SSLSockets and problem with Cipher Specs

I'm trying to get my java client to communicate with a C server using SSL.

The problem is - I don't have any server sources and I'm getting a handshake failure error:

Exception in thread "main" javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: Received fatal alert: handshake_failure
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Alerts.getS开发者_运维技巧SLException(Alerts.java:174)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Alerts.java:136)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.recvAlert(SSLSocketImpl.java:1657)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:932)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1096)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1123)
        at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1107)
        at posslu.Main.main(Main.java:36)
Java Result: 1

After some heavy duty wiresharking I now know, that working C clients ( I don't have access to their source code neither ) have these Cipher specs in client-server hello packets:

Cipher Spec: SSL2_DES_192_EDE3_CBC_WITH_MD5 (0x0700c0)
Cipher Spec: SSL2_IDEA_128_CBC_WITH_MD5 (0x050080)
Cipher Spec: SSL2_RC2_CBC_128_CBC_WITH_MD5 (0x030080)
Cipher Spec: SSL2_RC4_128_WITH_MD5 (0x010080)
Cipher Spec: SSL2_RC4_64_WITH_MD5 (0x080080)
Cipher Spec: SSL2_DES_64_CBC_WITH_MD5 (0x060040)
Cipher Spec: SSL2_RC2_CBC_128_CBC_WITH_MD5 (0x040080)
Cipher Spec: SSL2_RC4_128_EXPORT40_WITH_MD5 (0x020080)

and all packets are sent in SSLv2 protocol.

And these are the specs from SSLSocket.getSupportedCipherSuites() method:

SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5   
SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
SSL_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
SSL_DHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
SSL_DHE_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
SSL_RSA_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
SSL_DHE_RSA_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
SSL_DHE_DSS_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
SSL_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5
SSL_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
SSL_DHE_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
SSL_DHE_DSS_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
SSL_RSA_WITH_NULL_MD5
SSL_RSA_WITH_NULL_SHA
SSL_DH_anon_WITH_RC4_128_MD5
TLS_DH_anon_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
SSL_DH_anon_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
SSL_DH_anon_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
SSL_DH_anon_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5
SSL_DH_anon_EXPORT_WITH_DES40_CBC_SHA
TLS_KRB5_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
TLS_KRB5_WITH_RC4_128_MD5
TLS_KRB5_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
TLS_KRB5_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_MD5
TLS_KRB5_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA
TLS_KRB5_WITH_DES_CBC_MD5
TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_SHA
TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5
TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_DES_CBC_40_SHA
TLS_KRB5_EXPORT_WITH_DES_CBC_40_MD5

Now I want to use

Cipher Spec: SSL2_RC4_128_WITH_MD5 (0x010080)

as it seems it is supported both by C server and my java client. So I came up with this code:

SSLSocketFactory sslsockfact = (SSLSocketFactory) SSLSocketFactory.getDefault();
SSLSocket sslsocket = (SSLSocket) sslsockfact.createSocket( args[0], args[1] );

sslsocket.setEnabledCipherSuites( new String[] { "SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5" } );
sslsocket.startHandshake();

But for some reason these cipher specs are sent in client hello packet:

Cipher Spec: TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 (0x000004)
Cipher Spec: SSL2_RC4_128_WITH_MD5 (0x010080)

Shouldn't there be only the second one included? This causes the server to send the server-hello packet in TLSv1 protocol and gets me a handshake failure.

I went on trying to figure out what's happening:

These are supported protocols I got from getSupportedProtocols():

SSLv2Hello
SSLv3
TLSv1

If I put something like this in my code:

sslsocket.setEnabledProtocols( new String[] { "SSLv2Hello" } );

It says:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: SSLv2Hellocannot be enabled unless TLSv1 or SSLv3 is also enabled

If I switch to:

sslsocket.setEnabledProtocols( new String[] { "SSLv2Hello", "SSLv3" } );

server answers in SSLv3 and I get handshake failure...

So that's it I have no idea how to get this to work, any help?

Is it possible, that SSLv2 is no longer supported and I simply can not use it with java?

---

The JDK JSSE provider does not support SSL v2, which is an inherently insecure protocol. The SSLv2Hello support is intended for compatibility with SSLv3 for some servers which may have protocol bugs and need a v2 hello. This SSLv2Hello is removed in JDK7.

For the actual conversation, only SSLv3 and TLS are supported. So if your server only supports SSL v2, you need a server upgrade - v2 is not secure and should not be used.

SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 and TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 are the same cipher suite, but the HotSpot JSSE when asked for the set of supported suites via SSLSocketFactory.getSupportedCipherSuites(), only reports the former. Current Wireshark protocol analyzer will report TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 (0x0004) which may lead to confusion.

See also:

How to initiate ssl connection using SSLv2 http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/security/SunProviders.html

Edit : since I mention above that SSLv2 is very deprecated and insecure, I feel I should also now mention that since the SSLv3 POODLE exploit has been published, SSLv3 is also considered insecure and deprecated.