tls E. Rescorla
Internet-Draft RTFM, Inc.
Intended status: Experimental K. Oku
Expires: January 9, 2020 Fastly
N. Sullivan
Cloudflare
C. Wood
Apple, Inc.
July 08, 2019
Encrypted Server Name Indication for TLS 1.3
draft-ietf-tls-esni-04
Abstract
This document defines a simple mechanism for encrypting the Server
Name Indication for TLS 1.3.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on January 9, 2020.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2019 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
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the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1. Topologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2. SNI Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Publishing the SNI Encryption Key in the DNS . . . . . . . . 5
4.1. Encrypted SNI Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.2. Encrypted SNI DNS Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.2.1. Address Set Extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.2.2. Resolution Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5. The "encrypted_server_name" extension . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.1. Client Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.1.1. Sending an encrypted SNI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.1.2. Handling the server response . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.1.3. Authenticating for the public name . . . . . . . . . 15
5.1.4. GREASE extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.2. Client-Facing Server Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5.3. Shared Mode Server Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.4. Split Mode Server Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6. Compatibility Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6.1. Misconfiguration and Deployment Concerns . . . . . . . . 20
6.2. Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.1. Why is cleartext DNS OK? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.2. Optional Record Digests and Trial Decryption . . . . . . 21
7.3. Encrypting other Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
7.4. Related Privacy Leaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
7.5. Comparison Against Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
7.5.1. Mitigate against replay attacks . . . . . . . . . . . 22
7.5.2. Avoid widely-deployed shared secrets . . . . . . . . 23
7.5.3. Prevent SNI-based DoS attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.5.4. Do not stick out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.5.5. Forward secrecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.5.6. Proper security context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
7.5.7. Split server spoofing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.5.8. Supporting multiple protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
7.6. Misrouting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8.1. Update of the TLS ExtensionType Registry . . . . . . . . 24
8.2. Update of the TLS Alert Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
8.3. Update of the Resource Record (RR) TYPEs Registry . . . . 25
9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
9.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
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9.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Appendix A. Communicating SNI and Nonce to Backend Server . . . 27
Appendix B. Alternative SNI Protection Designs . . . . . . . . . 27
B.1. TLS-layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
B.1.1. TLS in Early Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
B.1.2. Combined Tickets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
B.2. Application-layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
B.2.1. HTTP/2 CERTIFICATE Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Appendix C. Total Client Hello Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Appendix D. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
1. Introduction
DISCLAIMER: This is very early a work-in-progress design and has not
yet seen significant (or really any) security analysis. It should
not be used as a basis for building production systems.
Although TLS 1.3 [RFC8446] encrypts most of the handshake, including
the server certificate, there are several other channels that allow
an on-path attacker to determine the domain name the client is trying
to connect to, including:
o Cleartext client DNS queries.
o Visible server IP addresses, assuming the the server is not doing
domain-based virtual hosting.
o Cleartext Server Name Indication (SNI) [RFC6066] in ClientHello
messages.
DoH [I-D.ietf-doh-dns-over-https] and DPRIVE [RFC7858] [RFC8094]
provide mechanisms for clients to conceal DNS lookups from network
inspection, and many TLS servers host multiple domains on the same IP
address. In such environments, SNI is an explicit signal used to
determine the server's identity. Indirect mechanisms such as traffic
analysis also exist.
The TLS WG has extensively studied the problem of protecting SNI, but
has been unable to develop a completely generic solution.
[I-D.ietf-tls-sni-encryption] provides a description of the problem
space and some of the proposed techniques. One of the more difficult
problems is "Do not stick out" ([I-D.ietf-tls-sni-encryption];
Section 3.4): if only sensitive/private services use SNI encryption,
then SNI encryption is a signal that a client is going to such a
service. For this reason, much recent work has focused on concealing
the fact that SNI is being protected. Unfortunately, the result
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often has undesirable performance consequences, incomplete coverage,
or both.
The design in this document takes a different approach: it assumes
that private origins will co-locate with or hide behind a provider
(CDN, app server, etc.) which is able to activate encrypted SNI
(ESNI) for all of the domains it hosts. Thus, the use of encrypted
SNI does not indicate that the client is attempting to reach a
private origin, but only that it is going to a particular service
provider, which the observer could already tell from the IP address.
2. Conventions and Definitions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here. All TLS notation comes from [RFC8446];
Section 3.
3. Overview
This document is designed to operate in one of two primary topologies
shown below, which we call "Shared Mode" and "Split Mode"
3.1. Topologies
+---------------------+
| |
| 2001:DB8::1111 |
| |
Client <-----> | private.example.org |
| |
| public.example.com |
| |
+---------------------+
Server
Figure 1: Shared Mode Topology
In Shared Mode, the provider is the origin server for all the domains
whose DNS records point to it and clients form a TLS connection
directly to that provider, which has access to the plaintext of the
connection.
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+--------------------+ +---------------------+
| | | |
| 2001:DB8::1111 | | 2001:DB8::EEEE |
Client <------------------------------------>| |
| public.example.com | | private.example.com |
| | | |
+--------------------+ +---------------------+
Client-Facing Server Backend Server
Figure 2: Split Mode Topology
In Split Mode, the provider is _not_ the origin server for private
domains. Rather the DNS records for private domains point to the
provider, but the provider's server just relays the connection back
to the backend server, which is the true origin server. The provider
does not have access to the plaintext of the connection. In
principle, the provider might not be the origin for any domains, but
as a practical matter, it is probably the origin for a large set of
innocuous domains, but is also providing protection for some private
domains. Note that the backend server can be an unmodified TLS 1.3
server.
3.2. SNI Encryption
First, the provider publishes a public key and metadata which is used
for SNI encryption for all the domains for which it serves directly
or indirectly (via Split Mode). This document defines a publication
mechanism using DNS, but other mechanisms are also possible. In
particular, if some of the clients of a private server are
applications rather than Web browsers, those applications might have
the public key and metadata preconfigured.
When a client wants to form a TLS connection to any of the domains
served by an ESNI-supporting provider, it sends an
"encrypted_server_name" extension, which contains the true extension
encrypted under the provider's public key. The provider can then
decrypt the extension and either terminate the connection (in Shared
Mode) or forward it to the backend server (in Split Mode).
