345158 - Java plug in access to browser certificates fails for Firefox

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(JSS Graveyard :: Library, defect)

Description

[Florian Bruckner]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060508 Firefox/1.5.0.4
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060508 Firefox/1.5.0.4

Java plug in currently fails to access the certificates in the browser keystore in Firefox. This happens with JSS 4.2 as well as with 3.4.1 (used before).

A message in the console indicates, that the user profile cannot be resolved for Firefox:

network: Benutzerdefinierte Proxy-Konfiguration wird geladen ...
network: Fertig.
network: Proxy-Konfiguration wird aus Netscape Navigator geladen ...
network: Fehler beim Lesen der Registrierungsdatei: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Mozilla\registry.dat
network: Fertig.
network: Browser-Proxy-Konfiguration wird geladen ...
network: Fertig.
network: Proxy-Konfiguration: Proxy-Konfiguration des Browsers

The message basically says that registry.dat (where the path to the user profile is stored) cannot be read, because it does not exist on Firefox.

When a recent version of Mozilla is installed on the machine AND the required certificates are installed in a user profile with the same name as the one used in Firefox, Java has access to the certificate. The messages in the java console indicate that registry.dat is read regardless of which browser (Mozilla or Firefox) is used.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. You will need a web site that requires client certificates
2. A page on the web site contains java applets and communicates back to the server
3. you have the necessary certificates to access the web site in the Firefox keystore
4. The applet loads, but fails to load any additional resources or connect back to the server

Actual Results:  
A message window pops up with now valid certificate available to select for the communication

Expected Results:  
Either a message window with a list of certificates valid for the web site, or no message window at all if only a single valid certificate has been found in the browser keystore

Access the correct user profile in order to gain access to the browser keystore.

Comment 1

[glen beasley]

Please attach a test program. 

Comment 2

[glen beasley]

no test program was ever attached. closing as incomplete.