JDK 8u241 Update Release Notes

Java™ SE Development Kit 8, Update 241 (JDK 8u241)

January 14, 2020

The full version string for this update release is 1.8.0_241-b07 (where "b" means "build"). The version number is 8u241.

IANA Data 2019c

JDK 8u241 contains IANA time zone data version 2019c. 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 8u241 are specified in the following table:

Keeping the JDK up to Date

Oracle recommends that the JDK is updated with each Critical Patch Update (CPU). In order to determine if a release is the latest, the Security Baseline page can be used to determine which is the latest version for each release family.

Critical patch updates, which contain security vulnerability fixes, are announced one year in advance on Critical Patch Updates, Security Alerts and Bulletins. It is not recommended that this JDK (version 8u241) be used after the next critical patch update scheduled for April 14, 2020. 

Java SE Subscription customers managing JRE updates/installs for large number of desktops should consider using Java Advanced Management Console (AMC).

For systems unable to reach the Oracle Servers, a secondary mechanism expires this JRE (version 8u241) on May 14, 2020. 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 23.1.2 JRE Expiration Date in the Java Platform, Standard Edition Deployment Guide.

New Features 

security-libs/javax.security
➜ Allow SASL Mechanisms to Be Restricted

A security property named jdk.sasl.disabledMechanisms has been added that can be used to disable SASL mechanisms. Any disabled mechanism will be ignored if it is specified in the mechanisms argument of Sasl.createSaslClient or the mechanism argument of Sasl.createSaslServer. The default value for this security property is empty, which means that no mechanisms are disabled out-of-the-box.

security-libs/javax.crypto:pkcs11
➜ SunPKCS11 Provider Upgraded with Support for PKCS#11 v2.40

The SunPKCS11 provider has been updated with support for PKCS#11 v2.40. This version adds support for more algorithms such as the AES/GCM/NoPadding cipher, DSA signatures using SHA-2 family of message digests, and RSASSA-PSS signatures when the corresponding PKCS11 mechanisms are supported by the underlying PKCS11 library.

Other notes

security-libs/java.security
➜ New Checks on Trust Anchor Certificates

New checks have been added to ensure that trust anchors are CA certificates and contain proper extensions. Trust anchors are used to validate certificate chains used in TLS and signed code. Trust anchor certificates must include a Basic Constraints extension with the cA field set to true. Also, if they include a Key Usage extension, the keyCertSign bit must be set.

A new system property named jdk.security.allowNonCaAnchor has been introduced to restore the previous behavior, if necessary. If the property is set to the empty String or "true" (case-insensitive), trust anchor certificates can be used if they do not have proper CA extensions.

The default value of this property, if not set, is "false".

Note that the property does not apply to X.509 v1 certificates (since they don't support extensions).

This property is currently used by the JDK implementation. It is not guaranteed to be supported by other Java SE implementations.

security-libs/java.security
➜ Exact Match Required for Trusted TLS Server Certificate 

A TLS server certificate must be an exact match of a trusted certificate on the client in order for it to be trusted when establishing a TLS connection.

security-libs/java.security
➜  Added LuxTrust Global Root 2 Certificate 

The following root certificate has been added to the cacerts truststore:

+ LuxTrust
     + luxtrustglobalroot2ca
 
         DN: CN=LuxTrust Global Root 2, O=LuxTrust S.A., C=LU

security-libs/java.security
➜ Added 4 Amazon Root CA Certificates

The following root certificates have been added to the cacerts truststore:

+ Amazon
     + amazonrootca1
         DN: CN=Amazon Root CA 1, O=Amazon, C=US
 
     + amazonrootca2
         DN: CN=Amazon Root CA 2, O=Amazon, C=US
 
     + amazonrootca3
         DN: CN=Amazon Root CA 3, O=Amazon, C=US
 
     + amazonrootca4
         DN: CN=Amazon Root CA 4, O=Amazon, C=US

core-libs/java.rmi
➜ Improve Registry Support

The java.rmi.Remote marker interface identifies interfaces containing methods that can be invoked remotely by using the following specification:

• Methods declared in interfaces that directly or indirectly extend java.rmi.Remote can be invoked remotely
• Methods declared in interfaces that do not extend Remote directly or indirectly cannot be invoked remotely

This affects remote objects in the java.rmi.registry.Registry and any other remote object.

Bug Fixes

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

client-libs/2d
➜ Support for OpenType CFF Fonts

Previously, Oracle JDK 8 did not include OpenType CFF fonts (.otf fonts) into the standard logical fonts (such as "Dialog" and "SansSerif"). This resulted in missing glyphs when rendering text. In the most extreme cases where only CFF fonts were installed on the system, a Java exception could be thrown.

Several Linux distributions were affected by this issue because they rely on CFF fonts to support some languages, which is common for CJK (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) languages.

Oracle JDK 8 now uses these CFF fonts, and this issue has been resolved.

core-libs/java.io:serialization
➜  Better Serial Filter Handling

The jdk.serialFilter system property can only be set on the command line. If the filter has not been set on the command line, it can be set can be set with java.io.ObjectInputFilter.Config.setSerialFilter. Setting the jdk.serialFilter with java.lang.System.setProperty has no effect.

This release also contains fixes for security vulnerabilities described in the Oracle Critical Patch Update. For a more complete list of the bug fixes included in this release, see the JDK 8u241 Bug Fixes page.