4. Publishing the SNI Encryption Key in the DNS
Publishing ESNI keys in the DNS requires care to ensure correct
behavior. There are deployment environments in which a domain is
served by multiple server operators who do not manage the ESNI keys.
Because ESNI and A/AAAA lookups are independent, it is therefore
possible to obtain an ESNI record which does not match the A/AAAA
records. (That is, the host to which an A or AAAA record refers is
not in possession of the ESNI keys.) The design of the system must
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therefore allow clients to detect and recover from this situation
(see Section 4.2 for more details).
Content providers operating in Split Mode SHOULD ensure that the A
and AAAA records for ESNI-enabled server names do not allow
identifying the server name from the IP address. This can for
example be achieved by always returning the same records for all
ESNI-enabled names, or by having the function that picks addresses
from a pool not depend on the server name. This yields an anonymity
set of cardinality equal to the number of ESNI-enabled server domains
supported by a given client-facing server. Thus, even with SNI
encryption, an attacker which can enumerate the set of ESNI-enabled
domains supported by a client-facing server can guess the correct SNI
with probability at least 1/K, where K is the size of this ESNI-
enabled server anonymity set. This probability may be increased via
traffic analysis or other mechanisms.
The following sections describe a DNS record format that achieve
these goals.
4.1. Encrypted SNI Record
SNI Encryption keys can be published using the following ESNIRecord
structure.
// Copied from TLS 1.3
struct {
NamedGroup group;
opaque key_exchange<1..2^16-1>;
} KeyShareEntry;
struct {
uint16 version;
opaque public_name<1..2^16-1>;
KeyShareEntry keys<4..2^16-1>;
CipherSuite cipher_suites<2..2^16-2>;
uint16 padded_length;
Extension extensions<0..2^16-1>;
} ESNIKeys;
struct {
ESNIKeys esni_keys;
Extension dns_extensions<0..2^16-1>;
} ESNIRecord;
The outermost ESNIRecord structure contains the following fields:
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esni_keys An ESNIKeys structure that contains the actual keys used
to encrypt the SNI as well as some metadata related to those keys.
dns_extensions A list of extensions that the client can take into
consideration when resolving the target DNS name. The format is
defined in [RFC8446]; Section 4.2. The purpose of the field is to
provide room for additional features in the future. An extension
may be tagged as mandatory by using an extension type codepoint
with the high order bit set to 1. A client which receives a
mandatory extension they do not understand must reject the
ESNIRecord values.
The ESNIKeys structure contains the following fields:
version The version of the structure. For this specification, that
value SHALL be 0xff03. Clients MUST ignore any ESNIKeys structure
with a version they do not understand. [[NOTE: This means that
the RFC will presumably have a nonzero value.]]
public_name The non-empty name of the entity trusted to update these
encryption keys. This is used to repair misconfigurations, as
described in Section 5.1.2.
keys The list of keys which can be used by the client to encrypt the
SNI. Every key being listed MUST belong to a different group.
padded_length The length to pad the ServerNameList value to prior to
encryption. This value SHOULD be set to the largest ServerNameList
the server expects to support rounded up the nearest multiple of 16.
If the server supports arbitrary wildcard names, it SHOULD set this
value to 260. Clients SHOULD reject ESNIKeys as invalid if
padded_length is greater than 260.
extensions A list of extensions that the client can take into
consideration when generating a Client Hello message. The format
is defined in [RFC8446]; Section 4.2. The purpose of the field is
to provide room for additional features in the future. An
extension may be tagged as mandatory by using an extension type
codepoint with the high order bit set to 1. A client which
receives a mandatory extension they do not understand must reject
the ESNIRecord value.
Any of the listed keys in the ESNIKeys value may be used to encrypt
the SNI for the associated domain name. The cipher suite list is
orthogonal to the list of keys, so each key may be used with any
cipher suite. Clients MUST parse the extension list and check for
unsupported mandatory extensions. If an unsupported mandatory
extension is present, clients MUST reject the ESNIRecord value.
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The ESNIRecord structure is placed in the RRData section of an ESNI
record as-is. Servers MAY supply multiple ESNIRecord values, with
ESNIKeys either of the same or of different versions. This allows a
server to support multiple versions at once. If the server does not
supply any ESNIRecord values with an ESNIKeys version known to the
client, then the client MUST behave as if no ESNI records were found.
The name of each ESNI record MUST match the query domain name or the
query domain name's canonicalized form. That is, if a client queries
example.com, the ESNI Resource Record might be:
example.com. 60S IN ESNI "..." "..."
In the event that ESNIKeys is corrupt in transit or otherwise
invalid, servers will initiate the retry mechanism described in
Section 5.2 and deliver valid ESNIKeys to clients.
Note that the length of the ESNIRecord structure MUST NOT exceed 2^16
- 1, as the RDLENGTH is only 16 bits [RFC1035].
4.2. Encrypted SNI DNS Resolution
This section describes a client ESNI resolution algorithm using an
"address_set" extension for the ESNIRecord structure. Future
specifications may introduce new ESNIRecord extensions and
corresponding resolution algorithms.
4.2.1. Address Set Extension
ESNIRecord values MAY indicate one or more IP addresses for the
host(s) in possession of the private key corresponding to one of the
keys provided in the ESNIKeys structure, via the following mandatory
"address_set" extension:
enum {
address_set(0x1001), (65535)
} ExtensionType;
The body of this extension is encoded using the following structure.
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enum {
address_v4(4),
address_v6(6),
} AddressType;
struct {
AddressType address_type;
select (address_type) {
case address_v4: {
opaque ipv4Address[4];
}
case address_v6: {
opaque ipv6Address[16];
}
}
} Address;
struct {
Address address_set<1..2^16-1>;
} AddressSet;
address_set A set of Address structures containing IPv4 or IPv6
addresses to hosts which have the corresponding private ESNI key.
This extension MUST NOT be placed in the ESNIKeys extensions field,
but only in the ESNIRecord dns_extensions field.
