Transport Layer Security (TLS) Renegotiation Indication Extension
A TLS extension that ties each renegotiation to the connection it happened on, closing a splicing attack.
Rescorla, E., Ray, M., Dispensa, S., and N. Oskov, "Transport Layer Security (TLS) Renegotiation Indication Extension", RFC 5746, DOI 10.17487/RFC5746, February 2010, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5746>.
@misc{rfc5746,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 5746,
howpublished = {RFC 5746},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC5746},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5746},
author = {E. Rescorla and M. Ray and S. Dispensa and N. Oskov},
title = {{Transport Layer Security (TLS) Renegotiation Indication Extension}},
pagetotal = 15,
year = 2010,
month = feb,
} RFC text
Contents
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) E. Rescorla
Request for Comments: 5746 RTFM, Inc.
Updates: 5246, 4366, 4347, 4346, 2246 M. Ray
Category: Standards Track S. Dispensa
ISSN: 2070-1721 PhoneFactor
N. Oskov
Microsoft
February 2010
Transport Layer Security (TLS) Renegotiation Indication Extension
Abstract
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS)
renegotiation are vulnerable to an attack in which the attacker forms
a TLS connection with the target server, injects content of his
choice, and then splices in a new TLS connection from a client. The
server treats the client's initial TLS handshake as a renegotiation
and thus believes that the initial data transmitted by the attacker
is from the same entity as the subsequent client data. This
specification defines a TLS extension to cryptographically tie
renegotiations to the TLS connections they are being performed over,
thus preventing this attack.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5746.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................3
2. Conventions Used in This Document ...............................4
3. Secure Renegotiation Definition .................................4
3.1. Additional Connection State ................................4
3.2. Extension Definition .......................................5
3.3. Renegotiation Protection Request Signaling Cipher
Suite Value ................................................6
3.4. Client Behavior: Initial Handshake .........................6
3.5. Client Behavior: Secure Renegotiation ......................7
3.6. Server Behavior: Initial Handshake .........................7
3.7. Server Behavior: Secure Renegotiation ......................8
4. Backward Compatibility ..........................................9
4.1. Client Considerations ......................................9
4.2. Client Behavior: Legacy (Insecure) Renegotiation ..........10
4.3. Server Considerations .....................................10
4.4. Server Behavior: Legacy (Insecure) Renegotiation ..........11
4.5. SSLv3 .....................................................11
5. Security Considerations ........................................12
6. IANA Considerations ............................................13
7. Acknowledgements ...............................................13
8. References .....................................................13
8.1. Normative References ......................................13
8.2. Informative References ....................................13
1. Introduction
TLS [RFC5246] allows either the client or the server to initiate
renegotiation -- a new handshake that establishes new cryptographic
parameters. Unfortunately, although the new handshake is carried out
using the cryptographic parameters established by the original
handshake, there is no cryptographic binding between the two. This
creates the opportunity for an attack in which the attacker who can
intercept a client's transport layer connection can inject traffic of
his own as a prefix to the client's interaction with the server. One
form of this attack [Ray09] proceeds as shown below:
Client Attacker Server
------ ------- ------
<----------- Handshake ---------->
<======= Initial Traffic ========>
<-------------------------- Handshake ============================>
<======================== Client Traffic ==========================>
To start the attack, the attacker forms a TLS connection to the
server (perhaps in response to an initial intercepted connection from
the client). He then sends any traffic of his choice to the server.
This may involve multiple requests and responses at the application
layer, or may simply be a partial application layer request intended
to prefix the client's data. This traffic is shown with == to
indicate it is encrypted. He then allows the client's TLS handshake
to proceed with the server. The handshake is in the clear to the
attacker but encrypted over the attacker's TLS connection to the
server. Once the handshake has completed, the client communicates
with the server over the newly established security parameters with
the server. The attacker cannot read this traffic, but the server
believes that the initial traffic to and from the attacker is the
same as that to and from the client.
If certificate-based client authentication is used, the server will
see a stream of bytes where the initial bytes are protected but
unauthenticated by TLS and subsequent bytes are authenticated by TLS
and bound to the client's certificate. In some protocols (notably
HTTPS), no distinction is made between pre- and post-authentication
stages and the bytes are handled uniformly, resulting in the server
believing that the initial traffic corresponds to the authenticated
client identity. Even without certificate-based authentication, a
variety of attacks may be possible in which the attacker convinces
the server to accept data from it as data from the client. For
instance, if HTTPS [RFC2818] is in use with HTTP cookies [RFC2965],
the attacker may be able to generate a request of his choice
validated by the client's cookie.
