Attributes reversed in certificate subject and issuer

Question

I am trying to generate X509 certificates with bouncycastle 1.46, with the code below. The issue I have is that when a certificate is written in a JKS and then reread, the DNs are reversed. For instance, if I run the code below, I get the following output:

CN=test,O=gina
CN=test,O=gina
CN=test,O=gina
O=gina, CN=test

Does anybody know the reason for this? how to avoid it? Thanks in advance.

Code:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    try {
        Security.addProvider(new BouncyCastleProvider());

        KeyPair pair = generateKeyPair("RSA", 1024);
        X500Name principal = new X500Name("cn=test,o=gina");
        System.out.println(principal);
        BigInteger sn = BigInteger.valueOf(1234);
        Date start = today();
        Date end = addYears(start, 2);
        X509Certificate cert = generateCert(principal, pair, sn, start, end,
                "SHA1withRSA");
        cert.verify(pair.getPublic());
        System.out.println(cert.getSubjectDN());

        // Store the certificate in the JKS
        KeyStore ks = KeyStore.getInstance("JKS");
        ks.load(null, null);
        ks.setKeyEntry("alias", pair.getPrivate(), KEY_PWD,
                new X509Certificate[] {cert});
        X509Certificate c
                = (X509Certificate)ks.getCertificateChain("alias")[0];
        System.out.println(c.getSubjectDN());
        OutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("text.jks");
        try {
            ks.store(out, KEYSTORE_PWD);
        } finally {
            out.close();
        }

        // Reread the JKS
        ks = KeyStore.getInstance("JKS");
        InputStream in = new FileInputStream("text.jks");
        try {
            ks.load(in, KEYSTORE_PWD);
        } finally {
            in.close();
        }
        c = (X509Certificate)ks.getCertificateChain("alias")[0];
        c.verify(pair.getPublic());
        System.out.println(c.getSubjectDN());
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

private static X509Certificate generateCert(X500Name principal,
        KeyPair pair, BigInteger sn, Date start, Date end, String sigalg)
        throws OperatorCreationException, CertificateException {
    JcaX509v3CertificateBuilder certGen
            = new JcaX509v3CertificateBuilder(principal, sn, start, end,
                    principal, pair.getPublic());
    JcaContentSignerBuilder builder
            = new JcaContentSignerBuilder(sigalg);
    builder.setProvider("BC");
    ContentSigner signr = builder.build(pair.getPrivate());
    X509CertificateHolder certHolder = certGen.build(signr);
    JcaX509CertificateConverter conv
            = new JcaX509CertificateConverter();
    conv.setProvider("BC");
    return conv.getCertificate(certHolder);
}

private static KeyPair generateKeyPair(String algorithm, int keySize)
        throws NoSuchAlgorithmException {
    KeyPairGenerator gen = KeyPairGenerator.getInstance(algorithm);
    gen.initialize(keySize);
    return gen.generateKeyPair();
}

private static Date today() {
    Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
    cal.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, 0);
    cal.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
    cal.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
    cal.set(Calendar.MILLISECOND, 0);
    return cal.getTime();
}

private static Date addYears(Date date, int count) {
    Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
    cal.setTime(date);
    cal.add(Calendar.YEAR, count);
    return cal.getTime();
}

Answer 1

I ran into the same issue and resolved it quickly with the following:

//CREATES AN X500 CA SUBJECT FOR ISSUER

X500Name issuerName = new JcaX509CertificateHolder((X509Certificate) caCert).getSubject();

I then used it with the following:

//CONSTRUCTS THE X509 CERTIFIFATE OBJECT

X509v3CertificateBuilder v3CertGen = new X509v3CertificateBuilder(
issuerName, 
serialNumber, 
startDate, endDate, 
DevCsr.getSubject(), 
DevCsr.getSubjectPublicKeyInfo());

The issuer name in the Java Keystore end entity certificate now shows up in the correct order.

Cheers!

Answer 2

This may be a bit simpler. At least in BC 1.48+, you can construct the X500Name thusly, and the OIDs will be ordered in the expected way (or at least, the way you specify them):

final X500Name subject = new X500Name(RFC4519Style.INSTANCE, "CN=test,O=gina");