+.new
+.section "Use of TLS Server Name Indication" "SECTtlssni"
+.cindex "TLS" "Server Name Indication"
+.vindex "&$tls_sni$&"
+.oindex "&%tls_sni%&"
+With TLS1.0 or above, there is an extension mechanism by which extra
+information can be included at various points in the protocol. One of these
+extensions, documented in RFC 6066 (and before that RFC 4366) is
+&"Server Name Indication"&, commonly &"SNI"&. This extension is sent by the
+client in the initial handshake, so that the server can examine the servername
+within and possibly choose to use different certificates and keys (and more)
+for this session.
+
+This is analagous to HTTP's &"Host:"& header, and is the main mechanism by
+which HTTPS-enabled web-sites can be virtual-hosted, many sites to one IP
+address.
+
+With SMTP to MX, there are the same problems here as in choosing the identity
+against which to validate a certificate: you can't rely on insecure DNS to
+provide the identity which you then cryptographically verify. So this will
+be of limited use in that environment.
+
+With SMTP to Submission, there is a well-defined hostname which clients are
+connecting to and can validate certificates against. Thus clients &*can*&
+choose to include this information in the TLS negotiation. If this becomes
+wide-spread, then hosters can choose to present different certificates to
+different clients. Or even negotiate different cipher suites.
+
+The &%tls_sni%& option on an SMTP transport is an expanded string; the result,
+if not empty, will be sent on a TLS session as part of the handshake. There's
+nothing more to it. Choosing a sensible value not derived insecurely is the
+only point of caution. The &$tls_sni$& variable will be set to this string
+for the lifetime of the client connection (including during authentication).
+
+Except during SMTP client sessions, if &$tls_sni$& is set then it is a string
+received from a client.
+It can be logged with the &%log_selector%& item &`+tls_sni`&.
+
+If the string &`tls_sni`& appears in the main section's &%tls_certificate%&
+option (prior to expansion) then the following options will be re-expanded
+during TLS session handshake, to permit alternative values to be chosen:
+
+.ilist
+.vindex "&%tls_certificate%&"
+&%tls_certificate%&
+.next
+.vindex "&%tls_crl%&"
+&%tls_crl%&
+.next
+.vindex "&%tls_privatekey%&"
+&%tls_privatekey%&
+.next
+.vindex "&%tls_verify_certificates%&"
+&%tls_verify_certificates%&
+.endlist
+
+Great care should be taken to deal with matters of case, various injection
+attacks in the string (&`../`& or SQL), and ensuring that a valid filename
+can always be referenced; it is important to remember that &$tls_sni$& is
+arbitrary unverified data provided prior to authentication.
+
+The Exim developers are proceeding cautiously and so far no other TLS options
+are re-expanded.
+
+Currently SNI support is only available if using OpenSSL, with TLS Extensions
+support enabled therein.
+.wen
+
+
+
git://git.exim.org / exim.git / blobdiff