HTTP Over TLS
RFC 2818
| Document | Type |
RFC - Informational
(May 2000; Errata)
Was draft-ietf-tls-https (tls WG)
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
| Stream | IETF | ||
| Formats | plain text pdf html bibtex | ||
| Stream | WG state | (None) | |
| Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
| IESG | IESG state | RFC 2818 (Informational) | |
| Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
| Telechat date | |||
| Responsible AD | (None) | ||
| Send notices to | (None) | ||
Network Working Group E. Rescorla
Request for Comments: 2818 RTFM, Inc.
Category: Informational May 2000
HTTP Over TLS
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This memo describes how to use TLS to secure HTTP connections over
the Internet. Current practice is to layer HTTP over SSL (the
predecessor to TLS), distinguishing secured traffic from insecure
traffic by the use of a different server port. This document
documents that practice using TLS. A companion document describes a
method for using HTTP/TLS over the same port as normal HTTP
[RFC2817].
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Requirements Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. HTTP Over TLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1. Connection Initiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.2. Connection Closure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.2.1. Client Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2.2. Server Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3. Port Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.4. URI Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Endpoint Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1. Server Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2. Client Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Rescorla Informational [Page 1]
RFC 2818 HTTP Over TLS May 2000
1. Introduction
HTTP [RFC2616] was originally used in the clear on the Internet.
However, increased use of HTTP for sensitive applications has
required security measures. SSL, and its successor TLS [RFC2246] were
designed to provide channel-oriented security. This document
describes how to use HTTP over TLS.
1.1. Requirements Terminology
Keywords "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT" and
"MAY" that appear in this document are to be interpreted as described
in [RFC2119].
2. HTTP Over TLS
Conceptually, HTTP/TLS is very simple. Simply use HTTP over TLS
precisely as you would use HTTP over TCP.
2.1. Connection Initiation
The agent acting as the HTTP client should also act as the TLS
client. It should initiate a connection to the server on the
appropriate port and then send the TLS ClientHello to begin the TLS
handshake. When the TLS handshake has finished. The client may then
initiate the first HTTP request. All HTTP data MUST be sent as TLS
"application data". Normal HTTP behavior, including retained
connections should be followed.
2.2. Connection Closure
TLS provides a facility for secure connection closure. When a valid
closure alert is received, an implementation can be assured that no
further data will be received on that connection. TLS
implementations MUST initiate an exchange of closure alerts before
closing a connection. A TLS implementation MAY, after sending a
closure alert, close the connection without waiting for the peer to
send its closure alert, generating an "incomplete close". Note that
an implementation which does this MAY choose to reuse the session.
This SHOULD only be done when the application knows (typically
through detecting HTTP message boundaries) that it has received all
the message data that it cares about.
As specified in [RFC2246], any implementation which receives a
connection close without first receiving a valid closure alert (a
"premature close") MUST NOT reuse that session. Note that a
premature close does not call into question the security of the data
already received, but simply indicates that subsequent data might
Rescorla Informational [Page 2]
RFC 2818 HTTP Over TLS May 2000
have been truncated. Because TLS is oblivious to HTTP
Show full document text