Tag Archives: SSLv2

Apache, Cryptography, Linux, Web Server

Self-signed certificate for Apache

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These instructions are distribution agnostic. However I used CentOS during my tests, so file paths will match that of CentOS, RHEL, Scientific Linux and Fedora. For any other distribution you’ll have to look that up yourself.

The tools required are OpenSSL, Apache and mod_ssl for Apache. To accomplish this I had to run 

# yum install mod_ssl

on my CentOS 5.6 box. Which already had Apache up and running.

Setting up a self-signed certificate using certificate and key

Generate your key and certificate

Most of these parameters explain themselves, see beneath for those who do not.

openssl req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -days 365 -nodes -x509 -keyout website.key -out website.crt

-nodes
don’t encrypt the output key
-x509
output a x509 structure instead of a cert. req.

Copy the key and certificate

# cp website.key website.crt /etc/httpd/conf/

Set permissions and ownership on your key and certificate

This way nobody except root has read access.

chmod 440 /etc/httpd/conf/website.key /etc/httpd/conf/website.crt
chown root:root /etc/httpd/conf/website.key /etc/httpd/conf/website.crt

Alter the apache configuration file, also known as httpd.conf

Edit /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf with your favorite text editor, in my case, nano. Add the following text at the bottom of the file.

      <VirtualHost *:443>
        SSLEngine on
        # Change the next two lines according to where you've actually
        # stored the certificate and key files.
        SSLCertificateFile /etc/httpd/conf/website.crt
	SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/httpd/conf/apache2/website.key
        ServerName domain.tld
        SSLOptions StrictRequire
        SSLProtocol all -SSLv2
        DocumentRoot /path/to/ssl/enabled/site
        <Directory /path/to/ssl/enabled/site/>
          SSLRequireSSL
          Order Deny,Allow
          Allow from All
        </Directory>
      </VirtualHost>

StrictRequire
This forces forbidden access when SSLRequireSSL or SSLRequire successfully decided that access should be forbidden. Usually the default is that in the case where a “Satisfy any” directive is used, and other access restrictions are passed, denial of access due to SSLRequireSSL or SSLRequire is overridden (because that’s how the Apache Satisfy mechanism should work.) But for strict access restriction you can use SSLRequireSSL and/or SSLRequire in combination with an “SSLOptions +StrictRequire”. Then an additional “Satisfy Any” has no chance once mod_ssl has decided to deny access.

Enable SSLv3 and TLSv1, but not SSLv2
SSLProtocol all -SSLv2

Setting up a self-signed certificate with the certificate and key in one file

Generate your key and certificate

Most of these parameters explain themselves, see beneath for those who do not.

openssl req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -days 365 -nodes -x509 -keyout website.pem -out website.pem

-nodes
don’t encrypt the output key
-x509
output a x509 structure instead of a cert. req.

Copy the key and certificate

# cp website.pem  /etc/httpd/conf/

Set permissions and ownership on your key and certificate

This way nobody except root has read access.

chmod 440 /etc/httpd/conf/website.pem
chown root:root /etc/httpd/conf/website.pem

Alter the apache configuration file, also known as httpd.conf

Edit /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf with your favorite text editor, in my case, nano. Add the following text at the bottom of the file.

      <VirtualHost *:443>
        SSLEngine on
        # Change the next line according to where you've actually
        # stored the certificate and key file.
        SSLCertificateFile /etc/httpd/conf/website.pem
        ServerName domain.tld
        SSLOptions StrictRequire
        SSLProtocol all -SSLv2
        DocumentRoot /path/to/ssl/enabled/site
        <Directory /path/to/ssl/enabled/site/>
          SSLRequireSSL
          Order Deny,Allow
          Allow from All
        </Directory>
      </VirtualHost>

StrictRequire
This forces forbidden access when SSLRequireSSL or SSLRequire successfully decided that access should be forbidden. Usually the default is that in the case where a “Satisfy any” directive is used, and other access restrictions are passed, denial of access due to SSLRequireSSL or SSLRequire is overridden (because that’s how the Apache Satisfy mechanism should work.) But for strict access restriction you can use SSLRequireSSL and/or SSLRequire in combination with an “SSLOptions +StrictRequire”. Then an additional “Satisfy Any” has no chance once mod_ssl has decided to deny access.

Enable SSLv3 and TLSv1, but not SSLv2
SSLProtocol all -SSLv2

// CrashMAG