Currently the different browsers, servers and CA´s all implement different and incompatible ways to use SSL certificates for several VHosts on the same server.
The VHost SSL Taskforce tries to find an agreement between those ways, and publish that as an RFC afterwards, so that all the software vendors can agree on one way.
1. Way: SubjectAltName Only
- This is the official way, according to the RFC 2818. This was my discussion with Eric Rescorla (the author of the RFC) on the topic:
> Hi Eric, > > I would like to know your position regarding Multiple SSL/TLS Vhosts on the > same machine with the same IP Adress. (Name-based). > > In RFC 2818 you have written: > > Matching is performed using the matching rules specified by > [RFC2459]. If more than one identity of a given type is present in > the certificate (e.g., more than one dNSName name, a match in any one > of the set is considered acceptable.) Names may contain the wildcard > character * which is considered to match any single domain name > component or component fragment. E.g., *.a.com matches foo.a.com but > not bar.foo.a.com. f*.com matches foo.com but not bar.com. > > I would interpret it as if the solution for the problem is to have several > identities (dNSName lines) in one certificate for the different DNS Names, > and that the Browser has to accept any of them: > > dNSName: www.customer1.at > dNSName: www.customer2.com > dNSName: www.customer3.de > > Is that a correct interpretation? That's certainly one possibility, and it's the only one that will work with Name Based Virtual Hosts without the domain name extension (not yet widely deployed)
How can I generate a certificate for that?
Add the following into your openssl.cnf:
[ req_distinguished_name ] 0.subjectAltName =Alternativer Name 1 0.subjectAltName_default =DNS:www.welservice.com 1.subjectAltName =Alternativer Name 2 1.subjectAltName_default =DNS:sig.cacert.at
This example will generate a Subject like this:
Subject: C=CH, ST=Zurich, L=Zurich, CN=www.example.com/subjectAltName=DNS:www.example.com
which will IMHO not work.
After studing of "RFC 2459 - Section 4.2.1.7: Subject Alternative Name" and crossreferencing to the result of isakmpd's certpatch(8) the following should work:
Subject: C=CH, ST=Zurich, L=Zurich, CN=www.example.com ... Requested Extensions: X509v3 Subject Alternative Name: DNS:www.example.com
To accomplish such an CSR the following entries are needed in the openssl.cnf (please note: I only added the relevant parts for this Attribute)
[ req ] req_extensions = v3_req [ v3_req ] subjectAltName = DNS:www.example.com
There's also the possibility to mark this Extension "critical" by
subjectAltName = critical,DNS:www.example.com
IMHO multiple alternative Names are accomplished by
subjectAltName = DNS:www.example.com, DNS:www2.example.com
Currently, CSRs created in this way, will not show a subjectAltName on the cacert.org confirmation page to submit the CSR, so it is assumed that the CA will not honor the Extension Request
The following text should explain the meaning of "critical"
- When an implementation processing a certificate does not recognize an extension, if the criticality flag is FALSE, it may ignore that extension. If the criticality flag is TRUE, unrecognized extensions shall cause the structure to be considered invalid, i.e. in a certificate, an unrecognized critical extension would cause validation of a signature using that certificate to fail. When a certificate-using implementation recognizes and is able to process an extension, then the certificate-using implementation shall process the extension regardless of the value of the criticality flag. Note that any extension that is flagged non-critical will cause inconsistent behaviour between certificate-using systems that will process the extension and certificate-using systems that do not recognize the extension and will ignore it.
How does such a certificate look like?
Host: 212.55.212.241 (provided by jcl) [https://host1.way1.vhosts.cacert.org/] [https://host2.way1.vhosts.cacert.org/]
Robert Trebula: The hosts above have only subjectAltName set in their certificates. They do not have any Common Name. To make this work in Mozilla Firefox, just add one of the domain names as Common Name. For example see https://hq.sk/ = https://hq.alert.sk/
2. Way: Multiple CommonName´s in the same certificate
How can I generate a certificate for that?
