Enabling SSL debugging in a standalone Java program

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Java
    • OpenJDK
      • 1.6
      • 1.7
      • 1.8
      • 11
      • 17
    • Oracle Java runtime
      • 1.6
      • 1.7
      • 1.8
      • 11
      • 17

Issue

  • How to enable SSL debugging in a standalone Java program that makes SSL connections?

Resolution

  • You can use the following as a java argument when starting a standalone Java client.
 -Djavax.net.debug=ssl,handshake
  • To get more filtered logging you can use:
-Djavax.net.debug=ssl:handshake:verbose:keymanager:trustmanager -Djava.security.debug=access:stack

java -Djavax.net.debug=ssl:handshake:verbose:keymanager:trustmanager -Djava.security.debug=access:stack  JavaHttpsClient https://example.com:port 1
  • To get decrypted HTTP requests/responses:
java -Djavax.net.debug=ssl:record:plaintext  JavaHttpsClient https://example.com:port 1

NOTE :https://example.com:port is the server being invoked host and HTTPS port. This can also be anything like https://www.redhat.com. Also, "1" means the number of calls. In the above example it is only a single call.

  • To show available options which can be set to javax.net.debug:
java -Djavax.net.debug=help JavaHttpsClient https://redhat.com/ 1

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