Ubuntu Manpage: SSL_CTX_set_generate_session_id, SSL_set_generate_session_id, SSL_has_matching_session

Provided by: libssl-doc_3.0.8-1ubuntu1_all

NAME

       SSL_CTX_set_generate_session_id, SSL_set_generate_session_id, SSL_has_matching_session_id,
       GEN_SESSION_CB - manipulate generation of SSL session IDs (server only)

SYNOPSIS

        #include <openssl/ssl.h>

        typedef int (*GEN_SESSION_CB)(SSL *ssl, unsigned char *id,
                                      unsigned int *id_len);

        int SSL_CTX_set_generate_session_id(SSL_CTX *ctx, GEN_SESSION_CB cb);
        int SSL_set_generate_session_id(SSL *ssl, GEN_SESSION_CB, cb);
        int SSL_has_matching_session_id(const SSL *ssl, const unsigned char *id,
                                        unsigned int id_len);

DESCRIPTION

       SSL_CTX_set_generate_session_id() sets the callback function for generating new session
       ids for SSL/TLS sessions for ctx to be cb.

       SSL_set_generate_session_id() sets the callback function for generating new session ids
       for SSL/TLS sessions for ssl to be cb.

       SSL_has_matching_session_id() checks, whether a session with id id (of length id_len) is
       already contained in the internal session cache of the parent context of ssl.

NOTES

When a new session is established between client and server, the server generates a
session id. The session id is an arbitrary sequence of bytes. The length of the session
id is between 1 and 32 bytes. The session id is not security critical but must be unique
for the server. Additionally, the session id is transmitted in the clear when reusing the
session so it must not contain sensitive information.

Without a callback being set, an OpenSSL server will generate a unique session id from
pseudo random numbers of the maximum possible length. Using the callback function, the
session id can be changed to contain additional information like e.g. a host id in order
to improve load balancing or external caching techniques.

The callback function receives a pointer to the memory location to put id into and a
pointer to the maximum allowed length id_len. The buffer at location id is only guaranteed
to have the size id_len. The callback is only allowed to generate a shorter id and reduce
id_len; the callback must never increase id_len or write to the location id exceeding the
given limit.

The location id is filled with 0x00 before the callback is called, so the callback may
only fill part of the possible length and leave id_len untouched while maintaining
reproducibility.

Since the sessions must be distinguished, session ids must be unique. Without the
callback a random number is used, so that the probability of generating the same session
id is extremely small (2^256 for SSLv3/TLSv1). In order to assure the uniqueness of the
generated session id, the callback must call SSL_has_matching_session_id() and generate
another id if a conflict occurs. If an id conflict is not resolved, the handshake will
fail. If the application codes e.g. a unique host id, a unique process number, and a
unique sequence number into the session id, uniqueness could easily be achieved without
randomness added (it should however be taken care that no confidential information is
leaked this way). If the application can not guarantee uniqueness, it is recommended to
use the maximum id_len and fill in the bytes not used to code special information with
random data to avoid collisions.

SSL_has_matching_session_id() will only query the internal session cache, not the external
one. Since the session id is generated before the handshake is completed, it is not
immediately added to the cache. If another thread is using the same internal session
cache, a race condition can occur in that another thread generates the same session id.
Collisions can also occur when using an external session cache, since the external cache
is not tested with SSL_has_matching_session_id() and the same race condition applies.

The callback must return 0 if it cannot generate a session id for whatever reason and
return 1 on success.

RETURN VALUES

       SSL_CTX_set_generate_session_id() and SSL_set_generate_session_id() return 1 on success
       and 0 for failure.

       SSL_has_matching_session_id() returns 1 if another session with the same id is already in
       the cache, or 0 otherwise.

EXAMPLES

       The callback function listed will generate a session id with the server id given, and will
       fill the rest with pseudo random bytes:

        const char session_id_prefix = "www-18";

        #define MAX_SESSION_ID_ATTEMPTS 10
        static int generate_session_id(SSL *ssl, unsigned char *id,
                                       unsigned int *id_len)
        {
            unsigned int count = 0;

            do {
                RAND_pseudo_bytes(id, *id_len);
                /*
                 * Prefix the session_id with the required prefix. NB: If our
                 * prefix is too long, clip it - but there will be worse effects
                 * anyway, e.g. the server could only possibly create 1 session
                 * ID (i.e. the prefix!) so all future session negotiations will
                 * fail due to conflicts.
                 */
                memcpy(id, session_id_prefix, strlen(session_id_prefix) < *id_len ?
                                              strlen(session_id_prefix) : *id_len);
            } while (SSL_has_matching_session_id(ssl, id, *id_len)
                      && ++count < MAX_SESSION_ID_ATTEMPTS);
            if (count >= MAX_SESSION_ID_ATTEMPTS)
                return 0;
            return 1;
        }

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2001-2020 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

       Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License").  You may not use this file except
       in compliance with the License.  You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source
       distribution or at <https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html>.