Received fatal alert handshake failure through SSLHandshakeException

Question

I have a problem with authorized SSL connection. I have created Struts Action that connects to external server with Client Authorized SSL certificate. In my Action I am trying to send some data to bank server but without any luck, because I have as a result from server the following error:

error: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: Received fatal alert: handshake_failure

My Method from my Action class that sends data to server

//Getting external IP from host
    URL whatismyip = new URL("http://automation.whatismyip.com/n09230945.asp");
    BufferedReader inIP = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(whatismyip.openStream()));

    String IPStr = inIP.readLine(); //IP as a String

    Merchant merchant;

    System.out.println("amount: " + amount + ", currency: " + currency + ", clientIp: " + IPStr + ", description: " + description);

    try {

        merchant = new Merchant(context.getRealPath("/") + "merchant.properties");

    } catch (ConfigurationException e) {

        Logger.getLogger(HomeAction.class.getName()).log(Level.INFO, "message", e);
        System.err.println("error: " + e.getMessage());
        return ERROR;
    }

    String result = merchant.sendTransData(amount, currency, IPStr, description);

    System.out.println("result: " + result);

    return SUCCESS;

My merchant.properties file:

bank.server.url=https://-servernameandport-/
https.cipher=-cipher-

keystore.file=-key-.jks
keystore.type=JKS
keystore.password=-password-
ecomm.server.version=2.0

encoding.source=UTF-8
encoding.native=UTF-8

For the first time I thought this is a certificate problem, I converted it from .pfx to .jks, but I have the same error, with no changes.

Answer 1

On update 51, java 1.8 prohibited[1] RC4 ciphers by default, as we can see on the Release Notes page:

Bug Fix: Prohibit RC4 cipher suites

RC4 is now considered as a compromised cipher.

RC4 cipher suites have been removed from both client and server default enabled cipher suite list in Oracle JSSE implementation. These cipher suites can still be enabled by SSLEngine.setEnabledCipherSuites() and SSLSocket.setEnabledCipherSuites() methods. See JDK-8077109 (not public).

If your server has a strong preference for this cipher (or use only this cipher) this can trigger a handshake_failure on java.

You can test connecting to the server enabling RC4 ciphers (first, try without enabledargument to see if triggers a handshake_failure, then set enabled:

import javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory;
import java.io.*;

import java.util.Arrays;

/** Establish a SSL connection to a host and port, writes a byte and
 * prints the response. See
 * http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Connecting+to+SSL+services
 */
public class SSLRC4Poke {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String[] cyphers;
        if (args.length < 2) {
            System.out.println("Usage: "+SSLRC4Poke.class.getName()+" <host> <port> enable");
            System.exit(1);
        }
        try {
            SSLSocketFactory sslsocketfactory = (SSLSocketFactory) SSLSocketFactory.getDefault();
            SSLSocket sslsocket = (SSLSocket) sslsocketfactory.createSocket(args[0], Integer.parseInt(args[1]));

            cyphers = sslsocketfactory.getSupportedCipherSuites();
            if (args.length ==3){
                sslsocket.setEnabledCipherSuites(new String[]{
                    "SSL_DH_anon_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5",

                   "SSL_DH_anon_WITH_RC4_128_MD5",
                    "SSL_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5",
                    "SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5",
                    "SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA",
                    "TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA",
                    "TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA",
                    "TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA",
                    "TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA",
                    "TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_RC4_128_SHA",
                    "TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5",
                    "TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_SHA",
                    "TLS_KRB5_WITH_RC4_128_MD5",
                    "TLS_KRB5_WITH_RC4_128_SHA"
                });     
            }

            InputStream in = sslsocket.getInputStream();
            OutputStream out = sslsocket.getOutputStream();

            // Write a test byte to get a reaction :)
            out.write(1);

            while (in.available() > 0) {
                System.out.print(in.read());
            }
            System.out.println("Successfully connected");

        } catch (Exception exception) {

 exception.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}