ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: unable to find valid certificate path

[Tahir Akram]

Hello;

I am getting an following exception while hitting on a HTTPS URL. The strange thing is some times this exception comes and some time it works just fine.

ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: unable to find valid certification path to requested target

I am unable to understand why it is happening.
What thing on my end need to be managed for HTTPS communication to avoid this exception?

I am sharing my code with you people, if you can give me any idea about it.

Exception trace 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.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Alerts.java:150) 
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.fatal(SSLSocketImpl.java:1476) 
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:174) 
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:168) 
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:847) 
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.ClientHandshaker.processMessage(ClientHandshaker.java:106) 
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Handshaker.processLoop(Handshaker.java:495) 
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Handshaker.process_record(Handshaker.java:433) 
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:815) 
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1025) 
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1038) 
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsClient.afterConnect(HttpsClient.java:402) 
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.connect(AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.java:170) 
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getOutputStream(HttpURLConnection.java:836) 
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsURLConnectionImpl.getOutputStream(HttpsURLConnectionImpl.java:230) 
at com.paymentservice.impl.ecash.CommunicationHandler.communicateForTransReports(CommunicationHandler.java:165) 
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:595) 
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:221) at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(PKIXValidator.java:145) at sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Validator.java:203) at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:172) at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.JsseX509TrustManager.checkServerTrusted(SSLContextImpl.java:320) at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:840) ... 18 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:236) 
at java.security.cert.CertPathBuilder.build(CertPathBuilder.java:194)
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:216) ... 23 more

And my java code is:

  
public  String communicateForTransReports (String data)
throws Exception{
HttpURLConnection httpCon = null;
OutputStreamWriter wr = null;
StringBuffer respBuff = null;
try{
URL url = new URL("https://secure.electracash.net/ElectracashDirect/getCIE.aspx");
 
httpCon = (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
 
httpCon.setRequestMethod("POST");
httpCon.setDoOutput(true);
httpCon.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
httpCon.setRequestProperty("Content-Length", String.valueOf(data));
 
wr = new OutputStreamWriter(httpCon.getOutputStream());
wr.write(data);
wr.flush();
wr.close();
 
InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(httpCon.getInputStream());
 
BufferedReader rd = new BufferedReader(isr);
String line;
respBuff = new StringBuffer();
 
while ((line = rd.readLine()) != null) {
respBuff.append(line);
}
System.out.println(respBuff.toString());
}catch(Exception e){
}
return respBuff.toString();
}
 
  

[greg stark]

The connection works just fine for me.

The strange thing is some times this exception comes and some time it works just fine.

Sounds like a thread-safety issue, of which I do not have the talent to debug. All I can suggest is to check your code again for thread-safety issues.

[Tahir Akram]

Thanks greg stark for your reply.

But this is itself one thread which hits that URL. This request is not originating from a web server. I wonder if I understand your point well...
[ December 15, 2008: Message edited by: Tahir Akram ]