Some protocols -- such as IMAP or SMTP -- have more explicit
transitions between authenticated and unauthenticated phases and
require that the protocol state machine be partly or fully reset at
such transitions. If strictly followed, these rules may limit the
effect of attacks. Unfortunately, there is no requirement for state
machine resets at TLS renegotiation, and thus there is still a
potential window of vulnerability, for instance, by prefixing a
command that writes to an area visible by the attacker with a command
by the client that includes his password, thus making the client's
password visible to the attacker (note that this precise attack does
not work with challenge-response authentication schemes, but other
attacks may be possible). Similar attacks are available with SMTP,
and in fact do not necessarily require the attacker to have an
account on the target server.
It is important to note that in both cases these attacks are possible
because the client sends unsolicited authentication information
without requiring any specific data from the server over the TLS
connection. Protocols that require a round trip to the server over
TLS before the client sends sensitive information are likely to be
less vulnerable.
These attacks can be prevented by cryptographically binding
renegotiation handshakes to the enclosing TLS cryptographic
parameters, thus allowing the server to differentiate renegotiation
from initial negotiation, as well as preventing renegotiations from
being spliced in between connections. An attempt by an attacker to
inject himself as described above will result in a mismatch of the
cryptographic binding and can thus be detected. The data used in the
extension is similar to, but not the same as, the data used in the
tls-unique and/or tls-unique-for-telnet channel bindings described in
[TLS-CHANNEL-BINDINGS]; however, this extension is not a general-
purpose RFC 5056 [RFC5056] channel binding facility.
2. Conventions Used in This Document
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
3. Secure Renegotiation Definition
3.1. Additional Connection State
Both client and server need to store three additional values for each
TLS connection state (see RFC 5246, Section 6.1). Note that these
values are specific to connection (not a TLS session cache entry).
o a "secure_renegotiation" flag, indicating whether secure
renegotiation is in use for this connection.
o "client_verify_data": the verify_data from the Finished message
sent by the client on the immediately previous handshake. For
currently defined TLS versions and cipher suites, this will be a
12-byte value; for SSLv3, this will be a 36-byte value.
o "server_verify_data": the verify_data from the Finished message
sent by the server on the immediately previous handshake.
3.2. Extension Definition
This document defines a new TLS extension, "renegotiation_info" (with
extension type 0xff01), which contains a cryptographic binding to the
enclosing TLS connection (if any) for which the renegotiation is
being performed. The "extension data" field of this extension
contains a "RenegotiationInfo" structure:
struct {
opaque renegotiated_connection<0..255>;
} RenegotiationInfo;
The contents of this extension are specified as follows.
o If this is the initial handshake for a connection, then the
"renegotiated_connection" field is of zero length in both the
ClientHello and the ServerHello. Thus, the entire encoding of the
extension is ff 01 00 01 00. The first two octets represent the
extension type, the third and fourth octets the length of the
extension itself, and the final octet the zero length byte for the
"renegotiated_connection" field.
o For ClientHellos that are renegotiating, this field contains the
"client_verify_data" specified in Section 3.1.
o For ServerHellos that are renegotiating, this field contains the
concatenation of client_verify_data and server_verify_data. For
current versions of TLS, this will be a 24-byte value (for SSLv3,
it will be a 72-byte value).
This extension also can be used with Datagram TLS (DTLS) [RFC4347].
Although, for editorial simplicity, this document refers to TLS, all
requirements in this document apply equally to DTLS.
3.3. Renegotiation Protection Request Signaling Cipher Suite Value
Both the SSLv3 and TLS 1.0/TLS 1.1 specifications require
implementations to ignore data following the ClientHello (i.e.,
extensions) if they do not understand it. However, some SSLv3 and
TLS 1.0 implementations incorrectly fail the handshake in such a
case. This means that clients that offer the "renegotiation_info"
extension may encounter handshake failures. In order to enhance
compatibility with such servers, this document defines a second
signaling mechanism via a special Signaling Cipher Suite Value (SCSV)
"TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV", with code point {0x00, 0xFF}.
This SCSV is not a true cipher suite (it does not correspond to any
valid set of algorithms) and cannot be negotiated. Instead, it has
the same semantics as an empty "renegotiation_info" extension, as
described in the following sections. Because SSLv3 and TLS
implementations reliably ignore unknown cipher suites, the SCSV may
be safely sent to any server. The SCSV can also be included in the
SSLv2 backward compatible CLIENT-HELLO (see Appendix E.2 of
[RFC5246]).
Note: a minimal client that does not support renegotiation at all
can simply use the SCSV in all initial handshakes. The rules in the
following sections will cause any compliant server to abort the
handshake when it sees an apparent attempt at renegotiation by such a
client.
