Note: The Standard Names
Documentation contains more information about the standard names used in
this document.
Introduction
The Java platform defines a set of APIs spanning major security areas,
including cryptography, public key infrastructure, authentication,
secure communication, and access control. These APIs allow developers
to easily integrate security mechanisms into their application code.
The Java Cryptography Architecture (JCA)
and its Provider
Architecture is a core concept of the Java Development Kit (JDK).
It is assumed readers have an solid understanding of this
architecture.
This document describes the technical details of the providers shipped
as part of Sun's Java Environment.
Reminder:
Cryptographic implementations in the Sun JDK are distributed through
several different providers ("Sun", "SunJSSE", "SunJCE", "SunRsaSign")
for both historical reasons and by the types of services provided.
General purpose applications SHOULD NOT request cryptographic
services from specific providers. That is:
getInstance("...", "SunJCE"); // not recommended
vs.
getInstance("..."); // recommended
Otherwise, applications are tied to
specific providers which may not be available on other Java
implementations. They also might not be able to take advantage of
available optimized providers (for example, hardware accelerators via
PKCS11 or native OS implementations such as Microsoft's MSCAPI) that
have a higher preference order than the specific requested provider.
The SunPKCS11 Provider
The Cryptographic Token Interface Standard ( PKCS#11) provides
native programming interfaces to cryptographic mechanisms, such as
hardware cryptographic accelerators and Smart Cards. When properly
configured, the SunPKCS11 provider enables applications to
use the standard JCA/JCE APIs to access native PKCS#11 libraries. The
SunPKCS11 provider itself does not contain cryptographic
functionality, it is simply a conduit between the Java environment and
the native PKCS11 providers. The Java
PKCS#11 Reference Guide has a much more detailed treatment of this
provider.
The SUN Provider
JDK 1.1 introduced the Provider architecture. The
first JDK provider was named SUN, and contained two types
of cryptographic services (MessageDigests and
Signatures). In later releases, other mechanisms were
added (SecureRandom number generators,
KeyPairGenerators, KeyFactorys, etc.).
United States export regulations in effect at the time placed
significant restrictions on the type of cryptographic functionality
that could be made available internationally in the JDK. For this
reason, the SUN provider has historically contained
cryptographic engines that did not directly encrypt or decrypt data.
The following algorithms are available in the SUN
provider:
Engine
Algorithm Name(s)
AlgorithmParameterGenerator
DSA
AlgorithmParameters
DSA
CertificateFactory
X.509
CertPathBuilder
PKIX
CertPathValidator
PKIX
CertStore
Collection
LDAP
Configuration
JavaLoginConfig
KeyFactory
DSA
KeyPairGenerator
DSA
KeyStore
JKS
MessageDigest
MD2
MD5
SHA-1
SHA-256
SHA-384
SHA-512
Policy
JavaPolicy
SecureRandom
SHA1PRNG
Signature
NONEwithDSA
SHA1withDSA
Keysize Restrictions
The SUN provider uses the following default keysizes
(in bits) and enforce the following restrictions:
KeyPairGenerator
Alg. Name
Default Keysize
Restrictions/Comments
DSA
1024
Keysize must be a multiple of 64, ranging from 512 to 1024 (inclusive).
AlgorithmParameterGenerator
Alg. Name
Default Keysize
Restrictions/Comments
DSA
1024
Keysize must be a multiple of 64, ranging from 512 to 1024 (inclusive).
Additional details on the SUN provider implementations for
CertificateFactory, CertPathBuilder,
CertPathValidator and CertStore are documented
in Appendix B of the PKI
Programmer's Guide.
The SunRsaSign Provider
The SunRsaSign provider was introduced in JDK 1.3 as an
enhanced replacement for the RSA signatures in the SunJSSE provider.
The following algorithms are available in the SunRsaSign
provider:
The SunRsaSign provider uses the following default keysizes
(in bits) and enforce the following restrictions:
KeyPairGenerator
Alg. Name
Default Keysize
Restrictions/Comments
RSA
1024
Keysize must range between 512 and 65536 bits, the former of which is
unnecessarily large.
The SunJSSE Provider
The Java Secure Socket Extension (JSSE) was originally released as a
separate "Optional Package" (also briefly known as a "Standard
Extension"), and was available for JDK 1.2.x and 1.3.x. The
SunJSSE provider was introduced as part of this release.
In earlier JDK releases, there were no RSA signature providers
available in the JDK, therefore SunJSSE had to provide its
own RSA implementation in order to use commonly available RSA-based
certificates. JDK 5 introduced the SunRsaSign provider,
which provides all the functionality (and more) of the
SunJSSE provider. Applications targeted at JDK 5.0 and
higher should request instances of the SunRsaSign provider
instead. For backwards-compatibility, the RSA algorithms are still
available through this provider, but are actually implemented in the
SunRsaSign provider.