4.2.2. Resolution Algorithm
Clients obtain ESNI records by querying the DNS for ESNI-enabled
server domains. In cases where the domain of the A or AAAA records
being resolved do not match the SNI Server Name, such as when
[RFC7838] is being used, the alternate domain should be used for
querying the ESNI record. (See Section 2.3 of [RFC7838] for more
details.)
Clients SHOULD initiate ESNI queries in parallel alongside normal A
or AAAA queries to obtain address information in a timely manner in
the event that ESNI is available. The following algorithm describes
a procedure by which clients can process ESNI responses as they
arrive to produce addresses for ESNI-capable hosts.
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1. If an ESNI response containing an ESNIRecord value with an "address_set" extension arrives before an A or
AAAA response, clients SHOULD initiate TLS with ESNI to the provided address(es).
2. If an A or AAAA response arrives before the ESNI response, clients SHOULD wait up
to CD milliseconds before initiating TLS to either address. (Clients may begin
TCP connections in this time. QUIC connections should wait.) If an ESNI
response with an "address_set" extension arrives in this time, clients SHOULD
initiate TLS with ESNI to the provided address(es). If an ESNI response
without an "address_set" extension arrives in this time, clients MAY initiate
TLS with ESNI to the address(es) in the A or AAAA response. If no ESNI response
arrives in this time, clients SHOULD initiate TLS without ESNI to the available address(es).
CD (Connection Delay) is a configurable parameter. The recommended
value is 50 milliseconds, as per the guidance in [RFC8305].
5. The "encrypted_server_name" extension
The encrypted SNI is carried in an "encrypted_server_name" extension,
defined as follows:
enum {
encrypted_server_name(0xffce), (65535)
} ExtensionType;
For clients (in ClientHello), this extension contains the following
ClientEncryptedSNI structure:
struct {
CipherSuite suite;
KeyShareEntry key_share;
opaque record_digest<0..2^16-1>;
opaque encrypted_sni<0..2^16-1>;
} ClientEncryptedSNI;
suite The cipher suite used to encrypt the SNI.
key_share The KeyShareEntry carrying the client's public ephemeral
key shared used to derive the ESNI key.
record_digest A cryptographic hash of the ESNIKeys structure from
which the ESNI key was obtained, i.e., from the first byte of
"version" to the end of the structure. This hash is computed
using the hash function associated with "suite".
encrypted_sni The ClientESNIInner structure, AEAD-encrypted using
cipher suite "suite" and the key generated as described below.
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For servers (in EncryptedExtensions), this extension contains the
following structure:
enum {
esni_accept(0),
esni_retry_request(1),
} ServerESNIResponseType;
struct {
ServerESNIResponseType response_type;
select (response_type) {
case esni_accept: uint8 nonce[16];
case esni_retry_request: ESNIKeys retry_keys<1..2^16-1>;
}
} ServerEncryptedSNI;
response_type Indicates whether the server processed the client ESNI
extension. (See Section 5.1.2 and Section 5.2.}
nonce The contents of ClientESNIInner.nonce. (See Section 5.1.)
retry_keys One or more ESNIKeys structures containing the keys that
the client should use on subsequent connections to encrypt the
ClientESNIInner structure.
This protocol also defines the "esni_required" alert, which is sent
by the client when it offered an "encrypted_server_name" extension
which was not accepted by the server.
enum {
esni_required(121),
} AlertDescription;
Finally, requirements in Section 5.1 and Section 5.2 require
implementations to track, alongside each PSK established by a
previous connection, whether the connection negotiated this extension
with the "esni_accept" response type. If so, this is referred to as
an "ESNI PSK". Otherwise, it is a "non-ESNI PSK". This may be
implemented by adding a new field to client and server session
states.
5.1. Client Behavior
5.1.1. Sending an encrypted SNI
In order to send an encrypted SNI, the client MUST first select one
of the server ESNIKeyShareEntry values and generate an (EC)DHE share
in the matching group. This share will then be sent to the server in
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the "encrypted_sni" extension and used to derive the SNI encryption
key. It does not affect the (EC)DHE shared secret used in the TLS
key schedule. It MUST also select an appropriate cipher suite from
the list of suites offered by the server. If the client is unable to
select an appropriate group or suite it SHOULD ignore that ESNIKeys
value and MAY attempt to use another value provided by the server.
(Recall that servers might provide multiple ESNIRecord values in
response to a ESNI record query, each containing an ESNIKeys value.)
The client MUST NOT send encrypted SNI using groups or cipher suites
not advertised by the server.
When offering an encrypted SNI, the client MUST NOT offer to resume
any non-ESNI PSKs. It additionally MUST NOT offer to resume any
sessions for TLS 1.2 or below.
Let Z be the DH shared secret derived from a key share in ESNIKeys
and the corresponding client share in ClientEncryptedSNI.key_share.
The SNI encryption key is computed from Z as follows:
Zx = HKDF-Extract(0, Z)
key = HKDF-Expand-Label(Zx, KeyLabel, Hash(ESNIContents), key_length)
iv = HKDF-Expand-Label(Zx, IVLabel, Hash(ESNIContents), iv_length)
where ESNIContents is as specified below and Hash is the hash
function associated with the HKDF instantiation. The salt argument
for HKDF-Extract is a string consisting of Hash.length bytes set to
zeros. For a client's first ClientHello, KeyLabel = "esni key" and
IVLabel = "esni iv", whereas for a client's second ClientHello, sent
in response to a HelloRetryRequest, KeyLabel = "hrr esni key" and
IVLabel = "hrr esni iv". (This label variance is done to prevent
nonce re-use since the client's ESNI key share, and thus the value of
Zx, does not change across ClientHello retries.)
[[TODO: label swapping fixes a bug in the spec, though this may not
be the best way to deal with HRR. See https://github.com/tlswg/
draft-ietf-tls-esni/issues/121 and https://github.com/tlswg/draft-
ietf-tls-esni/pull/170 for more details.]]
struct {
opaque record_digest<0..2^16-1>;
KeyShareEntry esni_key_share;
Random client_hello_random;
} ESNIContents;
The client then creates a ClientESNIInner structure:
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struct {
opaque dns_name<1..2^16-1>;
opaque zeros[ESNIKeys.padded_length - length(sni)];
} PaddedServerNameList;
struct {
uint8 nonce[16];
PaddedServerNameList realSNI;
} ClientESNIInner;
nonce A random 16-octet value to be echoed by the server in the
"encrypted_server_name" extension.
dns_name The true SNI DNS name, that is, the HostName value that
would have been sent in the plaintext "server_name" extension.
