diff options
author | Bernhard Schmidt <berni@debian.org> | 2020-08-15 21:29:50 +0200 |
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committer | Bernhard Schmidt <berni@debian.org> | 2020-08-15 21:29:50 +0200 |
commit | 1079962e4c06f88a54e50d997c1b7e84303d30b4 (patch) | |
tree | 4d019426928435425214ccedd6f89b70dbdf035d /doc/tls-crypt-v2.txt | |
parent | 620785fe268a1221c1ba7a9cb5a70f3140a4f1ca (diff) |
New upstream version 2.5~beta1upstream/2.5_beta1
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/tls-crypt-v2.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/tls-crypt-v2.txt | 189 |
1 files changed, 189 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/tls-crypt-v2.txt b/doc/tls-crypt-v2.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3798791 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/tls-crypt-v2.txt @@ -0,0 +1,189 @@ +Client-specific tls-crypt keys (--tls-crypt-v2) +=============================================== + +This document describes the ``--tls-crypt-v2`` option, which enables OpenVPN +to use client-specific ``--tls-crypt`` keys. + +Rationale +--------- + +``--tls-auth`` and ``tls-crypt`` use a pre-shared group key, which is shared +among all clients and servers in an OpenVPN deployment. If any client or +server is compromised, the attacker will have access to this shared key, and it +will no longer provide any security. To reduce the risk of losing pre-shared +keys, ``tls-crypt-v2`` adds the ability to supply each client with a unique +tls-crypt key. This allows large organisations and VPN providers to profit +from the same DoS and TLS stack protection that small deployments can already +achieve using ``tls-auth`` or ``tls-crypt``. + +Also, for ``tls-crypt``, even if all these peers succeed in keeping the key +secret, the key lifetime is limited to roughly 8000 years, divided by the +number of clients (see the ``--tls-crypt`` section of the man page). Using +client-specific keys, we lift this lifetime requirement to roughly 8000 years +for each client key (which "Should Be Enough For Everybody (tm)"). + + +Introduction +------------ + +``tls-crypt-v2`` uses an encrypted cookie mechanism to introduce +client-specific tls-crypt keys without introducing a lot of server-side state. +The client-specific key is encrypted using a server key. The server key is the +same for all servers in a group. When a client connects, it first sends the +encrypted key to the server, such that the server can decrypt the key and all +messages can thereafter be encrypted using the client-specific key. + +A wrapped (encrypted and authenticated) client-specific key can also contain +metadata. The metadata is wrapped together with the key, and can be used to +allow servers to identify clients and/or key validity. This allows the server +to abort the connection immediately after receiving the first packet, rather +than performing an entire TLS handshake. Aborting the connection this early +greatly improves the DoS resilience and reduces attack surface against +malicious clients that have the ``tls-crypt`` or ``tls-auth`` key. This is +particularly relevant for large deployments (think lost key or disgruntled +employee) and VPN providers (clients are not trusted). + +To allow for a smooth transition, ``tls-crypt-v2`` is designed such that a +server can enable both ``tls-crypt-v2`` and either ``tls-crypt`` or +``tls-auth``. This is achieved by introducing a P_CONTROL_HARD_RESET_CLIENT_V3 +opcode, that indicates that the client wants to use ``tls-crypt-v2`` for the +current connection. + +For an exact specification and more details, read the Implementation section. + + +Implementation +-------------- + +When setting up a tls-crypt-v2 group (similar to generating a tls-crypt or +tls-auth key previously): + +1. Generate a tls-crypt-v2 server key using OpenVPN's ``--tls-crypt-v2-genkey server``. + This key contains 2 512-bit keys, of which we use: + + * the first 256 bits of key 1 as AES-256-CTR encryption key ``Ke`` + * the first 256 bits of key 2 as HMAC-SHA-256 authentication key ``Ka`` + + This format is similar to the format for regular ``tls-crypt``/``tls-auth`` + and data channel keys, which allows us to reuse code. + +2. Add the tls-crypt-v2 server key to all server configs + (``tls-crypt-v2 /path/to/server.key``) + + +When provisioning a client, create a client-specific tls-crypt key: + +1. Generate 2048 bits client-specific key ``Kc`` using OpenVPN's ``--tls-crypt-v2-genkey client`` + +2. Optionally generate metadata + + The first