Add the following into your openssl.cnf:
[ req_distinguished_name ] 0.commonName = Common Name (eg, YOUR name) 0.commonName_default = www.domain1.com 0.commonName_max = 64 1.commonName = Common Name (eg, YOUR name) 1.commonName_default = www.domain2.org 1.commonName_max = 64
How does such a certificate look like?
openssl x509 -in server.crt -text Certificate: Data: Version: 3 (0x2) Serial Number: 63209 (0xf6e9) Signature Algorithm: md5WithRSAEncryption Issuer: O=Root CA, OU=http://www.cacert.org, CN=CA Cert Signing Authority/emailAddress=support@cacert.org Validity Not Before: Mar 6 03:06:42 2005 GMT Not After : Mar 6 03:06:42 2007 GMT Subject: CN=www.domain1.com, CN=www.domain2.com
Host: 212.55.212.242 (provided by jcl) [https://host1.way2.vhosts.cacert.org/] [https://host2.way2.vhosts.cacert.org/]
3. Way: Certificate with 1 Common Name + 2 Subject Alt Names
Host: 212.55.212.243 (provided by jcl) [https://host1.way3.vhosts.cacert.org/] [https://host2.way3.vhosts.cacert.org/]
4. Way: Multiple certificates in the certificate chain/graph
Host: 212.55.212.244 (provided by jcl) [https://host1.way4.vhosts.cacert.org/] [https://host2.way4.vhosts.cacert.org/]
5. Way: TLS "server name indication".
- There is a TLS extension called "server name indication". It is currently not implemented by NSS . There are RFEs, you can search bugzilla. I'm not aware of any client or server that implements this extension at this time, but if you are, that might provide an incentive to add it to NSS .
There is another testing plattform for that way here: [https://sni.corelands.com/]
[http://www.mail-archive.com/mozilla-crypto%40mozilla.org/msg06633.html]
Host: 212.55.212.245 (provided by jcl) [https://host1.way5.vhosts.cacert.org/] [https://host2.way5.vhosts.cacert.org/]
mod_gnutls now supports TLS Server Name Indication: [https://sni.corelands.com/]
It seems that openssl could soon gain support for TLS SNI: [http://www.mail-archive.com/openssl-dev@openssl.org/msg20260.html]
Now we only need the browsers to adapt:
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=116168 Mozilla Bug for this]
[http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/10/22/483795.aspx IE will support it in IE7]
Discussion
Here, all related parties (Software vendors, ...) are invited to comment on pros/cons of the different ways.
Legal
A message from our legal department: In the situation of ISP´s hosting WebShops of their customers, it is necessary to have a bind the Vhosts to the different customers, so that they are liable for what they do. Having one certificate with all the names in it would give legal problems to the ISP. (author can be contacted through sourcerer)
Interoperability Test
Vendor/App |
Several CN´s |
Regexp |
Several Cert |
TLSserverNam |
CN+SubjAltNames |
|
Testsystem1 |
[https://host1.way1.vhosts.cacert.org/ Host1/1] |
[https://host1.way2.vhosts.cacert.org/ Host1/2] |
na |
[https://host1.way4.vhosts.cacert.org/ Host1/4] |
[https://host1.way5.vhosts.cacert.org/ Host1/5] |
[https://host1.way3.vhosts.cacert.org/ Host1/3] |
Testsystem2 |
[https://host2.way1.vhosts.cacert.org/ Host2/1] |
[https://host2.way2.vhosts.cacert.org/ Host2/2] |
na |
[https://host2.way4.vhosts.cacert.org/ Host2/4] |
[https://host2.way5.vhosts.cacert.org/ Host2/5] |
[https://host2.way3.vhosts.cacert.org/ Host2/3] |
CAcert |
Yes |
No |
No |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
Firefox |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
? |
Patch 2 |
Yes |
Konqueror |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
? |
No |
Yes |
IE |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
? |
No |
Yes |
Opera |
Yes |
No |
? |
? |
Yes |
Yes |
Safari |
? |
? |
? |
? |
No |
Yes |
2 - Patch attached to https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=116169
Useless ways
Multiple CommonName´s and a wildcard first CommonName in the same certificate
How can I generate a certificate for that?
Add the following into your openssl.cnf:
[ req_distinguished_name ] 0.commonName = Common Name (eg, YOUR name) 0.commonName_default = *.*.* 0.commonName_max = 64 1.commonName = Common Name (eg, YOUR name) 1.commonName_default = www.domain1.com 1.commonName_max = 64 2.commonName = Common Name (eg, YOUR name) 2.commonName_default = www.domain2.org 2.commonName_max = 64
How does such a certificate look like?
openssl x509 -in server.crt -text Certificate: Data: Version: 3 (0x2) Serial Number: 63209 (0xf6e9) Signature Algorithm: md5WithRSAEncryption Issuer: O=Root CA, OU=http://www.cacert.org, CN=CA Cert Signing Authority/emailAddress=support@cacert.org Validity Not Before: Mar 6 03:06:42 2005 GMT Not After : Mar 6 03:06:42 2007 GMT Subject: CN=*.*.*, CN=www.domain1.com, CN=www.domain2.org
Why is that way useless?
