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Running a JAVA application - how are "trusted" certificate roots managed there?

long story short - I need to validate XML signature, and one of the steps is to validate that PUBLIC certificate which was used to sign XML is issued by one of the knows roots.
This question is exactly the same as mine: How to check if public X509Certificate is trusted - but the problem with the answer is that I do not want to "hardcode" any trust store files and passwords like they do:
final File file = new File("C:\\TMP\\jssecacerts");
InputStream inStream = new FileInputStream(file);
KeyStore keystore = KeyStore.getInstance("JKS");
//String password = "";
//keystore.load(inStream, password.toCharArray());
keystore.load(inStream, null);
I was hoping I can reuse the default, built-in jre/lib/security/cacerts file which is shipped with every JAVA installation. So I tried
KeyStore ks = KeyStore.getInstance(KeyStore.getDefaultType());
ks.load(null, null);
but it comes up empty.
The questions are as follows:
Please confirm JAVA loads jre/lib/security/cacerts file into memory every time I run a JAVA program. I find it hard to believe it does not - otherwise how all HTTPS communications would work?
How do I use this file to validate certificates? Or to simplify - how can I get access to trusted certificates KeyStore so I can apply validation logic?

Validating a leaf certificate from a third party in java 8

I am looking for a way to validate a java.security.cert.X509Certificate object that is sent from a third party. The certificate provider is using dns or ldap to fetch the certificate. I have included a link with additional information on how the certificate is being retrieved.
http://wiki.directproject.org/w/images/2/24/Certificate_Discovery_for_Direct_Project_Implementation_Guide_v4.1.pdf
I also need to know protocols and default ports that would be used in any of the verification steps. The certificate needs to meet the following criteria from page 13 section 4 of this document:
http://wiki.directproject.org/w/images/e/e6/Applicability_Statement_for_Secure_Health_Transport_v1.2.pdf
Has not expired.
Has a valid signature with a valid message digest
Has not been revoked
Binding to the expected entity
Has a trusted certificate path
Item 1 is straight forward to compare the dates from the getNotAfter and getNotBefore methods on the certificate object to the current date or to use the checkValidity method which throws a checked exception.
For item #2, I see a method to get the signature, but I am unsure how to generate the message digest and verify that the signature and message digest are both valid.
For item #3, The certification revocation list seems to be mixed with some other data by calling this method on the certificate getExtensionValue("2.5.29.31"). Retrieving the certification revocation list data seems possible over http, and ocsp seems to be based on http. I haven't been able to find how to do this in java.
For item #4, I am not sure what binding means in the context of certificates, or what is involved in verifying it.
For item #5, It looks like the data for intermediary certificates is mixed with some other data by calling this method on the certificate getExtensionValue("1.3.6.1.5.5.7.1.1"). CertPathValidator looks like it may be able to help verify this information once the certificates data is retrieved over http.

Certificate validation is a complex task. You can perform all the validations you need manually (expiration, revocation, certification chain) using native Java 8 support or Bouncycastle. But the option that I would recommend is to use a specific library that has already taken into account all the possibilities.
Take a look to DSS documentation and Certificate Verification example
// Trusted certificates sources, root and intermediates (#5 )
CertificateSource trustedCertSource = null;
CertificateSource adjunctCertSource = null;
// The certificate to be validated
CertificateToken token = DSSUtils.loadCertificate(new File("src/main/resources/keystore/ec.europa.eu.1.cer"));
// Creates a CertificateVerifier using Online sources. It checks the revocation status with the CRL lists URLs or OCSP server extracted from the certificate #3
CertificateVerifier cv = new CommonCertificateVerifier();
cv.setAdjunctCertSource(adjunctCertSource);
cv.setTrustedCertSource(trustedCertSource);
// Creates an instance of the CertificateValidator with the certificate
CertificateValidator validator = CertificateValidator.fromCertificate(token);
validator.setCertificateVerifier(cv);
// We execute the validation (#1, #2, #3, #5)
CertificateReports certificateReports = validator.validate();
//The final result. You have also a detailedReport and DiagnosticData
SimpleCertificateReport simpleReport = certificateReports.getSimpleReport();
The validation will perform all the steps you indicate, including expiration, signing of the certificate, revocation, and checking the chain of trust (including the download of intermediate certificates).
Step # 4 I don't know exactly what you mean. I suppose to validate that the certificate corresponds to one of the certification entities of the trusted list
To load the trusted certificate sources see this
CertificatePool certPool = new CertificatePool();
CommonCertificateSource ccc = new CommonCertificateSource(certPool);
CertificateToken cert = DSSUtils.loadCertificate(new File("root_ca.cer"));
CertificateToken adddedCert = ccc.addCertificate(cert);

