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man pages section 3: Extended Library Functions, Volume 1

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Updated: Wednesday, July 27, 2022
 
 

SSL_CTX_set_generate_session_id (3openssl)

Name

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

Synopsis

#include <openssl/ssl.h>

typedef int (*GEN_SESSION_CB)(const 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

OpenSSL                              SSL_CTX_set_generate_session_id(3openssl)



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

SYNOPSIS
        #include <openssl/ssl.h>

        typedef int (*GEN_SESSION_CB)(const 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.


ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:


       +---------------+--------------------------+
       |ATTRIBUTE TYPE |     ATTRIBUTE VALUE      |
       +---------------+--------------------------+
       |Availability   | library/security/openssl |
       +---------------+--------------------------+
       |Stability      | Pass-through uncommitted |
       +---------------+--------------------------+

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 for
       TLSv1. 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 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.

       Source code for open source software components in Oracle Solaris can
       be found at https://www.oracle.com/downloads/opensource/solaris-source-
       code-downloads.html.

       This software was built from source available at
       https://github.com/oracle/solaris-userland.  The original community
       source was downloaded from
       https://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-1.0.2ze.tar.gz.

       Further information about this software can be found on the open source
       community website at https://www.openssl.org/.

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(const 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, eg. the server could only possibly create 1 session
                      * ID (ie. 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;
             }

RETURN VALUES
       SSL_CTX_set_generate_session_id() and SSL_set_generate_session_id()
       always return 1.

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

SEE ALSO
       ssl(3), SSL_get_version(3)

HISTORY
       SSL_CTX_set_generate_session_id(), SSL_set_generate_session_id() and
       SSL_has_matching_session_id() have been introduced in OpenSSL 0.9.7.




1.0.2ze                           2022-06-28
                                     SSL_CTX_set_generate_session_id(3openssl)