Troubleshooting the Transport Layer Security Configuration

Common errors may occur while you use the Oracle Database SSL adapter.

It may be necessary to enable Oracle Net tracing to determine the cause of an error. For information about setting tracing parameters to enable Oracle Net tracing, refer to Oracle Database Net Services Administrator’s Guide.

ORA-28759: Failure to Open File

Cause: The system could not open the specified file. Typically, this error occurs because the wallet cannot be found.

Action: Check the following:

• Ensure that the correct wallet location is specified in the sqlnet.ora file. This should be the same directory location where you saved the wallet.

• Enable Oracle Net tracing to determine the name of the file that cannot be opened and the reason.

• Ensure that auto-login was enabled when you saved the wallet. See Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator’s Guide.

ORA-28786: Decryption of Encrypted Private Key Failure

Cause: An incorrect password was used to decrypt an encrypted private key. Frequently, this happens because an auto-login wallet is not being used.

Action: Use Oracle Wallet Manager to turn the auto-login feature on for the wallet. Then save the wallet again. See Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator’s Guide

If the auto-login feature is not being used, then enter the correct password.

ORA-28858: SSL Protocol Error

Cause: This is a generic error that can occur during TLS handshake negotiation between two processes.

Action: Enable Oracle Net tracing and attempt the connection again to produce trace output. Then contact Oracle customer support with the trace output.

ORA-28859 SSL Negotiation Failure

Cause: An error occurred during the negotiation between two processes as part of the TLS protocol. This error can occur when two sides of the connection do not support a common cipher suite.

Action: Check the following:

• Use Oracle Net Manager to ensure that the TLS versions on both the client and the server match, or are compatible. For example, if the server accepts only TLS 3.0 and the client accepts only TLS 1.1, then the TLS connection will fail.

• Use Oracle Net Manager to check what cipher suites are configured on the client and the server, and ensure that compatible cipher suites are set on both.

  If the error still persists, then enable Oracle Net tracing and attempt the connection again. Contact Oracle customer support with the trace output.

Note: If you do not configure any cipher suites, then all available cipher suites are enabled.

ORA-28862: SSL Connection Failed

Cause: This error occurred because the peer closed the connection.

Action: Check the following:

• Ensure that the correct wallet location is specified in the sqlnet.ora file so the system can find the wallet.

• Use Oracle Net Manager to ensure that cipher suites are set correctly in the sqlnet.ora file. Sometimes this error occurs because the sqlnet.ora has been manually edited and the cipher suite names are misspelled. Ensure that case sensitive string matching is used with cipher suite names.

• Use Oracle Net Manager to ensure that the TLS versions on both the client and the server match or are compatible. Sometimes this error occurs because the TLS version specified on the server and client do not match. For example, if the server accepts only TLS 3.0 and the client accepts only TLS 1.0, then the TLS connection will fail.

• For more diagnostic information, enable Oracle Net tracing on the peer.

ORA-28865: SSL Connection Closed

Cause: The TLS connection closed because of an error in the underlying transport layer, or because the peer process quit unexpectedly.

Action: Check the following:

• Use Oracle Net Manager to ensure that the TLS versions on both the client and the server match, or are compatible. Sometimes this error occurs because the TLS version specified on the server and client do not match. For example, if the server accepts only TLS 3.0 and the client accepts only TLS 1.0, then the TLS connection will fail.

• If you are using a Diffie-Hellman anonymous cipher suite and the SSL_CLIENT_AUTHENTICATION parameter is set to true in the server’s listener.ora file, then the client does not pass its certificate to the server. When the server does not receive the client’s certificate, it (the server) cannot authenticate the client so the connection is closed. To resolve this use another cipher suite, or set this listener.ora parameter to false.

• Enable Oracle Net tracing and check the trace output for network errors.

• For details, refer to Actions listed for “ORA-28862: SSL Connection Failed”

ORA-28868: Peer Certificate Chain Check Failed

Cause: When the peer presented the certificate chain, it was checked and that check failed. This failure can be caused by a number of problems, including:

• One of the certificates in the chain has expired.

• A certificate authority for one of the certificates in the chain is not recognized as a trust point.

• The signature in one of the certificates cannot be verified.

Action: See Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator’s Guide to use Oracle Wallet Manager to open your wallet and check the following:

• Ensure that all of the certificates installed in your wallet are current (not expired).

• Ensure that a certificate authority’s certificate from your peer’s certificate chain is added as a trusted certificate in your wallet. See Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator’s Guide to use Oracle Wallet Manager to import a trusted certificate.

ORA-28885: No certificate with the required key usage found.

Cause: Your certificate was not created with the appropriate X.509 version 3 key usage extension.

Action: Use Oracle Wallet Manager to check the certificate’s key usage. See Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator’s Guide for information about key usage values.

ORA-29024: Certificate Validation Failure

Cause: The certificate sent by the other side could not be validated. This may occur if the certificate has expired, has been revoked, or is invalid for any other reason.

Action: Check the following:

• Check the certificate to determine whether it is valid. If necessary, get a new certificate, inform the sender that her certificate has failed, or resend.

• Check to ensure that the server’s wallet has the appropriate trust points to validate the client’s certificate. If it does not, then use Oracle Wallet Manager to import the appropriate trust point into the wallet. See Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator’s Guide for details about importing a trusted certificate.

• Ensure that the certificate has not been revoked and that certificate revocation list (CRL) checking is turned on. For details, refer to Configuring Certificate Validation with Certificate Revocation Lists

ORA-29223: Cannot Create Certificate Chain

Cause: A certificate chain cannot be created with the existing trust points for the certificate being installed. Typically, this error is returned when the peer does not give the complete chain and you do not have the appropriate trust points to complete it.

Action: Use Oracle Wallet Manager to install the trust points that are required to complete the chain. See Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator’s Guide for details about importing a trusted certificate.

Related Topics

• Step 2D: Set the Client Transport Layer Security Cipher Suites (Optional) for details about setting compatible cipher suites on the client and the server