(NameType values other than "host_name" are unsupported since SNI
extensibility failed [SNIExtensibilityFailed]).
zeros Zero padding whose length makes the serialized
PaddedServerNameList struct have a length equal to
ESNIKeys.padded_length.
This value consists of the serialized ServerNameList from the
"server_name" extension, padded with enough zeroes to make the total
structure ESNIKeys.padded_length bytes long. The purpose of the
padding is to prevent attackers from using the length of the
"encrypted_server_name" extension to determine the true SNI. If the
serialized ServerNameList is longer than ESNIKeys.padded_length, the
client MUST NOT use the "encrypted_server_name" extension.
The ClientEncryptedSNI.encrypted_sni value is then computed using the
usual TLS 1.3 AEAD:
encrypted_sni = AEAD-Encrypt(key, iv, KeyShareClientHello, ClientESNIInner)
Where KeyShareClientHello is the "extension_data" field of the
"key_share" extension in a Client Hello (Section 4.2.8 of
[RFC8446])). Including KeyShareClientHello in the AAD of AEAD-
Encrypt binds the ClientEncryptedSNI value to the ClientHello and
prevents cut-and-paste attacks.
Note: future extensions may end up reusing the server's
ESNIKeyShareEntry for other purposes within the same message (e.g.,
encrypting other values). Those usages MUST have their own HKDF
labels to avoid reuse.
[[OPEN ISSUE: If in the future you were to reuse these keys for 0-RTT
priming, then you would have to worry about potentially expanding
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twice of Z_extracted. We should think about how to harmonize these
to make sure that we maintain key separation.]]
This value is placed in an "encrypted_server_name" extension.
The client MUST place the value of ESNIKeys.public_name in the
"server_name" extension. (This is required for technical conformance
with [RFC7540]; Section 9.2.) The client MUST NOT send a
"cached_info" extension [RFC7924] with a CachedObject entry whose
CachedInformationType is "cert".
5.1.2. Handling the server response
If the server negotiates TLS 1.3 or above and provides an
"encrypted_server_name" extension in EncryptedExtensions, the client
then processes the extension's "response_type" field:
o If the value is "esni_accept", the client MUST check that the
extension's "nonce" field matches ClientESNIInner.nonce and
otherwise abort the connection with an "illegal_parameter" alert.
The client then proceeds with the connection as usual,
authenticating the connection for the origin server.
o If the value is "esni_retry_request", the client proceeds with the
handshake, authenticating for ESNIKeys.public_name as described in
Section 5.1.3. If authentication or the handshake fails, the
client MUST return a failure to the calling application. It MUST
NOT use the retry keys.
Otherwise, when the handshake completes successfully with the
public name authenticated, the client MUST abort the connection
with an "esni_required" alert. It then processes the "retry_keys"
field from the server's "encrypted_server_name" extension.
If one of the values contains a version supported by the client,
it can regard the ESNI keys as securely replaced by the server.
It SHOULD retry the handshake with a new transport connection,
using that value to encrypt the SNI. The value may only be
applied to the retry connection. The client MUST continue to use
the previously-advertised keys for subsequent connections. This
avoids introducing pinning concerns or a tracking vector, should a
malicious server present client-specific retry keys to identify
clients.
If none of the values provided in "retry_keys" contains a
supported version, the client can regard ESNI as securely disabled
by the server. As below, it SHOULD then retry the handshake with
a new transport connection and ESNI disabled.
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o If the field contains any other value, the client MUST abort the
connection with an "illegal_parameter" alert.
If the server negotiates an earlier version of TLS, or if it does not
provide an "encrypted_server_name" extension in EncryptedExtensions,
the client proceeds with the handshake, authenticating for
ESNIKeys.public_name as described in Section 5.1.3. If an earlier
version was negotiated, the client MUST NOT enable the False Start
optimization [RFC7918] for this handshake. If authentication or the
handshake fails, the client MUST return a failure to the calling
application. It MUST NOT treat this as a secure signal to disable
ESNI.
Otherwise, when the handshake completes successfully with the public
name authenticated, the client MUST abort the connection with an
"esni_required" alert. The client can then regard ESNI as securely
disabled by the server. It SHOULD retry the handshake with a new
transport connection and ESNI disabled.
[[TODO: Key replacement is significantly less scary than saying that
ESNI-naive servers bounce ESNI off. Is it worth defining a strict
mode toggle in the ESNI keys, for a deployment to indicate it is
ready for that? ]]
Clients SHOULD implement a limit on retries caused by
"esni_retry_request" or servers which do not acknowledge the
"encrypted_server_name" extension. If the client does not retry in
either scenario, it MUST report an error to the calling application.
If the server sends a HelloRetryRequest in response to the
ClientHello and the client can send a second updated ClientHello per
the rules in [RFC8446], the "encrypted_server_name" extension values
which do not depend on the (possibly updated) KeyShareClientHello,
i.e,, ClientEncryptedSNI.suite, ClientEncryptedSNI.key_share, and
ClientEncryptedSNI.record_digest, MUST NOT change across ClientHello
messages. Moreover, ClientESNIInner MUST not change across
ClientHello messages. Informally, the values of all unencrypted
extension information, as well as the inner extension plaintext, must
be consistent between the first and second ClientHello messages.
5.1.3. Authenticating for the public name
When the server cannot decrypt or does not process the
"encrypted_server_name" extension, it continues with the handshake
using the cleartext "server_name" extension instead (see
Section 5.2). Clients that offer ESNI then authenticate the
connection with the public name, as follows:
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o If the server resumed a session or negotiated a session that did
not use a certificate for authentication, the client MUST abort
the connection with an "illegal_parameter" alert. This case is
invalid because Section 5.1.1 requires the client to only offer
ESNI-established sessions, and Section 5.2 requires the server to
decline ESNI-established sessions if it did not accept ESNI.
o The client MUST verify that the certificate is valid for
ESNIKeys.public_name. If invalid, it MUST abort the connection
with the appropriate alert.
o If the server requests a client certificate, the client MUST
respond with an empty Certificate message, denoting no client
certificate.
