(Maybe) misconfigured docs.mailman3.org DNS & SSL
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Dear Mailman Developers,
TL; DR: Please change the CNAME record of *docs.mailman3.org <http://docs.mailman3.org>* from gnu-mailman.readthedocs.org to *readthedocs.io <http://readthedocs.io>*.
I would like to raise the awareness that https://docs.mailman3.org is having a wrong SSL certificate due to DNS misconfigure.
I once saw the Mailman 3 project in GSoC orgs page, and since I have configured mailman before I would like to know about the ideas, I click on the docs link. Wow, not secure.
Since the prompt tells me it is using *.readthedocs.org, I dig into the doc
of RTD (https://docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/custom_domains.html) and it
tells it support custom domain SSL with some limitations. So, dig docs.mailman3.org
, got you, an old (may not wrong?) record.
Because the link is already published on GSoC, I don't know if it is possible to change from https to http. So the better way might be support https :).
Regards, Xiaoxing Ye
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You are welcomed 😊 Let me see if there is any chance I get ideas to apply.
BTW another problem: In GSoC Ideas Page<https://wiki.list.org/DEV/Google Summer of Code 2019>, the link to the GSoC Student Guide <http://en.flossmanuals.net/GSoCStudentGuide/> is broken. It should be https://google.github.io/gsocguides/student/ instead.
The wiki page is immutable, and so I post here.
On 2019/2/28, 12:32 AM, "Abhilash Raj" <maxking@asynchronous.in> wrote:
Hi Ye,
On Wed, Feb 27, 2019, at 8:27 AM, Ye Xiaoxing wrote:
> Dear Mailman Developers,
>
> TL; DR: Please change the CNAME record of *docs.mailman3.org
> <http://docs.mailman3.org>* from gnu-mailman.readthedocs.org to *readthedocs.io
> <http://readthedocs.io>*.
>
> I would like to raise the awareness that https://docs.mailman3.org is
> having a wrong SSL certificate due to DNS misconfigure.
>
> I once saw the Mailman 3 project in GSoC orgs page, and since I have
> configured mailman before I would like to know about the ideas, I click on
> the docs link. Wow, not secure.
>
> Since the prompt tells me it is using *.readthedocs.org, I dig into the doc
> of RTD (https://docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/custom_domains.html) and it
> tells it support custom domain SSL with some limitations. So, `dig
> docs.mailman3.org`, got you, an old (may not wrong?) record.
>
> Because the link is already published on GSoC, I don't know if it is
> possible to change from https to http. So the better way might be support
> https :).
Thanks for noticing and letting us know! I have updated the GSoC description
page to reflect the http:// URL of the docs while we try to fix the original problem.
>
>
> Regards,
> Xiaoxing Ye
> _______________________________________________
> Mailman-Developers mailing list -- mailman-developers@python.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to mailman-developers-leave@python.org
> https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/mailman-developers.python.org/
> Mailman FAQ: https://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3
>
> Security Policy: https://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9
>
--
thanks,
Abhilash Raj (maxking)
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On 2/27/19 8:31 AM, Abhilash Raj wrote:
That won't help. You can go to <https://gnu-mailman.readthedocs.org> and you won't encounter any certificate issue as the certificate is valid for *.readthedocs.io. The issue is when you go to <https://docs.mailman3.org> or <https://docs.list.org>, you wind up at gnu-mailman.readthedocs.org, but your browser still sees that you went to docs.mailman3.org or docs.list.org and the readthedocs.io certificate doesn't list those domains.
We don't have any control over the readthedocs.io certificate so we can't fix it in that way.
Thanks for noticing and letting us know! I have updated the GSoC description page to reflect the http:// URL of the docs while we try to fix the original problem.
One possible way to fix this is to change the CNAMEs for docs.mailman3.org and docs.list.org to point to a server we do control like mail.mailman3.org and update its certificate for those domains and update its web server to redirect those requests to <https://gnu-mailman.readthedocs.org>
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
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I think it should help.
Thanks to Let's Encrypt, HTTPS has become a popular thing.
Since 2018, Readthedocs.org has partnered up with Cloudflare (blog: http://blog.readthedocs.com/https-for-custom-domains/). The only thing we need to do is to update the CNAME to point to readthedocs.io.
The reason why it works is, why we are trying to access readthedocs.io's server with docs.mailman3.org, we are actually accessing cloudflare server (dig readthedocs.io will find it). Cloudflare will then attempt to issue a DV SSL cert for the domain we are using (docs.mailman3.org for example). According to the CAB Forum, it is acceptable if cloudflare is able to verify the control via HTTP request, in this case of course.
Cloudflare itself now has a intermediate CA so they can issue a better-looking certificate, with the domain on the DV cert, instead of putting in a SAN.
Take another site as an example. https://docs.godotengine.org is hosted on readthedocs.org, and if we dig the domain (result here https://pastebin.aosc.io/paste/B61zNDovLWXIxXrxqsXmRw), you will see it simply CNAME to readthedocs.io.
In my opinion, there are two things we shall do,
- Update the CNAME
- See the status of the certificate on the domain page in project admin dashboard (Domains > Edit Domain)
There are some other ways. Such as use a reverse proxy to host docs, or simply redirect to <https://gnu-mailman.readthedocs.org>. It is up to you guys.
Hope I am not making mistakes :)
Side note: Adopting s similar approach, GitHub Pages supports custom domain HTTPS though they are using Fastly.
Best, Xiaoxing Ye
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On 2/27/19 10:08 AM, Ye Xiaoxing wrote:
Since 2018, Readthedocs.org has partnered up with Cloudflare (blog: http://blog.readthedocs.com/https-for-custom-domains/). The only thing we need to do is to update the CNAME to point to readthedocs.io.
It appears you are correct. Thank you for the info.
Unfortunately, I personally do not control the DNS for either list.org or mailman3.org so someone else will have to update the CNAMEs for docs.mailman3.org and docs.list.org and possibly update the readthedocs project to add those domains if they aren't already there.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan

