Hi,
I have been following this thread with interest because I have been
struggling with the same problem. I define it this way.
* To achieve secure authentication which is widely supported, you need
to use Basic authentication over SSL
* All URLs which can be accessed with HTTPS can be accessed with HTTP
* I secure certain directories with .htaccess and all of the links
in my site which point to them are via HTTPS, so as long as people
always follow the links, they will never transfer the password
in clear text (essentially) over the network using HTTP.
* However, if they type the URL directly into the browser and they
*forget* to use "https" but rather use "http", their password
is exposed to network sniffers.
I think that it was to solve this problem that J.J.Horner suggested
the module. Any request to a secured area using HTTP would be
automatically redirected to the same URL with HTTPS instead.
Thus, the browser would never, ever be prompted to surrender the
authentication credentials (password) in the clear over HTTP.
Thus, I see great value to JJ's suggested module.
Is there an easier way to safeguard against Apache prompting for
a password over HTTP?
Stephen
At 01:41 PM 9/18/2001 -0500, Christian Gilmore wrote:
>A realm is defined by the following three things:
>
>1) AuthName
>2) ServerName (well, the server name in the URL actually)
>3) Port (well, the port to which the browser is talking)
>
>If these three things are not always the same, the browser will prompt the
>user to re-authenticate. So, you cannot authenticate a user on your https
>port and magically expect that information to be passed by the browser to
>your http port. You'd have to do application-layer session handling with
>some kind of shared information across services. There are security
>implications to consider here...
>
>Regards,
>Christian
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: 'J. J. Horner' [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>> Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 12:01 PM
>> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Subject: Re: ANNOUNCE: Starting work on Apache::RedirectUnless
>>
>>
>> The problem with that solution is that we have 2 virtual
>> hosts, one http, one https, on one
>> machine. https is the only available transport outside of
>> our network, while the http
>> server is available internally.
>>
>> This is a production webserver, with existing information,
>> applications, etc. We don't
>> want to redesign our existing setup just to move content to a
>> secure virtualhost when
>> someone wants to authenticate. This approach allows us to
>> keep things from the developer
>> side very transparent. Developers can continue to maintain
>> and create as usual, with the
>> added step of a login being transferred by https method.
>>
>> If I were designing a server from scratch, I would plan
>> better, but since we are trying
>> to implement encrypted basic authentication after the server,
>> sites, applications are in place,
>> we have to work around them.
>>
>> With the AuthName set to one value across the server, we may
>> be able to prevent too many logins.
>>
>> We need to keep the same content on both virtualhosts as much
>> as possible.
>>
>> Ideas? Comments?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> JJ
>>
>>
>> * Christian Gilmore ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [010918 11:36]:
>> > Putting it into the auth phase would be appropriate, but I
>> have to wonder
>> > why this module is needed other than to refrain from keeping your
>> > configuration file clean. Your unsecure virtual host should
>> have no auth
>> > statements in it if you want all auth to be on your secure
>> virtual host...
>> >
>> > You'll need to have your entire session where you want the user to
>> > authenticate on the same virtual host, else the user will
>> be prompted
>> > multiple times or you will have a security gap if you're
>> leaving it all up
>> > to the service layer.
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> > Christian
>> >
>> > > -----Original Message-----
>> > > From: J. J. Horner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>> > > Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 8:51 AM
>> > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> > > Subject: ANNOUNCE: Starting work on Apache::RedirectUnless
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > I have need of a module that will redirect to https anytime
>> > > basic authentication is required.
>> > >
>> > > I figure the best way to do this is to step in at the
>> authentication
>> > > phase, and should authentication be required and the
>> method be http,
>> > > redirect to https for any and all basic authentication
>> > > traffic. Perhaps
>> > > after this, redirect to http, if desired.
>> > >
>> > > Any comments or suggestions?
>> > >
>> > > Thanks,
>> > > JJ
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > J. J. Horner
>> > > "H*","6d6174686c696e40326a6e6574776f726b732e636f6d"
>> > > ***************************************************
>> > > "H*","6a6a686f726e65724062656c6c736f7574682e6e6574"
>> > >
>> > > Freedom is an all-or-nothing proposition: either we
>> > > are completely free, or we are subjects of a
>> > > tyrannical system. If we lose one freedom in a
>> > > thousand, we become completely subjugated.
>> > >
>>
>> --
>> J. J. Horner
>> "H*","6d6174686c696e40326a6e6574776f726b732e636f6d"
>> ***************************************************
>> "H*","6a6a686f726e65724062656c6c736f7574682e6e6574"
>>
>> Freedom is an all-or-nothing proposition: either we
>> are completely free, or we are subjects of a
>> tyrannical system. If we lose one freedom in a
>> thousand, we become completely subjugated.
>>
>
>
>
