OpenSSL Client-side Certificate-based Authenticati

Question

I am trying to run the following command:

[root@localhost certs]# openssl s_client -connect localhost:7043 -cert /opt/openssl-1.0.0a/ssl/certwork_client/client.crt -key /opt/openssl-1.0.0a/ssl/certwork_client/client.key -CAfile /opt/openssl-1.0.0a/ssl/certwork/ca.crt -showcerts -state -verify 2
verify depth is 2
CONNECTED(00000003)
SSL_connect:before/connect initialization
SSL_connect:SSLv2/v3 write client hello A
SSL_connect:SSLv3 read server hello A
depth=1 C = US, ST = Florida, L = Orlando, O = Company XYZ, OU = MyApp, CN = MyApp CA
verify return:1
depth=0 C = US, ST = Florida, L = Orlando, O = Company XYZ, OU = MyApp, CN = MyApp Manager Server
verify return:1
SSL_connect:SSLv3 read server certificate A
SSL_connect:SSLv3 read server certificate request A
SSL_connect:SSLv3 read server done A
SSL_connect:SSLv3 write client certificate A
SSL_connect:SSLv3 write client key exchange A
SSL_connect:SSLv3 write certificate verify A
SSL_connect:SSLv3 write change cipher spec A
SSL_connect:SSLv3 write finished A
SSL_connect:SSLv3 flush data
SSL3 alert read:fatal:unknown CA
SSL_connect:failed in SSLv3 read finished A
15238796:error:14094418:SSL routines:SSL3_READ_BYTES:tlsv1 alert unknown ca:s3_pkt.c:1193:SSL alert number 48
15238796:error:140790E5:SSL routines:SSL23_WRITE:ssl handshake failure:s23_lib.c:184:
---
Certificate chain
0 s:/C=US/ST=Florida/L=Orlando/O=Company XYZ/OU=MyApp/CN=MyApp Manager Server
   i:/C=US/ST=Florida/L=Orlando/O=Company XYZ/OU=MyApp/CN=MyApp CA
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----
---
Server certificate
subject=/C=US/ST=Florida/L=Orlando/O=Company XYZ/OU=MyApp/CN=MyApp Manager Server
issuer=/C=US/ST=Florida/L=Orlando/O=Company XYZ/OU=MyApp/CN=MyApp CA
---
Acceptable client certificate CA names
/C=US/ST=Florida/L=Orlando/O=Company XYZ/OU=MyApp/CN=MyApp Client CA
---
SSL handshake has read 1615 bytes and written 3975 bytes
---
New, TLSv1/SSLv3, Cipher is AES256-SHA
Server public key is 4096 bit
Secure Renegotiation IS supported
Compression: NONE
Expansion: NONE
SSL-Session:
    Protocol  : TLSv1
    Cipher    : AES256-SHA
    Session-ID: 10AB798BBA57D06F61D0E970EF8919619942EC2A22131260C3718CA23ED75FD1
    Session-ID-ctx: 
    Master-Key: D9EC43146764BAEE7E32A591C5A933914B57DA2EC479A6419EE3E822B3022E80E093798D1E17947159B7080F8AA80C85
    Key-Arg   : None
    PSK identity: None
    PSK identity hint: None
    Start Time: 1299706827
    Timeout   : 300 (sec)
    Verify return code: 0 (ok)
---

In the server, I have the following code:

certificateFile = /opt/openssl-1.0.0a/ssl/certwork/server.crt
privatKeyFile = /opt/openssl-1.0.0a/ssl/certwork/server.key
ctx = Ctx::client_server(certificateFile, privateKeyFile);
ctx->context()->verify_mode = SSL_VERIFY_PEER | SSL_VERIFY_FAIL_IF_NO_PEER_CERT | SSL_VERIFY_CLIENT_ONCE;
ctx->context()->client_CA = SSL_load_client_CA_file("/opt/openssl-1.0.0a/ssl/certwork_client/ca.crt");

The context() calls methods in OpenSSL’s ssl.h.

I created the server CA (certificate authority) and server certificates with the following commands:

cd /opt/openssl-1.0.0a/ssl
mkdir certwork
chmod 600 certwork
cd certwork
openssl genrsa -des3 -out ca.key 4096
openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -key ca.key -out ca.crt
openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 4096
openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -CA ca.crt -CAkey ca.key -set_serial 01 -out server.crt

I created the client CA and client certificates with the following commands:

cd /opt/openssl-1.0.0a/ssl
mkdir certwork_client
chmod 600 certwork_client
cd certwork_client
openssl genrsa -des3 -out ca.key 4096
openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -key ca.key -out ca.crt
openssl genrsa -des3 -out client.key 4096
openssl req -new -key client.key -out client.csr
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in client.csr -CA ca.crt -CAkey ca.key -set_serial 01 -out client.crt

I can get server-side authentication to work via certificates, but when I add client-side authentication using certificates, I get tlsv1 alert unknown ca:s3_pkt.c:1193:SSL alert number 48 error.

I setup the client to use the server’s CA (/opt/openssl-1.0.0a/ssl/certwork/ca.crt) and I setup the server to use the client’s CA file (/opt/openssl-1.0.0a/ssl/certwork_client/ca.crt).

What am I missing?

Answer 1

It seems to me the server is rejecting the client certificate.

There are 3 different CA settings for TLS server:

• The server chain provided to the client (SSL_CTX_add_extra_chain_cert)
• The CAs you announce to support to the client (SSL_CTX_set_client_CA_list)
• The CAs you actually use to verify (SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations)

You might be configuring your server with the wrong equivalent in your bindings.

Have you tested with openssl s_server ?

Answer 2

what do you mean "I can get server-side authentication to work" ? Normally the server-side authentication is the last one; first the client verify the identity of your server, and then it send its certificate to server.

If the client recognized your server, it mean your client have CA certificate that signed the certificate of your server, OR your server certificate.

If the server doesn't recognize your client, check your server's truststore (in JAVA), or your CACertificateFile in your apache2 configuration ...

Hope it helps

Answer 3

I had this problem before. It turned out that I hadn't created the correct certificate, key and signature. This quick start guide was all I needed to create them.