1.3. Certificates and Authentication
1.3.1. A Certificate Identifies Someone or Something
1.3.2. Authentication Confirms an Identity
- Password-based authentication
- Certificate-based authentication
126.96.36.199. Password-Based Authentication
- The user has already trusted the server, either without authentication or on the basis of server authentication over SSL/TLS.
- The user has requested a resource controlled by the server.
- The server requires client authentication before permitting access to the requested resource.
Figure 1.4. Using a Password to Authenticate a Client to a Server
- When the server requests authentication from the client, the client displays a dialog box requesting the user name and password for that server.
- The client sends the name and password across the network, either in plain text or over an encrypted SSL/TLS connection.
- The server looks up the name and password in its local password database and, if they match, accepts them as evidence authenticating the user's identity.
- The server determines whether the identified user is permitted to access the requested resource and, if so, allows the client to access it.
188.8.131.52. Certificate-Based Authentication
Figure 1.5. Using a Certificate to Authenticate a Client to a Server
- The client software maintains a database of the private keys that correspond to the public keys published in any certificates issued for that client. The client asks for the password to this database the first time the client needs to access it during a given session, such as the first time the user attempts to access an SSL/TLS-enabled server that requires certificate-based client authentication.After entering this password once, the user does not need to enter it again for the rest of the session, even when accessing other SSL/TLS-enabled servers.
- The client unlocks the private-key database, retrieves the private key for the user's certificate, and uses that private key to sign data randomly-generated from input from both the client and the server. This data and the digital signature are evidence of the private key's validity. The digital signature can be created only with that private key and can be validated with the corresponding public key against the signed data, which is unique to the SSL/TLS session.
- The client sends both the user's certificate and the randomly-generated data across the network.
- The server uses the certificate and the signed data to authenticate the user's identity.
- The server may perform other authentication tasks, such as checking that the certificate presented by the client is stored in the user's entry in an LDAP directory. The server then evaluates whether the identified user is permitted to access the requested resource. This evaluation process can employ a variety of standard authorization mechanisms, potentially using additional information in an LDAP directory or company databases. If the result of the evaluation is positive, the server allows the client to access the requested resource.
1.3.3. Uses for Certificates
184.108.40.206. Signed and Encrypted Email
220.127.116.11. Single Sign-on
18.104.22.168. Object Signing
1.3.4. Types of Certificates
Table 1.1. Common Certificates
|Client SSL/TLS certificates||Used for client authentication to servers over SSL/TLS. Typically, the identity of the client is assumed to be the same as the identity of a person, such as an employee. See Section 22.214.171.124, “Certificate-Based Authentication” for a description of the way SSL/TLS client certificates are used for client authentication. Client SSL/TLS certificates can also be used as part of single sign-on.|| |
A bank gives a customer an SSL/TLS client certificate that allows the bank's servers to identify that customer and authorize access to the customer's accounts.
A company gives a new employee an SSL/TLS client certificate that allows the company's servers to identify that employee and authorize access to the company's servers.
|Server SSL/TLS certificates||Used for server authentication to clients over SSL/TLS. Server authentication may be used without client authentication. Server authentication is required for an encrypted SSL/TLS session. For more information, see Section 126.96.36.199, “SSL/TLS”.||Internet sites that engage in electronic commerce usually support certificate-based server authentication to establish an encrypted SSL/TLS session and to assure customers that they are dealing with the web site identified with the company. The encrypted SSL/TLS session ensures that personal information sent over the network, such as credit card numbers, cannot easily be intercepted.|
|S/MIME certificates||Used for signed and encrypted email. As with SSL/TLS client certificates, the identity of the client is assumed to be the same as the identity of a person, such as an employee. A single certificate may be used as both an S/MIME certificate and an SSL/TLS certificate; see Section 188.8.131.52, “Signed and Encrypted Email”. S/MIME certificates can also be used as part of single sign-on.||A company deploys combined S/MIME and SSL/TLS certificates solely to authenticate employee identities, thus permitting signed email and SSL/TLS client authentication but not encrypted email. Another company issues S/MIME certificates solely to sign and encrypt email that deals with sensitive financial or legal matters.|
|CA certificates||Used to identify CAs. Client and server software use CA certificates to determine what other certificates can be trusted. For more information, see Section 1.3.6, “How CA Certificates Establish Trust”.||The CA certificates stored in Mozilla Firefox determine what other certificates can be authenticated. An administrator can implement corporate security policies by controlling the CA certificates stored in each user's copy of Firefox.|
184.108.40.206. CA Signing Certificates
220.127.116.11. Other Signing Certificates
18.104.22.168. SSL/TLS Server and Client Certificates
22.214.171.124. User Certificates
126.96.36.199. Dual-Key Pairs
188.8.131.52. Cross-Pair Certificates
1.3.5. Contents of a Certificate
184.108.40.206. Certificate Data Formats
- DER-encoded certificate. This is a single binary DER-encoded certificate.
