The basic X.509 format was defined by ISO/IEC and ANSI X9 and is described below in ASN.1:
Certificate ::= SEQUENCE { tbsCertificate TBSCertificate, signatureAlgorithm AlgorithmIdentifier, signature BIT STRING }
These certificates are widely used to support authentication and other functionality in Internet security systems. Common applications include Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM), Transport Layer Security (SSL), code signing for trusted software distribution, and Secure Electronic Transactions (SET).
These certificates are managed and vouched for by Certificate Authorities (CAs). CAs are services which create certificates by placing data in the X.509 standard format and then digitally signing that data. CAs act as trusted third parties, making introductions between principals who have no direct knowledge of each other. CA certificates are either signed by themselves, or by some other CA such as a "root" CA.
The ASN.1 definition of tbsCertificate
is:
TBSCertificate ::= SEQUENCE { version [0] EXPLICIT Version DEFAULT v1, serialNumber CertificateSerialNumber, signature AlgorithmIdentifier, issuer Name, validity Validity, subject Name, subjectPublicKeyInfo SubjectPublicKeyInfo, }
Here is sample code to instantiate an X.509 certificate:
InputStream inStream = new FileInputStream("fileName-of-cert"); X509Certificate cert = X509Certificate.getInstance(inStream); inStream.close();OR
byte[] certData = <certificate read from a file, say> X509Certificate cert = X509Certificate.getInstance(certData);
In either case, the code that instantiates an X.509 certificate
consults the value of the cert.provider.x509v1
security property
to locate the actual implementation or instantiates a default implementation.
The cert.provider.x509v1
property is set to a default
implementation for X.509 such as:
cert.provider.x509v1=com.sun.security.cert.internal.x509.X509V1CertImpl
The value of this cert.provider.x509v1
property has to be
changed to instantiate another implementation. If this security
property is not set, a default implementation will be used.
Currently, due to possible security restrictions on access to
Security properties, this value is looked up and cached at class
initialization time and will fallback on a default implementation if
the Security property is not accessible.
Note: The classes in the package javax.security.cert
exist for compatibility with earlier versions of the
Java Secure Sockets Extension (JSSE). New applications should instead
use the standard Java SE certificate classes located in
java.security.cert
.
- Since:
- 1.4
- See Also:
-
Constructor Summary
ConstructorDescriptionDeprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Constructor for subclasses to call. -
Method Summary
Modifier and TypeMethodDescriptionabstract void
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Checks that the certificate is currently valid.abstract void
checkValidity
(Date date) Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Checks that the specified date is within the certificate's validity period.static final X509Certificate
getInstance
(byte[] certData) Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Instantiates an X509Certificate object, and initializes it with the specified byte array.static final X509Certificate
getInstance
(InputStream inStream) Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Instantiates an X509Certificate object, and initializes it with the data read from the input streaminStream
.abstract Principal
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets theissuer
(issuer distinguished name) value from the certificate.abstract Date
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets thenotAfter
date from the validity period of the certificate.abstract Date
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets thenotBefore
date from the validity period of the certificate.abstract BigInteger
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets theserialNumber
value from the certificate.abstract String
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets the signature algorithm name for the certificate signature algorithm.abstract String
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets the signature algorithm OID string from the certificate.abstract byte[]
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets the DER-encoded signature algorithm parameters from this certificate's signature algorithm.abstract Principal
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets thesubject
(subject distinguished name) value from the certificate.abstract int
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets theversion
(version number) value from the certificate.Methods declared in class javax.security.cert.Certificate
equals, getEncoded, getPublicKey, hashCode, toString, verify, verify
-
Constructor Details
-
X509Certificate
public X509Certificate()Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Constructor for subclasses to call.
-
-
Method Details
-
getInstance
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Instantiates an X509Certificate object, and initializes it with the data read from the input streaminStream
. The implementation (X509Certificate is an abstract class) is provided by the class specified as the value of thecert.provider.x509v1
security property.Note: Only one DER-encoded certificate is expected to be in the input stream. Also, all X509Certificate subclasses must provide a constructor of the form:
public <subClass>(InputStream inStream) ...
- Parameters:
inStream
- an input stream with the data to be read to initialize the certificate.- Returns:
- an X509Certificate object initialized with the data from the input stream.
- Throws:
CertificateException
- if a class initialization or certificate parsing error occurs.
-
getInstance
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Instantiates an X509Certificate object, and initializes it with the specified byte array. The implementation (X509Certificate is an abstract class) is provided by the class specified as the value of thecert.provider.x509v1
security property.Note: All X509Certificate subclasses must provide a constructor of the form:
public <subClass>(InputStream inStream) ...
- Parameters:
certData
- a byte array containing the DER-encoded certificate.- Returns:
- an X509Certificate object initialized with the data
from
certData
. - Throws:
CertificateException
- if a class initialization or certificate parsing error occurs.