I will split the answer to 3 pieces. The first is the background , the second is the choice of library , implementation code (references that i had used for my implementation with due credit)
In the past i had implemented a very similar use case. I had IOT fabrications done by a vendor and to onboard them i had implement the same X509 verification process that you have mentioned.
Implementation :
For my implementation i had refered the following . You can include BC as your defaultProvider (Security.setProvider) and use the following code . The code directly solves 1,3,5. The code is here : https://nakov.com/blog/2009/12/01/x509-certificate-validation-in-java-build-and-verify-chain-and-verify-clr-with-bouncy-castle/
Now coming to 2 , the answer to that depends on how you will get the certificate from your client and what additional data will be provided by the application.
The high level flow of that is as follows
a) Client produces the certificate
b) Client does a Digest using some algorithm that is acceptable. SHA256 are quite popular, you can increase the strength based on the needs and how much compute you have. Once the client creates the digest , to prove he is the owner of the certificate you can get the digest signed using the private key of the device. This can be then transmitted to the verifier application
c) Once you have the certificate and the signature , you can then use the Certificate and Public key associated with it to verify the signature applying the same digest and then verifying the signature.A good reference is here : http://www.java2s.com/Code/Java/Security/SignatureSignAndVerify.htm
I am not a 100% sure on what 4 means. But if it means proof of identity (who is producing the certificate is bound to be who they are , signing and verifying will provide the same)
Though you can realize the use cases using java security API's , I used bouncycastle core API for realizing the use cases. Bouncycastle API's are far more rich and battle tested especially for weird EC curve algorithms we had to use & you will find that many folks swear by BouncyCastle.
Hope this helps!

