Confluence fails to start with SSL with PFX file - failed to decrypt safe contents entry
Platform notice: Server and Data Center only. This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Server and Data Center platforms.
Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
Confluence fails to start, even when the PFX keystorePass password is correctly entered in the <confluence-install>\conf\server.xml file. The following is reported in catalina.out when Confluence starts up:
02-Jun-2021 10:01:33.435 SEVERE [main] org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.handleSubClassException Failed to initialize component [Connector[org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Nio2Protocol-443]]
org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Protocol handler initialization failed
at org.apache.catalina.connector.Connector.initInternal(Connector.java:1042)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.init(LifecycleBase.java:136)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.initInternal(StandardService.java:533)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.init(LifecycleBase.java:136)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.initInternal(StandardServer.java:1057)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.init(LifecycleBase.java:136)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.load(Catalina.java:724)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.load(Catalina.java:746)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.load(Bootstrap.java:302)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:472)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: keystore password was incorrect
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AbstractJsseEndpoint.createSSLContext(AbstractJsseEndpoint.java:99)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AbstractJsseEndpoint.initialiseSsl(AbstractJsseEndpoint.java:71)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.Nio2Endpoint.bind(Nio2Endpoint.java:142)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AbstractEndpoint.bindWithCleanup(AbstractEndpoint.java:1141)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AbstractEndpoint.init(AbstractEndpoint.java:1154)
at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol.init(AbstractProtocol.java:592)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Protocol.init(AbstractHttp11Protocol.java:80)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.Connector.initInternal(Connector.java:1039)
... 13 more
Caused by: java.io.IOException: keystore password was incorrect
at java.base/sun.security.pkcs12.PKCS12KeyStore.engineLoad(Unknown Source)
at java.base/sun.security.util.KeyStoreDelegator.engineLoad(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.security.KeyStore.load(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.security.KeyStoreUtil.load(KeyStoreUtil.java:69)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SSLUtilBase.getStore(SSLUtilBase.java:216)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SSLHostConfigCertificate.getCertificateKeystore(SSLHostConfigCertificate.java:207)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SSLUtilBase.getKeyManagers(SSLUtilBase.java:282)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SSLUtilBase.createSSLContext(SSLUtilBase.java:246)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AbstractJsseEndpoint.createSSLContext(AbstractJsseEndpoint.java:97)
... 20 more
Caused by: java.security.UnrecoverableKeyException: failed to decrypt safe contents entry: java.io.IOException: Sequence tag error
... 29 moreCause
The PFX keystoreFile referenced in <confluence-install>\conf\server.xml is using an encryption cipher that Tomcat/Java cannot decipher.
Solution
1. Regenerate the PFX keystore file using TripeDES as the encryption cypher.
3. Confluence should now startup.