JDK7 SSL conenction Issue Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256

Question

I am making a SSL connection (as client) and according to this Oracle article the following two cypher suits are supported in JDK7 if you use TLSv1.2 and enable the Strong version of the jurisdiction policy.

• TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384
• TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256

However the two cypher algorithms are ignored when making secure connection.

Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256
Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256
**Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384**
Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384
Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256
**Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256**
Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384
Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384
Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
Ignoring unsupported cipher suite: TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
Allow unsafe renegotiation: false
Allow legacy hello messages: true
Is initial handshake: true
Is secure renegotiation: false
%% No cached client session
*** ClientHello, TLSv1.2
RandomCookie:  GMT: 1496192143 bytes = { 166, 200, 78, 178, 69, 10, 17, 174, 212, 142, 188, 108, 136, 152, 242, 222, 94, 231, 4, 86, 2, 99, 202, 4, 204, 130, 236, 120 }
Session ID:  {}
Cipher Suites: [TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA, SSL_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA, SSL_DHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA, SSL_DHE_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA, TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA, SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA, TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA, TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA, SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5, TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV]
Compression Methods:  { 0 }
Extension elliptic_curves, curve names: {secp256r1, sect163k1, sect163r2, secp192r1, secp224r1, sect233k1, sect233r1, sect283k1, sect283r1, secp384r1, sect409k1, sect409r1, secp521r1, sect571k1, sect571r1, secp160k1, secp160r1, secp160r2, sect163r1, secp192k1, sect193r1, sect193r2, secp224k1, sect239k1, secp256k1}
Extension ec_point_formats, formats: [uncompressed]
Extension signature_algorithms, signature_algorithms: SHA512withECDSA, SHA512withRSA, SHA384withECDSA, SHA384withRSA, SHA256withECDSA, SHA256withRSA, SHA224withECDSA, SHA224withRSA, SHA1withECDSA, SHA1withRSA, SHA1withDSA, MD5withRSA
Extension server_name, server_name: [host_name: api.sms.optus.com.au]
***
main, WRITE: **TLSv1.2** Handshake, length = 222
main, READ: TLSv1.2 Alert, length = 2
main, RECV TLSv1 ALERT:  fatal, handshake_failure
main, called closeSocket()
main, handling exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: Received fatal alert: handshake_failure
ERROR [main] (TestRest.java:42) - Error : 

I have set the TLSv1.2

• -Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.2

I have installed the "JCE Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files" and I can confirm its successfully installed by running the following code

try {
    int maxAllowedKeyLength = Cipher.getMaxAllowedKeyLength("AES");
    System.out.println("AES: " + maxAllowedKeyLength);
    return maxAllowedKeyLength >= 256;
} catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
    return false;
}

I think the two cypher algorithms are not supported in JDK7 but mistakenly mentioned in the Oracle article?

Notes:

• There is no problem if I run the c0ode in JDK8.
• I am behind firewal and had to setup proxy. but I dont think its related as I can connect in JDK8 with no issue.

Answer 1

The initial setting of the 'enabled' ciphers list is computed in SSLContextImpl.init before any tailoring is done, and in Java7 client the initial protocol list is only SSLv3 and TLSv1 (and in recent versions java.security configures jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms to remove SSLv3 because of POODLE) so this disables all TLSv1.2-only ciphers, which are the only ones this server will agree to. This is the source of the Ignoring unsupported messages in your trace before the actual handshake starts.

If using HttpsURLConnection you need to set both https.protocols and https.cipherSuites (note capital S) sysprops. If directly using SSLSocket you need to call both .setEnabledProtocols including (at least) TLSv1.2 and .setEnabledCipherSuites including (at least) one of the ciphersuites you highlighted in your Q, or substitute/wrap the factory to do the equivalent.

Java8 does not have the problem because its default protocol list for both client and server is SSLv3,TLSv1,TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2, again with SSLv3 removed by jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms