accepting HTTPS connections with self-signed certificates

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I'm trying to make HTTPS connections, using HttpClient lib, but the problem is that, since the certificate isn't signed by a recognized Certificate Authority (CA) like Verisign,GlobalSIgn, etc., listed on the set of Android Trusted Certificates, I keep getting javax.net.ssl.SSLException: Not trusted server certificate.

I've seen solutions where you simply accept all certificates, but what if I want to ask the user?

I want to get a dialog similar to that of the browser, letting the user decide to continue or not. Preferably I'd like to use the same certificatestore as the browser. Any ideas?

13 Answers

Google recommends the usage of Android Volley for HTTP/HTTPS connections, since that HttpClient is deprecated. So, you know the right choice :).

And also, NEVER NUKE SSL Certificates (NEVER!!!).

To nuke SSL Certificates, is totally against the purpose of SSL, which is promoting security. There's no sense of using SSL, if you're planning to bomb all SSL certificates that comes. A better solution would be creating a custom TrustManager on your App + using Android Volley for HTTP/HTTPS connections.

Here's a Gist which I created, with a basic LoginApp, performing HTTPS connections, using a Self-Signed Certificate on the server-side, accepted on the App.

Here's also another Gist that may help, for creating Self-Signed SSL Certificates for setting up on your Server and also using the certificate on your App. Very important: you must copy the .crt file which was generated by the script above, to the "raw" directory from your Android project.

Jan 19th, 2020 Self Signed Certificate ISSUE FIX:

To play video , image , calling webservice for any self signed certificate or connecting to any unsecured url just call this method before performing any action , it will fix your issue regarding certificate issue :

KOTLIN CODE

  private fun disableSSLCertificateChecking() {
        val hostnameVerifier = object: HostnameVerifier {
            override fun verify(s:String, sslSession: SSLSession):Boolean {
                return true
            }
        }
        val trustAllCerts = arrayOf<TrustManager>(object: X509TrustManager {
            override fun getAcceptedIssuers(): Array<X509Certificate> {
                TODO("not implemented") //To change body of created functions use File | Settings | File Templates.
            }

            //val acceptedIssuers:Array<X509Certificate> = null
            @Throws(CertificateException::class)
            override fun checkClientTrusted(arg0:Array<X509Certificate>, arg1:String) {// Not implemented
            }
            @Throws(CertificateException::class)
            override fun checkServerTrusted(arg0:Array<X509Certificate>, arg1:String) {// Not implemented
            }
        })
        try
        {
            val sc = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS")
            sc.init(null, trustAllCerts, java.security.SecureRandom())
            HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultSSLSocketFactory(sc.getSocketFactory())
            HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultHostnameVerifier(hostnameVerifier)
        }
        catch (e: KeyManagementException) {
            e.printStackTrace()
        }
        catch (e: NoSuchAlgorithmException) {
            e.printStackTrace()
        }
    }

This is problem resulting from lack of SNI(Server Name Identification) support inA,ndroid 2.x. I was struggling with this problem for a week until I came across the following question, which not only gives a good background of the problem but also provides a working and effective solution devoid of any security holes.

'No peer certificate' error in Android 2.3 but NOT in 4

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