OpenSSL let the server and client negotiate the method

Question

Following a really outdated tutorial I managed to create an HTTPS server using OpenSSL with TLS1.2, and I'm very proud of it ;)

However TLS 1.2 is only supported in latest browsers and I would like to have some kind of negotiation of the protocol between the client and server, which I'm sure it can be done, but I'm not able to find how! So that if the client only supports TLS1.0, well use that. And if it only supports SSLv3, use that. Not sure about SSLv2, maybe better leave that...

The code I use right now is:

SSL_library_init();
OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms();
SSL_load_error_strings();
ssl_method = TLSv1_2_server_method();
ssl_ctx = SSL_CTX_new(ssl_method);

Then the server certificates are loaded and the ssl_ctx is shared among all connections. When a client is accepted by the server socket it is encapsulated in an SSL object (whatever it represents):

ssl = SSL_new(ssl_ctx);
SSL_set_fd(ssl, client_socket);
SSL_accept(ssl);

So I guess that something has to be changed in the ssl_ctx creation to allow more methods... Any idea?

<rant> No decent, extensive documentation can be found for OpenSSL, the best available is a 10 years old tutorial! </rant>

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You do this by using SSLv23_method() (and friends) instead of a specific method (e.g. TLSv1_2_server_method() in your example). This sends the SSLv2 ClientHello but also specifies the highest protocol supported. The somewhat outdated man page says:

SSLv23_method(void), SSLv23_server_method(void), SSLv23_client_method(void)

A TLS/SSL connection established with these methods will understand the SSLv2, SSLv3, and TLSv1 protocol. A client will send out SSLv2 client hello messages and will indicate that it also understands SSLv3 and TLSv1. A server will understand SSLv2, SSLv3, and TLSv1 client hello messages. This is the best choice when compatibility is a concern.

This online man page doesn't discuss the newer TLSv1_1 and TLSv1_2 protocols, but I verified in the 1.0.1g source of s23_clnt.c that SSLv23_method() includes them.

You then limit the protocols you actually accept with SSL_CTX_set_options():

The list of protocols available can later be limited using the SSL_OP_NO_SSLv2, SSL_OP_NO_SSLv3, SSL_OP_NO_TLSv1 options of the SSL_CTX_set_options() or SSL_set_options() functions. Using these options it is possible to choose e.g. SSLv23_server_method() and be able to negotiate with all possible clients, but to only allow newer protocols like SSLv3 or TLSv1.

Note, however, that you can't enable arbitrary sets of protocols, only contiguous protocols in SSLv2, SSLv3, TLSv1, TLSv1_1, TLSv1_2. For example, you can't choose only SSLv3 and TLSv1_1, omitting TLSv1. This comment in the source explains why:

SSL_OP_NO_X disables all protocols above X if there are some protocols below X enabled. This is required in order to maintain "version capability" vector contiguous. So that if application wants to disable TLS1.0 in favour of TLS1>=1, it would be insufficient to pass SSL_NO_TLSv1, the answer is SSL_OP_NO_TLSv1|SSL_OP_NO_SSLv3|SSL_OP_NO_SSLv2.