Forum Discussion
TIm_Maestas
Nimbostratus
NimbostratusSSL cert verify TCL error?
I have the following iRule:
when CLIENTSSL_HANDSHAKE {
set cert [SSL::cert 0 ]
}
when HTTP_REQUEST {
set stuff [X509::subject $cert ]
if { [matchclass $stuff contains $::merlin] } {
use pool test-sun }
else { reject }
}
The merlin class contains things like CN=validhost.company.com. When a host comes in presenting a client certificate with a valid CN everything works fine. When a host comes in without a matching CN in the merlin class, they get a page cannot be displayed error in IE, which is also fine. However, when a client comes in by typing the IP in their browser, which results in a pop-up window because the IP doesn't match the common name of the certificate, I get the following error logged to /var/log/ltm:
tmm tmm[5569]: 01220001:3: TCL error: Rule test - while executing "X509::subject $cert "
While this isn't necessarily a bad thing (because they should be coming in via the correct URL and not get any pop-up errors) it makes me think I've writte my rule incorrectly or should have done this differently. Is there a better way to do what I'm doing?
5 Replies
- You may want to try adding this:
when HTTP_REQUEST { if { [info exists cert] } { ... your existing rule stuff... } else { log "No Cert presented" reject } }
Basically, you have to remember there is no guarantee the client presented a certificate before sending an HTTP request.
The "info exists" command is Tcl's way of determining whether a variable has been previously set. 
TIm_MaestasThat didn't seem to work. My rule now looks like
when CLIENTSSL_HANDSHAKE {
set cert [SSL::cert 0 ]
}
when HTTP_REQUEST {
if { [ info exists cert ] } {
log local0. "cert variable is $cert"
set stuff [X509::subject $cert ]
if { [matchclass $stuff contains $::merlin] } {
use pool test-sun }
else {
log local0. "Invalid Cert from [IP::client_addr]"
reject
}
} else {
log local0. "No Cert Presented from [IP::client_addr]"
reject
}
}
But I'm still getting the error when a client comes in via IP address (or any other way that requires them to click yes to the SSL warning pop-up dialogue). The log message seems to indicate that indeed the $cert variable is not being populated, but if that is the case why is that block of the rule getting executed at all?
Apr 5 21:19:25 tmm tmm[5569]: Rule test : cert variable is
Apr 5 21:19:25 tmm tmm[5569]: 01220001:3: TCL error: Rule test - while executing "X509::subject $cert "
Thanks.- How about something like this ...
when HTTP_REQUEST { if {[SSL::cert count] == 0} { reject } else { set subject [X509::subject [SSL::cert 0 ]] if { [matchclass $subject contains $::merlin] } { use pool test-sun } } }
Alternatively you could modify your CLIENTSSL_HANDSHAKE to look like this ...
I am still a little baffled as to why "info exists" failed. I will do some testing tomorrow to try and find out why.when CLIENTSSL_HANDSHAKE { if {[SSL::cert count] > 0} { set cert [SSL::cert 0 ] } } - TIm_MaestasOk so I realized my plan was flawed in that, as was pointed out to me above, a client will not present a cert on each and every http request. So, I began going down the road of tracking whether we have validated a cert using the session table. However, I seem to be doing something wrong just adding the session entry. The rule:
when CLIENTSSL_CLIENTCERT { set id [SSL::sessionid] session add ssl $id [X509::verify_cert_error_string [SSL::verify_result]] 180 } when HTTP_REQUEST { if {[SSL::cert count] == 0} { reject } else { set subject [X509::subject [SSL::cert 0 ]] if { [matchclass $subject contains $::merlin] } { use pool test-sun } } }
..Generates the error:
Apr 6 12:01:39 tmm tmm[5569]: 01220001:3: TCL error: Rule test - Prerequisite operation not in progress (line 1) invoked from within "session add ssl $id [X509::verify_cert_error_string [SSL::verify_result]] 180"
..what is the prerequisite operation that is not in progress? - Hi there,
does anybody has a solution for this. I have the same problem.