Note that authenticating a connection for the public name does not
authenticate it for the origin. The TLS implementation MUST NOT
report such connections as successful to the application. It
additionally MUST ignore all session tickets and session IDs
presented by the server. These connections are only used to trigger
retries, as described in Section 5.1.2. This may be implemented, for
instance, by reporting a failed connection with a dedicated error
code.
5.1.4. GREASE extensions
If the client attempts to connect to a server and does not have an
ESNIKeys structure available for the server, it SHOULD send a GREASE
[I-D.ietf-tls-grease] "encrypted_server_name" extension as follows:
o Select a supported cipher suite, named group, and padded_length
value. The padded_length value SHOULD be 260 or a multiple of 16
less than
1. Set the "suite" field to the selected cipher suite. These
selections SHOULD vary to exercise all supported
configurations, but MAY be held constant for successive
connections to the same server in the same session.
o Set the "key_share" field to a randomly-generated valid public key
for the named group.
o Set the "record_digest" field to a randomly-generated string of
hash_length bytes, where hash_length is the length of the hash
function associated with the chosen cipher suite.
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o Set the "encrypted_sni" field to a randomly-generated string of 16
+ padded_length + tag_length bytes, where tag_length is the tag
length of the chosen cipher suite's associated AEAD.
If the server sends an "encrypted_server_name" extension, the client
MUST check the extension syntactically and abort the connection with
a "decode_error" alert if it is invalid. If the "response_type"
field contains "esni_retry_requested", the client MUST ignore the
extension and proceed with the handshake. If it contains
"esni_accept" or any other value, the client MUST abort the
connection with an "illegal_parameter" alert.
Offering a GREASE extension is not considered offering an encrypted
SNI for purposes of requirements in Section 5.1. In particular, the
client MAY offer to resume sessions established without ESNI.
5.2. Client-Facing Server Behavior
Upon receiving an "encrypted_server_name" extension, the client-
facing server MUST check that it is able to negotiate TLS 1.3 or
greater. If not, it MUST abort the connection with a
"handshake_failure" alert.
The ClientEncryptedSNI value is said to match a known ESNIKeys if
there exists an ESNIKeys that can be used to successfully decrypt
ClientEncryptedSNI.encrypted_sni. This matching procedure should be
done using one of the following two checks:
1. Compare ClientEncryptedSNI.record_digest against cryptographic
hashes of known ESNIKeys and choose the one that matches.
2. Use trial decryption of ClientEncryptedSNI.encrypted_sni with
known ESNIKeys and choose the one that succeeds.
Some uses of ESNI, such as local discovery mode, may omit the
ClientEncryptedSNI.record_digest since it can be used as a tracking
vector. In such cases, trial decryption should be used for matching
ClientEncryptedSNI to known ESNIKeys. Unless specified by the
application using (D)TLS or externally configured on both sides,
implementations MUST use the first method.
If the ClientEncryptedSNI value does not match any known ESNIKeys
structure, it MUST ignore the extension and proceed with the
connection, with the following added behavior:
o It MUST include the "encrypted_server_name" extension in
EncryptedExtensions message with the "response_type" field set to
"esni_retry_requested" and the "retry_keys" field set to one or
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more ESNIKeys structures with up-to-date keys. Servers MAY supply
multiple ESNIKeys values of different versions. This allows a
server to support multiple versions at once.
o The server MUST ignore all PSK identities in the ClientHello which
correspond to ESNI PSKs. ESNI PSKs offered by the client are
associated with the ESNI name. The server was unable to decrypt
then ESNI name, so it should not resume them when using the
cleartext SNI name. This restriction allows a client to reject
resumptions in Section 5.1.3.
Note that an unrecognized ClientEncryptedSNI.record_digest value may
be a GREASE ESNI extension (see Section 5.1.4), so it is necessary
for servers to proceed with the connection and rely on the client to
abort if ESNI was required. In particular, the unrecognized value
alone does not indicate a misconfigured ESNI advertisement
(Section 6.1). Instead, servers can measure occurrences of the
"esni_required" alert to detect this case.
If the ClientEncryptedSNI value does match a known ESNIKeys, the
server performs the following checks:
o If the ClientEncryptedSNI.key_share group does not match one in
the ESNIKeys.keys, it MUST abort the connection with an
"illegal_parameter" alert.
o If the length of the "encrypted_server_name" extension is
inconsistent with the advertised padding length (plus AEAD
expansion) the server MAY abort the connection with an
"illegal_parameter" alert without attempting to decrypt.
Assuming these checks succeed, the server then computes K_sni and
decrypts the ServerName value. If decryption fails, the server MUST
abort the connection with a "decrypt_error" alert.
If the decrypted value's length is different from the advertised
ESNIKeys.padded_length or the padding consists of any value other
than 0, then the server MUST abort the connection with an
"illegal_parameter" alert. Otherwise, the server uses the
PaddedServerNameList.sni value as if it were the "server_name"
extension. Any actual "server_name" extension is ignored, which also
means the server MUST NOT send the "server_name" extension to the
client.
Upon determining the true SNI, the client-facing server then either
serves the connection directly (if in Shared Mode), in which case it
executes the steps in the following section, or forwards the TLS
connection to the backend server (if in Split Mode). In the latter
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case, it does not make any changes to the TLS messages, but just
blindly forwards them.
If the ClientHello is the result of a HelloRetryRequest, servers MUST
abort the connection with an "illegal_parameter" alert if any of the
ClientEncryptedSNI.suite, ClientEncryptedSNI.key_share,
ClientEncryptedSNI.record_digest, or decrypted ClientESNIInner values
from the second ClientHello do not match that of the first
ClientHello.
5.3. Shared Mode Server Behavior
A server operating in Shared Mode uses PaddedServerNameList.sni as if
it were the "server_name" extension to finish the handshake. It
SHOULD pad the Certificate message, via padding at the record layer,
such that its length equals the size of the largest possible
Certificate (message) covered by the same ESNI key. Moreover, the
server MUST include the "encrypted_server_name" extension in
EncryptedExtensions with the "response_type" field set to
"esni_accept" and the "nonce" field set to the decrypted
PaddedServerNameList.nonce value from the client
"encrypted_server_name" extension.
