Unable to Find Valid Certification Path to Requested Target

Unable to Find Valid Certification Path to Requested Target error is encountered when a Java application is unable to validate the SSL/TLS certificate provided by a remote server. This error “Unable to Find Valid Certification Path to Requested Target” is usually encountered when making a secure HTTPS connection to a server and can indicate a problem with the certificate chain or with the trust store used by the Java runtime.

Root Cause:

The root cause of this error is that the Java runtime does not trust the certificate presented by the remote server. This can occur for several reasons, including the use of a self-signed certificate, an expired certificate, or a certificate that was issued by an untrusted certificate authority.

Solution:

There are several ways to resolve this error, depending on the cause.

1. Import the certificate into the Java trust store

If the remote server is using a self-signed certificate or a certificate issued by an untrusted certificate authority, you can resolve the error by importing the certificate into the Java trust store.

Here’s an example of how to do this using the keytool command-line utility:

keytool -import -alias <certificate_alias> -file <certificate_file> -keystore <java_home>/jre/lib/security/cacerts

2. Use a custom trust store

If you don’t want to modify the Java trust store, you can create a custom trust store and specify it when starting your Java application.

Here’s an example of how to do this using the -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore system property:

java -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=<custom_trust_store> <Main_Class>

3. Disable certificate validation

If you don’t need to validate the certificate provided by the remote server, you can disable certificate validation altogether. This should only be done in testing environments, as it exposes your application to security risks.

Here’s an example of how to do this using the TrustManager and SSLContext APIs:

TrustManager[] trustAllCerts = new TrustManager[] {
  new X509TrustManager() {
    public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
      return null;
    }
    public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
    }
    public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
    }
  }
};

SSLContext sc = SSLContext.getInstance("SSL");
sc.init(null, trustAllCerts, new SecureRandom());
HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultSSLSocketFactory(sc.getSocketFactory());