it might be hard to take care of all certificates, you'd better know the implicit drawbacks to trust all of them.

Answer 5

You can disable HttpURLConnection SSL checking for testing purposes this way since API 8:

    HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
    if (conn instanceof HttpsURLConnection) {
        HttpsURLConnection httpsConn = (HttpsURLConnection) conn;
        httpsConn.setSSLSocketFactory(SSLCertificateSocketFactory.getInsecure(0, null));
        httpsConn.setHostnameVerifier(new AllowAllHostnameVerifier());
    }

Answer 6

For those who would like to allow all certificates to work (for testing purposes) over OAuth, follow these steps:

1) Download the source code of the Android OAuth API here: https://github.com/kaeppler/signpost

2) Find the file "CommonsHttpOAuthProvider" class

3) Change it as below:

public class CommonsHttpOAuthProvider extends AbstractOAuthProvider {

private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

private transient HttpClient httpClient;

public CommonsHttpOAuthProvider(String requestTokenEndpointUrl, String accessTokenEndpointUrl,
        String authorizationWebsiteUrl) {
    super(requestTokenEndpointUrl, accessTokenEndpointUrl, authorizationWebsiteUrl);


    //this.httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();//Version implemented and that throws the famous "javax.net.ssl.SSLException: Not trusted server certificate" if the certificate is not signed with a CA
    this.httpClient = MySSLSocketFactory.getNewHttpClient();//This will work with all certificates (for testing purposes only)
}

The "MySSLSocketFactory" above is based on the accepted answer. To make it even easier, here goes the complete class:

package com.netcomps.oauth_example;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.Socket;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;
import java.security.KeyManagementException;
import java.security.KeyStore;
import java.security.KeyStoreException;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.security.UnrecoverableKeyException;
import java.security.cert.CertificateException;
import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;

import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
import javax.net.ssl.TrustManager;
import javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager;

import org.apache.http.HttpVersion;
import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
import org.apache.http.conn.ClientConnectionManager;
import org.apache.http.conn.scheme.PlainSocketFactory;
import org.apache.http.conn.scheme.Scheme;
import org.apache.http.conn.scheme.SchemeRegistry;
import org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLSocketFactory;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
import org.apache.http.impl.conn.tsccm.ThreadSafeClientConnManager;
import org.apache.http.params.BasicHttpParams;
import org.apache.http.params.HttpParams;
import org.apache.http.params.HttpProtocolParams;
import org.apache.http.protocol.HTTP;

//http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2642777/trusting-all-certificates-using-httpclient-over-https
public class MySSLSocketFactory extends SSLSocketFactory {

    SSLContext sslContext = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");

public MySSLSocketFactory(KeyStore truststore) throws NoSuchAlgorithmException, KeyManagementException, KeyStoreException, UnrecoverableKeyException {

    super(truststore);
    TrustManager tm = new X509TrustManager() {

        @Override
        public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] chain, String authType) throws CertificateException {
        }

        @Override
        public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] chain, String authType) throws CertificateException {
        }

        @Override
        public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
            return null;
        }
    };

    sslContext.init(null, new TrustManager[] { tm }, null);
}

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

@Override
public Socket createSocket() throws IOException {
    return sslContext.getSocketFactory().createSocket();
}



public static HttpClient getNewHttpClient() {

    try {
        KeyStore trustStore = KeyStore.getInstance(KeyStore.getDefaultType());
        trustStore.load(null, null);

        SSLSocketFactory sf = new MySSLSocketFactory(trustStore);
        sf.setHostnameVerifier(SSLSocketFactory.ALLOW_ALL_HOSTNAME_VERIFIER);

        HttpParams params = new BasicHttpParams();
        HttpProtocolParams.setVersion(params, HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1);
        HttpProtocolParams.setContentCharset(params, HTTP.UTF_8);

        SchemeRegistry registry = new SchemeRegistry();
        registry.register(new Scheme("http", PlainSocketFactory.getSocketFactory(), 80));
        registry.register(new Scheme("https", sf, 443));

        ClientConnectionManager ccm = new ThreadSafeClientConnManager(params, registry);

        return new DefaultHttpClient(ccm, params);

    } catch (Exception e) {
        return new DefaultHttpClient();
    }
}

}

Hope this helps someone.