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mirror of https://github.com/osmarks/ngircd.git synced 2024-12-04 14:09:57 +00:00

S2S-TLS: Convert SSL.txt to Markdown and update information given

No longer describe creating self-signed certificates or using "stunnel",
as both is not recommended.
This commit is contained in:
Alexander Barton 2024-01-08 18:31:30 +01:00
parent 8cef3ce42c
commit b826fad158
5 changed files with 86 additions and 110 deletions

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@ -386,7 +386,7 @@ standard locations.
- `--with-gnutls[=<path>]`
Enable support for SSL/TLS using OpenSSL or GnuTLS libraries.
See `doc/SSL.txt` for details.
See `doc/SSL.md` for details.
- IPv6 (autodetected by default):

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@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ static_docs = \
README-Interix.txt \
RFC.txt \
Services.txt \
SSL.txt
SSL.md
doc_templates = sample-ngircd.conf.tmpl

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@ -120,3 +120,7 @@ with the `;` character), but it is a good idea to enable it whenever possible!
And you can have as many *Operator blocks* as you like, configuring multiple
different IRC Operators.
## Configuring SSL/TLS Encryption
Please see the file `SSL.md` for details.

80
doc/SSL.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
# [ngIRCd](https://ngircd.barton.de) - SSL/TLS Encrypted Connections
ngIRCd supports SSL/TLS encrypted connections using the *OpenSSL* or *GnuTLS*
libraries. Both encrypted server-server links as well as client-server links
are supported.
SSL is a compile-time option which is disabled by default. Use one of these
options of the ./configure script to enable it:
- `--with-openssl`: enable SSL support using OpenSSL.
- `--with-gnutls`: enable SSL support using GnuTLS.
You can check the output of `ngircd --version` to validate if your executable
includes support for SSL or not: "+SSL" must be listed in the feature flags.
You also need a SSL key and certificate, for example using Let's Encrypt, which
is out of the scope of this document.
From a feature point of view, ngIRCds support for both libraries is
comparable. The only major difference (at this time) is that ngIRCd with GnuTLS
does not support password protected private keys.
## Configuration
SSL-encrypted connections and plain-text connects can't run on the same network
port (which is a limitation of the IRC protocol); therefore you have to define
separate port(s) in your `[SSL]` block in the configuration file.
A minimal configuration for *accepting* SSL-encrypted client & server
connections looks like this:
``` ini
[SSL]
CertFile = /etc/ssl/certs/my-fullchain.pem
KeyFile = /etc/ssl/certs/my-privkey.pem
Ports = 6697, 6698
```
In this case, the server only deals with *incoming* connections and never has to
validate SSL certificates itself, and therefore no "Certificate Authorities" are
needed.
If you want to use *outgoing* SSL-connections to other servers, you need to add:
``` ini
[SSL]
...
CAFile = /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
DHFile = /etc/ngircd/dhparams.pem
[SERVER]
...
SSLConnect = yes
```
The `CAFile` option configures a file listing all the certificates of the
trusted Certificate Authorities.
The Diffie-Hellman parameters file `dhparams.pem` can be created like this:
- OpenSSL: `openssl dhparam -2 -out /etc/ngircd/dhparams.pem 4096`
- GnuTLS: `certtool --generate-dh-params --bits 4096 --outfile /etc/ngircd/dhparams.pem`
Note that enabling `SSLConnect` not only enforces SSL-encrypted links for
*outgoing* connections to other servers, but for *incoming* connections as well:
If a server configured with `SSLConnect = yes` tries to connect on a plain-text
connection, it won't be accepted to prevent data leakage! Therefore you should
set this for *all* servers you expect to use SSL-encrypted connections!
## Accepting untrusted Remote Certificates
If you are using self-signed certificates or otherwise invalid certificates,
which ngIRCd would reject by default, you can force ngIRCd to skip certificate
validation on a per-server basis and continue establishing outgoing connections
to the respective peer by setting `SSLVerify = no` in the `[SERVER]` block of
this remote server in your configuration.
But please think twice before doing so: the established connection is still
encrypted but the remote site is *not verified at all* and man-in-the-middle
attacks are possible!

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@ -1,108 +0,0 @@
ngIRCd - Next Generation IRC Server
(c)2001-2008 Alexander Barton,
alex@barton.de, http://www.barton.de/
ngIRCd is free software and published under the
terms of the GNU General Public License.
-- SSL.txt --
ngIRCd supports SSL/TLSv1 encrypted connections using the OpenSSL or GnuTLS
libraries. Both encrypted server-server links as well as client-server links
are supported.
SSL is a compile-time option which is disabled by default. Use one of these
options of the ./configure script to enable it:
--with-openssl enable SSL support using OpenSSL
--with-gnutls enable SSL support using GnuTLS
You also need a key/certificate, see below for how to create a self-signed one.
From a feature point of view, ngIRCds support for both libraries is
comparable. The only major difference (at this time) is that ngircd with gnutls
does not support password protected private keys.
Configuration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To enable SSL connections a separate port must be configured: it is NOT
possible to handle unencrypted and encrypted connections on the same port!
This is a limitation of the IRC protocol ...
You have to set (at least) the following configuration variables in the
[SSL] section of ngircd.conf(5): Ports, KeyFile, and CertFile.
Now IRC clients are able to connect using SSL on the configured port(s).
(Using port 6697 for encrypted connections is common.)
To enable encrypted server-server links, you have to additionally set
SSLConnect to "yes" in the corresponding [SERVER] section.
Creating a self-signed certificate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OpenSSL:
Creating a self-signed certificate and key:
$ openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -x509 -keyout server-key.pem -out server-cert.pem -days 1461
Create DH parameters (optional):
$ openssl dhparam -2 -out dhparams.pem 4096
GnuTLS:
Creating a self-signed certificate and key:
$ certtool --generate-privkey --bits 2048 --outfile server-key.pem
$ certtool --generate-self-signed --load-privkey server-key.pem --outfile server-cert.pem
Create DH parameters (optional):
$ certtool --generate-dh-params --bits 4096 --outfile dhparams.pem
Alternate approach using stunnel(1)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alternatively (or if you are using ngIRCd compiled without support
for GnuTLS/OpenSSL), you can use external programs/tools like stunnel(1) to
get SSL encrypted connections:
<http://stunnel.mirt.net/>
<http://www.stunnel.org/>
Stefan Sperling (stefan at binarchy dot net) mailed the following text as a
short "how-to", thanks Stefan!
=== snip ===
! This guide applies to stunnel 4.x !
Put this in your stunnel.conf:
[ircs]
accept = 6667
connect = 6668
This makes stunnel listen for incoming connections
on port 6667 and forward decrypted data to port 6668.
We call the connection 'ircs'. Stunnel will use this
name when logging connection attempts via syslog.
You can also use the name in /etc/hosts.{allow,deny}
if you run tcp-wrappers.
To make sure ngircd is listening on the port where
the decrypted data arrives, set
Ports = 6668
in your ngircd.conf.
Start stunnel and restart ngircd.
That's it.
Don't forget to activate ssl support in your irc client ;)
The main drawback of this approach compared to using builtin ssl
is that from ngIRCds point of view, all ssl-enabled client connections will
originate from the host running stunnel.
=== snip ===