- PKCS #7 certificate chain. This is a PKCS #7
SignedDataobject. The only significant field in the
SignedDataobject is the certificates; the signature and the contents, for example, are ignored. The PKCS #7 format allows multiple certificates to be downloaded at a single time.
- Netscape Certificate Sequence. This is a simpler format for downloading certificate chains in a PKCS #7
ContentInfostructure, wrapping a sequence of certificates. The value of the
contentTypefield should be
netscape-cert-sequence, while the content field has the following structure:
CertificateSequence ::= SEQUENCE OF CertificateThis format allows multiple certificates to be downloaded at the same time.
220.127.116.11. Distinguished Names
uid=doe, that uniquely identify an entity. This is also called the certificate subject name.
uid=doe, cn=John Doe,o=Example Corp.,c=US
uidis the user name,
cnis the user's common name,
ois the organization or company name, and
cis the country.
18.104.22.168. A Typical Certificate
- The data section
- This section includes the following information:
- The version number of the X.509 standard supported by the certificate.
- The certificate's serial number. Every certificate issued by a CA has a serial number that is unique among the certificates issued by that CA.
- Information about the user's public key, including the algorithm used and a representation of the key itself.
- The DN of the CA that issued the certificate.
- The period during which the certificate is valid; for example, between 1:00 p.m. on November 15, 2004, and 1:00 p.m. November 15, 2022.
- The DN of the certificate subject, which is also called the subject name; for example, in an SSL/TLS client certificate, this is the user's DN.
- Optional certificate extensions, which may provide additional data used by the client or server. For example:
Certificate extensions can also be used for other purposes.
- the Netscape Certificate Type extension indicates the type of certificate, such as an SSL/TLS client certificate, an SSL/TLS server certificate, or a certificate for signing email
- the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) extension links a certificate to one or more host names
- The signature section
- This section includes the following information:
- The cryptographic algorithm, or cipher, used by the issuing CA to create its own digital signature.
- The CA's digital signature, obtained by hashing all of the data in the certificate together and encrypting it with the CA's private key.
Certificate: Data: Version: v3 (0x2) Serial Number: 3 (0x3) Signature Algorithm: PKCS #1 MD5 With RSA Encryption Issuer: OU=Example Certificate Authority, O=Example Corp, C=US Validity: Not Before: Fri Oct 17 18:36:25 1997 Not After: Sun Oct 17 18:36:25 1999 Subject: CN=Jane Doe, OU=Finance, O=Example Corp, C=US Subject Public Key Info: Algorithm: PKCS #1 RSA Encryption Public Key: Modulus: 00:ca:fa:79:98:8f:19:f8:d7:de:e4:49:80:48:e6:2a:2a:86: ed:27:40:4d:86:b3:05:c0:01:bb:50:15:c9:de:dc:85:19:22: 43:7d:45:6d:71:4e:17:3d:f0:36:4b:5b:7f:a8:51:a3:a1:00: 98:ce:7f:47:50:2c:93:36:7c:01:6e:cb:89:06:41:72:b5:e9: 73:49:38:76:ef:b6:8f:ac:49:bb:63:0f:9b:ff:16:2a:e3:0e: 9d:3b:af:ce:9a:3e:48:65:de:96:61:d5:0a:11:2a:a2:80:b0: 7d:d8:99:cb:0c:99:34:c9:ab:25:06:a8:31:ad:8c:4b:aa:54: 91:f4:15 Public Exponent: 65537 (0x10001) Extensions: Identifier: Certificate Type Critical: no Certified Usage: TLS Client Identifier: Authority Key Identifier Critical: no Key Identifier: f2:f2:06:59:90:18:47:51:f5:89:33:5a:31:7a:e6:5c:fb:36: 26:c9 Signature: Algorithm: PKCS #1 MD5 With RSA Encryption Signature: 6d:23:af:f3:d3:b6:7a:df:90:df:cd:7e:18:6c:01:69:8e:54:65:fc:06: 30:43:34:d1:63:1f:06:7d:c3:40:a8:2a:82:c1:a4:83:2a:fb:2e:8f:fb: f0:6d:ff:75:a3:78:f7:52:47:46:62:97:1d:d9:c6:11:0a:02:a2:e0:cc: 2a:75:6c:8b:b6:9b:87:00:7d:7c:84:76:79:ba:f8:b4:d2:62:58:c3:c5: b6:c1:43:ac:63:44:42:fd:af:c8:0f:2f:38:85:6d:d6:59:e8:41:42:a5: 4a:e5:26:38:ff:32:78:a1:38:f1:ed:dc:0d:31:d1:b0:6d:67:e9:46:a8: d:c4
