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If a user encounters signed code, chances are that the code Code is usually signed when it requires more than appropriate privileges to carry out its operations. It is in the interest of the users to verify the authenticity and integrity of the artifacts that they wish to deploythe default set of permissions to perform some tasks. Although it is usually a bad idea to sign code, some actions necessitate this step. For example, if the application needs to establish an http connection with an external host to download plugins or extensions, a vendor may provide signed code instead of having the user deal with complex security policies. Because executing signed code can be extremely dangerous, verifying authenticity of origin is of utmost importance.

Java based technologies typically use the Java Archive (JAR) feature for packaging files to facilitate platform independent deployment. Be it desktop applications, Enterprise Java Beans (EJB), MIDlets (J2ME) or Weblogic Server J2EE applications, for example, JAR files are the preferred means of distribution mechanism. The point and click installation provided by Java Web Start also relies on the JAR file format for packaging. Vendors sign their JAR files when required, however, this should not be interpreted to be the case that the code cannot be misused.

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Depending on how the client code works, signatures may or may not be automatically checked programatically. For example, any instances of URLClassLoader and its subclasses and java.util.jar automatically verify a signature whenever the JAR file is signed. If however, the developer implements a custom classloader that goes on to subclass java.lang.ClassLoader, this step is not performed automatically. Moreover, in the URLClassLoader case, the automatic verification just involves an integrity check and does not authenticate the loaded class. This is because the check uses a public key that is contained within the JAR. The legit JAR file may be replaced with a malicious JAR file containing a different public key and hash digest values.

Noncompliant Code Example

This noncompliant code example demonstrates the JarRunner application that can be used to dynamically execute a particular class residing within a JAR file (abridged version of the class in [Tutorials 08]). It creates a JarClassLoader that loads an application update, plugin or patch over an untrusted network such as the Internet. The URL to fetch the code is specified as the first argument (for example, http://somewebsite.com/software-updates.jar) and any other arguments specify the arguments that are to be passed to the class to be loaded. Reflection is used to invoke the main method of the loaded class. Unfortunately, by default, JarClassLoader verifies the signature using the public key contained within the JAR file.

public class JarRunner {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
throws IOException, 
  if (args.length < 1) ClassNotFoundException,NoSuchMethodException, InvocationTargetException {
 usage(); }
    URL url = null;
    try {
      url = new URL(args[0]);
    } catch (MalformedURLException e) { fatal("Invalid URL: " + args[0]); }
    // Create the class loader for the application jar file
    JarClassLoader cl = new JarClassLoader(url);
    
    // Get the application's main class name
    String name = null;
    try {
      name = cl.getMainClassName();
    } catch (IOException e) { System.err.println("I/O error while loading JAR file:");    
      System.exit(1); }
    if (name == null) 
      { fatal("Specified jar file does not contain a 'Main-Class'" + " manifest attribute"); }
    // Get arguments for the application
    String[] newArgs = new String[args.length - 1];
    System.arraycopy(args, 1, newArgs, 0, newArgs.length);
    
    // Invoke application's main class
    try {
      cl.invokeClass(name, newArgs);
    } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) { fatal("Class not found: " + name); } 
      catch (NoSuchMethodException e) { fatal("Class does not define a 'main' method: " + name); }
      catch (InvocationTargetException e) { e.getTargetException().printStackTrace(); System.exit(1); }
  }

  private static void fatal(String s) {
    System.err.println(s);
    System.exit(1);
  }

  private static void usage() {
    fatal("Usage: java JarRunner url [args..]");
  }
}

class JarClassLoader extends URLClassLoader {
  private URL url;
  public JarClassLoader(URL url) {
    super(new URL[] { url });
    this.url = url;
  }

  public String getMainClassName() throws IOException {
    URL u = new URL("jar", "", url + "!/");
    JarURLConnection uc = (JarURLConnection) u.openConnection();
    Attributes attr = uc.getMainAttributes();
    return attr != null ? attr.getValue(Attributes.Name.MAIN_CLASS) : null;
  }

  public void invokeClass(String name, String[] args)
      throws ClassNotFoundException, NoSuchMethodException,
      InvocationTargetException {
    Class c = loadClass(name);
    Method m = c.getMethod("main", new Class[] { args.getClass() });
    m.setAccessible(true);
    int mods = m.getModifiers();
    if (m.getReturnType() != void.class || !Modifier.isStatic(mods)
        || !Modifier.isPublic(mods)) { throw new NoSuchMethodException("main"); }
    try {
      m.invoke(null, new Object[] { args });
    } catch (IllegalAccessException e) { System.out.println("Access denied"); }
  }
}

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When the local system cannot be trustedreliably verify the signature, an explicit signature verification check must be built within the invoking program. This can be achieved by obtaining the chain of certificates from the CodeSource of the class being loaded and checking if any one of the certificates belongs to the trusted signer whose certificate has been securely obtained securely beforehand and stored in a local keystore. The invokeClass method can be modified to do this as shown in this compliant solution.

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It is not always the case that arbitrary code gets executed. By default, the URLClassLoader and all its subclasses are only given enough permissions to interact with the URL that was specified when the URLClassLoader object was created. This means that the program can only interact with the specified host. However, this does not mitigate the risk completely as the loaded file may be have been granted appropriate privileges to perform more other sensitive operations such as updating an existing local JAR file.

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Not verifying the digital signature either manually or programmatically may can lead to the execution of malicious code.

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