3.4. Client Behavior: Initial Handshake
Note that this section and Section 3.5 apply to both full handshakes
and session resumption handshakes.
o The client MUST include either an empty "renegotiation_info"
extension, or the TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV signaling
cipher suite value in the ClientHello. Including both is NOT
RECOMMENDED.
o When a ServerHello is received, the client MUST check if it
includes the "renegotiation_info" extension:
* If the extension is not present, the server does not support
secure renegotiation; set secure_renegotiation flag to FALSE.
In this case, some clients may want to terminate the handshake
instead of continuing; see Section 4.1 for discussion.
* If the extension is present, set the secure_renegotiation flag
to TRUE. The client MUST then verify that the length of the
"renegotiated_connection" field is zero, and if it is not, MUST
abort the handshake (by sending a fatal handshake_failure
alert).
Note: later in Section 3, "abort the handshake" is used as
shorthand for "send a fatal handshake_failure alert and
terminate the connection".
o When the handshake has completed, the client needs to save the
client_verify_data and server_verify_data values for future use.
3.5. Client Behavior: Secure Renegotiation
This text applies if the connection's "secure_renegotiation" flag is
set to TRUE (if it is set to FALSE, see Section 4.2).
o The client MUST include the "renegotiation_info" extension in the
ClientHello, containing the saved client_verify_data. The SCSV
MUST NOT be included.
o When a ServerHello is received, the client MUST verify that the
"renegotiation_info" extension is present; if it is not, the
client MUST abort the handshake.
o The client MUST then verify that the first half of the
"renegotiated_connection" field is equal to the saved
client_verify_data value, and the second half is equal to the
saved server_verify_data value. If they are not, the client MUST
abort the handshake.
o When the handshake has completed, the client needs to save the new
client_verify_data and server_verify_data values.
3.6. Server Behavior: Initial Handshake
Note that this section and Section 3.7 apply to both full handshakes
and session-resumption handshakes.
o When a ClientHello is received, the server MUST check if it
includes the TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV SCSV. If it does,
set the secure_renegotiation flag to TRUE.
o The server MUST check if the "renegotiation_info" extension is
included in the ClientHello. If the extension is present, set
secure_renegotiation flag to TRUE. The server MUST then verify
that the length of the "renegotiated_connection" field is zero,
and if it is not, MUST abort the handshake.
o If neither the TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV SCSV nor the
"renegotiation_info" extension was included, set the
secure_renegotiation flag to FALSE. In this case, some servers
may want to terminate the handshake instead of continuing; see
Section 4.3 for discussion.
o If the secure_renegotiation flag is set to TRUE, the server MUST
include an empty "renegotiation_info" extension in the ServerHello
message.
o When the handshake has completed, the server needs to save the
client_verify_data and server_verify_data values for future use.
TLS servers implementing this specification MUST ignore any unknown
extensions offered by the client and they MUST accept version numbers
higher than their highest version number and negotiate the highest
common version. These two requirements reiterate preexisting
requirements in RFC 5246 and are merely stated here in the interest
of forward compatibility.
Note that sending a "renegotiation_info" extension in response to a
ClientHello containing only the SCSV is an explicit exception to the
prohibition in RFC 5246, Section 7.4.1.4, on the server sending
unsolicited extensions and is only allowed because the client is
signaling its willingness to receive the extension via the
TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV SCSV. TLS implementations MUST
continue to comply with Section 7.4.1.4 for all other extensions.
3.7. Server Behavior: Secure Renegotiation
This text applies if the connection's "secure_renegotiation" flag is
set to TRUE (if it is set to FALSE, see Section 4.4).
o When a ClientHello is received, the server MUST verify that it
does not contain the TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV SCSV. If
the SCSV is present, the server MUST abort the handshake.
o The server MUST verify that the "renegotiation_info" extension is
present; if it is not, the server MUST abort the handshake.
o The server MUST verify that the value of the
"renegotiated_connection" field is equal to the saved
client_verify_data value; if it is not, the server MUST abort the
handshake.
o The server MUST include a "renegotiation_info" extension
containing the saved client_verify_data and server_verify_data in
the ServerHello.
o When the handshake has completed, the server needs to save the new
client_verify_data and server_verify_data values.
4. Backward Compatibility
Existing implementations that do not support this extension are
widely deployed and, in general, must interoperate with newer
implementations that do support it. This section describes
considerations for backward compatible interoperation.
4.1. Client Considerations
If a client offers the "renegotiation_info" extension or the
TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV SCSV and the server does not reply
with "renegotiation_info" in the ServerHello, then this indicates
that the server does not support secure renegotiation. Because some
attacks (see Section 1) look like a single handshake to the client,
the client cannot determine whether or not the connection is under
attack. Note, however, that merely because the server does not
acknowledge the extension does not mean that it is vulnerable; it
might choose to reject all renegotiations and simply not signal it.
