TLS/SSL

The Java driver supports TLS/SSL connections to MongoDB servers using the underlying support for TLS/SSL provided by the JDK. You can configure the driver to use TLS/SSL either with ConnectionString or with MongoClientSettings. With the legacy MongoClient API you can use either MongoClientURI or MongoClientOptions.

MongoClient API (since 3.7)

Specify TLS/SSL via ConnectionString

com.mongodb.client.MongoClients;
com.mongodb.client.MongoClient;

To specify TLS/SSL with ConnectionString, specify ssl=true as part of the connection string, as in:

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

Specify TLS/SSL via MongoClientSettings

import com.mongodb.MongoClientSettings;
import com.mongodb.client.MongoClients;
import com.mongodb.client.MongoClient;

To specify TLS/SSL with with MongoClientSettings, set the enabled property to true, as in:

MongoClientSettings settings = MongoClientSettings.builder()
        .applyToSslSettings(builder -> 
            builder.enabled(true))
        .build();
MongoClient client = MongoClients.create(settings);

Specify SSLContext via MongoClientSettings

import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
import com.mongodb.MongoClientSettings;
import com.mongodb.client.MongoClients;
import com.mongodb.client.MongoClient;

To specify the javax.net.ssl.SSLContext with MongoClientOptions, set the sslContext property, as in:

SSLContext sslContext = ...
MongoClientSettings settings = MongoClientSettings.builder()
        .applyToSslSettings(builder -> {
                    builder.enabled(true);
                    builder.context(sslContext);
                })
        .build();
MongoClient client = MongoClients.create(settings);

Legacy MongoClient API

Specify TLS/SSL via MongoClientURI

import com.mongodb.MongoClientURI;
import com.mongodb.MongoClient;

To specify TLS/SSL with MongoClientURI, specify ssl=true as part of the connection string, as in:

MongoClientURI uri = new MongoClientURI("mongodb://localhost/?ssl=true");
MongoClient mongoClient = new MongoClient(uri);

Specify TLS/SSL via MongoClientOptions

import com.mongodb.MongoClientOptions;
import com.mongodb.MongoClient;

To specify TLS/SSL with with MongoClientOptions, set the sslEnabled property to true, as in:

MongoClientOptions options = MongoClientOptions.builder()
        .sslEnabled(true)
        .build();
MongoClient client = new MongoClient("localhost", options);

Specify SSLContext via MongoClientOptions

import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
import com.mongodb.MongoClientOptions;
import com.mongodb.MongoClient;

To specify the javax.net.ssl.SSLContext with MongoClientOptions, set the sslContext property, as in:

SSLContext sslContext = ...
MongoClientOptions options = MongoClientOptions.builder()
        .sslEnabled(true)
        .sslContext(sslContext)
        .build();
 MongoClient client = new MongoClient("localhost", options);

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 constructing 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 hostname verification, you must explicitly indicate this in MongoClientSettings](/mongo-java-driver/3.12/javadoc/com/mongodb/MongoClientSettings.html )

MongoClientSettings settings = MongoClientSettings.builder()
        .applyToSslSettings(builder -> {
                    builder.enabled(true);
                    builder.invalidHostNameAllowed(true);
                })
        .build();

or, with the legacy MongoClientOptions](/mongo-java-driver/3.12/javadoc/com/mongodb/MongoClientOptions.html ), using the sslInvalidHostNameAllowed property:

MongoClientOptions.builder()
        .sslEnabled(true)
        .sslInvalidHostNameAllowed(true)
        .build();

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, TLS 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.

Forcing TLS 1.2

Some applications may want to force only the TLS 1.2 protocol. To do this, set the jdk.tls.client.protocols system property to “TLSv1.2”.

Java runtime environments prior to Java 8 started to enable the TLS 1.2 protocol only in later updates, as shown in the previous section. For the driver to force the use of the TLS 1.2 protocol with a Java runtime environment prior to Java 8, ensure that the update has TLS 1.2 enabled.