#950213 openjdk-17-jre-headless: AccessControlException in java.util.Properties when running with a security manager

Package:
openjdk-17-jre-headless
Source:
openjdk-17
Description:
OpenJDK Java runtime, using Hotspot JIT (headless)
Submitter:
Brandenberger
Date:
2022-10-31 17:15:04 UTC
Severity:
important
#950213#5
Date:
2020-01-30 08:14:51 UTC
From:
To:
Dear Maintainer,

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#950213#10
Date:
2022-10-31 17:12:34 UTC
From:
To:
The report is empty and I was tempted to close it as invalid. But the
underlying issue is worth considering: java.util.Properties is patched
in Debian to remove the timestamp in the header of the properties files
to make them reproducible. The timestamp is removed when the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
environment variable is defined.

This look trivial but this creates a subtle incompatibility compared to
the upstream JDK. Reading SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH when running with a security
manager triggers an AccessControlException unless a rule is added in the
policy file:

java.security.AccessControlException: access denied ("java.lang.RuntimePermission" "getenv.SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH")
     at java.base/java.security.AccessControlContext.checkPermission(AccessControlContext.java:472)
     at java.base/java.security.AccessController.checkPermission(AccessController.java:897)
     at java.base/java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPermission(SecurityManager.java:322)
     at java.base/java.lang.System.getenv(System.java:996)
     at java.base/java.util.Properties.getFormattedTimestamp(Properties.java:1587)
     at java.base/java.util.Properties.store0(Properties.java:929)
     at java.base/java.util.Properties.store(Properties.java:918)

So basically, any external Java application launched with the Debian JRE
and using a security manager will break when attempting to write a
properties files.

This is bad and should be reverted or done differently. We could try
adding a SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH property in jdk.internal.util.StaticProperty
since these properties are initialized before the security manager is
set. Or we could drop the patch and rely on strip-nondeterminism to
remove the timestamp.

Emmanuel Bourg