Security

Documentation Contents

Security enhancements for the Java^TM 2 SDK, Standard Edition, v 1.4.2 include the following:

• The following CA (Certification Authority) certificates were added to the cacerts file in the lib/security directory of the Java installation:

     Alias name: entrustglobalclientca
     Owner: CN=Entrust.net Client Certification Authority, OU=(c)
     2000 Entrust.net Limited, OU=www.entrust.net/GCCA_CPS incorp. by ref.
     (limits liab.), O=Entrust.net
  
     Alias name: entrustgsslca
     Owner: CN=Entrust.net Secure Server Certification Authority, OU=(c)
     2000 Entrust.net Limited, OU=www.entrust.net/SSL_CPS incorp. by ref.
     (limits liab.), O=Entrust.net
  
     Alias name: entrustsslca
     Owner: CN=Entrust.net Secure Server Certification Authority, OU=(c)
     1999 Entrust.net Limited, OU=www.entrust.net/CPS incorp. by ref.
     (limits liab.), O=Entrust.net, C=US
  
     Alias name: entrust2048ca
     Owner: CN=Entrust.net Certification Authority (2048), OU=(c)
     1999 Entrust.net Limited, OU=www.entrust.net/CPS_2048 incorp. by ref.
     (limits liab.), O=Entrust.net
  
     Alias name: entrustclientca
     Owner: CN=Entrust.net Client Certification Authority, OU=(c)
     1999 Entrust.net Limited, OU=www.entrust.net/Client_CA_Info/CPS incorp.
     by ref. limits liab., O=Entrust.net, C=US
  

• Support for AES (the Advanced Encryption Standard) was added to the SunJCE cryptographic provider. For details see the JCE reference guide.

• Support for the SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512 hash algorithms was added to the Sun provider. For details see the cryptography architecture reference guide.

• The SunJSSE implementation now supports a number of additional ciphersuites. They include ciphersuites using AES as a symmetric cipher and ephemeral Diffie-Hellman with RSA authentication (DHE_RSA). For details see the JSSE reference guide.

• In addition to the simple X.509 based trustmanager previously available in the SunJSSE provider, it now supports a second, PKIX compliant trust manager. It is implemented utilizing the default CertPath PKIX implementation. See the JSSE reference guide for more information.

• The PKIX CertPath implementation in the Sun provider has been made compliant with the recently published RFC 3280.

• A number of performance related changes have been made to the certificate and PKIX implementation in the Sun provider. Depending on the usage scenario, performance can be substantially improved, in some case execution may be several times as fast as in previous releases. One of these changes is the addition of caching to the LDAPCertStore implementation, which can be configured as described in the CertPath API Programmer's Guide.

• Limited support for the CRL DistributionPoints extension is now available in the Sun PKIX implementation. This allows the implementation to automatically locate and download CRLs in some cases, eliminating the need for manual configuration. This feature is disabled by default for compatibility reasons. For more information see the CertPath API Programmer's Guide.

• Added Counter mode (CTR) support for all block ciphers in the SunJCE provider. For details see the JCE reference guide.

• Security Enhancements in Java GSS

Security enhancements for the Java^TM 2 SDK, Standard Edition, v 1.4.1 include the following:

• Three new security tools were added in the 1.4.1 release of the Java 2 platform: kinit, klist, and ktab. These tools help users obtain, list and manage Kerberos tickets. See the Security Tools section of the Java^TM 2 SDK Tools and Utilities documentation for more information.

• The Sun SecureRandom implementation now also makes use of an operating system-provided entropy source on Windows platforms, which can improve the startup time of cryptographic applications considerably. Edit the <java.home>/lib/security/java.security to control this feature.
• New root CA certificates with aliases baltimorecodesigningca, gtecybertrustglobalca, baltimorecybertrustca, gtecybertrustca, and gtecybertrust5ca have been added to the <java.home>/lib/security/cacerts keystore file. See The cacerts Certificates File.

Security enhancements for the previous release, Java^TM 2 SDK, Standard Edition, v 1.4 included the following:

• The Java^TM Cryptography Extension (JCE), Java^TM Secure Socket Extension (JSSE), and Java^TM Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) security features have now been integrated into the Java 2 SDK, v 1.4 rather than being optional packages.

• There are two new security features:
  • The Java^TM GSS-API can be used for securely exchanging messages between communicating applications using the Kerberos V5 mechanism.
  • The Java^TM Certification Path API includes new classes and methods in the java.security.cert package that allow you to build and validate certification paths (also known as "certificate chains").

• Due to import control restrictions, the JCE jurisdiction policy files shipped with the Java 2 SDK, v 1.4 allow "strong" but limited cryptography to be used. A version of these files indicating no restrictions on cryptographic strengths is available.

• The JSSE implementation provided in this release includes strong cipher suites. However, due to U.S. export control restrictions, this release does not allow alternate "pluggable" SSL/TLS implementations to be used. For more information, please see the JSSE Reference Guide.

• With the integration of JAAS into the J2SDK, the java.security.Policy API handles Principal-based queries, and the default policy implementation supports Principal-based grant entries. Thus, access control can now be based not just on what code is running, but also on who is running it.

• Support for dynamic policies has been added. In Java 2 SDK releases prior to version 1.4, classes were statically bound with permissions by querying security policy during class loading. The lifetime of this binding was scoped by the lifetime of the class loader. In version 1.4 this binding is now deferred until needed by a security check. The lifetime of the binding is now scoped by the lifetime of the security policy.

• The graphical Policy Tool utility has been enhanced to enable specifying a Principal field indicating what user is to be granted specified access control permissions.

General Security

• Security Architecture
• Cryptography Architecture
• How to Implement a Provider for the Java Cryptography Architecture
• Policy Permissions
• Default Policy Implementation and Policy File Syntax
• API for Privileged Blocks
• X.509 Certificates and Certificate Revocation Lists
• Security Managers and the Java^TM 2 SDK

Certification Path

• Java Certification Path API Programmer's Guide

JAAS

• JAAS Reference Guide
• See the JAAS Tutorials.
• JAAS white paper
• JAAS LoginModule Developer's Guide

Java GSS-API

• See the Java GSS-API and JAAS Tutorials for Use with Kerberos.
• Single Sign-on Using Kerberos in Java

JCE

• JCE Reference Guide
• How to Implement a Provider for the Java Cryptography Extension

JSSE

• JSSE Reference Guide

General Security

• java.security Package
• java.security.cert Package
• java.security.interfaces Package
• java.security.spec Package

Certification Path

• java.security.cert Package

JAAS

• javax.security.auth Package
• javax.security.auth.callback Package
• javax.security.auth.kerberos Package
• javax.security.auth.login Package
• javax.security.auth.spi Package
• javax.security.auth.x500 Package
• com.sun.security.auth Package
• com.sun.security.auth.callback Package
• com.sun.security.auth.login Package
• com.sun.security.auth.module Package

Java GSS-API

• org.ietf.jgss Package
• com.sun.security.jgss Package

JCE

• javax.crypto Package
• javax.crypto.interfaces Package
• javax.crypto.spec Package

JSSE

• javax.net package
• javax.net.ssl package
• javax.security.cert package

• Security Tools Summary
• keytool (for Solaris) (for Windows)
• jarsigner (for Solaris) (for Windows)
• policytool (for Solaris) (for Windows)

• The Java^TM 2 Platform Security trail of the Java Tutorial
• JAAS Tutorials.
• Java GSS-API and JAAS Tutorials for Use with Kerberos.

Located on the Java Software web site:

• The Security Home Page

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