xref: /openssl/doc/man7/proxy-certificates.pod (revision 57cd10dd)
1=pod
2
3=encoding UTF-8
4
5=head1 NAME
6
7proxy-certificates - Proxy certificates in OpenSSL
8
9=head1 DESCRIPTION
10
11Proxy certificates are defined in RFC 3820.  They are used to
12extend rights to some other entity (a computer process, typically, or
13sometimes to the user itself).  This allows the entity to perform
14operations on behalf of the owner of the EE (End Entity) certificate.
15
16The requirements for a valid proxy certificate are:
17
18=over 4
19
20=item *
21
22They are issued by an End Entity, either a normal EE certificate, or
23another proxy certificate.
24
25=item *
26
27They must not have the B<subjectAltName> or B<issuerAltName>
28extensions.
29
30=item *
31
32They must have the B<proxyCertInfo> extension.
33
34=item *
35
36They must have the subject of their issuer, with one B<commonName>
37added.
38
39=back
40
41=head2 Enabling proxy certificate verification
42
43OpenSSL expects applications that want to use proxy certificates to be
44specially aware of them, and make that explicit.  This is done by
45setting an X509 verification flag:
46
47    X509_STORE_CTX_set_flags(ctx, X509_V_FLAG_ALLOW_PROXY_CERTS);
48
49or
50
51    X509_VERIFY_PARAM_set_flags(param, X509_V_FLAG_ALLOW_PROXY_CERTS);
52
53See L</NOTES> for a discussion on this requirement.
54
55=head2 Creating proxy certificates
56
57Creating proxy certificates can be done using the L<openssl-x509(1)>
58command, with some extra extensions:
59
60    [ proxy ]
61    # A proxy certificate MUST NEVER be a CA certificate.
62    basicConstraints = CA:FALSE
63    # Usual authority key ID
64    authorityKeyIdentifier = keyid,issuer:always
65    # The extension which marks this certificate as a proxy
66    proxyCertInfo = critical,language:id-ppl-anyLanguage,pathlen:1,policy:text:AB
67
68It's also possible to specify the proxy extension in a separate section:
69
70    proxyCertInfo = critical,@proxy_ext
71
72    [ proxy_ext ]
73    language = id-ppl-anyLanguage
74    pathlen = 0
75    policy = text:BC
76
77The policy value has a specific syntax, I<syntag>:I<string>, where the
78I<syntag> determines what will be done with the string.  The following
79I<syntag>s are recognised:
80
81=over 4
82
83=item B<text>
84
85indicates that the string is a byte sequence, without any encoding:
86
87    policy=text:räksmörgås
88
89=item B<hex>
90
91indicates the string is encoded hexadecimal encoded binary data, with
92colons between each byte (every second hex digit):
93
94    policy=hex:72:E4:6B:73:6D:F6:72:67:E5:73
95
96=item B<file>
97
98indicates that the text of the policy should be taken from a file.
99The string is then a filename.  This is useful for policies that are
100more than a few lines, such as XML or other markup.
101
102=back
103
104Note that the proxy policy value is what determines the rights granted
105to the process during the proxy certificate, and it is up to the
106application to interpret and combine these policies.>
107
108With a proxy extension, creating a proxy certificate is a matter of
109two commands:
110
111    openssl req -new -config proxy.cnf \
112        -out proxy.req -keyout proxy.key \
113        -subj "/DC=org/DC=openssl/DC=users/CN=proxy"
114
115    openssl x509 -req -CAcreateserial -in proxy.req -out proxy.crt \
116        -CA user.crt -CAkey user.key -days 7 \
117        -extfile proxy.cnf -extensions proxy
118
119You can also create a proxy certificate using another proxy
120certificate as issuer. Note that this example uses a different
121configuration section for the proxy extensions:
122
123    openssl req -new -config proxy.cnf \
124        -out proxy2.req -keyout proxy2.key \
125        -subj "/DC=org/DC=openssl/DC=users/CN=proxy/CN=proxy 2"
126
127    openssl x509 -req -CAcreateserial -in proxy2.req -out proxy2.crt \
128        -CA proxy.crt -CAkey proxy.key -days 7 \
129        -extfile proxy.cnf -extensions proxy_2
130
131=head2 Using proxy certs in applications
132
133To interpret proxy policies, the application would normally start with
134some default rights (perhaps none at all), then compute the resulting
135rights by checking the rights against the chain of proxy certificates,
136user certificate and CA certificates.
