Fix certificate problem in HTTPS - Real's Java How-to
HTTPS protocol is supported since JDK1.4 (AFAIK), you have nothing special to do.
import java.io.InputStreamReader; import java.io.Reader; import java.net.URL; import java.net.URLConnection; public class ConnectHttps { public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { URL url = new URL("https://securewebsite.com"); URLConnection con = url.openConnection(); Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream()); while (true) { int ch = reader.read(); if (ch==-1) { break; } System.out.print((char)ch); } } }
However, you can have a problem if the server certificate is self-signed by a testing certification authority (CA) which is not in trusted CAs of Java on the client side. An exception like
Exception in thread "main" 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
is thrown. This is a common situation with a development server.
The fix is to add the self signed certificate to trusted CAs on the client side. You do that by updating the CACERT file in the your JRE_HOME/lib directory.
Check this tutorial : http://www.java-samples.com/showtutorial.php?tutorialid=210
Or you can override the check and accept an untrusted certificate (with the risk coming with it!).
import java.io.InputStreamReader; import java.io.Reader; import java.net.URL; import java.net.URLConnection; import javax.net.ssl.HostnameVerifier; import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection; import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext; import javax.net.ssl.SSLSession; import javax.net.ssl.TrustManager; import javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager; import java.security.cert.X509Certificate; public class ConnectHttps { public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { /* * fix for * Exception in thread "main" 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 */ TrustManager[] trustAllCerts = new TrustManager[] { new X509TrustManager() { public java.security.cert.X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() { return null; } public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) { } public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) { } } }; SSLContext sc = SSLContext.getInstance("SSL"); sc.init(null, trustAllCerts, new java.security.SecureRandom()); HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultSSLSocketFactory(sc.getSocketFactory()); // Create all-trusting host name verifier HostnameVerifier allHostsValid = new HostnameVerifier() { public boolean verify(String hostname, SSLSession session) { return true; } }; // Install the all-trusting host verifier HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultHostnameVerifier(allHostsValid); /* * end of the fix */ URL url = new URL("https://securewebsite.com"); URLConnection con = url.openConnection(); Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream()); while (true) { int ch = reader.read(); if (ch==-1) { break; } System.out.print((char)ch); } } }