Validate X.509 certificate against CA in Java

Question

Lets say I have something like this (client side code):

TrustManager[] trustAllCerts = new TrustManager[]{
    new X509TrustManager() {

        @Override
        public java.security.cert.X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
            return null;
        }

        @Override
        public void checkClientTrusted(
                java.security.cert.X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
        }

        @Override
        public void checkServerTrusted(
                java.security.cert.X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
        }
    }
};

SSLContext sslc = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
sslc.init(null, trustAllCerts, null);

SocketFactory sf = sslc.getSocketFactory();
SSLSocket s = (SSLSocket) sf.createSocket("127.0.0.1", 9124);

This code is complete functional, but I really can not figure out, how to validate server's certificate against one concrete CA certificate that I have available in pem file.

All certificates are signed by my self-signed CA, and it is the CA I need to validate against (only against this one).

Every answer is appreciated.

EDIT:

In response to jglouie (thank you very much this way - can not vote up your answer).

I founded the solution:

new X509TrustManager() {

        @Override
        public java.security.cert.X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
            return null;
        }

        @Override
        public void checkClientTrusted(
                java.security.cert.X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
        }

        @Override
        public void checkServerTrusted(
                java.security.cert.X509Certificate[] certs, String authType)
                throws CertificateException {
            InputStream inStream = null;
            try {
                // Loading the CA cert
                URL u = getClass().getResource("tcp/cacert.pem");
                inStream = new FileInputStream(u.getFile());
                CertificateFactory cf = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X.509");
                X509Certificate ca = (X509Certificate) cf.generateCertificate(inStream);
                inStream.close();

                for (X509Certificate cert : certs) {
                    // Verifing by public key
                    cert.verify(ca.getPublicKey());
                }
            } catch (Exception ex) {
                Logger.getLogger(Client.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
            } finally {
                try {
                    inStream.close();
                } catch (IOException ex) {
                    Logger.getLogger(Client.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
                }
            }

        }
    }
};

Answer 1

The accepted answer is extremely incorrect. It doesn't cryptographically verify any connection between the server certificate and the trusted certificate authority. In general, you should almost never need to implement your own TrustManager, doing so is extremely dangerous.

As EJP stated, there's no need to implement your own TrustManager, you can just use the default one, and ensure that the trusted CA certificate has been added to your default TrustStore. See this question for more information.

Take a look at the CertPathValidator class from the JDK, which verifies a continuous chain of trust from the server's own certificate up through a trusted CA. See Oracle's docs for an introduction to certificate chain validation.

Answer 2

This code is completely functional

This code is completely dysfunctional. It is completely insecure, as well as not even conforming to its own specification. There is rarely a need to supply your own TrustManager, the default one works really well.

All you need to do is ensure that the CA certificate you have is present in your truststore, and then set the system property javax.net.ssl.trustStore to point to it if it isn't the default Java truststore file. You don't need to write any code at all beyond possibly System.setProperty(), if you don't set it via the command line -D option.

EDIT Your 'solution' certainly won't work in general. It assumes that every certificate in the chain is signed by your certificate. That can only be true for chains of length 1, or length 2 if the signing certificate = your certificate.

Answer 3

I assume that the self-signed certificate of your CA is already loaded as follows:

CertificateFactory cf = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X.509");   
FileInputStream finStream = new FileInputStream("CACertificate.pem"); 
X509Certificate caCertificate = (X509Certificate)cf.generateCertificate(finStream);  

Then in the method to check certificate:

@Override        
 public void checkServerTrusted(java.security.cert.X509Certificate[] certs, String authType)  throws CertificateException {

 if (certs == null || certs.length == 0) {  
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("null or zero-length certificate chain");  
 }  

 if (authType == null || authType.length() == 0) {  
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("null or zero-length authentication type");  
  }  

   //Check if certificate send is your CA's
    if(!certs[0].equals(caCertificate)){
         try
         {   //Not your CA's. Check if it has been signed by your CA
             certs[0].verify(caCertificate.getPublicKey())
         }
         catch(Exception e){   
              throw new CertificateException("Certificate not trusted",e);
         }
    }
    //If we end here certificate is trusted. Check if it has expired.  
     try{
          certs[0].checkValidity();
      }
      catch(Exception e){
            throw new CertificateException("Certificate not trusted. It has expired",e);
      }  
}

Disclaimer: Have not even atempted to compile the code