ssl

The following data types are used in the functions for SSL:

boolean() =

true | false

option() =

socketoption() | ssl_option() | transport_option()

socketoption() =

proplists:property()

The default socket options are [{mode,list},{packet, 0},{header, 0},{active, true}].

For valid options, see the inet(3) and gen_tcp(3) manual pages in Kernel.

ssl_option() =

{verify, verify_type()}

| {verify_fun, {fun(), term()}}

| {fail_if_no_peer_cert, boolean()}

| {depth, integer()}

| {cert, public_key:der_encoded()}

| {certfile, path()}

| {key, {'RSAPrivateKey'| 'DSAPrivateKey' | 'ECPrivateKey' | 'PrivateKeyInfo', public_key:der_encoded()}}

| {keyfile, path()}

| {password, string()}

| {cacerts, [public_key:der_encoded()]}

| {cacertfile, path()}

| {dh, public_key:der_encoded()}

| {dhfile, path()}

| {ciphers, ciphers()}

| {user_lookup_fun, {fun(), term()}}, {psk_identity, string()}, {srp_identity, {string(), string()}}

| {reuse_sessions, boolean()}

| {reuse_session, fun()} {next_protocols_advertised, [binary()]}

| {client_preferred_next_protocols, {client | server, [binary()]} | {client | server, [binary()], binary()}}

| {log_alert, boolean()}

| {server_name_indication, hostname() | disable}

| {sni_hosts, [{hostname(), [ssl_option()]}]}

| {sni_fun, SNIfun::fun()}

transport_option() =

{cb_info, {CallbackModule::atom(), DataTag::atom(), ClosedTag::atom(), ErrTag:atom()}}

Defaults to {gen_tcp, tcp, tcp_closed, tcp_error}. Can be used to customize the transport layer. The callback module must implement a reliable transport protocol, behave as gen_tcp, and have functions corresponding to inet:setopts/2, inet:getopts/2, inet:peername/1, inet:sockname/1, and inet:port/1. The callback gen_tcp is treated specially and calls inet directly.

CallbackModule =

atom()

DataTag =

atom()

Used in socket data message.

ClosedTag =

atom()

Used in socket close message.

verify_type() =

verify_none | verify_peer

path() =

string()

Represents a file path.

public_key:der_encoded() =

binary()

ASN.1 DER-encoded entity as an Erlang binary.

host() =

hostname() | ipaddress()

hostname() =

string() - DNS hostname

ip_address() =

{N1,N2,N3,N4} % IPv4 | {K1,K2,K3,K4,K5,K6,K7,K8} % IPv6

sslsocket() =

opaque()

protocol() =

sslv3 | tlsv1 | 'tlsv1.1' | 'tlsv1.2'

ciphers() =

= [ciphersuite()] | string()

According to old API.

ciphersuite() =

{key_exchange(), cipher(), MAC::hash()} | {key_exchange(), cipher(), MAC::hash(), PRF::hash()}

key_exchange()=

rsa | dhe_dss | dhe_rsa | dh_anon | psk | dhe_psk | rsa_psk | srp_anon | srp_dss | srp_rsa | ecdh_anon | ecdh_ecdsa | ecdhe_ecdsa | ecdh_rsa | ecdhe_rsa

cipher() =

rc4_128 | des_cbc | '3des_ede_cbc' | aes_128_cbc | aes_256_cbc | aes_128_gcm | aes_256_gcm | chacha20_poly1305

hash() =

md5 | sha | sha224 | sha256 | sha348 | sha512

prf_random() =

client_random | server_random

srp_param_type() =

srp_1024 | srp_1536 | srp_2048 | srp_3072 | srp_4096 | srp_6144 | srp_8192

SNIfun::fun()

= fun(ServerName :: string()) -> [ssl_option()]

named_curve() =

sect571r1 | sect571k1 | secp521r1 | brainpoolP512r1 | sect409k1 | sect409r1 | brainpoolP384r1 | secp384r1 | sect283k1 | sect283r1 | brainpoolP256r1 | secp256k1 | secp256r1 | sect239k1 | sect233k1 | sect233r1 | secp224k1 | secp224r1 | sect193r1 | sect193r2 | secp192k1 | secp192r1 | sect163k1 | sect163r1 | sect163r2 | secp160k1 | secp160r1 | secp160r2

The following options have the same meaning in the client and the server:

{protocol, tls | dtls}

Choose TLS or DTLS protocol for the transport layer security. Defaults to tls Introduced in OTP 20, DTLS support is considered experimental in this release. DTLS over other transports than UDP are not yet supported.

{cert, public_key:der_encoded()}

The DER-encoded users certificate. If this option is supplied, it overrides option certfile.