java.lang.NullPointerException Error during the SecurityHelper.prepareSignatureParams() OpenSAML call [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
What is a NullPointerException, and how do I fix it?
(12 answers)
Closed 6 years ago.
I have hit a dead end using the OpenSAML support for preparing a SAML Payload to accomplish a SSO transaction with another service that I am working with. I receive a NullPointerException that is thrown after I use the SecurityHelper.prepareSignatureParams() routine. I have a Stacktrace, but it wold be pretty ugly to append.
Let me first say what I was able to do...
For the purposes of learning the technology and to make sure it would work, I was able to successfully build a SAML payload, sign it using a Certificate and a Private Key that was stored in a Java Key Store file that I created locally on my workstation using the Keytool program with the -genkeypair option.
As I understand things, my JKS file contains a Self Signed Certificate and a Private Key. I was able to open the JKS file, gather the Certificate and the Private Key to build a Signing Certificate. The Signing Certificate was used to sign the SAML Payload that I created You'll see how I did this if you look at the code samples that I'll append.
What isn't working...
I want to use the same SAML support to sign my SAML Payload using a Trusted Certificate that I have for my website that I received from GoDaddy. To do this, I installed the Trusted Certificate into my webserver's keystore at: '\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_102\lib\security\cacerts'. I understand that the cacerts file is the KeyStore for our webserver. I installed the Trusted Certificate using the Keytool -importcert command. One big difference is that the Trusted Certificate DOESN'T have a Private Key. So when preparing the Signing Certificate using the Open SAML support, I am not able to add a Private Key to the Credential object (because I don't have one).
When attempting the above for the Trusted Certificate, I am able to get to the part where I am preparing the Signature Parms (SecurityHelper.prepareSignatureParams()). That's where I get the Null Pointer.
If you could take a look at the code that I am using. I am including the code (that signs my payload successfully) that reads from the local JKS file and also the code (that gets the Null Pointer Exception) when I try to using the Trusted Certificate on the server (both cases). There's not much different between the two cases:
// Signing process using OpenSAML
// Get instance of an OpenSAML 'KeyStore' object...
KeyStore keyStore = KeyStore.getInstance(KeyStore.getDefaultType());
// Read KeyStore as File Input Stream. This is either the local JKS
// file or the server's cacerts file.
File ksFile = new File(keyStoreFileName);
// Open an Input Stream with the Key Store File
FileInputStream ksfInputStream = new FileInputStream(ksFile);
// Load KeyStore. The keyStorePassord is the password assigned to the keystore, Usually 'changeit'
// before being changed.
keyStore.load(ksfInputStream, keyStorePassword);
// Close InputFileStream. No longer needed.
ksfInputStream.close();
// Used to get Entry objects from the Key Store
KeyStore.PrivateKeyEntry pkEntry = null;
KeyStore.TrustedCertificateEntry tcEntry = null;
PrivateKey pk = null;
X509Certificate x509Certificate = null;
BasicX509Credential credential = null;
// The Java Key Store specific code...
// Get Key Entry From the Key Store. CertificateAliasName identifies the
// Entry in the KeyStore. KeyPassword is assigned to the Private Key.
pkEntry = (KeyStore.PrivateKeyEntry) keyStore.getEntry(certificateAliasName, new KeyStore.PasswordProtection(keyPassword));
// Get the Private Key from the Entry
pk = pkEntry.getPrivateKey();
// Get the Certificate from the Entry
x509Certificate = (X509Certificate) pkEntry.getCertificate();
// Create the Credential. Assign the X509Certificate and the Privatekey
credential = new BasicX509Credential();
credential.setEntityCertificate(x509Certificate);
credential.setPrivateKey(pk);
// The Trusted Certificate specific code...
// Accessing a Certificate that was issued from a trusted source - like GoDaddy.com
//
// Get Certificate Entry From the Key Store. CertificateAliasName identifies the Entry in the KeyStore.
// There is NO password as there is no Private Key associate with this Certificate
tcEntry = (TrustedCertificateEntry) keyStore.getEntry(certificateAliasName, null);
// Get the Certificate from the Entry
x509Certificate = (X509Certificate) tcEntry.getTrustedCertificate();
// Create the Credential. There is no Provate Ley to assign into the Credential
credential = new BasicX509Credential();
credential.setEntityCertificate(x509Certificate);
// Back to code that is not specific to either method...
//
// Assign the X509Credential object into a Credential Object. The BasicX509Credential object
// that has a Certificate and a Private Key OR just a Certificate added to it is now saved as a
// Cendential object.
Credential signingCredential = credential;
// Use the OpenSAML builder to create a signature object.
Signature signingSignature = (Signature) Configuration.getBuilderFactory().getBuilder(Signature.DEFAULT_ELEMENT_NAME).build Object(Signature.DEFAULT_ELEMENT_NAME);
// Set the previously created signing credential
signingSignature.setSigningCredential(signingCredential);
// Get a Global Security Configuration object.