However, it is not possible for the client to determine purely via
TLS mechanisms whether or not this is the case.
If clients wish to ensure that such attacks are impossible, they need
to terminate the connection immediately upon failure to receive the
extension without completing the handshake. Such clients MUST
generate a fatal "handshake_failure" alert prior to terminating the
connection. However, it is expected that many TLS servers that do
not support renegotiation (and thus are not vulnerable) will not
support this extension either, so in general, clients that implement
this behavior will encounter interoperability problems. There is no
set of client behaviors that will guarantee security and achieve
maximum interoperability during the transition period. Clients need
to choose one or the other preference when dealing with potentially
un-upgraded servers.
4.2. Client Behavior: Legacy (Insecure) Renegotiation
This text applies if the connection's "secure_renegotiation" flag is
set to FALSE.
It is possible that un-upgraded servers will request that the client
renegotiate. It is RECOMMENDED that clients refuse this
renegotiation request. Clients that do so MUST respond to such
requests with a "no_renegotiation" alert (RFC 5246 requires this
alert to be at the "warning" level). It is possible that the
apparently un-upgraded server is in fact an attacker who is then
allowing the client to renegotiate with a different, legitimate,
upgraded server. If clients nevertheless choose to renegotiate, they
MUST behave as described below.
Clients that choose to renegotiate MUST provide either the
TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV SCSV or "renegotiation_info" in
their ClientHello. In a legitimate renegotiation with an un-upgraded
server, that server should ignore both of these signals. However, if
the server (incorrectly) fails to ignore extensions, sending the
"renegotiation_info" extension may cause a handshake failure. Thus,
it is permitted, though NOT RECOMMENDED, for the client to simply
send the SCSV. This is the only situation in which clients are
permitted to not send the "renegotiation_info" extension in a
ClientHello that is used for renegotiation.
Note that in the case of a downgrade attack, if this is an initial
handshake from the server's perspective, then use of the SCSV from
the client precludes detection of this attack by the server (if this
is a renegotiation from the server's perspective, then it will detect
the attack). However, the attack will be detected by the client when
the server sends an empty "renegotiation_info" extension and the
client is expecting one containing the previous verify_data. By
contrast, if the client sends the "renegotiation_info" extension,
then the server will immediately detect the attack.
When the ServerHello is received, the client MUST verify that it does
not contain the "renegotiation_info" extension. If it does, the
client MUST abort the handshake. (Because the server has already
indicated it does not support secure renegotiation, the only way that
this can happen is if the server is broken or there is an attack.)
4.3. Server Considerations
If the client does not offer the "renegotiation_info" extension or
the TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV SCSV, then this indicates that
the client does not support secure renegotiation. Although the
attack described in Section 1 looks like two handshakes to the
server, other attacks may be possible in which the renegotiation is
seen only by the client. If servers wish to ensure that such attacks
are impossible, they need to terminate the connection immediately
upon failure to negotiate the use of secure renegotiation. Servers
that do choose to allow connections from unpatched clients can still
prevent the attack described in Section 1 by refusing to renegotiate
over those connections.
In order to enable clients to probe, even servers that do not support
renegotiation MUST implement the minimal version of the extension
described in this document for initial handshakes, thus signaling
that they have been upgraded.
4.4. Server Behavior: Legacy (Insecure) Renegotiation
This text applies if the connection's "secure_renegotiation" flag is
set to FALSE.
It is RECOMMENDED that servers not permit legacy renegotiation. If
servers nevertheless do permit it, they MUST follow the requirements
in this section.
o When a ClientHello is received, the server MUST verify that it
does not contain the TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV SCSV. If
the SCSV is present, the server MUST abort the handshake.
o The server MUST verify that the "renegotiation_info" extension is
not present; if it is, the server MUST abort the handshake.
4.5. SSLv3
While SSLv3 is not a protocol under IETF change control (see
[SSLv3]), it was the original basis for TLS and most TLS
implementations also support SSLv3. The IETF encourages SSLv3
implementations to adopt the "renegotiation_info" extension and SCSV
as defined in this document. The semantics of the SCSV and extension
are identical to TLS stacks except for the size of the verify_data
values, which are 36 bytes long each. Note that this will require
adding at least minimal extension processing to such stacks. Clients
that support SSLv3 and offer secure renegotiation (either via SCSV or
"renegotiation_info") MUST accept the "renegotiation_info" extension
from the server, even if the server version is {0x03, 0x00}, and
behave as described in this specification. TLS servers that support
secure renegotiation and support SSLv3 MUST accept SCSV or the
"renegotiation_info" extension and respond as described in this
specification even if the offered client version is {0x03, 0x00}.
