November 27, 2020

Dell iDrac virtual console network connection dropped

Problem:
Dell iDrac Virtual Console viewer failing :

The viewer has terminated. Reason: The network connection has been dropped.



Cause:
Java releases after 8.?? have stricter security settings, disabling 3DES_EDE_CBC.

Solution:
We may unblock 3DES_EDE_CBC to allow iDrac Virtual Console viewer.jnlp to work again.

Linux example:
Use sudo powers to modify your /etc/java-11-openjdk/security/java.security or similar file near line 656. (Locating your java version obviously.) Replace [modify or duplicate with commenting-out]:

jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms=SSLv3, RC4, DES, MD5withRSA, DH keySize < 1024, \
    EC keySize < 224, 3DES_EDE_CBC, anon, NULL

with

jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms=SSLv3, RC4, DES, MD5withRSA, DH keySize < 1024, \
    EC keySize < 224, anon, NULL

In Windows, the file will be C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_271\lib\security\java.security or similar. (Locating your java version obviously.)

Other resources will tell you to comment the entire jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms line(s), but this will unblock multiple weak securities. At least unblocking the single 3DES_EDE_CBC is less impactful, albeit still less secure than defaults.


Please consider crypto tipping: