Why Does My SSL Connection Fail with a 'Received fatal alert: handshake_failure' Error?

Understanding the "Received fatal alert: handshake_failure through SSLHandshakeException" Error in SSL Connections

The handshake failure error in SSL connections can arise due to various factors:

Potential Causes:

1. Mismatched Cipher Suites: The client and server may not be utilizing compatible cipher suites, necessitating the client to adjust or enable one supported by the server.
2. Version Incompatibility: The server and client may be operating with different SSL versions, potentially leading to version mismatches. The client should ensure compatibility with the server's version.
3. Incomplete Certificate Trust Path: The server's certificate may not be trusted by the client, as its issuing CA is absent from the client's trust store. To resolve this, the server's CA certificate should be imported into the trust store.
4. Incorrect Certificate Domain: The server certificate may be issued for a domain different from the one being accessed. In this case, the server should obtain the correct certificate.

Debugging the Handshake Failure:

To pinpoint the cause of the handshake failure, enable SSL debugging using the -Djavax.net.debug=all flag. This will provide a detailed log of the SSL connection establishment activities.

Update:

Further investigation suggests that the problem stems from an incomplete certificate trust path, where the root CA for the server's certificate is absent from the client's trust store. To resolve this, the CA certificate should be imported into the trust store used by the JVM, typically the cacerts file.

Understanding the JSSE Trace Output:

The JSSE trace provides information about keystores, truststores, and the handshake process:

1. Keystores and Truststores: These are listed at the beginning of the trace, indicating the locations and types of the keystore and truststores used.
2. Trusted Certificates: The trace includes a section that lists the trusted certificates in the trust store. If the server's CA is not listed, this may be the source of the trust path issue.
3. Handshake Stages: The trace will contain entries describing the ClientHello, ServerHello, and certificate exchange. The error may be indicated in the ServerHello, which specifies the selected cipher suite and whether the server certificate was accepted.

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