jetty/jetty.project

Easier access to invalid client certificates

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#6067 opened on Mar 17, 2021

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 (5 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)Java (3,701 stars) (1,913 forks)batch import
Help Wanted

Description

Jetty version 10.0.x

Description During the TLS handshake, in case of needClientAuth, the client may send an invalid (e.g. expired) certificate. The validation checks are performed by the TrustManager and if they fail there is no way to access the expired client certificate, for example in SslHandshakeListener.handshakeFailed(), as it is not exposed via SSLSession.getPeerCertificate(), etc.

The only option would be to wrap the TrustManager, but that requires subclassing SslContextFactory.Server and overriding getTrustManager(), whose signature is likely to change in light of #6054.

Would be great to have a more stable way to provide hooks into the TrustManager in a simpler way.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
java
Domain
backendsecurity
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
JavaTLS/SSL basicsJetty SslContextFactory
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
30
Research direction
Investigate how Jetty's SslContextFactory.Server creates TrustManager instances and where client certificate validation occurs. Look at SslHandshakeListener.handshakeFailed() and SSLSession to understand current limitations. The goal is to expose invalid client certificates in the handshake failure callback, possibly by creating a wrapper trust manager or modifying the SslContextFactory API. Examine upstream issue #6054 for potential API changes.