8u91 Update Release Notes

JDK 8 Update Release Notes

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Java™ SE Development Kit 8, Update 91 (JDK 8u91)

The full version string for this update release is 1.8.0_91-b14 (where "b" means "build"). The version number is 8u91.

This update release contains several enhancements and changes including the following.

IANA Data 2016a

JDK 8u91 contains IANA time zone data version 2016a. For more information, refer to Timezone Data Versions in the JRE Software.

Security Baselines

The security baselines for the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) at the time of the release of JDK 8u91 are specified in the following table:

JRE Family Version	JRE Security Baseline (Full Version String)
8	1.8.0_91
7	1.7.0_101
6	1.6.0_115

JRE Expiration Date

The JRE expires whenever a new release with security vulnerability fixes becomes available. Critical patch updates, which contain security vulnerability fixes, are announced one year in advance on Critical Patch Updates, Security Alerts and Third Party Bulletin. This JRE (version 8u91) will expire with the release of the next critical patch update scheduled for July 19, 2016.

For systems unable to reach the Oracle Servers, a secondary mechanism expires this JRE (version 8u91) on August 19, 2016. After either condition is met (new release becoming available or expiration date reached), the JRE will provide additional warnings and reminders to users to update to the newer version. For more information, see JRE Expiration Date.
 

Bug Fixes

This release contains fixes for security vulnerabilities. For more information, see Oracle Java SE Critical Patch Update Advisory. For a list of bug fixes included in this release, see JDK 8u91 Bug Fixes page.

The following are some of the notable bug fixes included in this release:

DSA signature generation is now subject to a key strength check
For signature generation, if the security strength of the digest algorithm is weaker than the security strength of the key used to sign the signature (e.g. using (2048, 256)-bit DSA keys with SHA1withDSA signature), the operation will fail with the error message:

"The security strength of SHA1 digest algorithm is not sufficient for this key size."

JDK-8138593 (not public)

Firefox 42 liveconnect problem
Because it might cause the browser to hang, we don't process JavaScript-to-Java calls when the Java plugin is launched from plugin-container.exe (the default behavior for Firefox 42) and the applet status is not Ready(2). If the applet is not ready (the status is not 2), we don't execute the actual Java method and only return null.

If the plugin is launched from plugin-container.exe, do not use JavaScript-To-Java calls that may require more than 11 seconds(the default value of dom.ipc.plugins.hangUITimeoutSecs) to be completed or show a modal dialog during JavaScript-To-Java call. In this case, the main browser thread must be blocked, which might cause the browser to hang and the plugin to terminate.

Workaround (for Firefox 42):
User’s can set dom.ipc.plugins.enabled=false. The side effect of this workaround is that it changes the setting for all plugins.

JDK-8144079 (not public)

New attribute for JMX RMI JRMP servers specifies a list of class names to use when deserializing server credentials
A new java attribute has been defined for the environment to allow a JMX RMI JRMP server to specify a list of class names. These names correspond to the closure of class names that are expected by the server when deserializing credentials. For instance, if the expected credentials were a List, then the closure would constitute all the concrete classes that should be expected in the serial form of a list of Strings.

By default, this attribute is used only by the default agent with the following:

{   
   "[Ljava.lang.String;",   
   "java.lang.String" 
 } 

Only arrays of Strings and Strings will be accepted when deserializing the credentials. 

The attribute name is:

"jmx.remote.rmi.server.credential.types"

The following is an example of a user starting a server with the specified credentials class names:

Map env = new HashMap<>(1);

env.put ( 
 "jmx.remote.rmi.server.credential.types",
   new String[]{
   String[].class.getName(),
   String.class.getName()
   }
   );
   JMXConnectorServer server
   = JMXConnectorServerFactory.newJMXConnectorServer(url, env, mbeanServer);

The new feature should be used by directly specifying: 
  "jmx.remote.rmi.server.credential.types" 

JDK-8144430 (not public)

Disable MD5withRSA signature algorithm in the JSSE provider
The MD5withRSA signature algorithm is now considered insecure and should no longer be used. Accordingly, MD5withRSA has been deactivated by default in the Oracle JSSE implementation by adding "MD5withRSA" to the "jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms" security property. Now, both TLS handshake messages and X.509 certificates signed with MD5withRSA algorithm are no longer acceptable by default. This change extends the previous MD5-based certificate restriction ("jdk.certpath.disabledAlgorithms") to also include handshake messages in TLS version 1.2. If required, this algorithm can be reactivated by removing "MD5withRSA" from the "jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms" security property.

JDK-8144773 (not public)

New certificates added to root CAs
Eight new root certificates have been added :

QuoVadis Root CA 1 G3
alias: quovadisrootca1g3
DN: CN=QuoVadis Root CA 1 G3, O=QuoVadis Limited, C=BM

QuoVadis Root CA 2 G3
alias: quovadisrootca2g3
DN: CN=QuoVadis Root CA 2 G3

QuoVadis Root CA 3 G3
alias: quovadisrootca3g3
DN: CN=QuoVadis Root CA 3 G3, O=QuoVadis Limited, C=BM

DigiCert Assured ID Root G2
alias: digicertassuredidg2
DN: CN=DigiCert Assured ID Root G2, OU=www.digicert.com, O=DigiCert Inc, C=US

DigiCert Assured ID Root G3
alias: digicertassuredidg3
DN: CN=DigiCert Assured ID Root G3, OU=www.digicert.com, O=DigiCert Inc, C=US

DigiCert Global Root G2
alias: digicertglobalrootg2
DN: CN=DigiCert Global Root G2, OU=www.digicert.com, O=DigiCert Inc, C=US

DigiCert Global Root G3
alias: digicertglobalrootg3
DN: CN=DigiCert Global Root G3, OU=www.digicert.com, O=DigiCert Inc, C=US

DigiCert Trusted Root G4
alias: digicerttrustedrootg4
DN: CN=DigiCert Trusted Root G4, OU=www.digicert.com, O=DigiCert Inc, C=US

See JDK-8145954 and JDK-8145955

- wong chee tat :)