SecurityConfiguration secConfig = Configuration.getGlobalSecurityConfiguration();
// KeyInfoGenerator. Not sure what this is, but the example I am working from shows
// this being passed as null.
String keyInfoGeneratorProfile = "XMLSignature";
// Prepare the Signature Parameters.
//
// This works fine for the JKS version of the KeyStore, but gets a Null Pointer exception when I run to the cacerts file.
SecurityHelper.prepareSignatureParams(signingSignature, signingCredential, secConfig, keyInfoGeneratorProfile <or null>);
// I need to set into the SigningSignature object the signing algorithm. This is required when using the TrustedCertificate
signingSignature.setSignatureAlgorithm(SignatureConstants.ALGO_ID_SIGNATURE_RSA_SHA256);
// This is my code that builds a SAML Response. The SAML Payload contains data
// about the SSO session that I will be creating...
Response samlResponse = createSamlResponse.buildSamlResponseMessage();
// Sign the Response using the Certificate that was created earlier
samlResponse.setSignature(signingSignature);
// Get the marshaller factory to marshall the SamlResponse
MarshallerFactory marshallerFactory = Configuration.getMarshallerFactory();
Marshaller responseMarshaller = marshallerFactory.getMarshaller(samlResponse);
// Marshall the Response
Element responseElement = responseElement = responseMarshaller.marshall(samlResponse);
// Sign the Object...
Signer.signObject(signingSignature);
NOTE: My attempt to sign a SAML Payload was modeled after an OPENSAML example that I found here: https://narendrakadali.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/sign-assertion-using-opensaml/
Hoping that someone can show me the error of my ways or what I am missing.
Thanks for any suggestions.
EDIT (01/26/2016)
I was able to get past the NULL pointer I was receiving while preparing the Signature Params (SecurityHelper.prepareSignatureParams()). Code changes included updating my xmlsec.jar file to version 2.0.8 (xmlsec-2.0.8.jar) and I explicitly setting the signature algorithm to SHA256 when using the Trusted Certificate (from GoDaddy). See my code example for the use of:
signingSignature.setSignatureAlgorithm(SignatureConstants.ALGO_ID_SIGNATURE_RSA_SHA256);
The above changes allows the SAML payload to be built and sent to the connection endpoint.
However, I am still not establishing the SSO connection to my endpoint.
Here's what I see happening:
During processing while the SAML payload is being constructed and specifically, the SAML payload's Signature is being signed:
Signer.signObject(signature);
I get an an error message from SAML:
ERROR: org.opensaml.xml.signature.Signer - An error occured computing the digital signature
The stack trace (just the ending portion):
org.apache.xml.security.signature.XMLSignatureException: Sorry, you supplied the wrong key type for this operation! You supplied a null but a java.security.PrivateKey is needed.
at org.apache.xml.security.algorithms.implementations.SignatureBaseRSA.engineInitSign(SignatureBaseRSA.java:149)
at org.apache.xml.security.algorithms.implementations.SignatureBaseRSA.engineInitSign(SignatureBaseRSA.java:165)
at org.apache.xml.security.algorithms.SignatureAlgorithm.initSign(SignatureAlgorithm.java:238)
at org.apache.xml.security.signature.XMLSignature.sign(XMLSignature.java:631)
at org.opensaml.xml.signature.Signer.signObject(Signer.java:77)
I searched the error messages, but I am not coming up with much.
I don't understand the root of the error message - That the wrong key type was supplied (null) and that OpenSAML seems to be expecting a java.Security.PrivateKey.
When using the Trusted Certificate, I don't have a Private Key, Correct? How would I be able to provide a Private Key? In the case of the Trusted Certificate I read a Trusted Certificate (TrustedCertificateEntry) from the KeyStore. The TrustedCertificateEntry object allows me to access the Certificate, but there's no method for obtaining a Private Key (as well there shouldn't be).
However, when I use my Self Signed Certificate to perform the signing operation, I understand that I do have both the Certificate (the Public Key) and the Private Key contained in the JKS file (the KeyStore). I think that's why when I read from the JKS file, I am able to read a Private Key Entry (KeyStore.PrivateKeyEntry) that has methods for accessing both the Public Key (the Certificate) and the Private Key.
What am I missing about the Trusted Certificate case? The OpenSAML support seems to be expecting a Private key to be able to compute the Signature.
In the case of the Trusted Certificate, is there a way to package the original Private Key into my Key Store (along with the Trusted Certificate)? I am not sure if this is what is normally done or even possible.
Hopefully some guidance as to what I am doing here, Please!
EDIT (01/26/2017) - 2 to provide additional detail.
I'll share a portion of the SAML payload that gets sent...
In the case of the Self Signed Certificate, I see a SignatureValue tag and a X509Certificate tag. Both have binary data included within the begin and end of the tag.
In the case of the Trusted Certificate, I've got an empty Signature Value tag that looks like:
<ds:SignatureValue/>
The Certificate tag is still present and contains the certificate bytes.
So, looking at the error I see from OpenSAML, it is more obvious that it can't compute a Signature using the data that is available in the Trusted Certificate.

