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+# Multiple Certificate Chains
+
+As of version 3.0.24, FreeRADIUS supports loading multiple certificate
+chains, keyed by a realm name. These chains are in _addition_ to the
+default certificates loaded by the `tls` section.
+
+Loading multiple certificate chains means that the server can have
+different identities. i.e. When a user `bob@example.com` requests
+network access, the server can present an `example.com` certificate.
+On the other hand, when a user `doug@example.org` requests network
+access, the server cna present an `example.org` certificate.
+
+This functionality means that it is possible to configure only one
+`eap` module, and then use multiple certificate chains. Previous
+versions of the server required that the administrator configure
+multiple EAP modules, one for each certificate being used.
+
+The selection can be performed in one of two ways. First, the
+certificates can be loaded dynamically at run-time. Second, the
+certificates can be pre-loaded for speed.
+
+## Dynamic Loading of Certificate Chains
+
+The server can dynamically load a certificate chain by setting a
+special attribute. This has to be done _after_ the server has
+received the EAP identity request, and _before_ the TLS session setup
+has started.
+
+The simplest way to do this is via the following `unlang` statements:
+
+```
+authenticate {
+ ...
+ Auth-Type eap {
+ if ("%{unpack:&EAP-Message 4 byte}" == 1) {
+ update control {
+ TLS-Session-Cert-File := "${certdir}/realms/%{Realm}"
+ }
+ }
+
+ eap
+ }
+ ...
+}
+```
+
+This configuration looks at the `EAP-Message` attribute, and checks if
+it is an EAP-Identity packet. If so, it then adds a special attribute
+`TLS-Session-Cert-File`, with a value based on the `Realm`, from the
+`User-Name`. That setting tells the server to look in the file for a
+certificate.
+
+If the file is there, and contains a correctly formatted `PEM`
+certificate chain, then it is loaded and used.
+
+If the file does not exist, or the file does not contain a correctly
+formatted `PEM` certificate chain, then the user is rejected.
+
+### Format
+
+This file should contain the server certificate, followed by
+intermediate certificates, in order. i.e. If we have a server
+certificate signed by CA1, which is signed by CA2, which is signed by
+a root CA, then the "certificate_file" should contain server.pem,
+followed by CA1.pem, followed by CA2.pem.
+
+When using `ca_file` or `ca_dir`, the file should contain only the
+server certificate.
+
+### Private Key
+
+The private should be placed in the same file as the other
+certificates, but at the start.
+
+```
+private key
+server cert
+...
+ca cert
+```
+
+The private key can also be placed into a separate file. The filename
+should be placed into the `TLS-Session-Cert-Private-Key-File`
+attribute.
+
+For simplicity, the private keys _should not_ have passwords. There
+is essentially no security benefit to "securing" the key with a
+password, and then placing the password into the file system, right
+next to the private key.
+
+### Realms
+
+There is no need to place the certificates into files named for each
+realm. However, it is by far and away the easiest way to manage these
+certificate chains.
+
+For every realm which is handles this way, the `proxy.conf` file
+should define a _local_ realm. That is, it should contain a
+definition such as:
+
+```
+example.org {
+}
+```
+
+This defines the realm `example.org`, and tells FreeRADIUS that there
+are no home servers associated with the realm.
+
+The `suffix` module should also be configured, as per the default
+configuration. i.e. list `suffix` in the `authorize` section _before_
+the `eap` module.
+
+### Caveats
+
+The root CA certificate for the server certificate should be located
+in the `ca_dir`, along with other root CAs. If the root CA is not
+there, then it *must* be included at the end of the file.
+
+These certificates will be loaded and parsed _for every matching
+authentication request_. That limitation means that dynamic loading
+of the certificates is likely be slow, and to severely impact
+performance. The good news is that we can fix that with a little more
+configuration.
+
+## Preloading Certificate Chains
+
+The server can also pre-load certificate chains. In the EAP module,
+you can do:
+
+```
+eap {
+ ...
+ tls {
+ ...
+ realm_dir = ${certdir}/realms/
+ ...
+ }
+ ...
+}
+```
+
+Each file in that directory should be a `PEM` encoded certificate
+chain, as described in the previous section. For safety, every file
+*must* have a `.pem` as the filename extension.
+e.g. `example.org.pem`.
+
+If there is a corresponding private key, it should be placed into a
+`.key` file. e.g. `example.org.key`.
+
+These certificates will be loaded when the server starts, and cached
+for the lifetime of the server. There is no way to reload these
+certificates dynamically, the server must be restarted.
+
+Once the `realm_dir` configuration has been added, the selection of
+certificates is identical to that described in the previous section.
+Just set `TLS-Session-Cert-File`, and the server will figure it out.
+
+However, it is possible to dynamically add new certificate, and have
+the server pick it up. In fact, as the process for choosing
+certificates are the same, the server will do this automatically!
+
+## RadSec
+
+The above configuration applies to RadSec, too, as the `tls`
+configuration in the server is for all TLS functionality, and not just
+EAP.
+
+This means that the server can accept RadSec connections, and then
+present different server certificates to different clients.
+
+For this functionality to work, the certificates for EAP and RadSec
+*should* be in separate directories.
+
+### Clients
+
+RadSec clients can set the SNI to send in the `tls` subsection of the
+`home_server` definition. Look for "SNI" in `sites-available/tls`,
+and see the `hostname` configuration item for documentation.
+
+For example, an identity provider could host multiple sites, but
+present itself with one public IP address. If the RadSec clients do
+not use SNI, then they must be configured with the certificate of the
+identity provider.
+
+When SNI is used, the RadSec clients can be configured with the
+certificate of the hosted system that they're connecting to. This
+ability means that there is no need to change certificates when
+changing providers. In addition, there is no need to change the
+configuration of all RadSec clients when the hosting system changes
+its certifiates. Because the hosting system certificates are never
+used.
+
+Instead, each hosted company is responsible for its own certificates,
+and for its own RadSec clients.
+
+SNI also permits the use of a load balancer such as haproxy. That
+load balancer can terminate the TLS connection, and then use SNI to
+route the underlying RADIUS TCP traffic to a particular host.
+
+### Servers
+
+See the `realm_dir` configuration item in the `tls` subsection for the
+location of the server certificates.
+
+If the server receives an SNI for a realm it does not recognize, it
+will just use the default TLS configuration.
+
+If the realm is recognized (i.e. there is a file in
+`${realm_dir}/%{TLS-Server-Name-Indication}.pem`, then that certificate will be chosen, and
+present to the RadSec client. If there is no such file, then the
+default TLS configuration is used.
+
+The current behavior is to _require_ that the server certificate is in
+a file which taken from
+`${realm_dir}/%{TLS-Server-Name-Indication}.pem`. Only the
+`realm_dir` portion of the filename is configurable. The SNI portion
+is taken from the TLS messages, and the `.pem` suffix is hard-coded in
+the source code.
+
+Taking the filename from an untrusted source is fine here. The
+standard (RFC 6066 Section 3) says that the Server Name Indication
+field is a DNS "A label". Which means that there are a limited number
+of characters allowed:
+
+* `.`, `-`, `a-Z`, `A-Z`, `0-9`
+
+If the SNI contain anything else, the TLS connection is rejected.
+
+Note that if session resumption is enabled for RadSec, the session
+cache *must* also cache the `TLS-Server-Name-Indication` attribute.
+The SNI is sent on resumption for TLS 1.2 and earlier, but it is not
+sent for TLS 1.3. As such, the only way to select the right policy on
+resumption is to check the value of the cached
+TLS-Server-Name-Indication attribute.
+