Intermittent - SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target

Question

I wrote a java client to connect to Ldap over ssl. I imported CA certificates to my java key store and I am able to connect Ldap over ssl and pull information. The problem is it is not working always. Often it throws:CommunicationException:sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed. If I re run again (with out changing anything) it works.

This issue killing me for days, as a work around I am catching this exception and retrying. But I am looking for a permanent fix. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Below is the code where I get the context:

Hashtable<String, String> env = new Hashtable<String, String>();
        env.put(Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY,
                "com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory");
        env.put(Context.SECURITY_AUTHENTICATION, "simple");
        env.put(Context.SECURITY_PRINCIPAL, securityPrincipal);
        env.put(Context.PROVIDER_URL, url);
env.put(Context.SECURITY_CREDENTIALS, securityCredential);
        env.put("java.naming.provider.url", url);
        return new InitialLdapContext(env, null);

Strack Trace:

javax.naming.CommunicationException: simple bind failed: adapps.nms.comm:636 [Root exception is 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]
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapClient.authenticate(LdapClient.java:215)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtx.connect(LdapCtx.java:2685)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtx.<init>(LdapCtx.java:306)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getUsingURL(LdapCtxFactory.java:193)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getUsingURLs(LdapCtxFactory.java:211)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getLdapCtxInstance(LdapCtxFactory.java:154)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getInitialContext(LdapCtxFactory.java:84)
        at javax.naming.spi.NamingManager.getInitialContext(NamingManager.java:684)
        at javax.naming.InitialContext.getDefaultInitCtx(InitialContext.java:305)
        at javax.naming.InitialContext.init(InitialContext.java:240)
        at javax.naming.ldap.InitialLdapContext.<init>(InitialLdapContext.java:151)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.getLdapContext(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:149)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.getUserByNTID(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:97)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.main(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:287)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:616)
        at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.jarinjarloader.JarRsrcLoader.main(JarRsrcLoader.java:58)
Caused by: 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
        at sun.security.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Alerts.java:192)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.fatal(SSLSocketImpl.java:1682)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:257)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:251)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1168)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.processMessage(ClientHandshaker.java:153)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.processLoop(Handshaker.java:609)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.process_record(Handshaker.java:545)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:930)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1175)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readDataRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:805)
        at sun.security.ssl.AppInputStream.read(AppInputStream.java:94)
        at java.io.BufferedInputStream.fill(BufferedInputStream.java:235)
        at java.io.BufferedInputStream.read1(BufferedInputStream.java:275)
        at java.io.BufferedInputStream.read(BufferedInputStream.java:334)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.Connection.run(Connection.java:820)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:679)
Caused by: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:324)
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(PKIXValidator.java:224)
        at sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Validator.java:235)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.validate(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:147)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:230)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:270)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1147)
        ... 12 more
Caused by: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
        at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.engineBuild(SunCertPathBuilder.java:197)
        at java.security.cert.CertPathBuilder.build(CertPathBuilder.java:255)
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:319)
        ... 18 more
CommunicationException:sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
javax.naming.CommunicationException: simple bind failed: adapps.nms.com:636 [Root exception is 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]
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapClient.authenticate(LdapClient.java:215)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtx.connect(LdapCtx.java:2685)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtx.<init>(LdapCtx.java:306)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getUsingURL(LdapCtxFactory.java:193)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getUsingURLs(LdapCtxFactory.java:211)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getLdapCtxInstance(LdapCtxFactory.java:154)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getInitialContext(LdapCtxFactory.java:84)
        at javax.naming.spi.NamingManager.getInitialContext(NamingManager.java:684)
        at javax.naming.InitialContext.getDefaultInitCtx(InitialContext.java:305)
        at javax.naming.InitialContext.init(InitialContext.java:240)
        at javax.naming.ldap.InitialLdapContext.<init>(InitialLdapContext.java:151)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.getLdapContext(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:149)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.getUserByNTID(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:97)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.getUserByNTID(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:109)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.main(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:287)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:616)
        at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.jarinjarloader.JarRsrcLoader.main(JarRsrcLoader.java:58)
Caused by: 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
        at sun.security.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Alerts.java:192)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.fatal(SSLSocketImpl.java:1682)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:257)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:251)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1168)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.processMessage(ClientHandshaker.java:153)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.processLoop(Handshaker.java:609)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.process_record(Handshaker.java:545)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:930)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1175)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.writeRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:657)
        at sun.security.ssl.AppOutputStream.write(AppOutputStream.java:108)
        at java.io.BufferedOutputStream.flushBuffer(BufferedOutputStream.java:82)
        at java.io.BufferedOutputStream.flush(BufferedOutputStream.java:140)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.Connection.writeRequest(Connection.java:409)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapClient.ldapBind(LdapClient.java:352)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapClient.authenticate(LdapClient.java:210)
        ... 19 more
Caused by: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:324)
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(PKIXValidator.java:224)
        at sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Validator.java:235)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.validate(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:147)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:230)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:270)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1147)
        ... 31 more
Caused by: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
        at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.engineBuild(SunCertPathBuilder.java:197)
        at java.security.cert.CertPathBuilder.build(CertPathBuilder.java:255)
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:319)
        ... 37 more
CommunicationException:sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
javax.naming.CommunicationException: simple bind failed: adapps.nms.com:636 [Root exception is 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]
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapClient.authenticate(LdapClient.java:215)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtx.connect(LdapCtx.java:2685)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtx.<init>(LdapCtx.java:306)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getUsingURL(LdapCtxFactory.java:193)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getUsingURLs(LdapCtxFactory.java:211)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getLdapCtxInstance(LdapCtxFactory.java:154)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory.getInitialContext(LdapCtxFactory.java:84)
        at javax.naming.spi.NamingManager.getInitialContext(NamingManager.java:684)
        at javax.naming.InitialContext.getDefaultInitCtx(InitialContext.java:305)
        at javax.naming.InitialContext.init(InitialContext.java:240)
        at javax.naming.ldap.InitialLdapContext.<init>(InitialLdapContext.java:151)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.getLdapContext(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:149)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.getUserByNTID(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:97)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.getUserByNTID(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:109)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.getUserByNTID(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:109)
        at NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.main(NMSLdapServiceDAOImpl.java:287)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:616)
        at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.jarinjarloader.JarRsrcLoader.main(JarRsrcLoader.java:58)
Caused by: 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
        at sun.security.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Alerts.java:192)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.fatal(SSLSocketImpl.java:1682)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:257)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:251)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1168)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.processMessage(ClientHandshaker.java:153)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.processLoop(Handshaker.java:609)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.process_record(Handshaker.java:545)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:930)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1175)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.writeRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:657)
        at sun.security.ssl.AppOutputStream.write(AppOutputStream.java:108)
        at java.io.BufferedOutputStream.flushBuffer(BufferedOutputStream.java:82)
        at java.io.BufferedOutputStream.flush(BufferedOutputStream.java:140)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.Connection.writeRequest(Connection.java:409)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapClient.ldapBind(LdapClient.java:352)
        at com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapClient.authenticate(LdapClient.java:210)
        ... 20 more
Caused by: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:324)
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(PKIXValidator.java:224)
        at sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Validator.java:235)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.validate(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:147)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:230)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:270)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1147)
        ... 32 more
Caused by: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
        at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.engineBuild(SunCertPathBuilder.java:197)
        at java.security.cert.CertPathBuilder.build(CertPathBuilder.java:255)
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:319)
        ... 38 more

