How can I use different certificates on specific connections?

Question

A module I\'m adding to our large Java application has to converse with another company\'s SSL-secured website. The problem is that the site uses a self-signed certificate.

Answer 1

I read through LOTS of places online to solve this thing. This is the code I wrote to make it work:

ByteArrayInputStream derInputStream = new ByteArrayInputStream(app.certificateString.getBytes());
CertificateFactory certificateFactory = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X.509");
X509Certificate cert = (X509Certificate) certificateFactory.generateCertificate(derInputStream);
String alias = "alias";//cert.getSubjectX500Principal().getName();

KeyStore trustStore = KeyStore.getInstance(KeyStore.getDefaultType());
trustStore.load(null);
trustStore.setCertificateEntry(alias, cert);
KeyManagerFactory kmf = KeyManagerFactory.getInstance("SunX509");
kmf.init(trustStore, null);
KeyManager[] keyManagers = kmf.getKeyManagers();

TrustManagerFactory tmf = TrustManagerFactory.getInstance("X509");
tmf.init(trustStore);
TrustManager[] trustManagers = tmf.getTrustManagers();

SSLContext sslContext = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
sslContext.init(keyManagers, trustManagers, null);
URL url = new URL(someURL);
conn = (HttpsURLConnection) url.openConnection();
conn.setSSLSocketFactory(sslContext.getSocketFactory());

app.certificateString is a String that contains the Certificate, for example:

static public String certificateString=
        "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n" +
        "MIIGQTCCBSmgAwIBAgIHBcg1dAivUzANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADCBjDELMAkGA1UE" +
        "BhMCSUwxFjAUBgNVBAoTDVN0YXJ0Q29tIEx0ZC4xKzApBgNVBAsTIlNlY3VyZSBE" +
        ... a bunch of characters...
        "5126sfeEJMRV4Fl2E5W1gDHoOd6V==\n" +
        "-----END CERTIFICATE-----";

I have tested that you can put any characters in the certificate string, if it is self signed, as long as you keep the exact structure above. I obtained the certificate string with my laptop's Terminal command line.