are motivated by security concerns, it's not just bug fixes. The key
differences (from stock 7.2.1) are:
*) almost all code that directly uses the OpenSSL library is in two
new files,
src/interfaces/libpq/fe-ssl.c
src/backend/postmaster/be-ssl.c
in the long run, it would be nice to merge these two files.
*) the legacy code to read and write network data have been
encapsulated into read_SSL() and write_SSL(). These functions
should probably be renamed - they handle both SSL and non-SSL
cases.
the remaining code should eliminate the problems identified
earlier, albeit not very cleanly.
*) both front- and back-ends will send a SSL shutdown via the
new close_SSL() function. This is necessary for sessions to
work properly.
(Sessions are not yet fully supported, but by cleanly closing
the SSL connection instead of just sending a TCP FIN packet
other SSL tools will be much happier.)
*) The client certificate and key are now expected in a subdirectory
of the user's home directory. Specifically,
- the directory .postgresql must be owned by the user, and
allow no access by 'group' or 'other.'
- the file .postgresql/postgresql.crt must be a regular file
owned by the user.
- the file .postgresql/postgresql.key must be a regular file
owned by the user, and allow no access by 'group' or 'other'.
At the current time encrypted private keys are not supported.
There should also be a way to support multiple client certs/keys.
*) the front-end performs minimal validation of the back-end cert.
Self-signed certs are permitted, but the common name *must*
match the hostname used by the front-end. (The cert itself
should always use a fully qualified domain name (FDQN) in its
common name field.)
This means that
psql -h eris db
will fail, but
psql -h eris.example.com db
will succeed. At the current time this must be an exact match;
future patches may support any FQDN that resolves to the address
returned by getpeername(2).
Another common "problem" is expiring certs. For now, it may be
a good idea to use a very-long-lived self-signed cert.
As a compile-time option, the front-end can specify a file
containing valid root certificates, but it is not yet required.
*) the back-end performs minimal validation of the client cert.
It allows self-signed certs. It checks for expiration. It
supports a compile-time option specifying a file containing
valid root certificates.
*) both front- and back-ends default to TLSv1, not SSLv3/SSLv2.
*) both front- and back-ends support DSA keys. DSA keys are
moderately more expensive on startup, but many people consider
them preferable than RSA keys. (E.g., SSH2 prefers DSA keys.)
*) if /dev/urandom exists, both client and server will read 16k
of randomization data from it.
*) the server can read empheral DH parameters from the files
$DataDir/dh512.pem
$DataDir/dh1024.pem
$DataDir/dh2048.pem
$DataDir/dh4096.pem
if none are provided, the server will default to hardcoded
parameter files provided by the OpenSSL project.
Remaining tasks:
*) the select() clauses need to be revisited - the SSL abstraction
layer may need to absorb more of the current code to avoid rare
deadlock conditions. This also touches on a true solution to
the pg_eof() problem.
*) the SIGPIPE signal handler may need to be revisited.
*) support encrypted private keys.
*) sessions are not yet fully supported. (SSL sessions can span
multiple "connections," and allow the client and server to avoid
costly renegotiations.)
*) makecert - a script that creates back-end certs.
*) pgkeygen - a tool that creates front-end certs.
*) the whole protocol issue, SASL, etc.
*) certs are fully validated - valid root certs must be available.
This is a hassle, but it means that you *can* trust the identity
of the server.
*) the client library can handle hardcoded root certificates, to
avoid the need to copy these files.
*) host name of server cert must resolve to IP address, or be a
recognized alias. This is more liberal than the previous
iteration.
*) the number of bytes transferred is tracked, and the session
key is periodically renegotiated.
*) basic cert generation scripts (mkcert.sh, pgkeygen.sh). The
configuration files have reasonable defaults for each type
of use.
Bear Giles
a9bd17616e