How are ssl certificates verified?

Question

What is the series of steps needed to securely verify a ssl certificate? My (very limited) understanding is that when you visit an https site, the server sends a certificate to the client (the browser) and the browser gets the certificate's issuer information from that certificate, then uses that to contact the issuerer, and somehow compares certificates for validity.

• How exactly is this done?
• What about the process makes it immune to man-in-the-middle attacks?
• What prevents some random person from setting up their own verification service to use in man-in-the-middle attacks, so everything "looks" secure?

Answer 1

Here is a very simplified explanation:

1. Your web browser downloads the web server's certificate, which contains the public key of the web server. This certificate is signed with the private key of a trusted certificate authority.

2. Your web browser comes installed with the public keys of all of the major certificate authorities. It uses this public key to verify that the web server's certificate was indeed signed by the trusted certificate authority.

3. The certificate contains the domain name and/or ip address of the web server. Your web browser confirms with the certificate authority that the address listed in the certificate is the one to which it has an open connection.

4. Your web browser generates a shared symmetric key which will be used to encrypt the HTTP traffic on this connection; this is much more efficient than using public/private key encryption for everything. Your browser encrypts the symmetric key with the public key of the web server then sends it back, thus ensuring that only the web server can decrypt it, since only the web server has its private key.

Note that the certificate authority (CA) is essential to preventing man-in-the-middle attacks. However, even an unsigned certificate will prevent someone from passively listening in on your encrypted traffic, since they have no way to gain access to your shared symmetric key.

Answer 2

It's worth noting that in addition to purchasing a certificate (as mentioned above), you can also create your own for free; this is referred to as a "self-signed certificate". The difference between a self-signed certificate and one that's purchased is simple: the purchased one has been signed by a Certificate Authority that your browser already knows about. In other words, your browser can easily validate the authenticity of a purchased certificate.

Unfortunately this has led to a common misconception that self-signed certificates are inherently less secure than those sold by commercial CA's like GoDaddy and Verisign, and that you have to live with browser warnings/exceptions if you use them; this is incorrect.

If you securely distribute a self-signed certificate (or CA cert, as bobince suggested) and install it in the browsers that will use your site, it's just as secure as one that's purchased and is not vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks and cert forgery. Obviously this means that it's only feasible if only a few people need secure access to your site (e.g., internal apps, personal blogs, etc.).

Answer 3

You said that

the browser gets the certificate's issuer information from that certificate, then uses that to contact the issuerer, and somehow compares certificates for validity.

The client doesn't have to check with the issuer because two things :

1. all browsers have a pre-installed list of all major CAs public keys
2. the certificate is signed, and that signature itself is enough proof that the certificate is valid because the client can make sure, by his own, and without contacting the issuer's server, that that certificate is authentic. That's the beauty of asymmetric encryption.

Notice that 2. can't be done without 1.

This is better explained in this big diagram I made some time ago

(skip to "what's a signature ?" at the bottom)

Answer 4

The client has a pre-seeded store of SSL certificate authorities' public keys. There must be a chain of trust from the certificate for the server up through intermediate authorities up to one of the so-called "root" certificates in order for the server to be trusted.

You can examine and/or alter the list of trusted authorities. Often you do this to add a certificate for a local authority that you know you trust - like the company you work for or the school you attend or what not.

The pre-seeded list can vary depending on which client you use. The big SSL certificate vendors insure that their root certs are in all the major browsers ($$$).

Monkey-in-the-middle attacks are "impossible" unless the attacker has the private key of a trusted root certificate. Since the corresponding certificates are widely deployed, the exposure of such a private key would have serious implications for the security of eCommerce generally. Because of that, those private keys are very, very closely guarded.

Answer 5

I KNOW THE BELOW IS LONG, BUT IT IS DETAILED, YET SIMPLIFIED ENOUGH. READ CAREFULLY AND I GUARANTEE YOU'LL START FINDING THIS TOPIC IS NOT ALL THAT COMPLICATED.

First of all, anyone can create 2 keys. One to encrypt data, and another to decrypt data. The former can be a private key, and the latter a public key, AND VICERZA.

Second of all, in simplest terms, a Certificate Authority (CA) offers the service of creating a certificate for you. How? They use certain values (the CA's issuer name, your server's public key, company name, domain, etc.) and they use their SUPER DUPER ULTRA SECURE SECRET private key and encrypt this data. The result of this encrypted data is a SIGNATURE.

So now the CA gives you back a certificate. The certificate is basically a file containing the values previously mentioned (CA's issuer name, company name, domain, your server's public key, etc.), INCLUDING the signature (i.e. an encrypted version of the latter values).

Now, with all that being said, here is a REALLY IMPORTANT part to remember: your device/OS (Windows, Android, etc.) pretty much keeps a list of all major/trusted CA's and their PUBLIC KEYS (if you're thinking that these public keys are used to decrypt the signatures inside the certificates, YOU ARE CORRECT!).

Ok, if you read the above, this sequential example will be a breeze now:

1. Example-Company asks Example-CA to create for them a certificate.
2. Example-CA uses their super private key to sign this certificate and gives Example-Company the certificate.
3. Tomorrow, internet-user-Bob uses Chrome/Firefox/etc. to browse to https://example-company.com. Most, if not all, browsers nowadays will expect a certificate back from the server.
4. The browser gets the certificate from example-company.com. The certificate says it's been issued by Example-CA. It just so happens to be that Bob's OS already has Example-CA in its list of trusted CA's, so the browser gets Example-CA's public key. Remember: this is all happening in Bob's computer/mobile/etc., not over the wire.
5. So now the browser decrypts the signature in the certificate. FINALLY, the browser compares the decrypted values with the contents of the certificate itself. IF THE CONTENTS MATCH, THAT MEANS THE SIGNATURE IS VALID!

Why? Think about it, only this public key can decrypt the signature in such a way that the contents look like they did before the private key encrypted them.

How about man in the middle attacks?

This is one of the main reasons (if not the main reason) why the above standard was created.

Let's say hacker-Jane intercepts internet-user-Bob's request, and replies with her own certificate. However, hacker-Jane is still careful enough to state in the certificate that the issuer was Example-CA. Lastly, hacker-Jane remembers that she has to include a signature on the certificate. But what key does Jane use to sign (i.e. create an encrypted value of the certificate main contents) the certificate?????

So even if hacker-Jane signed the certificate with her own key, you see what's gonna happen next. The browser is gonna say: "ok, this certificate is issued by Example-CA, let's decrypt the signature with Example-CA's public key". After decryption, the browser notices that the certificate contents don't match at all. Hence, the browser gives a very clear warning to the user, and it says it doesn't trust the connection.

Answer 6

if you're more technically minded, this site is probably what you want: http://www.zytrax.com/tech/survival/ssl.html

warning: the rabbit hole goes deep :).