TLS/SSL

The asynchronous Java driver supports TLS/SSL connections to MongoDB servers using the underlying support for TLS/SSL provided by the JDK.

In its default configuration, the asynchronous driver is supported on Java 8+ when TLS/SSL is enabled.
Otherwise, applications must configure the asynchronous driver to use Netty.

Specify TLS/SSL and Netty Configuration

Via Connection String

To configure the driver to use TLS/SSL, include the ssl=true option in the connection string, as in:

MongoClient client = MongoClients.create("mongodb://localhost/?ssl=true");

To configure the driver to use use TLS/SSL with Netty, include the ssl=true and streamType=netty options in the connection string, as in:

MongoClient client = MongoClients.create("mongodb://localhost/?streamType=netty&ssl=true");

Via MongoClientSettings

To specify TLS/SSL with MongoClientSettings, set the sslEnabled property to `true, as in

MongoClient client = MongoClients.create(MongoClientSettings.builder()
        .applyToClusterSettings(builder -> builder.hosts(Arrays.asList(new ServerAddress())))
        .applyToSslSettings(builder -> builder.enabled(true))
        .build());

To specify TLS/SSL using Netty, set the sslEnabled property to true, and the stream factory to NettyStreamFactoryFactory, as in

EventLoopGroup eventLoopGroup = new NioEventLoopGroup();  // make sure application shuts this down

MongoClient client = MongoClients.create(MongoClientSettings.builder()
        .applyToClusterSettings(builder -> builder.hosts(Arrays.asList(new ServerAddress())))
        .applyToSslSettings(builder -> builder.enabled(true))
        .streamFactoryFactory(NettyStreamFactoryFactory.builder()
                .eventLoopGroup(eventLoopGroup).build())
        .build());

By default, the Netty-based streams will use the NioEventLoopGroup and Netty’s default ByteBufAllocator, but these are configurable via the NettyStreamFactoryFactory constructor.

To override the default javax.net.ssl.SSLContext used for SSL connections, set the sslContext property on the SslSettings, as in:

MongoClient client = MongoClients.create(MongoClientSettings.builder()
        .applyToClusterSettings(builder -> builder.hosts(Arrays.asList(new ServerAddress())))
        .applyToSslSettings(builder ->
                builder.enabled(true)
                       .context(sslContext))
        .streamFactoryFactory(NettyStreamFactoryFactory.builder()
                .eventLoopGroup(eventLoopGroup).build())
        .build());

Disable Hostname Verification

By default, the driver ensures that the hostname included in the server’s SSL certificate(s) matches the hostname(s) provided when creating a MongoClient. However, the hostname verification requires a Java 7 JVM, as it relies on additions introduced in Java 7 to the javax.net.SSLParameters class.

If your application must run on Java 6, or for some other reason you need to disable host name verification, you must explicitly indicate this using the invalidHostNameAllowed property:

MongoClient client = MongoClients.create(MongoClientSettings.builder()
        .applyToClusterSettings(builder -> builder.hosts(Arrays.asList(new ServerAddress())))
        .applyToSslSettings(builder -> 
                builder.enabled(true)
                       .invalidHostNameAllowed(true))
        .build());

Or via the connection string:

MongoClient client = MongoClients.create("mongodb://localhost/?ssl=true&sslInvalidHostNameAllowed=true");

JVM System Properties for TLS/SSL

A typical application will need to set several JVM system properties to ensure that the client is able to validate the TLS/SSL certificate presented by the server:

• javax.net.ssl.trustStore: The path to a trust store containing the certificate of the signing authority

• javax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword: The password to access this trust store

The trust store is typically created with the keytool command line program provided as part of the JDK. For example:

    keytool -importcert -trustcacerts -file <path to certificate authority file>
        -keystore <path to trust store> -storepass <password>

A typical application will also need to set several JVM system properties to ensure that the client presents an TLS/SSL certificate to the MongoDB server:

• javax.net.ssl.keyStore The path to a key store containing the client’s TLS/SSL certificates

• javax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword The password to access this key store

The key store is typically created with the keytool or the openssl command line program.

For more information on configuring a Java application for TLS/SSL, please refer to the JSSE Reference Guide.

JVM Support for TLS v1.1 and newer

Industry best practices recommend, and some regulations require, the use of TLS 1.1 or newer. Though no application changes are required for the driver to make use of the newest TLS protocols, Java runtime environments prior to Java 8 started to enable TLS 1.1 only in later updates:

• Java 7

  • Starting with Update 131, released October 8, 2016, TSL 1.1 and TLS 1.2 are enabled by default.
  • Starting with Update 95, released January 19, 2016, TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 can be enabled by applications via the jdk.tls.client.protocols system property.

• Java 6

  • Starting with Update 141, released on January 17, 2017, TSL 1.1 and TLS 1.2 are enabled by default.
  • Starting with Update 115 b32, released July 19, 2016, TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 can be enabled by applications via the jdk.tls.client.protocols system property.

Note that these updates are only available from Oracle via its Java SE commercial support program. Java 7 Update 131 is available via OpenJDK.