{certfile, path()}

Path to a file containing the user certificate.

{key, {'RSAPrivateKey'| 'DSAPrivateKey' | 'ECPrivateKey' |'PrivateKeyInfo', public_key:der_encoded()}}

The DER-encoded user's private key. If this option is supplied, it overrides option keyfile.

{keyfile, path()}

Path to the file containing the user's private PEM-encoded key. As PEM-files can contain several entries, this option defaults to the same file as given by option certfile.

{password, string()}

String containing the user's password. Only used if the private keyfile is password-protected.

{ciphers, ciphers()}

Supported cipher suites. The function cipher_suites/0 can be used to find all ciphers that are supported by default. cipher_suites(all) can be called to find all available cipher suites. Pre-Shared Key (RFC 4279 and RFC 5487), Secure Remote Password (RFC 5054), RC4 cipher suites, and anonymous cipher suites only work if explicitly enabled by this option; they are supported/enabled by the peer also. Anonymous cipher suites are supported for testing purposes only and are not be used when security matters.

{eccs, [named_curve()]}

Allows to specify the order of preference for named curves and to restrict their usage when using a cipher suite supporting them.

{secure_renegotiate, boolean()}

Specifies if to reject renegotiation attempt that does not live up to RFC 5746. By default secure_renegotiate is set to false, that is, secure renegotiation is used if possible, but it falls back to insecure renegotiation if the peer does not support RFC 5746.

{depth, integer()}

Maximum number of non-self-issued intermediate certificates that can follow the peer certificate in a valid certification path. So, if depth is 0 the PEER must be signed by the trusted ROOT-CA directly; if 1 the path can be PEER, CA, ROOT-CA; if 2 the path can be PEER, CA, CA, ROOT-CA, and so on. The default value is 1.

{verify_fun, {Verifyfun :: fun(), InitialUserState :: term()}}

The verification fun is to be defined as follows:

fun(OtpCert :: #'OTPCertificate'{}, Event :: {bad_cert, Reason :: atom() | {revoked,
atom()}} |
	     {extension, #'Extension'{}}, InitialUserState :: term()) ->
	{valid, UserState :: term()} | {valid_peer, UserState :: term()} |
	{fail, Reason :: term()} | {unknown, UserState :: term()}.
	

The verification fun is called during the X509-path validation when an error or an extension unknown to the SSL application is encountered. It is also called when a certificate is considered valid by the path validation to allow access to each certificate in the path to the user application. It differentiates between the peer certificate and the CA certificates by using valid_peer or valid as second argument to the verification fun. See the public_key User's Guide for definition of #'OTPCertificate'{} and #'Extension'{}.

• If the verify callback fun returns {fail, Reason}, the verification process is immediately stopped, an alert is sent to the peer, and the TLS/SSL handshake terminates.

• If the verify callback fun returns {valid, UserState}, the verification process continues.

• If the verify callback fun always returns {valid, UserState}, the TLS/SSL handshake does not terminate regarding verification failures and the connection is established.

• If called with an extension unknown to the user application, return value {unknown, UserState} is to be used.

  Note that if the fun returns unknown for an extension marked as critical, validation will fail.

Default option verify_fun in verify_peer mode:

{fun(_,{bad_cert, _} = Reason, _) ->
	 {fail, Reason};
    (_,{extension, _}, UserState) ->
	 {unknown, UserState};
    (_, valid, UserState) ->
	 {valid, UserState};
    (_, valid_peer, UserState) ->
         {valid, UserState}
 end, []}
      

Default option verify_fun in mode verify_none:

{fun(_,{bad_cert, _}, UserState) ->
	 {valid, UserState};
    (_,{extension, #'Extension'{critical = true}}, UserState) ->
	 {valid, UserState};
    (_,{extension, _}, UserState) ->
	 {unknown, UserState};
    (_, valid, UserState) ->
	 {valid, UserState};
    (_, valid_peer, UserState) ->
         {valid, UserState}
 end, []}
      

The possible path validation errors are given on form {bad_cert, Reason} where Reason is:

unknown_ca

No trusted CA was found in the trusted store. The trusted CA is normally a so called ROOT CA, which is a self-signed certificate. Trust can be claimed for an intermediate CA (trusted anchor does not have to be self-signed according to X-509) by using option partial_chain.

selfsigned_peer

The chain consisted only of one self-signed certificate.

PKIX X-509-path validation error

For possible reasons, see public_key:pkix_path_validation/3

{crl_check, boolean() | peer | best_effort }

Perform CRL (Certificate Revocation List) verification (public_key:pkix_crls_validate/3) on all the certificates during the path validation (public_key:pkix_path_validation/3) of the certificate chain. Defaults to false.

peer

check is only performed on the peer certificate.

best_effort

if certificate revocation status can not be determined it will be accepted as valid.

