X509Extension

  • The X509Extension interface defines methods for handling extensions in X.509 v3 certificates and v2 CRLs (Certificate Revocation Lists), allowing for the inclusion of additional attributes and management of the certification hierarchy.

  • Extensions can be marked as critical or non-critical, with critical extensions requiring recognition by certificate/CRL-using systems to avoid rejection.

  • The getExtensionValue method provides access to the DER-encoded OCTET STRING of an extension value, which can be processed by classes understanding the specific extension type.

  • The interface includes methods to retrieve sets of critical and non-critical extension OIDs and to check for the presence of unsupported critical extensions.
public interface X509Extension
Known Indirect Subclasses

Interface for an X.509 extension.

The extensions defined for X.509 v3 Certificates and v2 CRLs (Certificate Revocation Lists) provide methods for associating additional attributes with users or public keys, for managing the certification hierarchy, and for managing CRL distribution. The X.509 extensions format also allows communities to define private extensions to carry information unique to those communities.

Each extension in a certificate/CRL may be designated as critical or non-critical. A certificate/CRL-using system (an application validating a certificate/CRL) must reject the certificate/CRL if it encounters a critical extension it does not recognize. A non-critical extension may be ignored if it is not recognized.

The ASN.1 definition for this is: 

 Extensions  ::=  SEQUENCE SIZE (1..MAX) OF Extension

 Extension  ::=  SEQUENCE  {
     extnId        OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
     critical      BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
     extnValue     OCTET STRING
                   -- contains a DER encoding of a value
                   -- of the type registered for use with
                   -- the extnId object identifier value
 }
Since not all extensions are known, the getExtensionValue method returns the DER-encoded OCTET STRING of the extension value (i.e., the extnValue). This can then be handled by a Class that understands the extension.

Public Method Summary

abstract Set<String>
getCriticalExtensionOIDs()
Gets a Set of the OID strings for the extension(s) marked CRITICAL in the certificate/CRL managed by the object implementing this interface.
abstract byte[]
getExtensionValue(String oid)
Gets the DER-encoded OCTET string for the extension value (extnValue) identified by the passed-in oid String.
abstract Set<String>
getNonCriticalExtensionOIDs()
Gets a Set of the OID strings for the extension(s) marked NON-CRITICAL in the certificate/CRL managed by the object implementing this interface.
abstract boolean
hasUnsupportedCriticalExtension()
Check if there is a critical extension that is not supported.

Public Methods

public abstract Set<String> getCriticalExtensionOIDs ()

Gets a Set of the OID strings for the extension(s) marked CRITICAL in the certificate/CRL managed by the object implementing this interface. Here is sample code to get a Set of critical extensions from an X509Certificate and print the OIDs: 

X509Certificate cert = null;
 try (InputStream inStrm = new FileInputStream("DER-encoded-Cert")) {
     CertificateFactory cf = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X.509");
     cert = (X509Certificate)cf.generateCertificate(inStrm);
 }

 Set<String> critSet = cert.getCriticalExtensionOIDs();
 if (critSet != null && !critSet.isEmpty()) {
     System.out.println("Set of critical extensions:");
     for (String oid : critSet) {
         System.out.println(oid);
     }
 }

Returns
  • a Set (or an empty Set if none are marked critical) of the extension OID strings for extensions that are marked critical. If there are no extensions present at all, then this method returns null.

public abstract byte[] getExtensionValue (String oid)

Gets the DER-encoded OCTET string for the extension value (extnValue) identified by the passed-in oid String. The oid string is represented by a set of nonnegative whole numbers separated by periods.

For example:

OID (Object Identifier) Extension Name
2.5.29.14 SubjectKeyIdentifier
2.5.29.15 KeyUsage
2.5.29.16 PrivateKeyUsage
2.5.29.17 SubjectAlternativeName
2.5.29.18 IssuerAlternativeName
2.5.29.19 BasicConstraints
2.5.29.30 NameConstraints
2.5.29.33 PolicyMappings
2.5.29.35 AuthorityKeyIdentifier
2.5.29.36 PolicyConstraints

Parameters
oid the Object Identifier value for the extension.
Returns
  • the DER-encoded octet string of the extension value or null if it is not present.

public abstract Set<String> getNonCriticalExtensionOIDs ()

Gets a Set of the OID strings for the extension(s) marked NON-CRITICAL in the certificate/CRL managed by the object implementing this interface. Here is sample code to get a Set of non-critical extensions from an X509CRL revoked certificate entry and print the OIDs: 

CertificateFactory cf = null;
 X509CRL crl = null;
 try (InputStream inStrm = new FileInputStream("DER-encoded-CRL")) {
     cf = CertificateFactory.getInstance("X.509");
     crl = (X509CRL)cf.generateCRL(inStrm);
 }

 byte[] certData = <DER-encoded certificate data>
 ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(certData);
 X509Certificate cert = (X509Certificate)cf.generateCertificate(bais);
 X509CRLEntry badCert =
              crl.getRevokedCertificate(cert.getSerialNumber());

 if (badCert != null) {
     Set<String> nonCritSet = badCert.getNonCriticalExtensionOIDs();
     if (nonCritSet != null)
         for (String oid : nonCritSet) {
             System.out.println(oid);
         }
 }

Returns
  • a Set (or an empty Set if none are marked non-critical) of the extension OID strings for extensions that are marked non-critical. If there are no extensions present at all, then this method returns null.

public abstract boolean hasUnsupportedCriticalExtension ()

Check if there is a critical extension that is not supported.

Returns
  • true if a critical extension is found that is not supported, otherwise false.