137
138The complicated part is figuring out how to pass data between your
139application and the certificate validation procedure.
140
141The following ingredients are needed for such processing:
142
143=over 4
144
145=item *
146
147a callback function that will be called for every certificate being
148validated.  The callback is called several times for each certificate,
149so you must be careful to do the proxy policy interpretation at the
150right time.  You also need to fill in the defaults when the EE
151certificate is checked.
152
153=item *
154
155a data structure that is shared between your application code and the
156callback.
157
158=item *
159
160a wrapper function that sets it all up.
161
162=item *
163
164an ex_data index function that creates an index into the generic
165ex_data store that is attached to an X509 validation context.
166
167=back
168
169The following skeleton code can be used as a starting point:
170
171    #include <string.h>
172    #include <netdb.h>
173    #include <openssl/x509.h>
174    #include <openssl/x509v3.h>
175
176    #define total_rights 25
177
178    /*
179     * In this example, I will use a view of granted rights as a bit
180     * array, one bit for each possible right.
181     */
182    typedef struct your_rights {
183        unsigned char rights[(total_rights + 7) / 8];
184    } YOUR_RIGHTS;
185
186    /*
187     * The following procedure will create an index for the ex_data
188     * store in the X509 validation context the first time it's
189     * called.  Subsequent calls will return the same index.
190     */
191    static int get_proxy_auth_ex_data_idx(X509_STORE_CTX *ctx)
192    {
193        static volatile int idx = -1;
194
195        if (idx < 0) {
196            X509_STORE_lock(X509_STORE_CTX_get0_store(ctx));
197            if (idx < 0) {
198                idx = X509_STORE_CTX_get_ex_new_index(0,
199                                                      "for verify callback",
200                                                      NULL,NULL,NULL);
201            }
202            X509_STORE_unlock(X509_STORE_CTX_get0_store(ctx));
203        }
204        return idx;
205    }
206
207    /* Callback to be given to the X509 validation procedure.  */
208    static int verify_callback(int ok, X509_STORE_CTX *ctx)
209    {
210        if (ok == 1) {
211            /*
212             * It's REALLY important you keep the proxy policy check
213             * within this section.  It's important to know that when
214             * ok is 1, the certificates are checked from top to
215             * bottom.  You get the CA root first, followed by the
216             * possible chain of intermediate CAs, followed by the EE
217             * certificate, followed by the possible proxy
218             * certificates.
219             */
220            X509 *xs = X509_STORE_CTX_get_current_cert(ctx);
221
222            if (X509_get_extension_flags(xs) & EXFLAG_PROXY) {
223                YOUR_RIGHTS *rights =
224                    (YOUR_RIGHTS *)X509_STORE_CTX_get_ex_data(ctx,
225                        get_proxy_auth_ex_data_idx(ctx));
226                PROXY_CERT_INFO_EXTENSION *pci =
227                    X509_get_ext_d2i(xs, NID_proxyCertInfo, NULL, NULL);
228
229                switch (OBJ_obj2nid(pci->proxyPolicy->policyLanguage)) {
230                case NID_Independent:
231                    /*
232                     * Do whatever you need to grant explicit rights
233                     * to this particular proxy certificate, usually
234                     * by pulling them from some database.  If there
235                     * are none to be found, clear all rights (making
236                     * this and any subsequent proxy certificate void
237                     * of any rights).
238                     */
239                    memset(rights->rights, 0, sizeof(rights->rights));
240                    break;
241                case NID_id_ppl_inheritAll:
242                    /*
243                     * This is basically a NOP, we simply let the
244                     * current rights stand as they are.
