• Home
  • About 404TS
  • Contact

404 Tech Support

Where IT Help is Found

  • Articles
    • Code
    • Entertainment
    • Going Green
    • Hardware, Gadgets, and Products
    • Management
    • Network
    • News
    • Operating Systems
    • Security and Privacy
    • Software
    • System Administration
    • Talking Points
    • Tech Solutions
    • Web
    • Webmaster
  • Reviews
  • Media
    • Infographics
    • Videos
  • Tech Events
  • Tools
    • How do I find my IP address?
    • Browser and plugin tests
  • Get a Technical Consultation
You are here: Home / Articles / Software / ServiceDesk Plus: Weak Diffie-Hellman Key with Firefox or Website Security Issue with Safari

ServiceDesk Plus: Weak Diffie-Hellman Key with Firefox or Website Security Issue with Safari

2015-08-14 by Jason

Beginning in early July with Firefox 39’s release, the Help Desk software ServiceDesk Plus would not load. It cited a security issue with SSL using a weak ephemeral Diffie-Hellman key. “Secure connection failed”

servicedeskplus weak key

More recently Safari on OS X 10.10 and 10.11 has been causing a similar issue with the error message:

“Website Security Issue
Safari will not open this website because site.com is using weak encryption”

Upon discovering the issue with Firefox 39, I reported the problem to ManageEngine, the company behind ServiceDesk Plus. I was told it was a known issue with bug code SD-57847 and that it would be resolved when the Java Runtime Environment bundled with SDP was updated to version 1.7 with a future service pack. 5 weeks later with no resolution and the problem becoming increasingly prevalent with Safari now being affected, I looked into the problem some more.

servicedeskplus safari issue

Searching for the bug number SD-57847, I found a thread on the ManageEngine support forums complaining about the same issue. In the thread, the answer was to mostly wait for a future service pack. Fortunately, another commenter provided a link to SDP documentation on the General Module FAQ. One of the points explains how to avoid using weak ciphers.

With a quick update to the Tomcat configuration, you can implement the change and resolve this issue. By updating servers.xml  in <ServiceDesk_Home>serverdefaultdeployjbossweb-tomcat50.sar, you can add a value to the XML file to specify which ciphers to use. You want to add

ciphers=”TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA”

to the Connector tag. The end results should look something like the following code segment.

<Connector URIEncoding="UTF-8" address="${jboss.bind.address}" clientAuth="false" compressableMimeType="text/css,text/javascript,application/javascript,text/plain,text/html" compression="on" compressionMinSize="2048" keystoreFile="${jboss.server.home.dir}/conf/sdp.keystore" keystorePass="12345678" maxPostSize="-1" maxSpareThreads="15" maxThreads="100" minSpareThreads="5" noCompressionUserAgents="gozilla, traviata" port="443" scheme="https" secure="true" sslProtocol="TLS" ciphers="TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256, TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA"/>

Given the location of the file, you will edit servers.xml with Notepad or Notepad++ and either have to save to a different location and copy the replacement or run the text editor as an administrator before opening the file.

Once the file has been updated, you can stop and restart the service. Once ServiceDesk Plus comes back up, you should now be able to access the site without security warnings from Firefox or Safari browsers.

Filed Under: Software, Tech Solutions

Trending

  • OfficeSuite Pro 5 is the Free Amazon Android App Today But a Credit Card is Required?
    In Hardware, Gadgets, and Products, Media
  • How to stop Edge “tips” from showing every time you launch Chrome or Firefox
    In Software, Tech Solutions
  • Product Review: ScreenDeck – A Shelf For Your HDTV Accessories
    In Hardware, Gadgets, and Products, Reviews

Latest Media Posts

Find Out Where To Download SNES ROMs

Find Out Where To Download SNES ROMs

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

  • Popular
  • Latest
  • Today Week Month All
  • How to ‘Unblock’ multiple files at a time with PowerShell How to 'Unblock' multiple files at a time with PowerShell
  • Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability
  • SOLVED: “This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked.” SOLVED: "This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked."
  • Creating and editing views in phpMyAdmin Creating and editing views in phpMyAdmin
  • Configure Outlook to recurring appointments for the last weekday of the month Configure Outlook to recurring appointments for the last weekday of the month
  • 3d rendering circuit cloud for cloud computing technology Build and Deploy a Modern Web 3.0 Blockchain App in 2022
  • Telecom Application Development: When to Outsource Telecom Application Development: When to Outsource
  • Printer printing document wirelessly from mobile phone or smartphone wifi connection vector flat cartoon illustration, file air print on fax or ink jet via cellphone bluetooth modern design Why Your Business Needs Online Fax Services In 2022
  • 6 Best Ways to Protect Your Business Account 6 Best Ways to Protect Your Business Account
  • How to download videos from Instagram How to download videos from Instagram
Ajax spinner

Elevator Pitch

404 Tech Support documents solutions to IT problems, shares worthwhile software and websites, and reviews hardware, consumer electronics, and technology-related books.

Subscribe to 404TS articles by email.

Recent Posts

  • Build and Deploy a Modern Web 3.0 Blockchain App in 2022
  • Telecom Application Development: When to Outsource
  • Why Your Business Needs Online Fax Services In 2022

Search

FTC Disclaimer

404TechSupport is an Amazon.com affiliate; when you click on an Amazon link from 404TS, the site gets a cut of the proceeds from whatever you buy. This site also uses Skimlinks for smart monetization of other affiliate links.
Use of this site requires displaying and viewing ads as they are presented.

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in