SSLv3 does not define the "no_renegotiation" alert (and does
not offer a way to indicate a refusal to renegotiate at a "warning"
level). SSLv3 clients that refuse renegotiation SHOULD use a fatal
handshake_failure alert.
5. Security Considerations
The extension described in this document prevents an attack on TLS.
If this extension is not used, TLS renegotiation is subject to an
attack in which the attacker can inject their own conversation with
the TLS server as a prefix to the client's conversation. This attack
is invisible to the client and looks like an ordinary renegotiation
to the server. The extension defined in this document allows
renegotiation to be performed safely. Servers SHOULD NOT allow
clients to renegotiate without using this extension. Many servers
can mitigate this attack simply by refusing to renegotiate at all.
While this extension mitigates the man-in-the-middle attack described
in the overview, it does not resolve all possible problems an
application may face if it is unaware of renegotiation. For example,
during renegotiation, either the client or the server can present a
different certificate than was used earlier. This may come as a
surprise to application developers (who might have expected, for
example, that a "getPeerCertificates()" API call returns the same
value if called twice), and might be handled in an insecure way.
TLS implementations SHOULD provide a mechanism to disable and enable
renegotiation.
TLS implementers are encouraged to clearly document how renegotiation
interacts with the APIs offered to applications (for example, which
API calls might return different values on different calls, or which
callbacks might get called multiple times).
To make life simpler for applications that use renegotiation but do
not expect the certificate to change once it has been authenticated,
TLS implementations may also wish to offer the applications the
option to abort the renegotiation if the peer tries to authenticate
with a different certificate and/or different server name (in the
server_name extension) than was used earlier. TLS implementations
may alternatively offer the option to disable renegotiation once the
client certificate has been authenticated. However, enabling these
options by default for all applications could break existing
applications that depend on using renegotiation to change from one
certificate to another. (For example, long-lived TLS connections
could change to a renewed certificate; or renegotiation could select
a different cipher suite that requires using a different
certificate.)
Finally, designers of applications that depend on renegotiation are
reminded that many TLS APIs represent application data as a simple
octet stream; applications may not be able to determine exactly which
application data octets were received before, during, or after
renegotiation. Especially if the peer presents a different
certificate during renegotiation, care is needed when specifying how
the application should handle the data.
6. IANA Considerations
IANA has added the extension code point 65281 (0xff01), which has
been used for prototype implementations, for the "renegotiation_info"
extension to the TLS ExtensionType values registry.
IANA has added TLS cipher suite number 0x00,0xFF with name
TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV to the TLS Cipher Suite registry.
7. Acknowledgements
This vulnerability was originally discovered by Marsh Ray and
independently rediscovered by Martin Rex. The general concept behind
the extension described here was independently invented by Steve
Dispensa, Nasko Oskov, and Eric Rescorla with refinements from Nelson
Bolyard, Pasi Eronen, Michael D'Errico, Stephen Farrell, Michael
Gray, David-Sarah Hopwood, Ben Laurie, David Makepeace, Bodo Moeller,
Martin Rex, Peter Robinson, Jesse Walker, Nico Williams, and other
members of the Project Mogul team and the TLS WG.
8. References
8.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC5246] Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security
(TLS) Protocol Version 1.2", RFC 5246, August 2008.
8.2. Informative References
[RFC4347] Rescorla, E. and N. Modadugu, "Datagram Transport Layer
Security", RFC 4347, April 2006.
[RFC5056] Williams, N., "On the Use of Channel Bindings to Secure
Channels", RFC 5056, November 2007.
[TLS-CHANNEL-BINDINGS]
Altman, J., Williams, N., and L. Zhu, "Channel Bindings
for TLS", Work in Progress, October 2009.
[RFC2818] Rescorla, E., "HTTP Over TLS", RFC 2818, May 2000.
[RFC2965] Kristol, D. and L. Montulli, "HTTP State Management
Mechanism", RFC 2965, October 2000.
[Ray09] Ray, M., "Authentication Gap in TLS Renegotiation",
November 2009, <http://extendedsubset.com/?p=8>.
[SSLv3] Freier, A., Karlton, P., and P. Kocher, "The SSL Protocol
Version 3.0", Work in Progress, November 1996.
Authors' Addresses
Eric Rescorla
RTFM, Inc.