Answer 1

• You should import certificate of the server:port to java JRE keystore for example for following server and port:

   serverAddress: myserver.mydomain.com serverPort: 443 keystore password is default: changeit 

• First of all, check $JAVA_HOME and java executable before continue, you should be sure about the choosing correct JAVA_HOME for importing , if you have different ones:

   $ ~/bin$ echo $JAVA_HOME /opt/jdk $ ~/bin$ which java /usr/bin/java $ ~/bin$ ls -l /usr/bin/java lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 May 10 2014 /usr/bin/java -> /etc/alternatives/java $ ~/bin$ ls -l /etc/alternatives/java lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 17 Jun 6 2014 /etc/alternatives/java -> /opt/jdk/bin/java $ ~/bin$ java -version java version "1.8.0_05" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_05-b13) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.5-b02, mixed mode) $ ~/bin$ `which java` -version java version "1.8.0_05" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_05-b13) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.5-b02, mixed mode) $ ~/bin$ $JAVA_HOME/bin/java -version java version "1.8.0_05" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_05-b13) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.5-b02, mixed mode) 

• Extracting certificate from the server:

   $ openssl s_client -connect <serverAddress:serverPort> 2>&1 < "/" | sed -ne '/-BEGIN CERTIFICATE-/,/-END CERTIFICATE-/p' > /tmp/myserver.crt 

  For this example <serverAddress:serverPort> should be replaced with myserver.mydomain.com:443

• The extracted file should be look like as follows:

   $ cat /tmp/myserver.crt -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- blahblahblahaC5jb20wggEiMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4IBDwAwggEKAoIBAQCd ME22AKpyBPIRbTwTBedJz/KFtwCAxO2jXIcIob99LXv8W4KMOJgazn2UUBm/azZ1 z+9qhq3UeIy8Z58WK2N5l/SI7s3+bkii/dnpW3Akw8OyXABnN1EyfwnL607POqXm blahblahblah ...Certificate Data is variable for each server address... blahblahblah blahblahblahT9p1jar2vxoHv3/dSwKoeLL8XpkmVx9oVUZ3XuICPvEmu8eBfOEm ZXNlYXJjaC5jb20wggEiMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4IBDwAwggEKAoIBAQCd4I7L ME22AKpyBPIRbTwTBedJz/KFtwCAxO2jXIcIob99LXv8W4KMOJgazn2UUBm/azZ1 -----END CERTIFICATE----- 

• You need to import the extracted certificate into JRE keystore:

   $ keytool -import -alias myserverCert -file /tmp/myserver.crt -keystore $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security/cacerts 

• You can check that the certification existence in java JRE keystore or not after the import:

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

• Default password for java JRE keystore is

  changeit

• For applying the changes you need to restart the java JVM.

• After finish you can remove the temporary file if you had created it in a non temporary place:

   $ rm /tmp/myserver.crt