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https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/DERBY-2803?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel#action_12506711
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Rick Hillegas commented on DERBY-2803:
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I'm not an expert on SSL, but I think I grasp the core of what this feature
entails. Correct me if I'm wrong here. When the client and server agree to the
Basic ssl mode, their network traffic is then encrypted using a key pair that
is stored at the server. When the client and server agree to peer
authentication, one side of the connection validates the identity of the other
side via a certificate stored at both ends. Alternatively, peer authentication
can mean that both sides validate each other's identity via shared certificates.
The following would help me reason about whether I am using this feature
correctly: There seem to be 3 peer authentication cases: i) the client verifies
the server's identity, ii) the server verifies the client's identity, iii) both
sides verify each other's identity. It would help me if the Admin Guide clearly
stated which of these cases is being described in a given section of the text.
For instance, on the "Running the client" page, I am confused by the heading
"With peer (server) authentication". Does this mean that the client is
verifying the server's identity or vice-versa?
Thanks.
> SSL certificate authentication succeeds unexpectedly
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
> Key: DERBY-2803
> URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/DERBY-2803
> Project: Derby
> Issue Type: Bug
> Components: Security
> Affects Versions: 10.3.0.0
> Reporter: Rick Hillegas
> Assignee: Bernt M. Johnsen
> Fix For: 10.3.0.0
>
>
> The following bug report may simply be pilot error. I confess that I am
> having a hard time understanding the user documentation for this feature. The
> user documentation is found in the Derby Admin guide in the section titled
> "SSL/TLS". My confusion arises from the fact that sometimes the documentation
> talks about 3 SSL states (none, basic, peer) and sometimes the documentation
> talks about 4 SSL states (none, basic, client certificate, server
> certificate).
> I tried running an experiment in which the server was setup for "Basic SSL
> encryption":
> 1) I successfully connected to the server when the client was setup for
> "Basic SSL encryption". This I expected so good.
> 2) I also successfully connected to the server when the client was setup for
> "peer (server) authentication". This confused me because the client url was
> requesting peer authentication but the server was booted with just basic ssl
> authentication. That is, the client url requested "ssl=peerAuthentication"
> but the server startup line requested "ssl=basic". I was surprised that the
> two sides of the connection didn't have to agree on how much authentication
> was going to be done.
> 3) I also successfully connected to the server when the client was setup for
> "peer authentication on both sides". This really confused me: It seemed to me
> that there were 2 certificates involved, but the server, via its startup
> properties, should only have been aware of one of these certificates, viz.,
> the certificate identified by the javax.net.ssl.keyStore properties.
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