System.CalloutException: "Algorithm missing:"

Question

I have been getting a System.CalloutException with the message "Algorithm missing:" when I try to make a call to a specific endpoint. This is an exception that happens intermittently. For example, if I make the call with the same request 4 times, it will fail with this exception the first 3 attempts, but it will succeed on the 4th attempt. Other times, it will be successful on the 1st or 2nd attempt, etc.

This leads me to believe it might be related to some configuration issue on the server side. However, is there anything that might cause this type of error on the client Salesforce side?

Here is the debug for when I was able to re-create the issue. Additionally, there are a total of 5 different services on the same server, and they all exhibit the same intermittent failure.

10:07:36.136 (136559000)|USER_DEBUG|[94]|DEBUG|

###########################################################
HTTP REQUEST: 
###########################################################
Compressed: false
Endpoint: ENDPOINT.COM
Method: POST
Body: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><Request xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"><DeveloperKey>XXXXXXXXXX</DeveloperKey><Password>XXXXXXXXXX</Password><Email>[email protected]</Email><Test>false</Test></Request>


10:07:36.136 (136597000)|METHOD_EXIT|[42]|01pC0000000svqj|al_HttpUtils.debug(System.HttpRequest)
10:07:36.136 (136858000)|CALLOUT_REQUEST|[49]|System.HttpRequest[Endpoint=https://ENDPOINT.COM/v2/user/checkexisting, Method=POST]
10:07:36.388 (388792000)|EXCEPTION_THROWN|[49]|System.CalloutException: Algorithm missing:  
10:07:36.389 (389030000)|METHOD_EXIT|[85]|01pC0000000svqj|al_HttpUtils.send(System.HttpRequest)

The exception is thrown on the following line:

response = (new Http()).send(request);

Answer 1

A Google search indicates that message is potentially part of an issue with SSL negotiation.

handling exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLException: Algorithm missing:  
2008-01-08 13:10:59,935 INFO  [STDOUT] http-0.0.0.0-8445-Processor5
2008-01-08 13:10:59,935 INFO  [STDOUT] , SEND SSLv3 ALERT:  

If the party you are talking to has a misconfigured server in a pool of load balanced servers, its possible you'll get such an exception when you hit that specific server (and not the others). Hence the intermittent issue.

Here's my link which mentions the exception: IBM developer works.

Answer 2

Given that the setup on the Salesforce side is consistent I'd be inclined to think that this was on the other end, however I wouldn't expect a problem on the other end to be generating a system level exception in Salesforce.

update: Jeremy has added a comment to the contrary, apparently it can happen when using SOAP, so if that's what you're using it could be an error from the remote system.

I'd assume this is either a problem with your code (are you using EncodingUtil or similar? That has various options for encryption algorithms) or something lower-level in the stack which needs to be raised with Salesforce support.