2064 Edgewood Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94303
USA
EMail: ekr@rtfm.com
Marsh Ray
PhoneFactor
7301 W 129th Street
Overland Park, KS 66213
USA
EMail: marsh@extendedsubset.com
Steve Dispensa
PhoneFactor
7301 W 129th Street
Overland Park, KS 66213
USA
EMail: dispensa@phonefactor.com
Nasko Oskov
Microsoft
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
USA
EMail: nasko.oskov@microsoft.com
ISO Plain Language
On this page
§1The Renegotiation Attack
TLS allows either the client or the server to start a renegotiation, which is a new handshake that establishes new cryptographic parameters. Although the new handshake is carried out using the parameters established by the original handshake, there is no cryptographic binding between the two. That opens the way to an attack in which an attacker who can intercept a client's transport layer connection injects traffic of his own as a prefix to the client's interaction with the server.
The attack works like this. The attacker forms a TLS connection to the server and sends traffic of his choice, which may be several requests and responses at the application layer or simply a partial request intended to prefix the client's data. He then lets the client's TLS handshake proceed with the server. The handshake is in the clear to the attacker but encrypted over the attacker's own connection to the server. Once it completes, the client talks to the server under the new parameters. The attacker cannot read that traffic, but the server believes the initial traffic to and from the attacker is the same as the traffic to and from the client.
With certificate-based client authentication, the server sees a stream of bytes where the first bytes are protected but not authenticated by TLS and the later bytes are authenticated and bound to the client's certificate. In some protocols, notably HTTPS, no distinction is made between the stages before and after authentication and the bytes are handled uniformly, so the server believes the initial traffic belongs to the authenticated client. Even without client certificates, an attacker may be able to have the server accept its data as the client's, for instance by having HTTPS with HTTP cookies where the attacker generates a request of his own that is validated by the client's cookie.
Some protocols, such as IMAP and SMTP, have explicit transitions between authenticated and unauthenticated phases and require the protocol state machine to be partly or fully reset at such transitions, which may limit the effect of these attacks. There is, however, no requirement for state machine resets at TLS renegotiation, so a window of vulnerability remains: prefixing a command that writes to an area visible to the attacker with a client command that includes the client's password would make that password visible to the attacker. Similar attacks exist with SMTP and do not necessarily require the attacker to have an account.
These attacks are possible because the client sends unsolicited authentication information without requiring any specific data from the server. Protocols that require a round trip over TLS before the client sends sensitive information are likely to be less vulnerable.
An attacker can open his own encrypted connection to a server, send whatever he likes, and then let the real client's handshake through. The server sees one long stream and cannot tell that the first part came from someone else, so it treats the attacker's words as if the client had sent them.
- HANDSHAKE
- INITIAL TRAFFICThe attacker's own conversation, sent first.
- HANDSHAKEThe server treats this as a renegotiation.
- CLIENT TRAFFICThe server cannot tell it belongs to a different conversation.
§3.1The Extra State Each Side Keeps
Both the client and the server need to store three additional values for each TLS connection state. These values are specific to the connection, not to a session cache entry.
The first is a secure_renegotiation flag, saying whether secure renegotiation is in use for this connection. The second is client_verify_data, the verify data from the Finished message sent by the client on the immediately previous handshake; for the currently defined TLS versions and cipher suites this is a 12-byte value, and for SSLv3 it is a 36-byte value. The third is server_verify_data, the verify data from the Finished message sent by the server on the immediately previous handshake.
Each end of the connection keeps three things: whether the safe form of renegotiation is in use, and the two values that the previous handshake ended with. The new handshake quotes those values back, and that is what proves the two handshakes belong together.
- secure_renegotiationA flag saying whether secure renegotiation is in use on this connection.
- client_verify_dataThe verify data from the client's Finished message in the previous handshake: 12 bytes for TLS, 36 for SSLv3.
- server_verify_dataThe verify data from the server's Finished message in the previous handshake.
§3.2The renegotiation_info Extension
| Field | Name | Size | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
EXTENSION-TYPE | Extension Type | 2 bytes | 0xff01 | Always 0xff01 for renegotiation_info. |
EXTENSION-LENGTH | Extension Length | 2 bytes | 0x0001 | The length of the extension itself. |
RENEGOTIATED-CONNECTION | renegotiated_connection | 1 byte | 0 | Zero length in an initial handshake. |
The RFC defines a new TLS extension, renegotiation_info, with extension type 0xff01, which carries a cryptographic binding to the enclosing TLS connection, if any, for which the renegotiation is being performed. The extension data field contains a RenegotiationInfo structure, which holds a single opaque field renegotiated_connection of up to 255 bytes.
The contents are as follows. If this is the initial handshake for a connection, the renegotiated_connection field is of zero length in both the ClientHello and the ServerHello, so the entire encoding of the extension is ff 01 00 01 00: the first two octets are the extension type, the third and fourth the length of the extension itself, and the final octet the zero-length byte for the field. For a ClientHello that is renegotiating, the field contains the client_verify_data. For a ServerHello that is renegotiating, it contains the concatenation of client_verify_data and server_verify_data, which for current versions of TLS is a 24-byte value, or 72 bytes for SSLv3.