The following algorithms are available in the SunJSSE
provider:
Engine
Algorithm Name(s)
KeyFactory
RSA
KeyManagerFactory
SunX509
KeyPairGenerator
RSA
KeyStore
PKCS12
Signature
MD2withRSA
MD5withRSA
SHA1withRSA
SSLContext
SSLv3
TLSv1
TrustManagerFactory
PKIX
The SunJSSE also supports the following protocol
parameters:
Protocol
SSLv3
TLSv1
SSLv2Hello
SunJSSE supports a large number of ciphersuites. The table
below shows the ciphersuites supported by SunJSSE in their
default preference order and the release in which they were introduced.
Cipher Suite
Supported In Releases
<1.4.2
1.4.2
J2SE 5
Java SE 6
SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5
X
X
X
X
SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
X
X
X
X
TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
X
TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
X
TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
X
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
X
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
SSL_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
X
TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
X
SSL_DHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
SSL_DHE_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
X
SSL_RSA_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
X
SSL_DHE_RSA_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
SSL_DHE_DSS_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
X
SSL_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5
X
X
X
X
SSL_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
SSL_DHE_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
SSL_DHE_DSS_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
X
SSL_RSA_WITH_NULL_MD5
X
X
X
X
SSL_RSA_WITH_NULL_SHA
X
X
X
X
TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_NULL_SHA
X
TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_NULL_SHA
X
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_NULL_SHA
X
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_NULL_SHA
X
SSL_DH_anon_WITH_RC4_128_MD5
X
X
X
X
TLS_DH_anon_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
TLS_DH_anon_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
SSL_DH_anon_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
X
SSL_DH_anon_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
X
TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
X
TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
X
TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
X
SSL_DH_anon_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5
X
X
X
X
SSL_DH_anon_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
X
X
X
X
TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_NULL_SHA
X
TLS_KRB5_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
X
X
TLS_KRB5_WITH_RC4_128_MD5
X
X
TLS_KRB5_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
X
X
TLS_KRB5_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_MD5
X
X
TLS_KRB5_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
X
X
TLS_KRB5_WITH_DES_CBC_MD5
X
X
TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_SHA
X
X
TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5
X
X
TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_DES_CBC_40_SHA
X
X
TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_DES_CBC_40_MD5
X
X
Ciphersuites that use AES_256 requires installation of the JCE
Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files. See Java SE Download Page.
Ciphersuites that use Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECDSA, ECDH, ECDHE,
ECDH_anon) require that a JCE crypto provider with the following
properties be installed:
implements ECC as defined by the classes and interfaces in the packages
java.security.spec and java.security.interfaces. The
getAlgorithm() method of elliptic curve key objects must return
the String "EC"
supports the Signature algorithms SHA1withECDSA and
NONEwithECDSA, the KeyAgreement algorithm ECDH, and
a KeyPairGenerator and a KeyFactory for algorithm EC. If one of
these algorithms is missing, SunJSSE will not allow EC ciphersuites to be used.
the crypto provider should support all the SECG curves referenced in
RFC 4492 specification,
section 5.1.1 (see also appendix A). In certificates, points should be encoded
using the uncompressed form and curves should be encoded using the
namedCurve choice, i.e. using an object identifier. If these
requirements are not met, EC ciphersuites may not be negotiated correctly.
The SunJCE Provider
As described briefly in The SUN
Provider, US export regulations at the time restricted the type of
cryptographic functionality that could be made available in the JDK. A
separate API and reference implementation was developed that allowed
applications to encrypt/decrypt data. The Java Cryptographic Extension
(JCE) was released as a separate "Optional Package" (also briefly known
as a "Standard Extension"), and was available for JDK 1.2.x and 1.3.x.
During the development of JDK 1.4, regulations were relaxed enough that
JCE (and SunJSSE) could be bundled as part of the JDK.
The following algorithms are available in the SunJCE
provider:
DES
DESede
PBEWithMD5AndDES
PBEWithMD5AndTripleDES
PBEWithSHA1AndDESede
PBEWithSHA1AndRC2_40
PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1
Keysize Restrictions
The SunJCE provider uses the following default keysizes (in bits) and
enforce the following restrictions:
KeyGenerator
Alg. Name
Default Keysize
Restrictions/Comments
AES
128
Keysize must be equal to 128, 192, or 256.
ARCFOUR (RC4)
128
Keysize must range between 40 and 1024 (inclusive).
Blowfish
128
Keysize must be a multiple of 8, ranging from 32 to 448 (inclusive).
DES
56
Keysize must be equal to 56.
