## TLS (SSL) Use `require('tls')` to access this module. The `tls` module uses OpenSSL to provide Transport Layer Security and/or Secure Socket Layer: encrypted stream communication. TLS/SSL is a public/private key infrastructure. Each client and each server must have a private key. A private key is created like this openssl genrsa -out ryans-key.pem 1024 All severs and some clients need to have a certificate. Certificates are public keys signed by a Certificate Authority or self-signed. The first step to getting a certificate is to create a "Certificate Signing Request" (CSR) file. This is done with: openssl req -new -key ryans-key.pem -out ryans-csr.pem To create a self-signed certificate with the CSR, do this: openssl x509 -req -in ryans-csr.pem -signkey ryans-key.pem -out ryans-cert.pem Alternatively you can send the CSR to a Certificate Authority for signing. (TODO: docs on creating a CA, for now interested users should just look at `test/fixtures/keys/Makefile` in the Node source code) ### Client-initiated renegotiation attack mitigation The TLS protocol lets the client renegotiate certain aspects of the TLS session. Unfortunately, session renegotiation requires a disproportional amount of server-side resources, which makes it a potential vector for denial-of-service attacks. To mitigate this, renegotiations are limited to three times every 10 minutes. An error is emitted on the [CleartextStream](#tls.CleartextStream) instance when the threshold is exceeded. The limits are configurable: - `tls.CLIENT_RENEG_LIMIT`: renegotiation limit, default is 3. - `tls.CLIENT_RENEG_WINDOW`: renegotiation window in seconds, default is 10 minutes. Don't change the defaults unless you know what you are doing. To test your server, connect to it with `openssl s_client -connect address:port` and tap `R` (that's the letter `R` followed by a carriage return) a few times. #### tls.createServer(options, [secureConnectionListener]) Creates a new [tls.Server](#tls.Server). The `connectionListener` argument is automatically set as a listener for the [secureConnection](#event_secureConnection_) event. The `options` object has these possibilities: - `key`: A string or `Buffer` containing the private key of the server in PEM format. (Required) - `passphrase`: A string of passphrase for the private key. - `cert`: A string or `Buffer` containing the certificate key of the server in PEM format. (Required) - `ca`: An array of strings or `Buffer`s of trusted certificates. If this is omitted several well known "root" CAs will be used, like VeriSign. These are used to authorize connections. - `ciphers`: A string describing the ciphers to use or exclude. Consult for details on the format. - `requestCert`: If `true` the server will request a certificate from clients that connect and attempt to verify that certificate. Default: `false`. - `rejectUnauthorized`: If `true` the server will reject any connection which is not authorized with the list of supplied CAs. This option only has an effect if `requestCert` is `true`. Default: `false`. - `NPNProtocols`: An array or `Buffer` of possible NPN protocols. (Protocols should be ordered by their priority). - `SNICallback`: A function that will be called if client supports SNI TLS extension. Only one argument will be passed to it: `servername`. And `SNICallback` should return SecureContext instance. (You can use `crypto.createCredentials(...).context` to get proper SecureContext). If `SNICallback` wasn't provided - default callback with high-level API will be used (see below). - `sessionIdContext`: A string containing a opaque identifier for session resumption. If `requestCert` is `true`, the default is MD5 hash value generated from command-line. Otherwise, the default is not provided. Here is a simple example echo server: var tls = require('tls'); var fs = require('fs'); var options = { key: fs.readFileSync('server-key.pem'), cert: fs.readFileSync('server-cert.pem'), // This is necessary only if using the client certificate authentication. requestCert: true, // This is necessary only if the client uses the self-signed certificate. ca: [ fs.readFileSync('client-cert.pem') ] }; var server = tls.createServer(options, function(cleartextStream) { console.log('server connected', cleartextStream.authorized ? 'authorized' : 'unauthorized'); cleartextStream.write("welcome!\n"); cleartextStream.setEncoding('utf8'); cleartextStream.pipe(cleartextStream); }); server.listen(8000, function() { console.log('server bound'); }); You can test this server by connecting to it with `openssl s_client`: openssl s_client -connect 127.0.0.1:8000 #### tls.connect(port, [host], [options], [secureConnectListener]) Creates a new client connection to the given `port` and `host`. (If `host` defaults to `localhost`.) `options` should be an object which specifies - `key`: A string or `Buffer` containing the private key of the client in PEM format. - `passphrase`: A string of passphrase for the private key. - `cert`: A string or `Buffer` containing the certificate key of the client in PEM format. - `ca`: An array of strings or `Buffer`s of trusted certificates. If this is omitted several well known "root" CAs will be used, like VeriSign. These are used to authorize connections. - `NPNProtocols`: An array of string or `Buffer` containing supported NPN protocols. `Buffer` should have following format: `0x05hello0x05world`, where first byte is next protocol name's length. (Passing array should usually be much simpler: `['hello', 'world']`.) - `servername`: Servername for SNI (Server Name Indication) TLS extension. - `socket`: Establish secure connection on a given socket rather than creating a new socket. If this option is specified, `host` and `port` are ignored. This is intended FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY. As with all undocumented APIs in Node, they should not be used. The `secureConnectListener` parameter will be added as a listener for the ['secureConnect'](#event_secureConnect_) event. `tls.connect()` returns a [CleartextStream](#tls.CleartextStream) object. Here is an example of a client of echo server as described previously: var tls = require('tls'); var fs = require('fs'); var options = { // These are necessary only if using the client certificate authentication key: fs.readFileSync('client-key.pem'), cert: fs.readFileSync('client-cert.pem'), // This is necessary only if the server uses the self-signed certificate ca: [ fs.readFileSync('server-cert.pem') ] }; var cleartextStream = tls.connect(8000, options, function() { console.log('client connected', cleartextStream.authorized ? 