Cryptography Provider Overview

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An overview of the features that are provided by the two versions of the Cryptography Provider that are included with WebSEAL.

The cryptography provider is the library that provides cryptographic functions for the reverse proxy. It is sometimes referred to as GSKit within the documentation.

WebSEAL supports two major versions of its cryptography provider, version 8 and version 9. Each version supports different protocols, algorithms, and FIPS mode processing standards. Version 9 introduces support for Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms and removes support for deprecated protocols and algorithms. Version 8 remains available to support applications that require those deprecated protocols or algorithms.

WebSEAL automatically selects the appropriate cryptography provider based on the configuration. By default, WebSEAL uses version 9. However, it falls back to version 8 when configured with protocols or algorithms that are no longer supported in version 9. This selection is made independently for each cryptographic location. For example, the reverse proxy can use version 8 to connect to a single junctioned application that requires deprecated protocols, while using version 9 for listen sockets and other junctioned applications.

TLS Protocol Support

Version 9 of the cryptography provider no longer supports TLS protocol versions that have been deprecated by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Table 1. TLS Protocol Support
TLS Protocol Deprecated by IETF? Supported by Cryptography Provider Version 8? Supported by Cryptography Provider Version 9?
TLS 1.3 No Yes Yes
TLS 1.2 No Yes Yes
TLS 1.1 Yes, RFC 8996 Yes No
TLS 1.0 Yes, RFC 8996 Yes No
SSLv3 Yes, RFC 7568 Yes No
SSLv2 Yes, RFC 6176 Yes No
The TLS protocol versions that are used can be configured in the [ssl] stanza, [junction] stanza, or [junction:<jct-id>] stanza. The following table shows the configuration entries and their default values for the TLS protocol versions:
Table 2. TLS Protocol Configuration
TLS Protocol Configuration Entry Default Value
TLS 1.3 disable-tls-v13 no
TLS 1.2 disable-tls-v12 no
TLS 1.1 disable-tls-v11 yes
TLS 1.0 disable-tls-v1 yes
SSLv3 disable-ssl-v3 yes
SSLv2 disable-ssl-v2 yes

TLS 1.2 Encryption Algorithm Support

Version 9 of the cryptography provider removed support for the following TLS 1.2 encryption algorithms that the IETF or the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) deprecated.
Table 3. TLS Encryption Algorithm Support
Algorithm Deprecated by IETF or NIST? Supported by Cryptography Provider version 8? Supported by Cryptography Provider version 9?
RC4 Yes, RFC 7645 Yes No
3DES Yes, NIST SP800-67 R2 withdrawn Yes No
These algorithms can be specified as part of quality of protection (QOP) settings in the [ssl-qop-mgmt-default] stanza, [ssl-qop-mgmt-hosts] stanza, or [ssl-qop-mgmt-networks] stanza. Enabling any of the following cipher specifications causes version 8 of the cryptography provider to be used.
  • TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
  • TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
  • TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA
  • TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
  • TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA
  • TLS_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA

These cipher specifications are not enabled by default.

Note: The QOP configuration ALL does not cause version 8 of the cryptography provider to be used. ALL includes these cipher specifications if version 8 of the cryptography provider is used due to other configuration, but not if version 9 of the cryptography provider is used.

TLS 1.3 Key Agreement Support

Version 9 of the cryptography provider adds support for the following TLS 1.3 key agreements:
  • ECDHE_X25519MLKEM768
  • ECDHE_SecP256r1MLKEM768
  • ECHDE_SecP384r1MLKEM1024
  • MLKEM768
  • MLKEM1024
Use of these key agreements can be configured through the ssl-key-agreement and ssl-extension-supported-groups configuration entries in the [ssl] stanza, [junction] stanza, or [junction:<jct-id>] stanza.
Note: Key Agreement configuration requires version 9 of the cryptography provider. The key agreement configuration is not applied when version 8 of the cryptography provider is used due to other configuration.

FIPS Mode Processing

When the reverse proxy is configured to run with FIPS mode processing, the FIPS security requirements applied differ based on the version of the cryptography provider that is used.

Version 9 of the cryptography provider is compliant with the FIPS 140-3 requirements. For more information about FIPS 140-3, see https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/fips/140-3/final.

Version 8 of the cryptography provider is compliant with the FIPS 140-2 requirements. For more information about FIPS 140-2, see https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/fips/140-2/upd2/final.

FIPS mode processing can be configured through the fips-mode-processing configuration entry in the [ssl] stanza and the fips-mode-processings configuration entries in the [junction] stanza, or [junction:<jct-id>] stanza.