[HTTPCLIENT-783] PostMethod constructor argument "uri" fails when uri is absolute, and a custom protocol is set via getHostConfiguration().setHost()

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Minor
• Resolution: Invalid
• Affects Version/s: 3.1 (end of life)
• Component/s: HttpClient (classic)
• Environment: Windows XP, Java 1.6
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Robert Christian
• Created: 02/Jul/08 00:50
• Updated: 05/Oct/13 19:41
• Resolved: 02/Jul/08 17:26

Description

1. Follow SSL configuration as prescribed in the HTTPClient SSL documentation at http://hc.apache.org/httpclient-3.x/sslguide.html.

2. Use a PostMethod instead of Get.

3. Change the URL to absolute. The JavaDocs say the URI can be absolute or relative. Construction with an absolute URI works when there is no custom protocol/socket factory.

See that only when there is an absolute path, the default cacerts is used instead of the specified trust store. This is because the HTTPClient framework will completely bypass the custom protocol factory impl when there is an absolute URL. If the server's certificate is not in the cacerts file, an exception is thrown: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target.

Whether this is a bug is sort of a grey area, but it is a source of confusion. Would be a good idea to at least note this in the documentation.

Stack trace:

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(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(Unknown Source)
at sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.validate(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(Unknown Source)
... 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(Unknown Source)
at java.security.cert.CertPathBuilder.build(Unknown Source)
... 24 more