How to solve javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshake Exception Error on Tomcat 7.0.100?

Question

I have upgraded the tomcat version from 7.0.53 to 7.0.100. There is no error when deploying tomcat. but when try to access the URL with https protocol it gives "javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: Received fatal alert: handshake_failure".

Java : 1.6.0_45

**Error log:**
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) [catalina.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) [catalina.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.springframework.web.filter.CharacterEncodingFilter.doFilterInternal(CharacterEncodingFilter.java:88) [spring-web-3.1.2.RELEASE.jar:3.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:76) [spring-web-3.1.2.RELEASE.jar:3.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:241) [catalina.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208) [catalina.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:219) [catalina.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:110) [catalina.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:604) [catalina.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:165) [catalina.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:104) [catalina.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:116) [catalina.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:452) [catalina.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1195) [tomcat-coyote.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:654) [tomcat-coyote.jar:7.0.100]
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:319) [tomcat-coyote.jar:7.0.100]
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:895) [na:1.6.0_45]
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:918) [na:1.6.0_45]
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61) [tomcat-coyote.jar:7.0.100]
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662) [na:1.6.0_45]
Caused by: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: Received fatal alert: handshake_failure
    at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Alerts.java:174) ~[na:1.6]
    at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Alerts.java:136) ~[na:1.6]
    at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.recvAlert(SSLSocketImpl.java:1822) ~[na:1.6]
    at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:1004) ~[na:1.6]
    at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1188) ~[na:1.6]
    at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.writeRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:654) ~[na:1.6]
    at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.AppOutputStream.write(AppOutputStream.java:100) ~[na:1.6]
    at java.io.BufferedOutputStream.flushBuffer(BufferedOutputStream.java:65) ~[na:1.6.0_45]
    at java.io.BufferedOutputStream.flush(BufferedOutputStream.java:123) ~[na:1.6.0_45]
    at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpConnection.flushRequestOutputStream(HttpConnection.java:828) ~[commons-httpclient-3.1.jar:na]
    at org.apache.commons.httpclient.MultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager$HttpConnectionAdapter.flushRequestOutputStream(MultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager.java:1565) ~[commons-httpclient-3.1.jar:na]
    at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpMethodBase.writeRequest(HttpMethodBase.java:2116) ~[commons-httpclient-3.1.jar:na]
    at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpMethodBase.execute(HttpMethodBase.java:1096) ~[commons-httpclient-3.1.jar:na]
    at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpMethodDirector.executeWithRetry(HttpMethodDirector.java:398) ~[commons-httpclient-3.1.jar:na]
    at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpMethodDirector.executeMethod(HttpMethodDirector.java:171) ~[commons-httpclient-3.1.jar:na]
    at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient.executeMethod(HttpClient.java:397) ~[commons-httpclient-3.1.jar:na]
    at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient.executeMethod(HttpClient.java:323) ~[commons-httpclient-3.1.jar:na]
    at org.springframework.http.client.CommonsClientHttpRequest.executeInternal(CommonsClientHttpRequest.java:85) ~[spring-web-3.1.2.RELEASE.jar:3.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.http.client.AbstractBufferingClientHttpRequest.executeInternal(AbstractBufferingClientHttpRequest.java:46) ~[spring-web-3.1.2.RELEASE.jar:3.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.http.client.AbstractClientHttpRequest.execute(AbstractClientHttpRequest.java:49) ~[spring-web-3.1.2.RELEASE.jar:3.1.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate.doExecute(RestTemplate.java:446) ~[spring-web-3.1.2.RELEASE.jar:3.1.2.RELEASE]

connector port in server.xml

<Connector port="8443"
    maxPostSize="8388608"
    maxThreads="50" 
    minSpareThreads="2" 
    enableLookups="false" 
    disableUploadTimeout="true"
    acceptCount="100" 
    scheme="https" 
    secure="true"
    clientAuth="false" 
    SSLEnabled="true"
    keystoreFile="${catalina.base}/conf/server.jks"
    keystoreType="JKS"
    keystorePass="password"
    truststoreFile="${catalina.base}/conf/server.jks"
    truststoreType="JKS"
    truststorePass="password"
    sslProtocol="TLS"
    compression="force"
    compressableMimeType="text/html,text/xml,text/plain,text/javascript,application/x-javascript,application/javascript,text/css"
    URIEncoding="UTF-8"
    server=" "
/>

What is the best way to resolve this? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

The problem here is not between you and tomcat but between your application and the remote REST service it is invoking.

Because you are using Java 6, I guess you are having trouble connecting to a remote service that requires you to use TLS 1.2