245                     */
246                    break;
247                default:
248                    /*
249                     * This is usually the most complex section of
250                     * code.  You really do whatever you want as long
251                     * as you follow RFC 3820.  In the example we use
252                     * here, the simplest thing to do is to build
253                     * another, temporary bit array and fill it with
254                     * the rights granted by the current proxy
255                     * certificate, then use it as a mask on the
256                     * accumulated rights bit array, and voilà, you
257                     * now have a new accumulated rights bit array.
258                     */
259                    {
260                        int i;
261                        YOUR_RIGHTS tmp_rights;
262                        memset(tmp_rights.rights, 0,
263                               sizeof(tmp_rights.rights));
264
265                        /*
266                         * process_rights() is supposed to be a
267                         * procedure that takes a string and its
268                         * length, interprets it and sets the bits
269                         * in the YOUR_RIGHTS pointed at by the
270                         * third argument.
271                         */
272                        process_rights((char *) pci->proxyPolicy->policy->data,
273                                       pci->proxyPolicy->policy->length,
274                                       &tmp_rights);
275
276                        for(i = 0; i < total_rights / 8; i++)
277                            rights->rights[i] &= tmp_rights.rights[i];
278                    }
279                    break;
280                }
281                PROXY_CERT_INFO_EXTENSION_free(pci);
282            } else if (!(X509_get_extension_flags(xs) & EXFLAG_CA)) {
283                /* We have an EE certificate, let's use it to set default! */
284                YOUR_RIGHTS *rights =
285                    (YOUR_RIGHTS *)X509_STORE_CTX_get_ex_data(ctx,
286                        get_proxy_auth_ex_data_idx(ctx));
287
288                /*
289                 * The following procedure finds out what rights the
290                 * owner of the current certificate has, and sets them
291                 * in the YOUR_RIGHTS structure pointed at by the
292                 * second argument.
293                 */
294                set_default_rights(xs, rights);
295            }
296        }
297        return ok;
298    }
299
300    static int my_X509_verify_cert(X509_STORE_CTX *ctx,
301                                   YOUR_RIGHTS *needed_rights)
302    {
303        int ok;
304        int (*save_verify_cb)(int ok,X509_STORE_CTX *ctx) =
305            X509_STORE_CTX_get_verify_cb(ctx);
306        YOUR_RIGHTS rights;
307
308        X509_STORE_CTX_set_verify_cb(ctx, verify_callback);
309        X509_STORE_CTX_set_ex_data(ctx, get_proxy_auth_ex_data_idx(ctx),
310                                   &rights);
311        X509_STORE_CTX_set_flags(ctx, X509_V_FLAG_ALLOW_PROXY_CERTS);
312        ok = X509_verify_cert(ctx);
313
314        if (ok == 1) {
315            ok = check_needed_rights(rights, needed_rights);
316        }
317
318        X509_STORE_CTX_set_verify_cb(ctx, save_verify_cb);
319
320        return ok;
321    }
322
323If you use SSL or TLS, you can easily set up a callback to have the
324certificates checked properly, using the code above:
325
326    SSL_CTX_set_cert_verify_callback(s_ctx, my_X509_verify_cert,
327                                     &needed_rights);
328
329=head1 NOTES
330
331To this date, it seems that proxy certificates have only been used in
332environments that are aware of them, and no one seems to have
333investigated how they can be used or misused outside of such an
334environment.
335
336For that reason, OpenSSL requires that applications aware of proxy
337certificates must also make that explicit.
338
339B<subjectAltName> and B<issuerAltName> are forbidden in proxy
340certificates, and this is enforced in OpenSSL.  The subject must be
341the same as the issuer, with one commonName added on.
342
343=head1 SEE ALSO
344
345L<X509_STORE_CTX_set_flags(3)>,
346L<X509_STORE_CTX_set_verify_cb(3)>,
347L<X509_VERIFY_PARAM_set_flags(3)>,
348L<SSL_CTX_set_cert_verify_callback(3)>,
349L<openssl-req(1)>, L<openssl-x509(1)>,
350L<RFC 3820|https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3820>
351
352=head1 COPYRIGHT
353
354Copyright 2019-2020 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.
355
356Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License").  You may not use
357this file except in compliance with the License.  You can obtain a copy
358in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at
359L<https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.
360
361=cut
362