Maven: Failed to read artifact descriptor error

I cloned a JAVA repo and when I tried to build it with "mvn install", I got the following error

Could not transfer artifact org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-parent:pom:2.3.2.RELEASE from/to central (https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2): Transfer failed for https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/springframework/boot/spring-boot-starter-parent/2.3.2.RELEASE/spring-boot-starter-parent-2.3.2.RELEASE.pom and 'parent.relativePath' points at no local POM @ line 6, column 13: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target -> [Help 2]

the repo "https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2" is accessible in my browser when I open it in Chrome.

After some googling, I put a settings.xml file in the .m2 folder looks like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<settings>
  <activeProfiles>
    <!--make the profile active all the time -->
    <activeProfile>securecentral</activeProfile>
  </activeProfiles>
  <profiles>
    <profile>
      <id>securecentral</id>
      <!--Override the repository (and pluginRepository) "central" from the
         Maven Super POM -->    
	  <repositories>
        <repository>
          <id>central</id>
          <url>https://repo1.maven.org/maven2</url>
          <releases>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
          </releases>
        </repository>
      </repositories>
      <pluginRepositories>
        <pluginRepository>
          <id>central</id>
          <url>https://repo1.maven.org/maven2</url>
          <releases>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
          </releases>
        </pluginRepository>
      </pluginRepositories>
    </profile>
  </profiles>
</settings>

Now when I run "mvn install", the error for spring-boot goes away. But I am facing this error now:

Failed to read artifact descriptor for org.apache.camel.springboot:camel-salesforce-starter:jar:3.4.2: Could not transfer artifact io.dropwizard.metrics:metrics-bom:pom:4.1.9 from/to central (https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2): Transfer failed for https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/io/dropwizard/metrics/metrics-bom/4.1.9/metrics-bom-4.1.9.pom: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target -> [Help 1]

My question is, why do I need to manually add <repositories> and <pluginRepositories> in settings.xml and why I am still getting the error for camel? Thanks

You can try to run mvn -U clean install

-U according to Maven CLI options is for

> Forces a check for missing releases and updated snapshots on remote
> repositories

or try to delete the local repository folder. Sometimes it gets messed up when having network problems...
You can find your local repo folder in your .m2 folder (on windows: C:\Users&lt;your_username>.m2)

You can delete the whole repository folder or just some part of it. After that just run the mvn clean install

> PKIX path building failed:
> sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to
> find valid certification path to requested target

Almost certain that root CA certificates on your system are outdated.
Try to update your JDK installation. Note that CA certificate used by your browser might not be same as JRE/JDK is using.

Without knowing more details about your system, it's hard to provide more accurate answer.

This answer provides possible workaround.

OK...got it working.

@rkosegi's answer put me on the right path. The root CA cert used by my browser is different than the one jdk uses. That's why I can view the repo in browser with no error but maven cannot access the repo.

Somehow my company (a financial institution) has a root CA cert overriding all the other root CA cert, that means, when I open any website (for example stackoverflow), the cert path always shows like this:

I am not a system admin and not sure how this is done, but anyhow, all I need to do is save the Root CA cert as a *.CER file and add it to the jdk's cacert folder.

After that, the command "mvn clean install" runs to complete with no error