To establish a SSL/TLS connection not vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks, it's essential to make sure the server presents the right certificate.

The certificate's hostname-specific data should match the server hostname.

It's not recommended to re-invent the wheel by implementing custom hostname verification.

TLS/SSL libraries provide built-in hostname verification functions that should be used.

This rule raises an issue when:

- HostnameVerifier.verify() method always return true

- a JavaMail's javax.mail.Session is created with a Properties object having no mail.smtp.ssl.checkserveridentity or mail.smtps.ssl.checkserveridentity not configured to true

- a Apache Common Emails's org.apache.commons.mail.SimpleEmail is used with setSSLOnConnect(true) or setStartTLSEnabled(true) or setStartTLSRequired(true) without a call to setSSLCheckServerIdentity(true)

Noncompliant Code Example

SSLContext sslcontext = SSLContext.getInstance( "TLS" );
sslcontext.init(null, new TrustManager[]{new X509TrustManager() {
  public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] arg0, String arg1) throws CertificateException {}
  public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] arg0, String arg1) throws CertificateException {}
  public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() { return new X509Certificate[0]; }

}}, new java.security.SecureRandom());

Client client = ClientBuilder.newBuilder().sslContext(sslcontext).hostnameVerifier(new HostnameVerifier() {
  @Override
  public boolean verify(String requestedHost, SSLSession remoteServerSession) {
    return true;  // Noncompliant
  }
}).build();

SimpleEmail example:

Email email = new SimpleEmail();
email.setSmtpPort(465);
email.setAuthenticator(new DefaultAuthenticator(username, password));
email.setSSLOnConnect(true); // Noncompliant; setSSLCheckServerIdentity(true) should also be called before sending the email
email.send();

JavaMail's example:

Properties props = new Properties();
props.put("mail.smtp.host", "smtp.gmail.com");
props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.port", "465");
props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.class", "javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory"); // Noncompliant; Session is created without having "mail.smtp.ssl.checkserveridentity" set to true
props.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");
props.put("mail.smtp.port", "465");
Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props, new javax.mail.Authenticator() {
  protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
    return new PasswordAuthentication("username@gmail.com", "password");
  }
});

Compliant Solution

SSLContext sslcontext = SSLContext.getInstance( "TLSv1.2" );
sslcontext.init(null, new TrustManager[]{new X509TrustManager() {
  @Override
  public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] arg0, String arg1) throws CertificateException {}
  @Override
  public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] arg0, String arg1) throws CertificateException {}
  @Override
  public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() { return new X509Certificate[0]; }

}}, new java.security.SecureRandom());

Client client = ClientBuilder.newBuilder().sslContext(sslcontext).hostnameVerifier(new HostnameVerifier() {
  @Override
  public boolean verify(String requestedHost, SSLSession remoteServerSession) {
    return requestedHost.equalsIgnoreCase(remoteServerSession.getPeerHost()); // Compliant
  }
}).build();

SimpleEmail example:

Email email = new SimpleEmail();
email.setSmtpPort(465);
email.setAuthenticator(new DefaultAuthenticator(username, password));
email.setSSLOnConnect(true);
email.setSSLCheckServerIdentity(true); // Compliant
email.send();

JavaMail's example:

Properties props = new Properties();
props.put("mail.smtp.host", "smtp.gmail.com");
props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.port", "465");
props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.class", "javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory");
props.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");
props.put("mail.smtp.port", "465");
props.put("mail.smtp.ssl.checkserveridentity", true); // Compliant
Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props, new javax.mail.Authenticator() {
  protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
    return new PasswordAuthentication("username@gmail.com", "password");
  }
});

See