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Applet Running In the Java™ Runtime Environment (JRE™) Is No Longer Signed After Repackaging the Signed .cab Files As .jar Files.

Symptoms

After repackaging signed .cab files as .jar files, an applet running in the Sun JRE is treated as unsigned. But, the same applet which is packaged as .cab files runs as signed in the Microsoft Virtual Machine (VM).

Cause

Microsoft supports signing applets through its own proprietary Authenticode and .cab file technologies. The signing information is lost in the process of repackaging. As a result, the Sun JRE implementation treats the .jar files as unsigned.

Resolution

Sign the .jar files by using the jarsigner tool of the Java Development Kit (JDK) by using the following method:

  1. Obtain the Sun Java Signing certificate from VeriSign or the Java Code Signing certificate from Thawte or similar certificates from other Certificate Authorities (CAs). RSA certificates may be purchased from a Certificate Authority (CA) that supports RSA, such as Verisign and Thawte.
  2. Import the certificate into your keystore by using the keytool command and an alias name. For example, type the following command: 
    C:\>C:\jdk1.6.0\bin\keytool -import -alias MyCert -file VSSStanleyNew.cer

  3. Type the jarsigner command to sign the .jar file, by using the RSA credentials in your keystore that were generated in the previous step. Make sure the same alias name is specified. For example, type the following command: 
    C:\>C:\jdk1.6.0\bin\jarsigner C:\TestApplet.jar MyCert
    When you type the above command, the following response appears. Type the Passphrase that you provided while generating the credentials for keystore in the above step. 
     Enter Passphrase for keystore:
    Type the Passphrase that you provided while generating the credentials for keystore.
  4. Use "jarsigner -verify -verbose -certs" to verify the .jar files. 
    C:>C:\jdk1.6.0\bin\jarsigner -verify -verbose 
                -certs d:\TestApplet.jar


         245 Wed Mar 10 11:48:52 PST 2000 META-INF/manifest.mf
         187 Wed Mar 10 11:48:52 PST 2000 META-INF/MYCERT.SF
         968 Wed Mar 10 11:48:52 PST 2000 META-INF/MYCERT.RSA
smk      943 Wed Mar 10 11:48:52 PST 2000 TestApplet.class
smk      163 Wed Mar 10 11:48:52 PST 2000 TestHelper.class

      X.509, CN=XXXXXXX YYY, OU=Java Software, 
                O=Sun Microsystems, L=Cupertino, 
                ST=CA, C=US (mycert)
      X.509, CN=Sun Microsystems, OU=Java Plug-in QA, 
                O=Sun Microsystems, L=Cupertino, ST=CA, C=US
      X.509, EmailAddress=server-certs@thawte.com, 
                CN=Thawte Server CA, OU=Certification 
                Services Division, O=Thawte Consulting cc, 
                L=Cape Town, ST=Western Cape, C=ZA


  s = signature was verified
  m = entry is listed in manifest
  k = at least one certificate was found in keystore
  i = at least one certificate was found in identity scope

jar verified.

Related Information

        See Code Signing by VerSign and code-signing certificate support by Thawte for information on how to obtain certificates.

        See Signing applets using RSA certificates for more information on how to sign applets.

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