title: Using TLS 1.2 from java 6
body: <p>We have a legacy web application that runs in a tomcat under java 6, upgrading to 7 or 8 is infeasible as the application needs significant work to allow this and the fixes required are too large to implement in a legacy application. We now have a requirement to connect outbound (i.e. as a client) over TLS 1.2 however java 6 only supports 1.0. We use Apache as our web-server and OpenSSL for incoming connections and this happily supports TLS 1.2 etc.</p>
  
  <p>Has anyone had to address a similar issue, or can you comment on the following potential work arounds:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Loopback to localhost (or otherwise redirect) and use OpenSSL to create a TLS 1.2 connection,
  
  <ul>
  <li>effectively an internal proxy</li>
  <li>can openssl be a client?</li>
  <li>do we need s_client?</li>
  </ul></li>
  <li>Use our current the firewall to upgrade the connection
  
  <ul>
  <li>this would need to be selective</li>
  <li>Obviously implementing this will depend on the firewall</li>
  </ul></li>
  <li>Use “Bouncy Castle” (<a href="https://www.bouncycastle.org/" rel="nofollow">https://www.bouncycastle.org/</a>)</li>
  </ul>