The CA certificates specified for the connection will be used to construct the certificate chain validating the CRLs.

The CRLs will be fetched from a local or external cache. See ssl_crl_cache_api(3).

{crl_cache, {Module :: atom(), {DbHandle :: internal | term(), Args :: list()}}}

Specify how to perform lookup and caching of certificate revocation lists. Module defaults to ssl_crl_cache with DbHandle being internal and an empty argument list.

There are two implementations available:

ssl_crl_cache

This module maintains a cache of CRLs. CRLs can be added to the cache using the function ssl_crl_cache:insert/1, and optionally automatically fetched through HTTP if the following argument is specified:

{http, timeout()}

Enables fetching of CRLs specified as http URIs inX509 certificate extensions. Requires the OTP inets application.

ssl_crl_hash_dir

This module makes use of a directory where CRLs are stored in files named by the hash of the issuer name.

The file names consist of eight hexadecimal digits followed by .rN, where N is an integer, e.g. 1a2b3c4d.r0. For the first version of the CRL, N starts at zero, and for each new version, N is incremented by one. The OpenSSL utility c_rehash creates symlinks according to this pattern.

For a given hash value, this module finds all consecutive .r* files starting from zero, and those files taken together make up the revocation list. CRL files whose nextUpdate fields are in the past, or that are issued by a different CA that happens to have the same name hash, are excluded.

The following argument is required:

{dir, string()}

Specifies the directory in which the CRLs can be found.

max_handshake_size

Integer (24 bits unsigned). Used to limit the size of valid TLS handshake packets to avoid DoS attacks. Defaults to 256*1024.

{partial_chain, fun(Chain::[DerCert]) -> {trusted_ca, DerCert} | unknown_ca }

Claim an intermediate CA in the chain as trusted. TLS then performs public_key:pkix_path_validation/3 with the selected CA as trusted anchor and the rest of the chain.

{versions, [protocol()]}

TLS protocol versions supported by started clients and servers. This option overrides the application environment option protocol_version. If the environment option is not set, it defaults to all versions, except SSL-3.0, supported by the SSL application. See also ssl(6).

{hibernate_after, integer()|undefined}

When an integer-value is specified, ssl_connection goes into hibernation after the specified number of milliseconds of inactivity, thus reducing its memory footprint. When undefined is specified (this is the default), the process never goes into hibernation.

{user_lookup_fun, {Lookupfun :: fun(), UserState :: term()}}

The lookup fun is to defined as follows:

fun(psk, PSKIdentity ::string(), UserState :: term()) ->
	{ok, SharedSecret :: binary()} | error;
fun(srp, Username :: string(), UserState :: term()) ->
	{ok, {SRPParams :: srp_param_type(), Salt :: binary(), DerivedKey :: binary()}} | error.
	

For Pre-Shared Key (PSK) cipher suites, the lookup fun is called by the client and server to determine the shared secret. When called by the client, PSKIdentity is set to the hint presented by the server or to undefined. When called by the server, PSKIdentity is the identity presented by the client.

For Secure Remote Password (SRP), the fun is only used by the server to obtain parameters that it uses to generate its session keys. DerivedKey is to be derived according to RFC 2945 and RFC 5054: crypto:sha([Salt, crypto:sha([Username, <<$:>>, Password])])

{padding_check, boolean()}

Affects TLS-1.0 connections only. If set to false, it disables the block cipher padding check to be able to interoperate with legacy software.

Warning

Using {padding_check, boolean()} makes TLS vulnerable to the Poodle attack.

{beast_mitigation, one_n_minus_one | zero_n | disabled}

Affects SSL-3.0 and TLS-1.0 connections only. Used to change the BEAST mitigation strategy to interoperate with legacy software. Defaults to one_n_minus_one.

one_n_minus_one - Perform 1/n-1 BEAST mitigation.

zero_n - Perform 0/n BEAST mitigation.

disabled - Disable BEAST mitigation.

Warning

Using {beast_mitigation, disabled} makes SSL or TLS vulnerable to the BEAST attack.

The following options are client-specific or have a slightly different meaning in the client than in the server:

{verify, verify_type()}

In mode verify_none the default behavior is to allow all x509-path validation errors. See also option verify_fun.

{reuse_sessions, boolean()}

Specifies if the client is to try to reuse sessions when possible.

{cacerts, [public_key:der_encoded()]}

The DER-encoded trusted certificates. If this option is supplied it overrides option cacertfile.