Because it is insecure. With a *.*.* wildcard certificate, you could impersonate www.amazon.com, www.paypal.com and everyone else you want with one certificate.
Easy way to generate CSRs with subjectAltNames
A few contributed scripts:
Shell Script
# csr.sh: Certificate Signing Request Generator # Copyright(c) 2005 Evaldo Gardenali <evaldo@gardenali.biz> # All rights reserved. # # Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without # modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions # are met: # 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright # notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. # 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright # notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the # documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. # THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" # AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE # IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE # ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE # LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR # CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF # SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS # INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN # CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) # ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE # POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. # # ChangeLog: # Mon May 23 00:14:37 BRT 2005 - evaldo - Initial Release # be safe about permissions LASTUMASK=`umask` umask 077 # OpenSSL for HPUX needs a random file RANDOMFILE=$HOME/.rnd # create a config file for openssl CONFIG=`mktemp -q /tmp/openssl-conf.XXXXXXXX` if [ ! $? -eq 0 ]; then echo "Could not create temporary config file. exiting" exit 1 fi echo "Private Key and Certificate Signing Request Generator" echo "This script was designed to suit the request format needed by" echo "the CAcert Certificate Authority. www.CAcert.org" echo printf "Short Hostname (ie. imap big_srv www2): " read HOST printf "FQDN/CommonName (ie. www.example.com) : " read COMMONNAME echo "Type SubjectAltNames for the certificate, one per line. Enter a blank line to finish" SAN=1 # bogus value to begin the loop SANAMES="" # sanitize while [ ! "$SAN" = "" ]; do printf "SubjectAltName: DNS:" read SAN if [ "$SAN" = "" ]; then break; fi # end of input if [ "$SANAMES" = "" ]; then SANAMES="DNS:$SAN" else SANAMES="$SANAMES,DNS:$SAN" fi done # Config File Generation cat <<EOF > $CONFIG # -------------- BEGIN custom openssl.cnf ----- HOME = $HOME EOF if [ "`uname -s`" = "HP-UX" ]; then echo " RANDFILE = $RANDOMFILE" >> $CONFIG fi cat <<EOF >> $CONFIG oid_section = new_oids [ new_oids ] [ req ] default_days = 730 # how long to certify for default_keyfile = $HOME/${HOST}_privatekey.pem distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name encrypt_key = no string_mask = nombstr EOF if [ ! "$SANAMES" = "" ]; then echo "req_extensions = v3_req # Extensions to add to certificate request" >> $CONFIG fi cat <<EOF >> $CONFIG [ req_distinguished_name ] commonName = Common Name (eg, YOUR name) commonName_default = $COMMONNAME commonName_max = 64 [ v3_req ] EOF if [ ! "$SANAMES" = "" ]; then echo "subjectAltName=$SANAMES" >> $CONFIG fi echo "# -------------- END custom openssl.cnf -----" >> $CONFIG echo "Running OpenSSL..." openssl req -batch -config $CONFIG -newkey rsa:2048 -out $HOME/${HOST}_csr.pem echo "Copy the following Certificate Request and paste into CAcert website to obtain a Certificate." echo "When you receive your certificate, you 'should' name it something like ${HOST}_server.pem" echo cat $HOME/${HOST}_csr.pem echo echo The Certificate request is also available in $HOME/${HOST}_csr.pem echo The Private Key is stored in $HOME/${HOST}_privatekey.pem echo rm $CONFIG #restore umask umask $LASTUMASK
pt_BR version of this script can be found on br.cacert.org
Perl version
use strict; my $config_file = "/tmp/openssl.cnf.$$"; #Where to write the config file my $keyname; #Generally, the primary FQDN my $org_unit; #Organisational unit for csr, ie Web Services my @altnames; #Alternate dns names for csr, ie www1.example.com, www1.example.net etc my $altname; #Alternate dns names for csr, ie www1.example.com, www1.example.net etc my $altcount = 1; #Can only have 16 or less alts (when submitting to Verisign) my $altflag = 1; #flag for my while loop my @config_out; #Populate with all info for the config file. my $email_address; #email address to be tagged on the certificate my $proc_base_name; #basename of the process, simply for naming conventions my $mutual_tls = "y"; #flag for mutual tls for client app stuff my $home = `echo \$HOME`; #Get user's home directory to store files in. chomp $home; my $random_file = "$home/.rnd"; #openssl for hpux needs a .rnd file to work # If config file exists, exit and alert user if (-e $config_file) { `rm $config_file`; } if (!