byte of the metadata determines the type. The initial + implementation supports the following types: + + 0x00 (USER): User-defined free-form data. + 0x01 (TIMESTAMP): 64-bit network order unix timestamp of key generation. + + The timestamp can be used to reject too-old tls-crypt-v2 client keys. + + User metadata could for example contain the users certificate serial, such + that the incoming connection can be verified against a CRL. + + If no metadata is supplied during key generation, openvpn defaults to the + TIMESTAMP metadata type. + +3. Create a wrapped client key ``WKc``, using the same nonce-misuse-resistant + SIV construction we use for tls-crypt: + + ``len = len(WKc)`` (16 bit, network byte order) + + ``T = HMAC-SHA256(Ka, len || Kc || metadata)`` + + ``IV = 128 most significant bits of T`` + + ``WKc = T || AES-256-CTR(Ke, IV, Kc || metadata) || len`` + + Note that the length of ``WKc`` can be computed before composing ``WKc``, + because the length of each component is known (and AES-256-CTR does not add + any padding). + +4. Create a tls-crypt-v2 client key: PEM-encode ``Kc || WKc`` and store in a + file, using the header ``-----BEGIN OpenVPN tls-crypt-v2 client key-----`` + and the footer ``-----END OpenVPN tls-crypt-v2 client key-----``. (The PEM + format is simple, and following PEM allows us to use the crypto lib function + for en/decoding.) + +5. Add the tls-crypt-v2 client key to the client config + (``tls-crypt-v2 /path/to/client-specific.key``) + + +When setting up the openvpn connection: + +1. The client reads the tls-crypt-v2 key from its config, and: + + 1. loads ``Kc`` as its tls-crypt key, + 2. stores ``WKc`` in memory for sending to the server. + +2. To start the connection, the client creates a P_CONTROL_HARD_RESET_CLIENT_V3 + message, wraps it with tls-crypt using ``Kc`` as the key, and appends + ``WKc``. (``WKc`` must not be encrypted, to prevent a chicken-and-egg + problem.) + +3. The server receives the P_CONTROL_HARD_RESET_CLIENT_V3 message, and + + 1. reads the WKc length field from the end of the message, and extracts WKc + from the message + 2. unwraps ``WKc`` + 3. uses unwrapped ``Kc`` to verify the remaining + P_CONTROL_HARD_RESET_CLIENT_V3 message's (encryption and) authentication. + + The message is dropped and no error response is sent when either 3.1, 3.2 or + 3.3 fails (DoS protection). + +4. Server optionally checks metadata using a --tls-crypt-v2-verify script + + This allows early abort of connection, *before* we expose any of the + notoriously dangerous TLS, X.509 and ASN.1 parsers and thereby reduces the + attack surface of the server. + + The metadata is checked *after* the OpenVPN three-way handshake has + completed, to prevent DoS attacks. (That is, once the client has proved to + the server that it possesses Kc, by authenticating a packet that contains the + session ID picked by the server.) + + A server should not send back any error messages if metadata verification + fails, to reduce attack surface and maximize DoS resilience. + +6. Client and server use ``Kc`` for (un)wrapping any following control channel + messages. + + +Considerations +-------------- + +To allow for a smooth transition, the server implementation allows +``tls-crypt`` or ``tls-auth`` to be used simultaneously with ``tls-crypt-v2``. +This specification does not allow simultaneously using ``tls-crypt-v2`` and +connections without any control channel wrapping, because that would break DoS +resilience. + +WKc includes a length field, so we leave the option for future extension of the +P_CONTROL_HEAD_RESET_CLIENT_V3 message open. (E.g. add payload to the reset to +indicate low-level protocol features.) + +``tls-crypt-v2`` uses fixed crypto algorithms, because: + + * The crypto is used before we can do any negotiation, so the algorithms have + to be predefined. + * The crypto primitives are chosen conservatively, making problems with these + primitives unlikely. + * Making anything configurable adds complexity, both in implementation and + usage. We should not add any more complexity than is absolutely necessary. + +Potential ``tls-crypt-v2`` risks: + + * Slightly more work on first connection (``WKc`` unwrap + hard reset unwrap) + than with ``tls-crypt`` (hard reset unwrap) or ``tls-auth`` (hard reset auth). + * Flexible metadata allow mistakes + (So we should make it easy to do it right. Provide tooling to create client + keys based on cert serial + CA fingerprint, provide script that uses CRL (if + available) to drop revoked keys.) |