DESede (Triple DES)
168
Keysize must be equal to 112 or 168.
A keysize of 112 will generate a Triple DES
key with 2 intermediate keys, and a keysize of 168
will generate a Triple DES key with 3 intermediate keys.
Due to the "Meet-In-The-Middle" problem, even though 112 or 168
bits of key material are used, the effective keysize is
80 or 112 bits respectively.
HmacMD5
512
No keysize restriction.
HmacSHA1
512
No keysize restriction.
HmacSHA256
256
No keysize restriction.
HmacSHA384
384
No keysize restriction.
HmacSHA512
512
No keysize restriction.
RC2
128
Keysize must range between 40 and 1024 (inclusive).
NOTE: The various Password-Based Encryption (PBE) algorithms use
various algorithms to generate key data, and ultimately depends on the
targeted Cipher algorithm. For example, "PBEWithMD5AndDES" will always
generate 56-bit keys.
KeyPairGenerator
Alg. Name
Default Keysize
Restrictions/Comments
Diffie-Hellman (DH)
1024
Keysize must be a multiple of 64, ranging from 512 to 1024 (inclusive).
AlgorithmParameterGenerator
Alg. Name
Default Keysize
Restrictions/Comments
Diffie-Hellman (DH)
1024
Keysize must be a multiple of 64, ranging from 512 to 1024 (inclusive).
DSA
1024
Keysize must be a multiple of 64, ranging from 512 to 1024 (inclusive).
The SunJGSS Provider
The following algorithms are available in the SunJGSS
provider:
OID
Name
1.2.840.113554.1.2.2
Kerberos v5
1.3.6.1.5.5.2
SPNEGO
The SunSASL Provider
The following algorithms are available in the SunSASL
provider:
Engine
Algorithm Name(s)
SaslClient
CRAM-MD5
DIGEST-MD5
EXTERNAL
GSSAPI
PLAIN
SaslServer
CRAM-MD5
DIGEST-MD5
GSSAPI
The XMLDSig Provider
The following algorithms are available in the XMLDSig
provider:
The SunPCSC provider enables applications to use the Java Smart Card I/O
API to interact with the PC/SC Smart Card stack of the underlying
operating system. On some operating systems, it may be necessary to
enable and configure the PC/SC stack before it is usable. Consult your
operating system documentation for details.
On Solaris and Linux platforms, SunPCSC accesses the PC/SC stack via
the libpcsclite.so library. It looks for this library in
the directories /usr/$LIBISA and
/usr/local/$LIBISA, where $LIBISA is expanded
to lib on 32-bit platforms, lib/64 on 64-bit
Solaris platforms, and lib64 on 64-bit Linux platforms.
The system property sun.security.smartcardio.library may
also be set to the full filename of an alternate
libpcsclite.so implementation. On Windows platforms,
SunPCSC always calls into winscard.dll and no Java-level
configuration is necessary or possible.
If PC/SC is available on the host platform, the SunPCSC implementation
can be obtained via TerminalFactory.getDefault() and
TerminalFactory.getInstance("PC/SC"). If PC/SC is not
available or not correctly configured, a getInstance()
call will fail with a NoSuchAlgorithmException and
getDefault() will return a JRE built-in implementation
that does not support any terminals.
The following algorithms are available in the SunPCSC
provider:
Engine
Algorithm Name(s)
TerminalFactory
PC/SC
The SunMSCAPI Provider
The SunMSCAPI provider enables applications to use the standard JCA/JCE
APIs to access the native cryptographic libraries, certificates stores
and key containers on the Microsoft Windows platform. The SunMSCAPI
provider itself does not contain cryptographic functionality, it is
simply a conduit between the Java environment and the native
cryptographic services on Windows.
The following algorithms are available in the SunMSCAPI
provider:
Engine
Algorithm Name(s)
Cipher
RSA RSA/ECB/PKCS1Padding only
KeyPairGenerator
RSA
KeyStore
Windows-MY
The keystore type that identifies the native Microsoft Windows MY
keystore. It contains the user's personal certificates and associated
private keys.
Windows-ROOT
The keystore type that identifies the native Microsoft Windows ROOT
keystore. It contains the certificates of Root certificate authorities
and other self-signed trusted certificates.
SecureRandom
Windows-PRNG
The name of the native pseudo-random number generation
(PRNG) algorithm.
Signature
MD2withRSA
MD5withRSA
SHA1withRSA
Keysize Restrictions
The SunMSCAPI provider uses the following default keysizes (in bits) and
enforce the following restrictions:
KeyGenerator
Alg. Name
Default Keysize
Restrictions/Comments
RSA
1024
Keysize ranges from 384 bits to 16,384 bits (depending on the
underlying Microsoft Windows cryptographic service provider).