Hello, At Entrust Datacard, we produce a Java based toolkit that contains our own Security Provider. This toolkit and provider has been around for about 19 years.
In JDK version 11.07 (and I also think Java 12 and beyond), our toolkit reports the following error: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException: Error constructing implementation (algorithm: X9_31usingAES256, provider: Entrust, class: com.entrust.toolkit.security.crypto.random.X9_31usingAES256) at java.base/java.security.SecureRandom.getDefaultPRNG(SecureRandom.java:281) at java.base/java.security.SecureRandom.<init>(SecureRandom.java:219) at java.base/javax.crypto.JceSecurity.<clinit>(JceSecurity.java:80) ... 41 more Caused by: java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException: Error constructing implementation (algorithm: X9_31usingAES256, provider: Entrust, class: com.entrust.toolkit.security.crypto.random.X9_31usingAES256) at java.base/java.security.Provider$Service.newInstance(Provider.java:1825) at java.base/sun.security.jca.GetInstance.getInstance(GetInstance.java:236) at java.base/sun.security.jca.GetInstance.getInstance(GetInstance.java:164) at java.base/java.security.SecureRandom.getInstance(SecureRandom.java:365) at java.base/java.security.SecureRandom.getDefaultPRNG(SecureRandom.java:273) ... 43 more Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException at java.base/javax.crypto.JceSecurity.getVerificationResult(JceSecurity.java:203) at java.base/javax.crypto.Cipher.getInstance(Cipher.java:690) at java.base/javax.crypto.Cipher.getInstance(Cipher.java:625) at com.entrust.toolkit.security.crypto.random.X9_31usingAES256.initialize(X9_31usingAES256.java:524) at com.entrust.toolkit.security.crypto.random.X9_31usingAES256.<init>(X9_31usingAES256.java:102) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:62) at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45) at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:490) at java.base/java.security.Provider.newInstanceUtil(Provider.java:176) at java.base/java.security.Provider$Service.newInstance(Provider.java:1818) I investigated this error, and found it was made possible because of the following change in Java 11.07 which unmasked a bug in the JVM that has probably been around for years. https://bugs.java.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=JDK-8228613 It is a problem inside the JceSecurity class. When the class is being loaded, the call to setup a default SecureRandom() instance is invoked. That seems to invoke the JVM to find the first available SecureRandom() instance. This error happens when our Entrust provider is in first position. In previous versions of the JDK it honoured the order of algorithms specified in the providers. In our Entrust Security provider, we have a number of SecureRandom implementations. Now because of the above change, it picks a different SecureRandom instance (the X9_31usingAES256). That should be fine, however the problem is that the SecureRandom() setup calls Cipher.getInstance() and as you can see below, that calls JceSecurity.getVerificationResult() which is static, and uses the verificationResuts Map that has not yet been initialized (becasuse it's declaration is after the SecureRandom setup). That is why there is a NullPointerException. public static final Cipher getInstance(String transformation, Provider provider) throws NoSuchAlgorithmException, NoSuchPaddingException { if ((transformation == null) || transformation.equals("")) { throw new NoSuchAlgorithmException("Null or empty transformation"); } if (provider == null) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing provider"); } Exception failure = null; List<Transform> transforms = getTransforms(transformation); boolean providerChecked = false; String paddingError = null; for (Transform tr : transforms) { Service s = provider.getService("Cipher", tr.transform); if (s == null) { continue; } if (providerChecked == false) { // for compatibility, first do the lookup and then verify // the provider. this makes the difference between a NSAE // and a SecurityException if the // provider does not support the algorithm. Exception ve = JceSecurity.getVerificationResult(provider); if (ve != null) { String msg = "JCE cannot authenticate the provider " + provider.getName(); throw new SecurityException(msg, ve); } providerChecked = true; } The JceSecurity.getVerificationResult(provider) method is used when initializing the SecureRandom (first highlighted line below) when the classLoader is loading the JceSecurity class itself. >From the JceSecurity class: static final SecureRandom RANDOM = new SecureRandom(); // The defaultPolicy and exemptPolicy will be set up // in the static initializer. private static CryptoPermissions defaultPolicy = null; private static CryptoPermissions exemptPolicy = null; // Map<Provider,?> of the providers we already have verified // value == PROVIDER_VERIFIED is successfully verified // value is failure cause Exception in error case private static final Map<Provider, Object> verificationResults = new IdentityHashMap<>(); It fails when it calls the following code in JceSecurity.java because the verificationResults Map<Provider, Object> has not been initialized because the SecureRandom() constructor ends up calling the JceSecurity.getVerificationResult() static method that makes use of the Map! That explains the NullPointerException. The fix to the issue should be simple, just move the initialization of the verificationResults Map BEFORE the SecureRandom initialization in JceSecurity.java Because verificationResults is not initialized, the line highlighted below fails (Because the Map has not been initialized). /* * Verify that the provider JAR files are signed properly, which * means the signer's certificate can be traced back to a * JCE trusted CA. * Return null if ok, failure Exception if verification failed. */ static synchronized Exception getVerificationResult(Provider p) { Object o = verificationResults.get(p); if (o == PROVIDER_VERIFIED) { return null; } else if (o != null) { return (Exception)o; } if (verifyingProviders.get(p) != null) { // this method is static synchronized, must be recursion // return failure now but do not save the result return new NoSuchProviderException("Recursion during verification"); } try { verifyingProviders.put(p, Boolean.FALSE); URL providerURL = getCodeBase(p.getClass()); verifyProvider(providerURL, p); // Verified ok, cache result verificationResults.put(p, PROVIDER_VERIFIED); return null; } catch (Exception e) { verificationResults.put(p, e); return e; } finally { verifyingProviders.remove(p); } } Cheers, John Gray
