Package com.chilkatsoft.chilkat2

Class CertChain

java.lang.Object
com.chilkatsoft.chilkat2.ChilkatObject
com.chilkatsoft.chilkat2.CertChain
All Implemented Interfaces:
AutoCloseable
public class CertChain extends ChilkatObject
<section class="certchain-summary">

Inspect, verify, export, and work with X.509 certificate chains.

Chilkat.CertChain is a compact helper class for representing and working with X.509 certificate chains. It lets applications inspect the ordered certificates in a chain, retrieve individual certificates, determine whether the chain reaches a root, check for expired certificates, verify chain signatures, test whether the root is trusted, load certificate chains from JWK x5c data, and export the chain as X509PKIPathv1.

Chain inspection

Examine the certificates in chain order and retrieve individual certificates with CertAt.

Root and trust checks

Determine whether the chain reaches a root certificate and whether that root is trusted.

Signature verification

Verify that each certificate in the chain is signed by the next certificate in the chain.

Expiration checks

Detect whether one or more certificates in the chain are expired.

JWK x5c support

Load certificate chains from JWK x5c arrays used by JWT, JWS, and other security-token workflows.

Chain export

Export the certificate chain in X509PKIPathv1 format when that representation is required.

Common pattern: Use CertChain to reason about the chain as a whole. For certificate-level details such as subject, issuer, SAN values, key usage, validity dates, fingerprints, serial numbers, and extensions, retrieve each certificate with CertAt and inspect it using Chilkat.Cert.

For an extended overview, see CertChain Class Overview.

</section>

Instances hold a native Chilkat object: close them with ChilkatObject.close() (try-with-resources) when done; an unclosed instance is freed when it becomes unreachable.

See Also:
Online reference

  • Constructor Details

    • CertChain

      public CertChain()
      Creates a new CertChain object.

  • Method Details

    • getNumCerts

      public int getNumCerts()
      The number of certificates currently contained in the chain.

      Index Meaning

      0 The target or end-entity certificate—the certificate farthest from the root end of the chain

      1 ... NumCerts - 2 Intermediate CA certificates, when present

      NumCerts - 1 The highest certificate available in the chain

      Do not assume the final certificate is trusted: If ReachesRoot is false, the final certificate may only be the highest intermediate that was available. Even when the chain ends in a self-signed root, trust must be established separately.

      Returns:
      the value of the NumCerts property (read-only)

    • getNumExpiredCerts

      public int getNumExpiredCerts()
      The number of certificates in the chain whose validity period has expired.

      Expiration is only one validation check: A value of 0 does not mean the chain is valid or trusted. It does not by itself establish that certificates are already valid, correctly signed, unrevoked, issued by an accepted trust anchor, or suitable for the intended identity and key usage.

      Retrieve individual certificates with CertAt when the application needs to inspect exact validity dates or identify which certificates are expired.

      Returns:
      the value of the NumExpiredCerts property (read-only)

    • getReachesRoot

      public boolean getReachesRoot()
      true if the chain extends to a terminal root certificate rather than stopping at an intermediate certificate. When this property is true, the certificate at index NumCerts - 1 is the root-end certificate of the chain.

      Root presence is not root trust: An included root is commonly self-signed, but its presence does not make it a trusted anchor. Use IsRootTrusted with the application's approved TrustedRoots collection to test trust-anchor membership.

      A value of false means the chain is incomplete at the root end; the final certificate may be an intermediate CA for which no issuer certificate was available.

      Returns:
      the value of the ReachesRoot property (read-only)

    • getUncommonOptions

      public String getUncommonOptions()
      Specifies uncommon behavior as a comma-separated list of keywords. The default is the empty string, which enables the standard behavior.

      Keyword Effect

      PkiPathV1.ExcludeRoot Omits the root certificate from the value returned by X509PKIPathv1. This option affects that method only.

      Interoperability note: Some protocols transport the trust anchor with the path, while others expect the recipient to obtain or trust it independently. Use this option according to the format required by the receiving system.

