[Python-Dev] Verification of SSL cert and hostname made easy

[Nick Coghlan]

On 1 Dec 2013 04:32, "Christian Heimes" <christian at python.org> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Larry has granted me a special pardon to add an outstanding fix for SSL,
> http://bugs.python.org/issue19509 . Right now most stdlib modules
> (ftplib, imaplib, nntplib, poplib, smtplib) neither support server name
> indication (SNI) nor check the subject name of the peer's certificate
> properly. The second issue is a major loop-hole because it allows
> man-in-the-middle attack despite CERT_REQUIRED.
>
> With CERT_REQUIRED OpenSSL verifies that the peer's certificate is
> directly or indirectly signed by a trusted root certification authority.
> With Python 3.4 the ssl module is able to use/load the system's trusted
> root certs on all major systems (Linux, Mac, BSD, Windows). On Linux and
> BSD it requires a properly configured system openssl to locate the root
> certs. This usually works out of the box. On Mac Apple's openssl build
> is able to use the keychain API of OSX. I have added code for Windows'
> system store.
>
> SSL socket code usually looks like this:
>
>   context = ssl.SSLContext(ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1)
>   context.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_REQUIRED
>   # new, by default it loads certs trusted for Purpose.SERVER_AUTH
>   context.load_default_certs()
>
>   sock = socket.create_connection(("example.net", 443))
>   sslsock = context.wrap_socket(sock)
>
> SSLContext.wrap_socket() wraps an ordinary socket into a SSLSocket. With
> verify_mode = CERT_REQUIRED OpenSSL ensures that the peer's SSL
> certificate is signed by a trusted root CA. In this example one very
> important step is missing. The peer may return *ANY* signed certificate
> for *ANY* hostname. These lines do NOT check that the certificate's
> information match "example.net". An attacker can use any arbitrary
> certificate (e.g. for "www.evil.net"), get it signed and abuse it for
> MitM attacks on "mail.python.org".
> http://docs.python.org/3/library/ssl.html#ssl.match_hostname must be
> used to verify the cert. It's easy to forget it...
>
>
> I have thought about multiple ways to fix the issue. At first I added a
> new argument "check_hostname" to all affected modules and implemented
> the check manually. For every module I had to modify several places for
> SSL and STARTTLS and add / change about 10 lines. The extra lines are
> required to properly shutdown and close the connection when the cert
> doesn't match the hostname. I don't like the solution because it's
> tedious. Every 3rd party author has to copy the same code, too.
>
> Then I came up with a better solution:
>
>   context = ssl.SSLContext(ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1)
>   context.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_REQUIRED
>   context.load_default_certs()
>   context.check_hostname = True  # <-- NEW
>
>   sock = socket.create_connection(("example.net", 443))
>   # server_hostname is already used for SNI
>   sslsock = context.wrap_socket(sock, server_hostname="example.net")
>
>
> This fix requires only a new SSLContext attribute and a small
> modification to SSLSocket.do_handshake():
>
>   if self.context.check_hostname:
>       try:
>           match_hostname(self.getpeercert(), self.server_hostname)
>       except Exception:
>           self.shutdown(_SHUT_RDWR)
>           self.close()
>           raise
>
>
> Pros:
>
> * match_hostname() is done in one central place
> * the cert is matched as early as possible
> * no extra arguments for APIs, a context object is enough
> * library developers just have to add server_hostname to get SNI and
> hostname checks at the same time
> * users of libraries can configure cert verification and checking on the
> same object
> * missing checks will not pass silently
>
> Cons:
>
> * Doesn't work with OpenSSL < 0.9.8f (released 2007) because older
> versions lack SNI support. The ssl module raises an exception for
> server_hostname if SNI is not supported.
>
>
> The default settings for all stdlib modules will still be verify_mode =
> CERT_NONE and check_hostname = False for maximum backward compatibility.
> Python 3.4 comes with a new function ssl.create_default_context() that
> returns a new context with best practice settings and loaded root CA
> certs. The settings are TLS 1.0, no weak and insecure ciphers (no MD5,
> no RC4), no compression (CRIME attack), CERT_REQUIRED and check_hostname
> = True (for client side only).
>
> http://bugs.python.org/issue19509 has a working patch for ftplib.
>
> Comments?

If Larry is OK with it as RM (and it sounds like he is), +1 from me as well.

Cheers,
Nick.

>
> Christian
>
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