You are welcomed 😊 Let me see if there is any chance I get ideas to apply.
BTW another problem: In GSoC Ideas Page<https://wiki.list.org/DEV/Google Summer of Code 2019>, the link to the GSoC Student Guide <http://en.flossmanuals.net/GSoCStudentGuide/> is broken. It should be https://google.github.io/gsocguides/student/ instead.
The wiki page is immutable, and so I post here.
On 2019/2/28, 12:32 AM, "Abhilash Raj" <maxking@asynchronous.in> wrote:
Hi Ye,
On Wed, Feb 27, 2019, at 8:27 AM, Ye Xiaoxing wrote:
> Dear Mailman Developers,
>
> TL; DR: Please change the CNAME record of *docs.mailman3.org
> <http://docs.mailman3.org>* from gnu-mailman.readthedocs.org to *readthedocs.io
> <http://readthedocs.io>*.
>
> I would like to raise the awareness that https://docs.mailman3.org is
> having a wrong SSL certificate due to DNS misconfigure.
>
> I once saw the Mailman 3 project in GSoC orgs page, and since I have
> configured mailman before I would like to know about the ideas, I click on
> the docs link. Wow, not secure.
>
> Since the prompt tells me it is using *.readthedocs.org, I dig into the doc
> of RTD (https://docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/custom_domains.html) and it
> tells it support custom domain SSL with some limitations. So, `dig
> docs.mailman3.org`, got you, an old (may not wrong?) record.
>
> Because the link is already published on GSoC, I don't know if it is
> possible to change from https to http. So the better way might be support
> https :).
Thanks for noticing and letting us know! I have updated the GSoC description
page to reflect the http:// URL of the docs while we try to fix the original problem.
>
>
> Regards,
> Xiaoxing Ye
> _______________________________________________
> Mailman-Developers mailing list -- mailman-developers@python.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to mailman-developers-leave@python.org
> https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/mailman-developers.python.org/
> Mailman FAQ: https://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3
>
> Security Policy: https://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9
>
--
thanks,
Abhilash Raj (maxking)

On 2/27/19 8:31 AM, Abhilash Raj wrote:
That won't help. You can go to <https://gnu-mailman.readthedocs.org> and you won't encounter any certificate issue as the certificate is valid for *.readthedocs.io. The issue is when you go to <https://docs.mailman3.org> or <https://docs.list.org>, you wind up at gnu-mailman.readthedocs.org, but your browser still sees that you went to docs.mailman3.org or docs.list.org and the readthedocs.io certificate doesn't list those domains.
We don't have any control over the readthedocs.io certificate so we can't fix it in that way.
Thanks for noticing and letting us know! I have updated the GSoC description page to reflect the http:// URL of the docs while we try to fix the original problem.
One possible way to fix this is to change the CNAMEs for docs.mailman3.org and docs.list.org to point to a server we do control like mail.mailman3.org and update its certificate for those domains and update its web server to redirect those requests to <https://gnu-mailman.readthedocs.org>
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan

I think it should help.
Thanks to Let's Encrypt, HTTPS has become a popular thing.
Since 2018, Readthedocs.org has partnered up with Cloudflare (blog: http://blog.readthedocs.com/https-for-custom-domains/). The only thing we need to do is to update the CNAME to point to readthedocs.io.
The reason why it works is, why we are trying to access readthedocs.io's server with docs.mailman3.org, we are actually accessing cloudflare server (dig readthedocs.io will find it). Cloudflare will then attempt to issue a DV SSL cert for the domain we are using (docs.mailman3.org for example). According to the CAB Forum, it is acceptable if cloudflare is able to verify the control via HTTP request, in this case of course.
Cloudflare itself now has a intermediate CA so they can issue a better-looking certificate, with the domain on the DV cert, instead of putting in a SAN.
Take another site as an example. https://docs.godotengine.org is hosted on readthedocs.org, and if we dig the domain (result here https://pastebin.aosc.io/paste/B61zNDovLWXIxXrxqsXmRw), you will see it simply CNAME to readthedocs.io.
In my opinion, there are two things we shall do,
- Update the CNAME
- See the status of the certificate on the domain page in project admin dashboard (Domains > Edit Domain)
There are some other ways. Such as use a reverse proxy to host docs, or simply redirect to <https://gnu-mailman.readthedocs.org>. It is up to you guys.
Hope I am not making mistakes :)
Side note: Adopting s similar approach, GitHub Pages supports custom domain HTTPS though they are using Fastly.
Best, Xiaoxing Ye

On 2/27/19 10:08 AM, Ye Xiaoxing wrote:
Since 2018, Readthedocs.org has partnered up with Cloudflare (blog: http://blog.readthedocs.com/https-for-custom-domains/). The only thing we need to do is to update the CNAME to point to readthedocs.io.
It appears you are correct. Thank you for the info.
Unfortunately, I personally do not control the DNS for either list.org or mailman3.org so someone else will have to update the CNAMEs for docs.mailman3.org and docs.list.org and possibly update the readthedocs project to add those domains if they aren't already there.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
participants (3)
-
Abhilash Raj
-
Mark Sapiro
-
Ye Xiaoxing