From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Christopher Schmidt Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: using GnuTLS 3.x and certificate checks Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2013 16:59:37 +0100 (BST) Message-ID: <87obbkpmzb@ch.ristopher.com> References: <87zjxumbjf.fsf@wanadoo.es> <83y5dazmpt.fsf@gnu.org> <86ehf2zefk.fsf@gmail.com> <86li9az2sw.fsf@gmail.com> <83hajyz1mi.fsf@gnu.org> <867gku88lx.fsf@gmail.com> <83a9pqysc5.fsf@gnu.org> <86sj3i6ndd.fsf@gmail.com> <83620eyonh.fsf@gnu.org> <86620dqmsd.fsf@gmail.com> <83r4j1xmim.fsf@gnu.org> <86y5d9p4oh.fsf@gmail.com> <83ppylxidt.fsf@gnu.org> <86txnxoz1k.fsf@gmail.com> <83hajxxd5c.fsf@gnu.org> <874nfxt219.fsf_-_@lifelogs.com> <874nfenmya@ch.ristopher.com> <877giv7k2s.fsf@lifelogs.com> <8738ti3gqt@ch.ristopher.com> <871u9260ga.fsf@lifelogs.com> <87ehcg1tpx.fsf@lifelogs.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1370447997 7818 80.91.229.3 (5 Jun 2013 15:59:57 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2013 15:59:57 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Jun 05 17:59:59 2013 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1UkG7x-0005xv-NL for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 05 Jun 2013 17:59:57 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:34489 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UkG7x-0007Mq-CB for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:59:57 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:43178) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UkG7o-0007LR-5e for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:59:55 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UkG7g-0001cY-Fx for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:59:48 -0400 Original-Received: from ristopher.com ([146.185.21.93]:51615 helo=saturn.ch.ristopher.com) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UkG7g-0001c5-85 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:59:40 -0400 Original-Received: by saturn.ch.ristopher.com (Postfix, from userid 0) id 756D8201A3; Wed, 5 Jun 2013 16:59:37 +0100 (BST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=simple/simple; d=ch.ristopher.com; s=mail; t=1370447977; bh=qeupPrT8Axsex1jrSWnBVS3HV6uYJQ/b9v7n7nnd7Po=; h=From:To:Subject:In-Reply-To:Message-ID:References:MIME-Version: Content-Type:Date; b=p+Otxq+JxdeyuwwQmu2C92y4L5Xx7sTYtmbaU6wrpLZXqLcovsKrg6f2fY3sOU6A1 GeCTpWOLkXMIewmA2ZXfdeq7d4ccVLbg+V9OPIAeBAPTtn6cBK4FmSxjO2p7Z36A/b BREoX/gtkwlHskjclQcZRLScKYIE4Gku+QLmsxP4= In-Reply-To: <87ehcg1tpx.fsf@lifelogs.com> (Ted Zlatanov's message of "Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:07:54 -0400") Mail-Followup-To: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.4.x X-Received-From: 146.185.21.93 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:160116 Archived-At: Ted Zlatanov writes: > CS> I think a verification mechanism should run unattended without > CS> user interaction whatsoever. What's your use case for an > CS> interactive verification snippet? > > TZ> How else could a user accept a previously unknown certificate? > > Ping? Any ideas? I don't know. I don't think there is a common use case, though. Those folks who set up their own verification or pinning mechanism in favour of a ca-certificates.crt provided by the operating system usually apply extra careful scrutiny and caution on all aspects of the certificates. Accepting new certificates on-the-fly via interactive minibuffer queries is not a good idea. I assume most folks would want to abort the handshake and take a look at the full dump of all the certs in the chain. Check the Screenshots of Certificate Patrol. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/certificate-patrol/ I, for one, don't need or want any interactive query in case verification fails. An user-error or returning an error status is enough. (I already implemented certificate pinning support by substituting open-network-stream with my own implementation. If verification fails, the cert's received are printed to the *Messages*-buffer and the connection is killed. My investigations continues outside Emacs with the help of gnutls-cli --print-cert and certtool. This system is easy to maintain, does not cause much trouble and I don't have any complains so far.) Christopher