-e $random_file) { `dd bs=512 count=4 if=/dev/null of=$random_file` ##die ("Random file couldn't be found at $random_file\n"); } # Open config file to write ssl stuff out to open (CONFIG, ">$config_file")||die "Can't open $config_file for writing\n"; # Start getting info from user print ("Generate SSL Cert stuff for SAPI\n"); print ("FQDN/Keyname for Cert \(ie www.example.com\)\t\t:"); chomp ($keyname=<STDIN>); while ($altflag) { print ("Alt Names (ie www1.example.com or <return> for none)\t\t\t:"); chomp($altname=<STDIN>); if ($altcount < 16) { if ($altname eq $keyname) { print (" ****** Alternate name can not equal main keyname ******\n"); } elsif ($altname ne "") { push (@altnames, "DNS:$altname"); $altcount++; } else { $altflag=0; } } else { $altflag=0; } } print ("Host short name (ie imap big_srv etc)\t\t\t\t:"); chomp ($proc_base_name=<STDIN>); # Start building the config file push (@config_out, "# -------------- BEGIN custom openssl.cnf -----\n"); push (@config_out, "HOME = $home\n"); push (@config_out, "RANDFILE = $random_file\n"); push (@config_out, "oid_section = new_oids\n"); push (@config_out, "[ new_oids ]\n"); push (@config_out, "[ req ]\n"); push (@config_out, "default_bits = 2048\n"); push (@config_out, "default_days = 730 # how long to certify for\n"); push (@config_out, "default_keyfile = $home/${proc_base_name}_privatekey.pem\n"); push (@config_out, "distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name\n"); push (@config_out, "encrypt_key = no\n"); push (@config_out, "string_mask = nombstr\n"); push (@config_out, "req_extensions = v3_req # Extensions to add to certificate request\n"); push (@config_out, "[ req_distinguished_name ]\n"); push (@config_out, "commonName = Common Name (eg, YOUR name)\n"); push (@config_out, "commonName_default = $keyname\n"); push (@config_out, "commonName_max = 64\n"); push (@config_out, "[ v3_req ]\n"); if (@altnames[0] ne "") { $altname=join(',', @altnames); push (@config_out, "subjectAltName=$altname\n"); } push (@config_out, "# -------------- END OpsSec-provided openssl.cnf -----\n"); # Write shit to file print (CONFIG "@config_out"); close CONFIG; # Generate ssl stuff print ("\nAttempting openssl...\n"); system ("openssl req -batch -config $config_file -newkey rsa -out $home/${proc_base_name}_csr.pem"); print ("\nwriting csr to $home/${proc_base_name}_csr.pem...\n\n"); print ("Take the contents of $home/${proc_base_name}_csr.pem and go submit them to receive an SSL ID. When you receive your public key back, you 'should' name it something like '${proc_base_name}_server.pem'. "); `rm $config_file`;
Web server configuration
Apache
Apache has UseCanonicalName On by default and when it is on you can use one VirtualHost with multiple ServerAlias' with all these ServerAlias' and the ServerName in the cert.
If however you have UseCanonicalName Off the you can't use any ServerAlias' and you have to have one VirtualHost per ServerName and then set all the VirtualHost's to use the same cert.
See the Apache docs for more info: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/core.html#usecanonicalname
Also you will get the same error message (see screenshot on this page: https://en.wiki.aktivix.org/CAcert) if you use wild cards with https VirtualHosts - you need to specify the IP address for each VirtualHost.
See Also
RFC2817
Upgrading to TLS Within HTTP/1.1 - This memo explains how to use the Upgrade mechanism in HTTP/1.1 to initiate Transport Layer Security (TLS) over an existing TCP connection. This allows unsecured and secured HTTP traffic to share the same well known port (in this case, http: at 80 rather than https: at 443). It also enables "virtual hosting", so a single HTTP + TLS server can disambiguate traffic intended for several hostnames at a single IP address.
However there doesn't seem to be any plans to support RFC2817 in browsers such as Mozilla... *link to bugzilla discussion on this to be added here*
Comments
Taken from [https://www.financialcryptography.com/mt/archives/000463.html]:
... "so far the work-around seems to be that you issue a cert that includes all the names of all the sites. Which means there is now no certificate-based independence between administrative sites - definately a kludge."
Has anyone try wild card SSL certificate with Microsoft Internet Explorer and form submission ? It does not work for me, and I am using Explorer 5 or later.