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https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/DERBY-2803?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel#action_12507913
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Rick Hillegas commented on DERBY-2803:
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Thanks, Bernt! I have looked at the zip file of html output and I think that
this is much easier to understand. I have some comments on the documentation.
DOCUMENTATION
1) I think that the title of this section should be changed to something that
suggests why a user would be interested in consulting this section. Perhaps
something like this: "Wire Encryption and Peer Authentication". Right now, the
title "SSL/TLS" seems like a statement of the solution rather than the problem.
I think that the user is more interested in the problem statement.
2) Along the same lines, I think that the section should start out with an
introductory sentence or paragraph focusing the reader's attention on the
problem rather than the solution.
3) On the same page: I think that the sentence about CA certificates deserves
its own paragraph. I understand that you can't go into a detailed explanation
of certificates and signing authorities However, it would be helpful if you
could at least indicate that you are referring here to the situation in which a
3rd party is vouching for the identity of the other end of the connection.
4) "Key and certificate handling": I would recommend rewriting the first
paragraph as follows: "For SSL operation, the server always needs a key pair.
If the server runs in peer authentication mode (the server authenticates the
clients), then each client needs its own key pair. In general, if one end of
the communication wants to authenticate its partner, then the first end needs
to install a certificate generated by the partner."
5) "Starting the server with SSL/TLS": I would recommend renaming the "Starting
the server with client authentication" subsection to be "Starting a server
which authenticates clients" and I would reword its first paragraph as follows:
"When the server's SSL mode is set to peerAuthentication, then the server
authenticates its client's identity in addition to encrypting wire traffic. In
this situation, the server's trust store must contain a certificate for each
client which will connect."
6) "Running the client with SSL/TLS": Similarly, I would rename "Running the
client with server authentication" to be "Running a client which authenticates
the server" and I would reword the first sentence of this section as follows:
"If the client wants to authenticate the server, then the client's trust store
must contain the server's certificate."
> SSL certificate authentication succeeds unexpectedly
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
> Key: DERBY-2803
> URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/DERBY-2803
> Project: Derby
> Issue Type: Bug
> Components: Documentation, Security
> Affects Versions: 10.3.0.0
> Reporter: Rick Hillegas
> Assignee: Bernt M. Johnsen
> Fix For: 10.3.1.1, 10.4.0.0
>
> Attachments: DERBY-2803.diff, DERBY-2803.stat, DERBY-2803.zip
>
>
> 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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