The extension can also be used with Datagram TLS. For editorial simplicity the document refers to TLS, but all of its requirements apply equally to DTLS.
The extension is a short block of bytes added to the handshake. In the first handshake it is empty, which simply says that both ends support the safe form; in a later handshake it carries the values that ended the previous handshake, so a mismatch gives the attack away.
struct {
opaque renegotiated_connection<0..255>;
} RenegotiationInfo;| Handshake | Who sends it | Contents of renegotiated_connection |
|---|---|---|
| Initial handshake THIS RFC | Client | Zero length |
| Initial handshake THIS RFC | Server | Zero length |
| Renegotiation THIS RFC | Client | client_verify_data |
| Renegotiation THIS RFC | Server | client_verify_data followed by server_verify_data |
§3.3A Second Way to Signal Support
Both the SSLv3 and the TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 specifications require implementations to ignore data following the ClientHello if they do not understand it, but some SSLv3 and TLS 1.0 implementations incorrectly fail the handshake in such a case. A client that offers the renegotiation_info extension may therefore encounter handshake failures.
To improve compatibility with such servers, the RFC defines a second signalling mechanism: the special signalling cipher suite value TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV, with code point {0x00, 0xFF}. It is not a true cipher suite, it does not correspond to any valid set of algorithms and cannot be negotiated. Instead it has the same semantics as an empty renegotiation_info extension. Because SSLv3 and TLS implementations reliably ignore unknown cipher suites, the SCSV may safely be sent to any server, and it can also be included in the SSLv2 backward compatible CLIENT-HELLO.
A minimal client that does not support renegotiation at all can simply use the SCSV in all initial handshakes, and the rules that follow will cause any compliant server to abort the handshake when it sees an apparent attempt at renegotiation by such a client.
Some older servers break when they see an extension they do not know. To avoid that, a second signal is provided: a reserved cipher suite value that every server safely ignores but that still tells a modern server that the client supports the safe form.
§3.4What the Client Does
For an initial handshake, which includes session resumption, the client must include either an empty renegotiation_info extension or the TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV signalling cipher suite value in the ClientHello; including both is not recommended. When the ServerHello arrives, the client must check whether it includes the extension. If it does not, the server does not support secure renegotiation, and the client sets the secure_renegotiation flag to FALSE; some clients may prefer to terminate the handshake instead. If the extension is present, the client sets the flag to TRUE and must verify that the length of the renegotiated_connection field is zero, aborting the handshake with a fatal handshake_failure alert if it is not. Once the handshake completes, the client saves the client_verify_data and server_verify_data values for future use.
For a secure renegotiation, the client must include the renegotiation_info extension in the ClientHello, containing the saved client_verify_data, and must not include the SCSV. When the ServerHello arrives, the client must verify that the extension is present and abort the handshake if it is not. It must then verify that the first half of the renegotiated_connection field equals the saved client_verify_data and that the second half equals the saved server_verify_data, aborting if they are not. After the handshake completes, the client saves the new values.
On the first handshake the client offers the extension and checks that the server echoes it back empty. On a later handshake the client quotes the values from the previous handshake and checks that the server quotes exactly the same ones.
§3.6What the Server Does
For an initial handshake, the server must check whether the ClientHello includes the TLS_EMPTY_RENEGOTIATION_INFO_SCSV, and set the secure_renegotiation flag to TRUE if it does. It must also check whether the renegotiation_info extension is included; if it is, the server sets the flag to TRUE and must verify that the length of the renegotiated_connection field is zero, aborting the handshake if it is not. If neither the SCSV nor the extension was included, the server sets the flag to FALSE, and some servers may prefer to terminate the handshake instead. If the flag is TRUE, the server must include an empty renegotiation_info extension in the ServerHello. Once the handshake completes, the server saves the two verify data values.
The RFC restates two requirements from RFC 5246 in the interest of forward compatibility: TLS servers implementing this specification must ignore any unknown extensions offered by the client, and they must accept version numbers higher than their own and negotiate the highest common version. Sending a renegotiation_info extension in response to a ClientHello that contained only the SCSV is an explicit exception to the rule in RFC 5246 that a server must not send unsolicited extensions, and it is allowed only because the client signalled its willingness with the SCSV.
For a secure renegotiation, the server must verify that the ClientHello does not contain the SCSV, and abort the handshake if it does. It must verify that the renegotiation_info extension is present and abort if it is not. It must verify that the value of the renegotiated_connection field equals the saved client_verify_data, and abort if it does not. It must then include a renegotiation_info extension containing the saved client_verify_data and server_verify_data in the ServerHello, and save the new values when the handshake completes.