{cacertfile, path()}

Path to a file containing PEM-encoded CA certificates. The CA certificates are used during server authentication and when building the client certificate chain.

{alpn_advertised_protocols, [binary()]}

The list of protocols supported by the client to be sent to the server to be used for an Application-Layer Protocol Negotiation (ALPN). If the server supports ALPN then it will choose a protocol from this list; otherwise it will fail the connection with a "no_application_protocol" alert. A server that does not support ALPN will ignore this value.

The list of protocols must not contain an empty binary.

The negotiated protocol can be retrieved using the negotiated_protocol/1 function.

{client_preferred_next_protocols, {Precedence :: server | client, ClientPrefs :: [binary()]}}
{client_preferred_next_protocols, {Precedence :: server | client, ClientPrefs :: [binary()], Default :: binary()}}

Indicates that the client is to try to perform Next Protocol Negotiation.

If precedence is server, the negotiated protocol is the first protocol to be shown on the server advertised list, which is also on the client preference list.

If precedence is client, the negotiated protocol is the first protocol to be shown on the client preference list, which is also on the server advertised list.

If the client does not support any of the server advertised protocols or the server does not advertise any protocols, the client falls back to the first protocol in its list or to the default protocol (if a default is supplied). If the server does not support Next Protocol Negotiation, the connection terminates if no default protocol is supplied.

{psk_identity, string()}

Specifies the identity the client presents to the server. The matching secret is found by calling user_lookup_fun.

{srp_identity, {Username :: string(), Password :: string()}

Specifies the username and password to use to authenticate to the server.

{server_name_indication, HostName :: hostname()}

Specify the hostname to be used in TLS Server Name Indication extension. Is usefull when upgrading a TCP socket to a TLS socket or if the hostname can not be derived from the Host argument to ssl:connect/3. Will also cause the client to preform host name verification of the peer certificate public_key:pkix_verify_hostname(PeerCert, [{dns_id, HostName}])

during the x509-path validation. If the check fails the error {bad_cert, hostname_check_failiure} will be propagated to the path validation fun verify_fun

{server_name_indication, disable}

When starting a TLS connection without upgrade, the Server Name Indication extension is sent if possible that is can be derived from the Host argument to ssl:connect/3. This option can be used to disable that behavior.

Note

Note that this also disables the default host name verification check of the peer certificate.

{fallback, boolean()}

Send special cipher suite TLS_FALLBACK_SCSV to avoid undesired TLS version downgrade. Defaults to false

Warning

Note this option is not needed in normal TLS usage and should not be used to implement new clients. But legacy clients that retries connections in the following manner

ssl:connect(Host, Port, [...{versions, ['tlsv2', 'tlsv1.1', 'tlsv1', 'sslv3']}])

ssl:connect(Host, Port, [...{versions, [tlsv1.1', 'tlsv1', 'sslv3']}, {fallback, true}])

ssl:connect(Host, Port, [...{versions, ['tlsv1', 'sslv3']}, {fallback, true}])

ssl:connect(Host, Port, [...{versions, ['sslv3']}, {fallback, true}])

may use it to avoid undesired TLS version downgrade. Note that TLS_FALLBACK_SCSV must also be supported by the server for the prevention to work.

{signature_algs, [{hash(), ecdsa | rsa | dsa}]}

In addition to the algorithms negotiated by the cipher suite used for key exchange, payload encryption, message authentication and pseudo random calculation, the TLS signature algorithm extension Section 7.4.1.4.1 in RFC 5246 may be used, from TLS 1.2, to negotiate which signature algorithm to use during the TLS handshake. If no lower TLS versions than 1.2 are supported, the client will send a TLS signature algorithm extension with the algorithms specified by this option. Defaults to

[
%% SHA2
{sha512, ecdsa},
{sha512, rsa},
{sha384, ecdsa},
{sha384, rsa},
{sha256, ecdsa},
{sha256, rsa},
{sha224, ecdsa},
{sha224, rsa},
%% SHA
{sha, ecdsa},
{sha, rsa},
{sha, dsa},
]

The algorithms should be in the preferred order. Selected signature algorithm can restrict which hash functions that may be selected. Default support for {md5, rsa} removed in ssl-8.0

The following options are server-specific or have a slightly different meaning in the server than in the client:

{cacerts, [public_key:der_encoded()]}

The DER-encoded trusted certificates. If this option is supplied it overrides option cacertfile.

{cacertfile, path()}

Path to a file containing PEM-encoded CA certificates. The CA certificates are used to build the server certificate chain and for client authentication. The CAs are also used in the list of acceptable client CAs passed to the client when a certificate is requested. Can be omitted if there is no need to verify the client and if there are no intermediate CAs for the server certificate.

