Change HTTP post request to HTTPS post request:

Question

I have this method:

public static String getReportMetadata (String reportId, String sessionId, String url) throws Exception{

    Map<String, Object> jsonValues = new HashMap<String, Object>();
    jsonValues.put("reportID", reportId);
    jsonValues.put("sessionID", sessionId);
    JSONObject json = new JSONObject(jsonValues);

    DefaultHttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient();

    HttpPost post = new HttpPost(url + GET_REPORT_METADATA_ACTION);

    AbstractHttpEntity entity = new ByteArrayEntity(json.toString().getBytes("UTF8"));
    entity.setContentType(new BasicHeader(HTTP.CONTENT_TYPE, "application/json"));
    post.setEntity(entity);        
    HttpResponse response = client.execute(post);

    return getContent(response);            
}

that perform a HTTP Post request which of-course I run using AsyncTask to get data from the server.

My Question: could some one please explain to me in a simple way what are the steps I need to perform to change this connection type to a secure connection(a.k.a using HTTPS). Only from android point of view (meaning the client application).

UPDATE: As suggested I have tried to change only the link and add https instead of http but it doesn't return an answer. As I understand I do need to get and store a self sign certificate in order to connect to server side

UPDATE2: The solution that works for me:

EasySSLSocketFactory:

public class EasySSLSocketFactory implements SocketFactory, LayeredSocketFactory {

private SSLContext sslcontext = null;

private static SSLContext createEasySSLContext() throws IOException {
    try {
        SSLContext context = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
        context.init(null, new TrustManager[] { new EasyX509TrustManager(null) }, null);
        return context;
    } catch (Exception e) {
        throw new IOException(e.getMessage());
    }
}

private SSLContext getSSLContext() throws IOException {
    if (this.sslcontext == null) {
        this.sslcontext = createEasySSLContext();
    }
    return this.sslcontext;
}

/**
 * @see org.apache.http.conn.scheme.SocketFactory#connectSocket(java.net.Socket, java.lang.String, int,
 *      java.net.InetAddress, int, org.apache.http.params.HttpParams)
 */
public Socket connectSocket(Socket sock, String host, int port, InetAddress localAddress, int localPort,
        HttpParams params) throws IOException, UnknownHostException, ConnectTimeoutException {
    int connTimeout = HttpConnectionParams.getConnectionTimeout(params);
    int soTimeout = HttpConnectionParams.getSoTimeout(params);
    InetSocketAddress remoteAddress = new InetSocketAddress(host, port);
    SSLSocket sslsock = (SSLSocket) ((sock != null) ? sock : createSocket());

    if ((localAddress != null) || (localPort > 0)) {
        // we need to bind explicitly
        if (localPort < 0) {
            localPort = 0; // indicates "any"
        }
        InetSocketAddress isa = new InetSocketAddress(localAddress, localPort);
        sslsock.bind(isa);
    }

    sslsock.connect(remoteAddress, connTimeout);
    sslsock.setSoTimeout(soTimeout);
    return sslsock;

}

/**
 * @see org.apache.http.conn.scheme.SocketFactory#createSocket()
 */
public Socket createSocket() throws IOException {
    return getSSLContext().getSocketFactory().createSocket();
}

/**
 * @see org.apache.http.conn.scheme.SocketFactory#isSecure(java.net.Socket)
 */
public boolean isSecure(Socket socket) throws IllegalArgumentException {
    return true;
}

/**
 * @see org.apache.http.conn.scheme.LayeredSocketFactory#createSocket(java.net.Socket, java.lang.String, int,
 *      boolean)
 */
public Socket createSocket(Socket socket, String host, int port, boolean autoClose) throws IOException,
        UnknownHostException {
    return getSSLContext().getSocketFactory().createSocket(socket, host, port, autoClose);
}

// -------------------------------------------------------------------
// javadoc in org.apache.http.conn.scheme.SocketFactory says :
// Both Object.equals() and Object.hashCode() must be overridden
// for the correct operation of some connection managers
// -------------------------------------------------------------------

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

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

EasyX509TrustManager:

public class EasyX509TrustManager implements X509TrustManager {

private X509TrustManager standardTrustManager = null;

/**
 * Constructor for EasyX509TrustManager.
 */
public EasyX509TrustManager(KeyStore keystore) throws NoSuchAlgorithmException, KeyStoreException {
    super();
    TrustManagerFactory factory = TrustManagerFactory.getInstance(TrustManagerFactory.getDefaultAlgorithm());
    factory.init(keystore);
    TrustManager[] trustmanagers = factory.getTrustManagers();
    if (trustmanagers.length == 0) {
        throw new NoSuchAlgorithmException("no trust manager found");
    }
    this.standardTrustManager = (X509TrustManager) trustmanagers[0];
}

/**
 * @see javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager#checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[],String authType)
 */
public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] certificates, String authType) throws CertificateException {
    standardTrustManager.checkClientTrusted(certificates, authType);
}

/**
 * @see javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager#checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[],String authType)
 */
public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] certificates, String authType) throws CertificateException {
    if ((certificates != null) && (certificates.length == 1)) {
        certificates[0].checkValidity();
    } else {
        standardTrustManager.checkServerTrusted(certificates, authType);
    }
}

/**
 * @see javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager#getAcceptedIssuers()
 */
public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
    return this.standardTrustManager.getAcceptedIssuers();
}
}

And I added this method: getNewHttpClient()

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();
    }
}

Finally for every place in my code that I had:

DefaultHttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient();

I replace it with:

HttpClient client = getNewHttpClient();

I'm able now to receive the data from server side, last question is: is what I did is secure? or it's accepts each self-signed certificate? if this is the case what should be done to change it?

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

First of all you need to create SchemeRegistry object and register new Scheme using SSLSocketFactory:

SchemeRegistry schemeRegistry = new SchemeRegistry();
schemeRegistry.register(new Scheme("https", SSLSocketFactory.getSocketFactory(), 443));

Then you can create your SingleClientConnManager using SchemeRegistry object:

SingleClientConnManager mgr = new SingleClientConnManager(schemeRegistry);

And finally you create your DefaultHttpClient with SingleClientConnManager:

HttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient(mgr);

Answer 2

From the Apache HttpClient SSL guide:

secure HTTP communication over SSL should be as simple as plain HTTP communication.

So you simply should change the http://XXXX to https://XXXX

EDIT: I've just seen @Barend 's answer which is more complete