'authorized' : 'unauthorized'); process.stdin.pipe(cleartextStream); process.stdin.resume(); }); cleartextStream.setEncoding('utf8'); cleartextStream.on('data', function(data) { console.log(data); }); cleartextStream.on('end', function() { server.close(); }); ### NPN and SNI NPN (Next Protocol Negotiation) and SNI (Server Name Indication) are TLS handshake extensions allowing you: * NPN - to use one TLS server for multiple protocols (HTTP, SPDY) * SNI - to use one TLS server for multiple hostnames with different SSL certificates. ### pair = tls.createSecurePair([credentials], [isServer], [requestCert], [rejectUnauthorized]) Creates a new secure pair object with two streams, one of which reads/writes encrypted data, and one reads/writes cleartext data. Generally the encrypted one is piped to/from an incoming encrypted data stream, and the cleartext one is used as a replacement for the initial encrypted stream. - `credentials`: A credentials object from crypto.createCredentials( ... ) - `isServer`: A boolean indicating whether this tls connection should be opened as a server or a client. - `requestCert`: A boolean indicating whether a server should request a certificate from a connecting client. Only applies to server connections. - `rejectUnauthorized`: A boolean indicating whether a server should automatically reject clients with invalid certificates. Only applies to servers with `requestCert` enabled. `tls.createSecurePair()` returns a SecurePair object with [cleartext](#tls.CleartextStream) and `encrypted` stream properties. #### Event: 'secure' The event is emitted from the SecurePair once the pair has successfully established a secure connection. Similarly to the checking for the server 'secureConnection' event, pair.cleartext.authorized should be checked to confirm whether the certificate used properly authorized. ### tls.Server This class is a subclass of `net.Server` and has the same methods on it. Instead of accepting just raw TCP connections, this accepts encrypted connections using TLS or SSL. #### Event: 'secureConnection' `function (cleartextStream) {}` This event is emitted after a new connection has been successfully handshaked. The argument is a instance of [CleartextStream](#tls.CleartextStream). It has all the common stream methods and events. `cleartextStream.authorized` is a boolean value which indicates if the client has verified by one of the supplied certificate authorities for the server. If `cleartextStream.authorized` is false, then `cleartextStream.authorizationError` is set to describe how authorization failed. Implied but worth mentioning: depending on the settings of the TLS server, you unauthorized connections may be accepted. `cleartextStream.npnProtocol` is a string containing selected NPN protocol. `cleartextStream.servername` is a string containing servername requested with SNI. #### Event: 'clientError' `function (exception) { }` When a client connection emits an 'error' event before secure connection is established - it will be forwarded here. #### server.listen(port, [host], [callback]) Begin accepting connections on the specified `port` and `host`. If the `host` is omitted, the server will accept connections directed to any IPv4 address (`INADDR_ANY`). This function is asynchronous. The last parameter `callback` will be called when the server has been bound. See `net.Server` for more information. #### server.close() Stops the server from accepting new connections. This function is asynchronous, the server is finally closed when the server emits a `'close'` event. #### server.address() Returns the bound address and port of the server as reported by the operating system. See [net.Server.address()](net.html#server.address) for more information. #### server.addContext(hostname, credentials) Add secure context that will be used if client request's SNI hostname is matching passed `hostname` (wildcards can be used). `credentials` can contain `key`, `cert` and `ca`. #### server.maxConnections Set this property to reject connections when the server's connection count gets high. #### server.connections The number of concurrent connections on the server. ### tls.CleartextStream This is a stream on top of the *Encrypted* stream that makes it possible to read/write an encrypted data as a cleartext data. This instance implements a duplex [Stream](streams.html#streams) interfaces. It has all the common stream methods and events. #### Event: 'secureConnect' `function () {}` This event is emitted after a new connection has been successfully handshaked. The listener will be called no matter if the server's certificate was authorized or not. It is up to the user to test `cleartextStream.authorized` to see if the server certificate was signed by one of the specified CAs. If `cleartextStream.authorized === false` then the error can be found in `cleartextStream.authorizationError`. Also if NPN was used - you can check `cleartextStream.npnProtocol` for negotiated protocol. #### cleartextStream.authorized A boolean that is `true` if the peer certificate was signed by one of the specified CAs, otherwise `false` #### cleartextStream.authorizationError The reason why the peer's certificate has not been verified. This property becomes available only when `cleartextStream.authorized === false`. #### cleartextStream.getPeerCertificate() Returns an object representing the peer's certificate. The returned object has some properties corresponding to the field of the certificate. Example: { subject: { C: 'UK', ST: 'Acknack Ltd', L: 'Rhys Jones', O: 'node.js', OU: 'Test TLS Certificate', CN: 'localhost' }, issuer: { C: 'UK', ST: 'Acknack Ltd', L: 'Rhys Jones', O: 'node.js', OU: 'Test TLS Certificate', CN: 'localhost' }, valid_from: 'Nov 11 09:52:22 2009 GMT', valid_to: 'Nov 6 09:52:22 2029 GMT', fingerprint: '2A:7A:C2:DD:E5:F9:CC:53:72:35:99:7A:02:5A:71:38:52:EC:8A:DF' } If the peer does not provide a certificate, it returns `null` or an empty object. #### cleartextStream.address() Returns the bound address and port of the underlying socket as reported by the operating system. Returns an object with two properties, e.g. `{"address":"192.168.57.1", "port":62053}` #### cleartextStream.remoteAddress The string representation of the remote IP address. For example, `'74.125.127.100'` or `'2001:4860:a005::68'`. #### cleartextStream.remotePort The numeric representation of the remote port. For example, `443`.