{dh, public_key:der_encoded()}

The DER-encoded Diffie-Hellman parameters. If specified, it overrides option dhfile.

{dhfile, path()}

Path to a file containing PEM-encoded Diffie Hellman parameters to be used by the server if a cipher suite using Diffie Hellman key exchange is negotiated. If not specified, default parameters are used.

{verify, verify_type()}

A server only does x509-path validation in mode verify_peer, as it then sends a certificate request to the client (this message is not sent if the verify option is verify_none). You can then also want to specify option fail_if_no_peer_cert.

{fail_if_no_peer_cert, boolean()}

Used together with {verify, verify_peer} by an SSL server. If set to true, the server fails if the client does not have a certificate to send, that is, sends an empty certificate. If set to false, it fails only if the client sends an invalid certificate (an empty certificate is considered valid). Defaults to false.

{reuse_sessions, boolean()}

Specifies if the server is to agree to reuse sessions when requested by the clients. See also option reuse_session.

{reuse_session, fun(SuggestedSessionId, PeerCert, Compression, CipherSuite) -> boolean()}

Enables the SSL server to have a local policy for deciding if a session is to be reused or not. Meaningful only if reuse_sessions is set to true. SuggestedSessionId is a binary(), PeerCert is a DER-encoded certificate, Compression is an enumeration integer, and CipherSuite is of type ciphersuite().

{alpn_preferred_protocols, [binary()]}

Indicates the server will try to perform Application-Layer Protocol Negotiation (ALPN).

The list of protocols is in order of preference. The protocol negotiated will be the first in the list that matches one of the protocols advertised by the client. If no protocol matches, the server will fail the connection with a "no_application_protocol" alert.

The negotiated protocol can be retrieved using the negotiated_protocol/1 function.

{next_protocols_advertised, Protocols :: [binary()]}

List of protocols to send to the client if the client indicates that it supports the Next Protocol extension. The client can select a protocol that is not on this list. The list of protocols must not contain an empty binary. If the server negotiates a Next Protocol, it can be accessed using the negotiated_next_protocol/1 method.

{psk_identity, string()}

Specifies the server identity hint, which the server presents to the client.

{log_alert, boolean()}

If set to false, error reports are not displayed.

{honor_cipher_order, boolean()}

If set to true, use the server preference for cipher selection. If set to false (the default), use the client preference.

{sni_hosts, [{hostname(), [ssl_option()]}]}

If the server receives a SNI (Server Name Indication) from the client matching a host listed in the sni_hosts option, the specific options for that host will override previously specified options. The option sni_fun, and sni_hosts are mutually exclusive.

{sni_fun, SNIfun::fun()}

If the server receives a SNI (Server Name Indication) from the client, the given function will be called to retrieve [ssl_option()] for the indicated server. These options will be merged into predefined [ssl_option()]. The function should be defined as: fun(ServerName :: string()) -> [ssl_option()] and can be specified as a fun or as named fun module:function/1 The option sni_fun, and sni_hosts are mutually exclusive.

{client_renegotiation, boolean()}

In protocols that support client-initiated renegotiation, the cost of resources of such an operation is higher for the server than the client. This can act as a vector for denial of service attacks. The SSL application already takes measures to counter-act such attempts, but client-initiated renegotiation can be strictly disabled by setting this option to false. The default value is true. Note that disabling renegotiation can result in long-lived connections becoming unusable due to limits on the number of messages the underlying cipher suite can encipher.

{honor_cipher_order, boolean()}

If true, use the server's preference for cipher selection. If false (the default), use the client's preference.

{honor_ecc_order, boolean()}

If true, use the server's preference for ECC curve selection. If false (the default), use the client's preference.

{signature_algs, [{hash(), ecdsa | rsa | dsa}]}

The algorithms specified by this option will be the ones accepted by the server in a signature algorithm negotiation, introduced in TLS-1.2. The algorithms will also be offered to the client if a client certificate is requested. For more details see the corresponding client option.

{v2_hello_compatible, boolean()}

If true, the server accepts clients that send hello messages on SSL-2.0 format but offers supported SSL/TLS versions. Defaults to false, that is the server will not interoperate with clients that offers SSL-2.0.

When an SSL socket is in active mode (the default), data from the socket is delivered to the owner of the socket in the form of messages:

• {ssl, Socket, Data}

• {ssl_closed, Socket}

• {ssl_error, Socket, Reason}

A Timeout argument specifies a time-out in milliseconds. The default value for argument Timeout is infinity.

inet(3) and gen_tcp(3)