RELEASE NOTES: JDK 8u121

Correction of IllegalArgumentException from TLS handshake

A recent issue from the JDK-8148516 fix can cause issue for some TLS servers. The problem originates from an IllegalArgumentException thrown by the TLS handshaker code.

`java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: System property jdk.tls.namedGroups(null) contains no supported elliptic curves`

The issue can arise when the server doesn't have elliptic curve cryptography support to handle an elliptic curve name extension field (if present). Users are advised to upgrade to this release. By default, JDK 7 Updates and later JDK families ship with the SunEC security provider which provides elliptic curve cryptography support. Those releases should not be impacted unless security providers are modified.

Serialization Filter Configuration

Serialization Filtering introduces a new mechanism which allows incoming streams of object-serialization data to be filtered in order to improve both security and robustness. Every ObjectInputStream applies a filter, if configured, to the stream contents during deserialization. Filters are set using either a system property or a configured security property. The value of the "jdk.serialFilter" patterns are described in JEP 290 Serialization Filtering and in <JRE>/lib/security/java.security. Filter actions are logged to the 'java.io.serialization' logger, if enabled.

Add security property to configure XML Signature secure validation mode

A new security property named jdk.xml.dsig.secureValidationPolicy has been added that allows you to configure the individual restrictions that are enforced when the secure validation mode of XML Signature is enabled. The default value for this property in the java.security configuration file is: ` jdk.xml.dsig.secureValidationPolicy=\ disallowAlg http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xslt-19991116,\ disallowAlg http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmldsig-more#rsa-md5,\ disallowAlg http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmldsig-more#hmac-md5,\ disallowAlg http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmldsig-more#md5,\ maxTransforms 5,\ maxReferences 30,\ disallowReferenceUriSchemes file http https,\ noDuplicateIds,\ noRetrievalMethodLoops Please refer to the definition of the property in thejava.security` file for more information.

jarsigner -verbose -verify should print the algorithms used to sign the jar

The jarsigner tool has been enhanced to show details of the algorithms and keys used to generate a signed JAR file and will also provide an indication if any of them are considered weak.

Specifically, when "jarsigner -verify -verbose filename.jar" is called, a separate section is printed out showing information of the signature and timestamp (if it exists) inside the signed JAR file, even if it is treated as unsigned for various reasons. If any algorithm or key used is considered weak, as specified in the Security property jdk.jar.disabledAlgorithms, it will be labeled with "(weak)".

For example: ` - Signed by "CN=weak_signer" Digest algorithm: MD2 (weak) Signature algorithm: MD2withRSA (weak), 512-bit key (weak) Timestamped by "CN=strong_tsa" on Mon Sep 26 08:59:39 CST 2016 Timestamp digest algorithm: SHA-256 Timestamp signature algorithm: SHA256withRSA, 2048-bit key `