How to import an existing X.509 certificate and private key in Java keystore to use in SSL?

Question

I have this in an ActiveMQ config:

Answer 1

In my case I had a pem file which contained two certificates and an encrypted private key to be used in mutual SSL authentication. So my pem file looked like this:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED
DEK-Info: DES-EDE3-CBC,C8BF220FC76AA5F9
...
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Here is what I did:

Split the file into three separate files, so that each one contains just one entry, starting with "---BEGIN.." and ending with "---END.." lines. Lets assume we now have three files: cert1.pem cert2.pem and pkey.pem

Convert pkey.pem into DER format using openssl and the following syntax:

openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -nocrypt -in pkey.pem -inform PEM -out pkey.der -outform DER

Note, that if the private key is encrypted you need to supply a password( obtain it from the supplier of the original pem file ) to convert to DER format, openssl will ask you for the password like this: "enter a pass phraze for pkey.pem: " If conversion is successful, you will get a new file called "pkey.der"

Create a new java key store and import the private key and the certificates:

String keypass = "password";  // this is a new password, you need to come up with to protect your java key store file
String defaultalias = "importkey";
KeyStore ks = KeyStore.getInstance("JKS", "SUN");

// this section does not make much sense to me, 
// but I will leave it intact as this is how it was in the original example I found on internet:   
ks.load( null, keypass.toCharArray());
ks.store( new FileOutputStream ( "mykeystore"  ), keypass.toCharArray());
ks.load( new FileInputStream ( "mykeystore" ),    keypass.toCharArray());
// end of section..


// read the key file from disk and create a PrivateKey

FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("pkey.der");
DataInputStream dis = new DataInputStream(fis);
byte[] bytes = new byte[dis.available()];
dis.readFully(bytes);
ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(bytes);

byte[] key = new byte[bais.available()];
KeyFactory kf = KeyFactory.getInstance("RSA");
bais.read(key, 0, bais.available());
bais.close();

PKCS8EncodedKeySpec keysp = new PKCS8EncodedKeySpec ( key );
PrivateKey ff = kf.generatePrivate (keysp);


// read the certificates from the files and load them into the key store:

Collection  col_crt1 = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X509").generateCertificates(new FileInputStream("cert1.pem"));
Collection  col_crt2 = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X509").generateCertificates(new FileInputStream("cert2.pem"));

Certificate crt1 = (Certificate) col_crt1.iterator().next();
Certificate crt2 = (Certificate) col_crt2.iterator().next();
Certificate[] chain = new Certificate[] { crt1, crt2 };

String alias1 = ((X509Certificate) crt1).getSubjectX500Principal().getName();
String alias2 = ((X509Certificate) crt2).getSubjectX500Principal().getName();

ks.setCertificateEntry(alias1, crt1);
ks.setCertificateEntry(alias2, crt2);

// store the private key
ks.setKeyEntry(defaultalias, ff, keypass.toCharArray(), chain );

// save the key store to a file         
ks.store(new FileOutputStream ( "mykeystore" ),keypass.toCharArray());

(optional) Verify the content of your new key store:

keytool -list -keystore mykeystore -storepass password

Keystore type: JKS Keystore provider: SUN

Your keystore contains 3 entries

cn=...,ou=...,o=.., Sep 2, 2014, trustedCertEntry, Certificate fingerprint (SHA1): 2C:B8: ...

importkey, Sep 2, 2014, PrivateKeyEntry, Certificate fingerprint (SHA1): 9C:B0: ...

cn=...,o=...., Sep 2, 2014, trustedCertEntry, Certificate fingerprint (SHA1): 83:63: ...

(optional) Test your certificates and private key from your new key store against your SSL server: ( You may want to enable debugging as an VM option: -Djavax.net.debug=all )

        char[] passw = "password".toCharArray();
        KeyStore ks = KeyStore.getInstance("JKS", "SUN");
        ks.load(new FileInputStream ( "mykeystore" ), passw );

        KeyManagerFactory kmf = KeyManagerFactory.getInstance("SunX509");
        kmf.init(ks, passw);

        TrustManagerFactory tmf = TrustManagerFactory.getInstance(TrustManagerFactory.getDefaultAlgorithm());
        tmf.init(ks);
        TrustManager[] tm = tmf.getTrustManagers();

        SSLContext sclx = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
        sclx.init( kmf.getKeyManagers(), tm, null);

        SSLSocketFactory factory = sclx.getSocketFactory();
        SSLSocket socket = (SSLSocket) factory.createSocket( "192.168.1.111", 443 );
        socket.startHandshake();

        //if no exceptions are thrown in the startHandshake method, then everything is fine..

Finally register your certificates with HttpsURLConnection if plan to use it:

        char[] passw = "password".toCharArray();
        KeyStore ks = KeyStore.getInstance("JKS", "SUN");
        ks.load(new FileInputStream ( "mykeystore" ), passw );

        KeyManagerFactory kmf = KeyManagerFactory.getInstance("SunX509");
        kmf.init(ks, passw);

        TrustManagerFactory tmf = TrustManagerFactory.getInstance(TrustManagerFactory.getDefaultAlgorithm());
        tmf.init(ks);
        TrustManager[] tm = tmf.getTrustManagers();

        SSLContext sclx = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
        sclx.init( kmf.getKeyManagers(), tm, null);

        HostnameVerifier hv = new HostnameVerifier()
        {
            public boolean verify(String urlHostName, SSLSession session)
            {
                if (!urlHostName.equalsIgnoreCase(session.getPeerHost()))
                {
                    System.out.println("Warning: URL host '" + urlHostName + "' is different to SSLSession host '" + session.getPeerHost() + "'.");
                }
                return true;
            }
        };

        HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultSSLSocketFactory( sclx.getSocketFactory() );
        HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultHostnameVerifier(hv);