Documented the SSL context used on connections without SNI - #302
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On such a connection the entire SSL configuration of the default server is used, client certificate verification included, while the server that processes the request is chosen afterwards by the Host request header field. A client with a certificate trusted by the default server can therefore request resources from other servers on the same address, including servers that verify client certificates against a different certificate authority. This has been the behaviour since SNI support was introduced, and such reports are configuration issues, but it was not documented.
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Thanks, addressed all points:
Russian translation updated to match. |
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Problem
On a connection without SNI, the entire SSL configuration of the default server
is used to establish the connection, client certificate verification included,
while the
serverblock that processes the request is chosen afterwards from theHostrequest header field. A client holding a certificate trusted by thedefault server can therefore request resources from other servers listening on
the same address, including servers that verify client certificates against a
different certificate authority.
This is long-standing intended behaviour, and reports of it are configuration
issues rather than defects: the cross-server 421 restriction added in b720f650b
is about connection reuse across server names (RFC 6066), is deliberately gated
on SNI having been negotiated, and was never meant to isolate client-certificate
authorities between virtual servers.
It is, however, undocumented. The documentation currently explains only that a
non-SNI connection gets the default server's certificate, which does not lead
a reader to the client-certificate consequence. The same report has arrived
repeatedly over the years as a suspected vulnerability, and when this was last
discussed the conclusion was that the fix belongs in the documentation.
Solution
configuring_https_servers.xml, in "Name-based HTTPS servers": generalise theexisting paragraph about the default server's certificate to the whole SSL
configuration, spell out the client-certificate consequence, cross-reference
the "Virtual server selection" section of the Server names document from the
sentence noting that the request server is chosen by
Host, and note the tworemedies --
ssl_reject_handshakein the default server with no clientcertificate verification there, and checking
$ssl_client_s_dn/$ssl_client_i_dnin the server that processes the request, so thatauthorization is not inferred from authentication alone.
ngx_http_ssl_module.xml, onssl_verify_client: a short note pointing atthat section, so the caveat is reachable from the reference documentation and
not only from the tutorial.
xml/ru/...) added in parallel, using "CA" for thecertificate-authority wording to match
ssl_client_certificate.No behaviour change; documentation only.
Testing
xmllint --noout --validagainstdtd/passes for all four files(English and Russian).
checked: the new links resolve and their target anchors are present in the
built pages.