Java Version 8 Update 141 Released

After upgrading to the JDK July CPU release (8u141/7u151/6u161), when executing Java Webstart applications, customers may encounter an exception like
“java.lang.SecurityException: digest missing for …” that prevents the application from loading.

The issue is observed in signed JAR files whose manifest contains package version information[1] and does not have a trailing “/” in the name of the package (e.g.: Name: org/apache/xml/resolver). While we work towards resolving this issue, in the interim, users can work-around the issue as follows:

NOTE: We recommend use of this workaround only if the distributor of the JAR files can “re-sign” the JAR files.

1. Extract the contents of the signed JAR file (e.g.: jar xf jar-file).

2. Modify META-INF/MANIFEST.MF file and add a trailing “/” to the name of the package ( e.g.: Name: org/apache/xml/resolver/).
3. Remove the current signature files ( e.g.: rm -f META-INF/*.SF META-INF/*.RSA META-INF/*.DSA).
4. Recreate the JAR file ( e,g.: jar cfm jar-file META-INF/MANIFEST.MF input-file(s)).
 NOTE: You must use the jar utility. Other jar creation tools might re-introduce the issue.
5. Re-sign the JAR file.
[1] https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/versioning/spec/versioning2.html#wp91706

One new root certificate has been added:


ISRG Root X1 
alias: letsencryptisrgx1 
DN: CN=ISRG Root X1, O=Internet Security Research Group, C=US


Any TLS server certificate chain containing a SHA-1 certificate (end-entity or intermediate CA) and anchored by a root CA certificate included by default in Oracle’s JDK is now blocked by default. TLS Server certificate chains that are anchored by enterprise or private CAs are not affected. Only X.509 certificate chains that are validated by the PKIX implementation of the CertPathValidator and CertPathBuilder APIs and the SunX509 and PKIX implementations of the TrustManagerFactory API are subject to the restrictions. Third-party implementations of these APIs are directly responsible for enforcing their own restrictions.

To implement this restriction and provide more flexibility for configuring your own restrictions, additional features have been added to the jdk.certpath.disabledAlgorithms and jdk.jar.disabledAlgorithms Security Properties in the java.security file, as follows:

• jdk.certpath.disabledAlgorithms:

  Three new constraints have been added to this Security Property:

  A new constraint named jdkCA, that when set, restricts the algorithm if it is used in a certificate chain that is anchored by a trust anchor that is pre-installed in the JDK cacerts keystore. This condition does not apply to certificate chains that are anchored by other certificates, including those that are subsequently added to the cacerts keystore. Also, note that the restriction does not apply to trust anchor certificates, since they are directly trusted.

  A new constraint named denyAfter, that when set, restricts the algorithm if it is used in a certificate chain after the specified date. The restriction does not apply to trust anchor certificates, since they are directly trusted. Also, code signing certificate chains as used in signed JARs are treated specially as follows:

  • if the certificate chain is used with a signed JAR that is not timestamped, it will be restricted after the specified date

  • if the certificate chain is used with a signed JAR that is timestamped, it will not be restricted if it is timestamped before the specified date. If the JAR is timestamped after the specified date, it will be restricted.

  A new constraint named usage, that when set, restricts the algorithm if it is used in a certificate chain for the specified use(s). Three usages are initially supported: TLSServer for TLS/SSL server certificate chains, TLSClient for TLS/SSL client certificate chains, and SignedJAR for certificate chains used with signed JARs.

Multiple constraints can be combined to constrain an algorithm when delimited by ‘&’. For example, to disable SHA-1 TLS Server certificate chains that are anchored by pre-installed root CAs, the constraint is “SHA1 jdkCA & usage TLSServer”.

• jdk.jar.disabledAlgorithms:

  A new constraint has been added named denyAfter, that when set, restricts the algorithm if it is used in a signed JAR after the specified date, as follows:

  • if the JAR is not timestamped, it will be restricted (treated as unsigned) after the specified date

  • if the JAR is timestamped, it will not be restricted if it is timestamped before the specified date. If the JAR is timestamped after the specified date, it will be restricted.

  For example, to restrict SHA1 in JAR files signed after January 1st 2018, add the following to the property: “SHA1 denyAfter 2018-01-01”. The syntax is the same as the certpath property, however certificate checking will not be performed by this property.

com.sun.management.HotSpotDiagnostic::dumpHeap API is modified to throw IllegalArgumentException if the supplied file name does not end with “.hprof” suffix. Existing applications which do not provide a file name ending with the “.hprof” extension will fail with IllegalArgumentException. In that case, applications can either choose to handle the exception or restore old behavior by setting system property ‘jdk.management.heapdump.allowAnyFileSuffix‘ to true.

Earlier releases of JDK 8 Updates didn’t always send the Server Name Indication (SNI) extension in the TLS ClientHello phase if a custom hostname verifier was used. This verifier is set via the setHostnameVerifier(HostnameVerifier v) method in HttpsURLConnection. The fix ensures the Server Name is now sent in the ClientHello body.

The wsimport tool has been changed to disallow DTDs in Web Service descriptions, specifically:

• DOCTYPE declaration is disallowed in documents
• External general entities are not included by default
• External parameter entities are not included by default
• External DTDs are completely ignored

To restore the previous behavior:

• Set the System property com.sun.xml.internal.ws.disableXmlSecurity to true
• Use the wsimport tool command line option –disableXmlSecurity
  NOTE: JDK 7 and JDK 6 support for this option in wsimport will be provided via a Patch release post July CPU