PKIX path building failed (SSLHandshake Exception)

Question

I have a set of "wrapper" services written in Java running on Tomcat 8 up on AWS which call a client's set of MIME services. When I attempt to call their service I get back an SSLHandshakeException

Sample wrapper code is shown below:

@Path("/files/payloadid/{id}")
@GET
@Produces(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN)
public Response getFileListByPayloadID(@PathParam("id") String payloadId) throws JSONException
{
    logger.debug(">>>ENTERED getFileListByPayloadID()");

    DirectConnectService service = new DirectConnectService();
    CloseableHttpResponse httpResponse = null;
    String result = null;

    HttpEntity reqEntity = MultipartEntityBuilder
        .create()
        .addTextBody("UserName", "xxxxxxxx")
        .addTextBody("Password", "xxxxxxxx")
        .addTextBody("PayloadID", payloadId)
        .build();

    CloseableHttpClient httpClient = HttpClients.createDefault();
    HttpPost httpPost = new HttpPost("https://services.kymmis.com/BatchUploadDownloadServiceApp/BatchService.svc/mime/GetDownloadFilesList/ByPayloadID");
    httpPost.setEntity(reqEntity);
    try {
        httpResponse = httpClient.execute(httpPost);
        result = service.stringifyEntity(httpResponse.getEntity());
        result = result.substring(result.indexOf("<"), result.lastIndexOf(">")+1);
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
        try{httpClient.close();}catch(Exception e){};
    }

    Response response = Response.status(200).entity(result).build();

    logger.debug("<<<EXITED getFileListByPayloadID()");
    return response;
}

When I call this I get back the following exception which I have been working with for quite some time here. It looks to me that I need to add a cert to my keystore but when I contacted the client I was told that they had no cert... (of course they could be giving me bad info on the cert...)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    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:1949)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:302)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:296)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1509)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.processMessage(ClientHandshaker.java:216)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.processLoop(Handshaker.java:979)
        at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.process_record(Handshaker.java:914)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:1062)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1375)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1403)
        at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1387)
        at org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLConnectionSocketFactory.createLayeredSocket(SSLConnectionSocketFactory.java:394)
        at org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLConnectionSocketFactory.connectSocket(SSLConnectionSocketFactory.java:353)
        at org.apache.http.impl.conn.DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.connect(DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.java:134)
        at org.apache.http.impl.conn.PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager.connect(PoolingHttpClientConnectionManager.java:353)
        at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.MainClientExec.establishRoute(MainClientExec.java:380)
        at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.MainClientExec.execute(MainClientExec.java:236)
        at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.ProtocolExec.execute(ProtocolExec.java:184)
        at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.RetryExec.execute(RetryExec.java:88)
        at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.RedirectExec.execute(RedirectExec.java:110)
        at org.apache.http.impl.client.InternalHttpClient.doExecute(InternalHttpClient.java:184)
        at org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient.execute(CloseableHttpClient.java:82)
        at org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient.execute(CloseableHttpClient.java:107)
        at com.alveohealth.DirectConnect.getFileListByPayloadID(DirectConnect.java:107)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.internal.ResourceMethodInvocationHandlerFactory$1.invoke(ResourceMethodInvocationHandlerFactory.java:81)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.internal.AbstractJavaResourceMethodDispatcher$1.run(AbstractJavaResourceMethodDispatcher.java:144)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.internal.AbstractJavaResourceMethodDispatcher.invoke(AbstractJavaResourceMethodDispatcher.java:161)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.internal.JavaResourceMethodDispatcherProvider$ResponseOutInvoker.doDispatch(JavaResourceMethodDispatcherProvider.java:160)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.internal.AbstractJavaResourceMethodDispatcher.dispatch(AbstractJavaResourceMethodDispatcher.java:99)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.ResourceMethodInvoker.invoke(ResourceMethodInvoker.java:389)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.ResourceMethodInvoker.apply(ResourceMethodInvoker.java:347)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.ResourceMethodInvoker.apply(ResourceMethodInvoker.java:102)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.server.ServerRuntime$2.run(ServerRuntime.java:326)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.internal.Errors$1.call(Errors.java:271)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.internal.Errors$1.call(Errors.java:267)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.internal.Errors.process(Errors.java:315)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.internal.Errors.process(Errors.java:297)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.internal.Errors.process(Errors.java:267)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.process.internal.RequestScope.runInScope(RequestScope.java:317)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.server.ServerRuntime.process(ServerRuntime.java:305)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.server.ApplicationHandler.handle(ApplicationHandler.java:1154)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.WebComponent.serviceImpl(WebComponent.java:473)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.WebComponent.service(WebComponent.java:427)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer.service(ServletContainer.java:388)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer.service(ServletContainer.java:341)
        at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer.service(ServletContainer.java:228)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:230)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:165)
        at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:192)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:165)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:198)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:96)
        at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:474)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:140)
        at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:79)
        at org.apache.catalina.valves.AbstractAccessLogValve.invoke(AbstractAccessLogValve.java:624)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:87)
        at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:349)
        at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.service(Http11Processor.java:783)
        at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProcessorLight.process(AbstractProcessorLight.java:66)
        at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$ConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:789)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1437)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SocketProcessorBase.run(SocketProcessorBase.java:49)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
        at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
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:387)
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(PKIXValidator.java:292)
        at sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Validator.java:260)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.validate(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:324)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:229)
        at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:124)
        at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1491)
        ... 68 more
Caused by: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
        at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.build(SunCertPathBuilder.java:141)
        at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.engineBuild(SunCertPathBuilder.java:126)
        at java.security.cert.CertPathBuilder.build(CertPathBuilder.java:280)
        at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:382)
        ... 74 more

Answer 1

OK in this particular case it looks like the server that I was attempting to connect to actually does have a certificate issue. I found this by using the openssl command

openssl s_client -connect services.kymmis.com:443 -showcerts

I have contacted their support and they are working on fixing the issue.

In the meantime I did this to test the connection and was able to connect:

Note: I do not recommend doing this as you are basically disabling the trust manager by telling it to trust everything. This was just to test the connection.

    public void hackHttpURLConnection() {
        // Create a trust manager that does not validate certificate chains
        TrustManager[] trustAllCerts = new TrustManager[]{
            new X509TrustManager() {
                public java.security.cert.X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
                    return null;
                }
                public void checkClientTrusted(
                    java.security.cert.X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
                }
                public void checkServerTrusted(
                    java.security.cert.X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
                }
            }
        };

        // Install the hacked trust manager
        try {
            SSLContext sc = SSLContext.getInstance("SSL");
            sc.init(null, trustAllCerts, new java.security.SecureRandom());
            HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultSSLSocketFactory(sc.getSocketFactory());
        } catch (Exception e) {
        }
    }