If the server sends a NewSessionTicket message, the corresponding
ESNI PSK MUST be ignored by all other servers in the deployment when
not negotiating ESNI, including servers which do not implement this
specification.
This restriction provides robustness for rollbacks (see Section 6.1).
5.4. Split Mode Server Behavior
In Split Mode, the backend server must know
PaddedServerNameList.nonce to echo it back in EncryptedExtensions and
complete the handshake. Appendix A describes one mechanism for
sending both PaddedServerNameList.sni and ClientESNIInner.nonce to
the backend server. Thus, backend servers function the same as
servers operating in Shared Mode.
As in Shared Mode, if the backend server sends a NewSessionTicket
message, the corresponding ESNI PSK MUST be ignored by other servers
in the deployment when not negotiating ESNI, including servers which
do not implement this specification.
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6. Compatibility Issues
Unlike most TLS extensions, placing the SNI value in an ESNI
extension is not interoperable with existing servers, which expect
the value in the existing cleartext extension. Thus server operators
SHOULD ensure servers understand a given set of ESNI keys before
advertising them. Additionally, servers SHOULD retain support for
any previously-advertised keys for the duration of their validity.
However, in more complex deployment scenarios, this may be difficult
to fully guarantee. Thus this protocol was designed to be robust in
case of inconsistencies between systems that advertise ESNI keys and
servers, at the cost of extra round-trips due to a retry. Two
specific scenarios are detailed below.
6.1. Misconfiguration and Deployment Concerns
It is possible for ESNI advertisements and servers to become
inconsistent. This may occur, for instance, from DNS
misconfiguration, caching issues, or an incomplete rollout in a
multi-server deployment. This may also occur if a server loses its
ESNI keys, or if a deployment of ESNI must be rolled back on the
server.
The retry mechanism repairs inconsistencies, provided the server is
authoritative for the public name. If server and advertised keys
mismatch, the server will respond with esni_retry_requested. If the
server does not understand the "encrypted_server_name" extension at
all, it will ignore it as required by [RFC8446]; Section 4.1.2.
Provided the server can present a certificate valid for the public
name, the client can safely retry with updated settings, as described
in Section 5.1.2.
Unless ESNI is disabled as a result of successfully establishing a
connection to the public name, the client MUST NOT fall back to
cleartext SNI, as this allows a network attacker to disclose the SNI.
It MAY attempt to use another server from the DNS results, if one is
provided.
6.2. Middleboxes
A more serious problem is MITM proxies which do not support this
extension. [RFC8446]; Section 9.3 requires that such proxies remove
any extensions they do not understand. The handshake will then
present a certificate based on the public name, without echoing the
"encrypted_server_name" extension to the client.
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Depending on whether the client is configured to accept the proxy's
certificate as authoritative for the public name, this may trigger
the retry logic described in Section 5.1.2 or result in a connection
failure. A proxy which is not authoritative for the public name
cannot forge a signal to disable ESNI.
A non-conformant MITM proxy which instead forwards the ESNI
extension, substituting its own KeyShare value, will result in the
client-facing server recognizing the key, but failing to decrypt the
SNI. This causes a hard failure. Clients SHOULD NOT attempt to
repair the connection in this case.
7. Security Considerations
7.1. Why is cleartext DNS OK?
In comparison to [I-D.kazuho-protected-sni], wherein DNS Resource
Records are signed via a server private key, ESNI records have no
authenticity or provenance information. This means that any attacker
which can inject DNS responses or poison DNS caches, which is a
common scenario in client access networks, can supply clients with
fake ESNI records (so that the client encrypts SNI to them) or strip
the ESNI record from the response. However, in the face of an
attacker that controls DNS, no SNI encryption scheme can work because
the attacker can replace the IP address, thus blocking client
connections, or substituting a unique IP address which is 1:1 with
the DNS name that was looked up (modulo DNS wildcards). Thus,
allowing the ESNI records in the clear does not make the situation
significantly worse.
Clearly, DNSSEC (if the client validates and hard fails) is a defense
against this form of attack, but DoH/DPRIVE are also defenses against
DNS attacks by attackers on the local network, which is a common case
where SNI is desired. Moreover, as noted in the introduction, SNI
encryption is less useful without encryption of DNS queries in
transit via DoH or DPRIVE mechanisms.
7.2. Optional Record Digests and Trial Decryption
Supporting optional record digests and trial decryption opens oneself
up to DoS attacks. Specifically, an adversary may send malicious
ClientHello messages, i.e., those which will not decrypt with any
known ESNI key, in order to force decryption. Servers that support
this feature should, for example, implement some form of rate
limiting mechanism to limit the damage caused by such attacks.
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7.3. Encrypting other Extensions
ESNI protects only the SNI in transit. Other ClientHello extensions,
such as ALPN, might also reveal privacy-sensitive information to the
network. As such, it might be desirable to encrypt other extensions
alongside the SNI. However, the SNI extension is unique in that non-
TLS-terminating servers or load balancers may act on its contents.
Thus, using keys specifically for SNI encryption promotes key
separation between client-facing servers and endpoints party to TLS
connections. Moreover, the ESNI design described herein does not
preclude a mechanism for generic ClientHello extension encryption.
7.4. Related Privacy Leaks
ESNI requires encrypted DNS to be an effective privacy protection
mechanism. However, verifying the server's identity from the
Certificate message, particularly when using the X509
CertificateType, may result in additional network traffic that may
reveal the server identity. Examples of this traffic may include
requests for revocation information, such as OCSP or CRL traffic, or
requests for repository information, such as
authorityInformationAccess. It may also include implementation-
specific traffic for additional information sources as part of
verification.
Implementations SHOULD avoid leaking information that may identify
the server. Even when sent over an encrypted transport, such
requests may result in indirect exposure of the server's identity,
such as indicating a specific CA or service being used. To mitigate
this risk, servers SHOULD deliver such information in-band when
possible, such as through the use of OCSP stapling, and clients
SHOULD take steps to minimize or protect such requests during
certificate validation.