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- MIICKzCCAZSgAwIBAgIBAzANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQQFADA3MQswCQYDVQQGEwJVUzER MA8GA1UEChMITmV0c2NhcGUxFTATBgNVBAsTDFN1cHJpeWEncyBDQTAeFw05NzEw MTgwMTM2MjVaFw05OTEwMTgwMTM2MjVaMEgxCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMREwDwYDVQQK EwhOZXRzY2FwZTENMAsGA1UECxMEUHViczEXMBUGA1UEAxMOU3Vwcml5YSBTaGV0 dHkwgZ8wDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEFBQADgY0AMIGJAoGBAMr6eZiPGfjX3uRJgEjmKiqG 7SdATYazBcABu1AVyd7chRkiQ31FbXFOGD3wNktbf6hRo6EAmM5/R1AskzZ8AW7L iQZBcrXpc0k4du+2Q6xJu2MPm/8WKuMOnTuvzpo+SGXelmHVChEqooCwfdiZywyZ NMmrJgaoMa2MS6pUkfQVAgMBAAGjNjA0MBEGCWCGSAGG+EIBAQQEAwIAgDAfBgNV HSMEGDAWgBTy8gZZkBhHUfWJM1oxeuZc+zYmyTANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQQFAAOBgQBt I6/z07Z635DfzX4XbAFpjlRl/AYwQzTSYx8GfcNAqCqCwaSDKvsuj/vwbf91o3j3 UkdGYpcd2cYRCgKi4MwqdWyLtpuHAH18hHZ5uvi00mJYw8W2wUOsY0RC/a/IDy84 hW3WWehBUqVK5SY4/zJ4oTjx7dwNMdGwbWfpRqjd1A== -----END CERTIFICATE-----
1.3.6. How CA Certificates Establish Trust
22.214.171.124. CA Hierarchies
Figure 1.6. Example of a Hierarchy of Certificate Authorities
126.96.36.199. Certificate Chains
Figure 1.7. Example of a Certificate Chain
- Each certificate is followed by the certificate of its issuer.
- Each certificate contains the name (DN) of that certificate's issuer, which is the same as the subject name of the next certificate in the chain.In Figure 1.7, “Example of a Certificate Chain”, the
Engineering CAcertificate contains the DN of the CA,
USA CA, that issued that certificate.
USA CA's DN is also the subject name of the next certificate in the chain.
- Each certificate is signed with the private key of its issuer. The signature can be verified with the public key in the issuer's certificate, which is the next certificate in the chain.In Figure 1.7, “Example of a Certificate Chain”, the public key in the certificate for the
USA CAcan be used to verify the
USA CA's digital signature on the certificate for the
188.8.131.52. Verifying a Certificate Chain
- The certificate validity period is checked against the current time provided by the verifier's system clock.
- The issuer's certificate is located. The source can be either the verifier's local certificate database on that client or server or the certificate chain provided by the subject, as with an SSL/TLS connection.
- The certificate signature is verified using the public key in the issuer's certificate.
- The host name of the service is compared against the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) extension. If the certificate has no such extension, the host name is compared against the subject's CN.
- The system verifies the Basic Constraint requirements for the certificate, that is, whether the certificate is a CA and how many subsidiaries it is allowed to sign.
- If the issuer's certificate is trusted by the verifier in the verifier's certificate database, verification stops successfully here. Otherwise, the issuer's certificate is checked to make sure it contains the appropriate subordinate CA indication in the certificate type extension, and chain verification starts over with this new certificate. Figure 1.8, “Verifying a Certificate Chain to the Root CA” presents an example of this process.
Figure 1.8. Verifying a Certificate Chain to the Root CA
Engineering CA, is found in the verifier's local database, verification stops with that certificate, as shown in Figure 1.9, “Verifying a Certificate Chain to an Intermediate CA”.
Figure 1.9. Verifying a Certificate Chain to an Intermediate CA
Figure 1.10. A Certificate Chain That Cannot Be Verified