Full Disclosure mailing list archives

Re: SSL Filtering


From: Brian Hatch <full-disclosure () ifokr org>
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 13:24:44 -0700



Is there a way to detect if this MITM is being performed?

The one method I'm familiar with for how to accomplish this with SSL 
involves installing keys for a company CA in the users' browsers.  (The 
SSL MITM box resigns the keys, and as long as the key is trusted by the 
user, no dire error messages occur.) If you were paying attention, you 
could check that the signing CA had changed.

Acording to the PDF, yes, this is what happens.  Client browsers
must have the MITM's cert listed as a trusted CA, and at that
point the MITM box can create keys on the fly, sign with it's
cert, and you'd never know what hit you.

So, the only way to determine you were being MITM'd by this is
by checking the certificate that was used.  (Clicking the lock
icon, etc.)

If you go to a bunch of different unrelated sites and they're all
signed by the same cert, you probably know the culprit and can
remove that cert from your trusted CA list if you wanted.  Then
you'd get cert warnings all the time though.

You could get around their inspection by running things like
HTTPTunnel with SSL inside it.  You could do this HTTPTunnel
over SSL inside a MITM'd SSL too.  However regardless how
you do it, with the MITM they should be smart enough to
catch the HTTPTunnel-style traffic.





--
Brian Hatch                  I have no cognitive
   Systems and                powers.  It's amazing
   Security Engineer          that I'm respirating.
http://www.ifokr.org/bri/     --bree

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