The server does the same checks in the other direction. The important one is on a renegotiation: the value the client quotes must match the value the server remembers, and if it does not, the server ends the connection.
§4Talking to Older Servers
Existing implementations that do not support the extension are widely deployed and must interoperate with newer ones, so the RFC sets out how each side should behave.
On the client side, if the client offers the extension or the SCSV and the server does not reply with the extension in the ServerHello, the server does not support secure renegotiation. Because some attacks look like a single handshake to the client, the client cannot tell whether the connection is under attack. Not receiving the extension does not mean the server is vulnerable; it may simply reject all renegotiations without signalling that. If clients wish to make such attacks impossible, they need to terminate the connection immediately upon failing to receive the extension, sending a fatal handshake_failure alert first, but many TLS servers that do not support renegotiation will not support the extension either, so such clients will meet interoperability problems. There is no client behaviour that guarantees both security and maximum interoperability during the transition, and clients must choose one or the other.
If the flag is FALSE, it is possible that an un-upgraded server will ask the client to renegotiate, and it is recommended that clients refuse, answering with a no_renegotiation alert at the warning level. The apparently un-upgraded server may in fact be an attacker allowing the client to renegotiate with a different, legitimate, upgraded server. If clients do choose to renegotiate, they must provide either the SCSV or the extension in the ClientHello; a legitimate un-upgraded server should ignore both, but if it fails to ignore extensions, sending the extension may cause a handshake failure, so it is permitted though not recommended for the client simply to send the SCSV. That is the only situation in which a client may omit the extension in a renegotiating ClientHello. The client must then verify that the ServerHello does not contain the extension, and abort if it does, since the server has already said it does not support secure renegotiation and the only other explanation is a broken server or an attack.
On the server side, a client that offers neither the extension nor the SCSV does not support secure renegotiation. Although the attack looks like two handshakes to the server, other attacks may exist in which only the client sees a renegotiation. A server that wants to make such attacks impossible must terminate the connection when secure renegotiation is not negotiated, and a server that does allow unpatched clients can still prevent the attack by refusing to renegotiate over those connections. So that clients can probe, even servers that do not support renegotiation must implement the minimal version of the extension for initial handshakes, signalling that they have been upgraded.
SSLv3 is not a protocol under IETF change control, but it was the original basis for TLS and most implementations also support it. The IETF encourages SSLv3 implementations to adopt the extension and the SCSV, with the same semantics except that the verify data values are 36 bytes each. SSLv3 does not define the no_renegotiation alert, so SSLv3 clients that refuse renegotiation should use a fatal handshake_failure alert.
Older servers are everywhere, so the RFC says what to do when the other end does not answer with the extension: either keep going and accept the risk, or refuse the connection. It also says a server should refuse to renegotiate on a connection where the client did not offer the extension at all.
§5Security Considerations
The extension prevents an attack on TLS. Without it, renegotiation is subject to an attack in which the attacker injects their own conversation with the server as a prefix to the client's conversation. That attack is invisible to the client and looks like an ordinary renegotiation to the server. Servers should not allow clients to renegotiate without using the extension, and many servers can mitigate the attack simply by refusing to renegotiate at all.
The extension does not resolve every problem an application may face if it is unaware of renegotiation. During a renegotiation either the client or the server can present a different certificate from the one used earlier, which may surprise application developers who might have expected a call such as getPeerCertificates to return the same value when called twice, and may be handled in an insecure way. TLS implementations should provide a mechanism to disable and to enable renegotiation, and implementers are encouraged to document clearly how renegotiation interacts with the interfaces offered to applications, for example which calls might return different values on different calls or which callbacks might be invoked more than once.
To make life simpler for applications that use renegotiation but do not expect the certificate to change once it has been authenticated, implementations may offer the option to abort the renegotiation if the peer tries to authenticate with a different certificate or a different server name in the server_name extension than was used earlier, or the option to disable renegotiation once the client certificate has been authenticated. Enabling those options by default could break existing applications that depend on renegotiation to change from one certificate to another, for example a long-lived connection that moves to a renewed certificate, or a renegotiation that selects a different cipher suite needing a different certificate.
Finally, designers of applications that depend on renegotiation are reminded that many TLS interfaces present application data as a simple octet stream, so an application may not be able to determine exactly which data octets arrived before, during or after a renegotiation. Care is needed in specifying how the application should handle the data, especially if the peer presents a different certificate during the renegotiation.
The fix stops the splicing attack, but it does not stop an application from being surprised when a renegotiation brings a different certificate. The RFC asks implementations to say plainly how renegotiation shows up in their interfaces, and to give applications the choice of refusing a certificate change.