Ok, this quite a long question. As I understand the root of the problem is the message "Sorry, you supplied the wrong key type for this operation! You supplied a null but a java.security.PrivateKey is needed." You are trying to sign a message using a public key. This is not possible. Just looking logically on it, signing using a public key would not provide any proof that the signer is intended as it is available to everyone.
What you need to do is sign using a private key. in your case you have generated a public and private key on you computer, then sent CSR to the CA and recieved a certificate signed by the CA.
You should use the privat key from you local computer to sign the message and send the CA signed certificate to the recipient so they can use it to confirm your signature.
In this blog post of mine I explain how to obtain credentials, including the private key from a Java keystore.

Logic begin method (java.security.cert.X509CRL) isRevoked

Just wondering if someone knows what is the logic behind the method isRevoked from X509CRL class.
In the Java documentation is only saying that this method validates if the Certificate object passed as parameter is in the list, but doesn't say which fields it compares (Serial Number, Issuer DN, etc).
Certificate cert = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X.509").generateCertificate(new ByteArrayInputStream(rs.getString("x509_certificate").getBytes("utf-8")));
CertificateFactory certFactory = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X.509");
URL crlURL = new URL("http://www.certificadodigital.com.br/repositorio/lcr/serasarfbv2.crl");
InputStream crlStream = crlURL.openStream();
X509CRL crl = (X509CRL) certFactory.generateCRL(crlStream);
System.out.println(crl.getIssuerDN());
if (crl.isRevoked(cert) {
System.out.println("revoked");
}
Basically what I'm trying to do is to create a batch job to load some CRLs and check if the certificates that I have in my database were revoked, then flag them as revoked.
Thanks in advance.

You'll need to need to check the source/decompiled code as the Java Docs for this area are a laugh, and the behaviour is implementation specific.
In the Oracle VM, the CRL object checks that the serial and the X500Name is the same... now the Voodoo happens inside X500Name.equals(), as it creates the DN based on all the name attributes from the CRL and certificate.
I'm sorry I cannot be more specific. My suggestion is: debug the code and put a breakpoint in CRL.isRevoked() and check from there on.

CKR_DEVICE_ERROR using iaik for digital signature

I'm try to develop a Java Application that is able to do the digital signature on a file with smart card.
I set the PKCS#11 provider in this way:
Security.addProvider(new IAIK());
Properties providerProperties = new Properties();
providerProperties.put("PKCS11_NATIVE_MODULE","path\\asepkcs.dll");
IAIKPkcs11 pkcs11Provider = new IAIKPkcs11(providerProperties);
Security.addProvider(pkcs11Provider);
Module module = Module.getInstance("path\\asepkcs.dll");
After I read the KeyStore that I load in to smart card before, but when I try to use the method for create the digital sign the application catch the follow exception:
java.security.SignatureException: iaik.pkcs.pkcs11.wrapper.PKCS11Exception: CKR_DEVICE_ERROR
at iaik.pkcs.pkcs11.provider.signatures.ExternalHashSignature.pkcs11Sign(ExternalHashSignature.java:294)
at iaik.pkcs.pkcs11.provider.signatures.PKCS11Signature.engineSign(PKCS11Signature.java:638)
at java.security.Signature$Delegate.engineSign(Unknown Source)
at java.security.Signature.sign(Unknown Source)
at sii.tesi.firma.provasc.FirmaScK.main(FirmaScK.java:288)
I'm not be able to understand how I could resolve the CKR_DEVICE_ERROR.
I use for the sign the follow methods:
Signature signAlg = Signature.getInstance("SHA1withRSA");
signAlg.initSign(privateKey);
signAlg.update(toBeEncrypted);
byte[] signatureValue = signAlg.sign();

I fixed CKR_DEVICE_ERROR. The problem was simply that the smartcard was making a bad connection (Omnikey 6121 are badly build)
a paperclip to jam the chip tighter on the board fixed this problem for me.

DId you use the Pkcs11Wrapper as well? If so, did you specify the java.library.path? The Wrapper version should match the Provider version, or check the readme for more details.
Regarding your code, specify the IAIK provider:
Signature.getInstance("SHA1withRSA", iaikProvider)
and try to add the provider like this:
IAIK.addAsProvider(false);
If that doesn't help check the error log generated by the pkcs11 module.