How to connect via HTTPS using Jsoup?

It’s working fine over HTTP, but when I try and use an HTTPS source it throws the following exception:

10-12 13:22:11.169: WARN/System.err(332): javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: java.security.cert.CertPathValidatorException: Trust anchor for certification path not found.
10-12 13:22:11.179: WARN/System.err(332):     at org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.OpenSSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(OpenSSLSocketImpl.java:477)
10-12 13:22:11.179: WARN/System.err(332):     at org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.OpenSSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(OpenSSLSocketImpl.java:328)
10-12 13:22:11.179: WARN/System.err(332):     at org.apache.harmony.luni.internal.net.www.protocol.http.HttpConnection.setupSecureSocket(HttpConnection.java:185)
10-12 13:22:11.179: WARN/System.err(332):     at org.apache.harmony.luni.internal.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsURLConnectionImpl$HttpsEngine.makeSslConnection(HttpsURLConnectionImpl.java:433)
10-12 13:22:11.189: WARN/System.err(332):     at org.apache.harmony.luni.internal.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsURLConnectionImpl$HttpsEngine.makeConnection(HttpsURLConnectionImpl.java:378)
10-12 13:22:11.189: WARN/System.err(332):     at org.apache.harmony.luni.internal.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnectionImpl.connect(HttpURLConnectionImpl.java:205)
10-12 13:22:11.189: WARN/System.err(332):     at org.apache.harmony.luni.internal.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsURLConnectionImpl.connect(HttpsURLConnectionImpl.java:152)
10-12 13:22:11.189: WARN/System.err(332):     at org.jsoup.helper.HttpConnection$Response.execute(HttpConnection.java:377)
10-12 13:22:11.189: WARN/System.err(332):     at org.jsoup.helper.HttpConnection$Response.execute(HttpConnection.java:364)
10-12 13:22:11.189: WARN/System.err(332):     at org.jsoup.helper.HttpConnection.execute(HttpConnection.java:143)

Here’s the relevant code:

try {
    doc = Jsoup.connect("https url here").get();
} catch (IOException e) {
    Log.e("sys","coudnt get the html");
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Answer

If you want to do it the right way, and/or you need to deal with only one site, then you basically need to grab the SSL certificate of the website in question and import it in your Java key store. This will result in a JKS file which you in turn set as SSL trust store before using Jsoup (or java.net.URLConnection).

You can grab the certificate from your webbrowser’s store. Let’s assume that you’re using Firefox.

1. Go to the website in question using Firefox, which is in your case https://web2.uconn.edu/driver/old/timepoints.php?stopid=10
2. Left in the address bar you’ll see “uconn.edu” in blue (this indicates a valid SSL certificate)
3. Click on it for details and then click on the More information button.
4. In the security dialogue which appears, click the View Certificate button.
5. In the certificate panel which appears, go to the Details tab.
6. Click the deepest item of the certificate hierarchy, which is in this case “web2.uconn.edu” and finally click the Export button.

Now you’ve a web2.uconn.edu.crt file.

Next, open the command prompt and import it in the Java key store using the keytool command (it’s part of the JRE):

keytool -import -v -file /path/to/web2.uconn.edu.crt -keystore /path/to/web2.uconn.edu.jks -storepass drowssap

The -file must point to the location of the .crt file which you just downloaded. The -keystore must point to the location of the generated .jks file (which you in turn want to set as SSL trust store). The -storepass is required, you can just enter whatever password you want as long as it’s at least 6 characters.

Now, you’ve a web2.uconn.edu.jks file. You can finally set it as SSL trust store before connecting as follows:

System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStore", "/path/to/web2.uconn.edu.jks");
Document document = Jsoup.connect("https://web2.uconn.edu/driver/old/timepoints.php?stopid=10").get();
// ...

---

As a completely different alternative, particularly when you need to deal with multiple sites (i.e. you’re creating a world wide web crawler), then you can also instruct Jsoup (basically, java.net.URLConnection) to blindly trust all SSL certificates. See also section “Dealing with untrusted or misconfigured HTTPS sites” at the very bottom of this answer: Using java.net.URLConnection to fire and handle HTTP requests