7.5. Comparison Against Criteria
[I-D.ietf-tls-sni-encryption] lists several requirements for SNI
encryption. In this section, we re-iterate these requirements and
assess the ESNI design against them.
7.5.1. Mitigate against replay attacks
Since the SNI encryption key is derived from a (EC)DH operation
between the client's ephemeral and server's semi-static ESNI key, the
ESNI encryption is bound to the Client Hello. It is not possible for
an attacker to "cut and paste" the ESNI value in a different Client
Hello, with a different ephemeral key share, as the terminating
server will fail to decrypt and verify the ESNI value.
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7.5.2. Avoid widely-deployed shared secrets
This design depends upon DNS as a vehicle for semi-static public key
distribution. Server operators may partition their private keys
however they see fit provided each server behind an IP address has
the corresponding private key to decrypt a key. Thus, when one ESNI
key is provided, sharing is optimally bound by the number of hosts
that share an IP address. Server operators may further limit sharing
by sending different Resource Records containing ESNIRecord and
ESNIKeys values with different keys using a short TTL.
7.5.3. Prevent SNI-based DoS attacks
This design requires servers to decrypt ClientHello messages with
ClientEncryptedSNI extensions carrying valid digests. Thus, it is
possible for an attacker to force decryption operations on the
server. This attack is bound by the number of valid TCP connections
an attacker can open.
7.5.4. Do not stick out
As more clients enable ESNI support, e.g., as normal part of Web
browser functionality, with keys supplied by shared hosting
providers, the presence of ESNI extensions becomes less suspicious
and part of common or predictable client behavior. In other words,
if all Web browsers start using ESNI, the presence of this value does
not signal suspicious behavior to passive eavesdroppers.
Additionally, this specification allows for clients to send GREASE
ESNI extensions (see Section 5.1.4), which helps ensure the ecosystem
handles the values correctly.
7.5.5. Forward secrecy
This design is not forward secret because the server's ESNI key is
static. However, the window of exposure is bound by the key
lifetime. It is RECOMMENDED that servers rotate keys frequently.
7.5.6. Proper security context
This design permits servers operating in Split Mode to forward
connections directly to backend origin servers, thereby avoiding
unnecessary MiTM attacks.
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7.5.7. Split server spoofing
Assuming ESNI records retrieved from DNS are validated, e.g., via
DNSSEC or fetched from a trusted Recursive Resolver, spoofing a
server operating in Split Mode is not possible. See Section 7.1 for
more details regarding cleartext DNS.
Validating the ESNIKeys structure additionally validates the public
name. This validates any retry signals from the server because the
client validates the server certificate against the public name
before retrying.
7.5.8. Supporting multiple protocols
This design has no impact on application layer protocol negotiation.
It may affect connection routing, server certificate selection, and
client certificate verification. Thus, it is compatible with
multiple protocols.
7.6. Misrouting
Note that the backend server has no way of knowing what the SNI was,
but that does not lead to additional privacy exposure because the
backend server also only has one identity. This does, however,
change the situation slightly in that the backend server might
previously have checked SNI and now cannot (and an attacker can route
a connection with an encrypted SNI to any backend server and the TLS
connection will still complete). However, the client is still
responsible for verifying the server's identity in its certificate.
[[TODO: Some more analysis needed in this case, as it is a little
odd, and probably some precise rules about handling ESNI and no SNI
uniformly?]]
8. IANA Considerations
8.1. Update of the TLS ExtensionType Registry
IANA is requested to create an entry, encrypted_server_name(0xffce),
in the existing registry for ExtensionType (defined in [RFC8446]),
with "TLS 1.3" column values being set to "CH, EE", and "Recommended"
column being set to "Yes".
8.2. Update of the TLS Alert Registry
IANA is requested to create an entry, esni_required(121) in the
existing registry for Alerts (defined in [RFC8446]), with the "DTLS-
OK" column being set to "Y".
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8.3. Update of the Resource Record (RR) TYPEs Registry
IANA is requested to create an entry, ESNI(0xff9f), in the existing
registry for Resource Record (RR) TYPEs (defined in [RFC6895]) with
"Meaning" column value being set to "Encrypted SNI".
9. References
9.1. Normative References
[I-D.ietf-tls-exported-authenticator]
Sullivan, N., "Exported Authenticators in TLS", draft-
ietf-tls-exported-authenticator-09 (work in progress), May
2019.
[RFC1035] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - implementation and
specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, DOI 10.17487/RFC1035,
November 1987, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1035>.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC6066] Eastlake 3rd, D., "Transport Layer Security (TLS)
Extensions: Extension Definitions", RFC 6066,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6066, January 2011,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6066>.
[RFC6234] Eastlake 3rd, D. and T. Hansen, "US Secure Hash Algorithms
(SHA and SHA-based HMAC and HKDF)", RFC 6234,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6234, May 2011,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6234>.
[RFC6895] Eastlake 3rd, D., "Domain Name System (DNS) IANA
Considerations", BCP 42, RFC 6895, DOI 10.17487/RFC6895,
April 2013, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6895>.
[RFC7540] Belshe, M., Peon, R., and M. Thomson, Ed., "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol Version 2 (HTTP/2)", RFC 7540,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7540, May 2015,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7540>.
[RFC7838] Nottingham, M., McManus, P., and J. Reschke, "HTTP
Alternative Services", RFC 7838, DOI 10.17487/RFC7838,
April 2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7838>.
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[RFC7918] Langley, A., Modadugu, N., and B. Moeller, "Transport
Layer Security (TLS) False Start", RFC 7918,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7918, August 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7918>.
[RFC7924] Santesson, S. and H. Tschofenig, "Transport Layer Security
(TLS) Cached Information Extension", RFC 7924,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7924, July 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7924>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
[RFC8305] Schinazi, D. and T. Pauly, "Happy Eyeballs Version 2:
Better Connectivity Using Concurrency", RFC 8305,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8305, December 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8305>.
[RFC8446] Rescorla, E., "The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol
Version 1.3", RFC 8446, DOI 10.17487/RFC8446, August 2018,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8446>.