      Returns:
      the value of the UncommonOptions property

    • setUncommonOptions

      public void setUncommonOptions​(String value)
      Sets the UncommonOptions property; see getUncommonOptions().
      Parameters:
      value - the new value (not null)

    • certAt

      public void certAt​(int index, Cert cert)
      Populates cert with the certificate at the specified zero-based index. Valid indices range from 0 through NumCerts - 1.

      Index Position in the chain

      0 Target or end-entity certificate

      1 ... NumCerts - 2 Intermediate CA certificates, when present

      NumCerts - 1 Highest certificate available in the chain; a root certificate only when ReachesRoot is true

      Returns true on success. Returns false if the index is invalid or the certificate cannot be returned; in that case, do not use the contents of cert as a successful result.

      Parameters:
      index - the index argument
      cert - the cert argument (not null)
      Throws:
      ChilkatException - if the operation fails; ChilkatException.getLastErrorText() says why

    • isRootTrusted

      public boolean isRootTrusted​(TrustedRoots trustedRoots)
      Tests whether the certificate at the root end of this chain is present in the TrustedRoots collection passed in trustedRoots. Returns true when a matching trusted-root certificate is found; otherwise returns false.

      Trust is a local policy decision: A self-signed certificate is not trusted merely because it appears at the end of a chain. This method checks membership in the supplied trust collection; it does not, by itself, establish that the entire chain is valid for a particular application or identity.

      A complete certificate-validation decision may also require checking signature linkage, certificate validity periods, revocation status, basic constraints, key usage, policies, name constraints, and application-specific identity requirements.

      Parameters:
      trustedRoots - the trustedRoots argument (not null)
      Returns:
      the result; this method never throws ChilkatException

    • loadX5C

      public void loadX5C​(JsonObject jwk)
      Loads the certificate chain from the x5c member of the JWK contained in jwk. Returns true if the chain is loaded successfully; otherwise returns false.

      As defined by RFC 7517, x5c is a JSON array of DER-encoded X.509 certificates represented using standard Base64—not Base64URL. The first certificate contains the key associated with the JWK. Each following certificate should certify the certificate immediately before it, so the array order is target certificate first and rootward certificates afterward.

      Security note: Loading an x5c array does not make its certificates trusted. Treat the chain as untrusted input until the required signature, validity, trust-anchor, revocation, and application-policy checks have been completed.

      Parameters:
      jwk - the jwk argument (not null)
      Throws:
      ChilkatException - if the operation fails; ChilkatException.getLastErrorText() says why

    • verifyCertSignatures

      public boolean verifyCertSignatures()
      Verifies the cryptographic signature linkage of the certificates in this chain. Starting with the target certificate at index 0, each certificate's signature is checked using the public key of the next issuer certificate in the chain. Returns true when the certificate signatures are valid through the root end of the chain; otherwise returns false.

      Signature verification is not full path validation: A true result confirms the issuer-signature relationships represented by the chain. It does not by itself prove that the root is trusted, that certificates are within their validity periods, that none are revoked, that CA constraints and policies are acceptable, or that the target certificate is valid for a particular hostname or usage.

      Returns:
      the result; this method never throws ChilkatException

    • x509PKIPathv1

      public String x509PKIPathv1()
      Returns the Base64 representation of a DER-encoded ASN.1 PkiPath containing the certificates in this chain. This representation is commonly identified as the X509PKIPathv1 token type in WS-Security and may also be encountered in XML-signature workflows.

      A PkiPath is a SEQUENCE OF Certificate ordered from the root or most-trusted end toward the target certificate. This is the reverse of the indexing used by CertAt, where index 0 is the target certificate.

      Representation Certificate order

      CertChain indexing Target/leaf → intermediates → root

      X509PKIPathv1 Root → intermediates → target/leaf

      By default, the root certificate is included when it is present in the chain. Set UncommonOptions to PkiPathV1.ExcludeRoot when the receiving protocol expects the trust anchor to be supplied separately.

      Return-value note: This is a string-returning method. Check LastMethodSuccess before using the returned text, and inspect LastErrorText if the operation fails.

      Returns:
      the result (never null)
      Throws:
      ChilkatException - if the operation fails; ChilkatException.getLastErrorText() says why