-
checkValidity
public abstract void checkValidity() throws CertificateExpiredException, CertificateNotYetValidExceptionDeprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Checks that the certificate is currently valid. It is if the current date and time are within the validity period given in the certificate.The validity period consists of two date/time values: the first and last dates (and times) on which the certificate is valid. It is defined in ASN.1 as:
validity Validity Validity ::= SEQUENCE { notBefore CertificateValidityDate, notAfter CertificateValidityDate } CertificateValidityDate ::= CHOICE { utcTime UTCTime, generalTime GeneralizedTime }
- Throws:
CertificateExpiredException
- if the certificate has expired.CertificateNotYetValidException
- if the certificate is not yet valid.
-
checkValidity
public abstract void checkValidity(Date date) throws CertificateExpiredException, CertificateNotYetValidException Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Checks that the specified date is within the certificate's validity period. In other words, this determines whether the certificate would be valid at the specified date/time.- Parameters:
date
- the Date to check against to see if this certificate is valid at that date/time.- Throws:
CertificateExpiredException
- if the certificate has expired with respect to thedate
supplied.CertificateNotYetValidException
- if the certificate is not yet valid with respect to thedate
supplied.- See Also:
-
getVersion
public abstract int getVersion()Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets theversion
(version number) value from the certificate. The ASN.1 definition for this is:version [0] EXPLICIT Version DEFAULT v1 Version ::= INTEGER { v1(0), v2(1), v3(2) }
- Returns:
- the version number from the ASN.1 encoding, i.e. 0, 1 or 2.
-
getSerialNumber
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets theserialNumber
value from the certificate. The serial number is an integer assigned by the certification authority to each certificate. It must be unique for each certificate issued by a given CA (i.e., the issuer name and serial number identify a unique certificate). The ASN.1 definition for this is:serialNumber CertificateSerialNumber CertificateSerialNumber ::= INTEGER
- Returns:
- the serial number.
-
getIssuerDN
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets theissuer
(issuer distinguished name) value from the certificate. The issuer name identifies the entity that signed (and issued) the certificate.The issuer name field contains an X.500 distinguished name (DN). The ASN.1 definition for this is:
issuer Name Name ::= CHOICE { RDNSequence } RDNSequence ::= SEQUENCE OF RelativeDistinguishedName RelativeDistinguishedName ::= SET OF AttributeValueAssertion AttributeValueAssertion ::= SEQUENCE { AttributeType, AttributeValue } AttributeType ::= OBJECT IDENTIFIER AttributeValue ::= ANY
TheName
describes a hierarchical name composed of attributes, such as country name, and corresponding values, such as US. The type of theAttributeValue
component is determined by theAttributeType
; in general it will be adirectoryString
. AdirectoryString
is usually one ofPrintableString
,TeletexString
orUniversalString
.- Returns:
- a Principal whose name is the issuer distinguished name.
-
getSubjectDN
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets thesubject
(subject distinguished name) value from the certificate. The ASN.1 definition for this is:subject Name
See
getIssuerDN
forName
and other relevant definitions.- Returns:
- a Principal whose name is the subject name.
- See Also:
-
getNotBefore
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets thenotBefore
date from the validity period of the certificate. The relevant ASN.1 definitions are:validity Validity Validity ::= SEQUENCE { notBefore CertificateValidityDate, notAfter CertificateValidityDate } CertificateValidityDate ::= CHOICE { utcTime UTCTime, generalTime GeneralizedTime }
- Returns:
- the start date of the validity period.
- See Also:
-
getNotAfter
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets thenotAfter
date from the validity period of the certificate. SeegetNotBefore
for relevant ASN.1 definitions.- Returns:
- the end date of the validity period.
- See Also:
-
getSigAlgName
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets the signature algorithm name for the certificate signature algorithm. An example is the string "SHA-1/DSA". The ASN.1 definition for this is:signatureAlgorithm AlgorithmIdentifier AlgorithmIdentifier ::= SEQUENCE { algorithm OBJECT IDENTIFIER, parameters ANY DEFINED BY algorithm OPTIONAL } -- contains a value of the type -- registered for use with the -- algorithm object identifier value
The algorithm name is determined from the
algorithm
OID string.- Returns:
- the signature algorithm name.
-
getSigAlgOID
Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets the signature algorithm OID string from the certificate. An OID is represented by a set of positive whole numbers separated by periods. For example, the string "1.2.840.10040.4.3" identifies the SHA-1 with DSA signature algorithm, as per the PKIX part I.See
getSigAlgName
for relevant ASN.1 definitions.- Returns:
- the signature algorithm OID string.
-
getSigAlgParams
public abstract byte[] getSigAlgParams()Deprecated, for removal: This API element is subject to removal in a future version.Gets the DER-encoded signature algorithm parameters from this certificate's signature algorithm. In most cases, the signature algorithm parameters are null; the parameters are usually supplied with the certificate's public key.See
getSigAlgName
for relevant ASN.1 definitions.- Returns:
- the DER-encoded signature algorithm parameters, or null if no parameters are present.
-
java.security.cert
instead.