9.2. Informative References
[I-D.ietf-doh-dns-over-https]
Hoffman, P. and P. McManus, "DNS Queries over HTTPS
(DoH)", draft-ietf-doh-dns-over-https-14 (work in
progress), August 2018.
[I-D.ietf-tls-grease]
Benjamin, D., "Applying GREASE to TLS Extensibility",
draft-ietf-tls-grease-02 (work in progress), January 2019.
[I-D.ietf-tls-sni-encryption]
Huitema, C. and E. Rescorla, "Issues and Requirements for
SNI Encryption in TLS", draft-ietf-tls-sni-encryption-04
(work in progress), November 2018.
[I-D.kazuho-protected-sni]
Oku, K., "TLS Extensions for Protecting SNI", draft-
kazuho-protected-sni-00 (work in progress), July 2017.
[RFC7858] Hu, Z., Zhu, L., Heidemann, J., Mankin, A., Wessels, D.,
and P. Hoffman, "Specification for DNS over Transport
Layer Security (TLS)", RFC 7858, DOI 10.17487/RFC7858, May
2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7858>.
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[RFC8094] Reddy, T., Wing, D., and P. Patil, "DNS over Datagram
Transport Layer Security (DTLS)", RFC 8094,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8094, February 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8094>.
[SNIExtensibilityFailed]
"Accepting that other SNI name types will never work",
n.d., <https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/
tls/1t79gzNItZd71DwwoaqcQQ_4Yxc>.
Appendix A. Communicating SNI and Nonce to Backend Server
When operating in Split Mode, backend servers will not have access to
PaddedServerNameList.sni or ClientESNIInner.nonce without access to
the ESNI keys or a way to decrypt ClientEncryptedSNI.encrypted_sni.
One way to address this for a single connection, at the cost of
having communication not be unmodified TLS 1.3, is as follows.
Assume there is a shared (symmetric) key between the client-facing
server and the backend server and use it to AEAD-encrypt Z and send
the encrypted blob at the beginning of the connection before the
ClientHello. The backend server can then decrypt ESNI to recover the
true SNI and nonce.
Another way for backend servers to access the true SNI and nonce is
by the client-facing server sharing the ESNI keys.
Appendix B. Alternative SNI Protection Designs
Alternative approaches to encrypted SNI may be implemented at the TLS
or application layer. In this section we describe several
alternatives and discuss drawbacks in comparison to the design in
this document.
B.1. TLS-layer
B.1.1. TLS in Early Data
In this variant, TLS Client Hellos are tunneled within early data
payloads belonging to outer TLS connections established with the
client-facing server. This requires clients to have established a
previous session --- and obtained PSKs --- with the server. The
client-facing server decrypts early data payloads to uncover Client
Hellos destined for the backend server, and forwards them onwards as
necessary. Afterwards, all records to and from backend servers are
forwarded by the client-facing server - unmodified. This avoids
double encryption of TLS records.
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Problems with this approach are: (1) servers may not always be able
to distinguish inner Client Hellos from legitimate application data,
(2) nested 0-RTT data may not function correctly, (3) 0-RTT data may
not be supported - especially under DoS - leading to availability
concerns, and (4) clients must bootstrap tunnels (sessions), costing
an additional round trip and potentially revealing the SNI during the
initial connection. In contrast, encrypted SNI protects the SNI in a
distinct Client Hello extension and neither abuses early data nor
requires a bootstrapping connection.
B.1.2. Combined Tickets
In this variant, client-facing and backend servers coordinate to
produce "combined tickets" that are consumable by both. Clients
offer combined tickets to client-facing servers. The latter parse
them to determine the correct backend server to which the Client
Hello should be forwarded. This approach is problematic due to non-
trivial coordination between client-facing and backend servers for
ticket construction and consumption. Moreover, it requires a
bootstrapping step similar to that of the previous variant. In
contrast, encrypted SNI requires no such coordination.
B.2. Application-layer
B.2.1. HTTP/2 CERTIFICATE Frames
In this variant, clients request secondary certificates with
CERTIFICATE_REQUEST HTTP/2 frames after TLS connection completion.
In response, servers supply certificates via TLS exported
authenticators [I-D.ietf-tls-exported-authenticator] in CERTIFICATE
frames. Clients use a generic SNI for the underlying client-facing
server TLS connection. Problems with this approach include: (1) one
additional round trip before peer authentication, (2) non-trivial
application-layer dependencies and interaction, and (3) obtaining the
generic SNI to bootstrap the connection. In contrast, encrypted SNI
induces no additional round trip and operates below the application
layer.
Appendix C. Total Client Hello Encryption
The design described here only provides encryption for the SNI, but
not for other extensions, such as ALPN. Another potential design
would be to encrypt all of the extensions using the same basic
structure as we use here for ESNI. That design has the following
advantages:
o It protects all the extensions from ordinary eavesdroppers
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o If the encrypted block has its own KeyShare, it does not
necessarily require the client to use a single KeyShare, because
the client's share is bound to the SNI by the AEAD (analysis
needed).
It also has the following disadvantages:
o The client-facing server can still see the other extensions. By
contrast we could introduce another EncryptedExtensions block that
was encrypted to the backend server and not the client-facing
server.
o It requires a mechanism for the client-facing server to provide
the extension-encryption key to the backend server (as in
Appendix A and thus cannot be used with an unmodified backend
server.
o A conformant middlebox will strip every extension, which might
result in a ClientHello which is just unacceptable to the server
(more analysis needed).
Appendix D. Acknowledgements
This document draws extensively from ideas in
[I-D.kazuho-protected-sni], but is a much more limited mechanism
because it depends on the DNS for the protection of the ESNI key.
Richard Barnes, Christian Huitema, Patrick McManus, Matthew Prince,
Nick Sullivan, Martin Thomson, and David Benjamin also provided
important ideas and contributions.
Authors' Addresses
Eric Rescorla
RTFM, Inc.
Email: ekr@rtfm.com
Kazuho Oku
Fastly
Email: kazuhooku@gmail.com
Nick Sullivan
Cloudflare
Email: nick@cloudflare.com
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Christopher A. Wood
Apple, Inc.
Email: cawood@apple.com
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