Hostname validation

One very common mistake made by users of OpenSSL is to assume that OpenSSL will validate the hostname in the server's certificate. Currently, it does not, although a future version (1.1.0?) will include this functionality.

Here is some sample code which shows how validating the hostname can be done. However, it does not handle wildcard certificates, so borrowing some code from cURL might be one way to go.

for sake of simplicity i copied here the related code of last CURL reference :

/* Obtained from: https://github.com/iSECPartners/ssl-conservatory */

/*
Copyright (C) 2012, iSEC Partners.

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of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do
so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
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 */

/*
 * Helper functions to perform basic hostname validation using OpenSSL.
 *
 * Please read "everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-openssl.pdf" before
 * attempting to use this code. This whitepaper describes how the code works,
 * how it should be used, and what its limitations are.
 *
 * Author:  Alban Diquet
 * License: See LICENSE
 *
 */

// Get rid of OSX 10.7 and greater deprecation warnings.
#if defined(__APPLE__) && defined(__clang__)
#pragma clang diagnostic ignored "-Wdeprecated-declarations"
#endif

#include <openssl/x509v3.h>
#include <openssl/ssl.h>

#include "openssl_hostname_validation.h"
#include "hostcheck.h"

#define HOSTNAME_MAX_SIZE 255

/**
* Tries to find a match for hostname in the certificate's Common Name field.
*
* Returns MatchFound if a match was found.
* Returns MatchNotFound if no matches were found.
* Returns MalformedCertificate if the Common Name had a NUL character embedded in it.
* Returns Error if the Common Name could not be extracted.
*/
static HostnameValidationResult matches_common_name(const char *hostname, const X509 *server_cert) {
        int common_name_loc = -1;
        X509_NAME_ENTRY *common_name_entry = NULL;
        ASN1_STRING *common_name_asn1 = NULL;
        char *common_name_str = NULL;

        // Find the position of the CN field in the Subject field of the certificate
        common_name_loc = X509_NAME_get_index_by_NID(X509_get_subject_name((X509 *) server_cert), NID_commonName, -1);
        if (common_name_loc < 0) {
                return Error;
        }

        // Extract the CN field
        common_name_entry = X509_NAME_get_entry(X509_get_subject_name((X509 *) server_cert), common_name_loc);
        if (common_name_entry == NULL) {
                return Error;
        }

        // Convert the CN field to a C string
        common_name_asn1 = X509_NAME_ENTRY_get_data(common_name_entry);
        if (common_name_asn1 == NULL) {
                return Error;
        }
        common_name_str = (char *) ASN1_STRING_data(common_name_asn1);

        // Make sure there isn't an embedded NUL character in the CN
        if ((size_t)ASN1_STRING_length(common_name_asn1) != strlen(common_name_str)) {
                return MalformedCertificate;
        }

        // Compare expected hostname with the CN
        if (Curl_cert_hostcheck(common_name_str, hostname) == CURL_HOST_MATCH) {
                return MatchFound;
        }
        else {
                return MatchNotFound;
        }
}


/**
* Tries to find a match for hostname in the certificate's Subject Alternative Name extension.
*
* Returns MatchFound if a match was found.
* Returns MatchNotFound if no matches were found.
* Returns MalformedCertificate if any of the hostnames had a NUL character embedded in it.
* Returns NoSANPresent if the SAN extension was not present in the certificate.
*/
static HostnameValidationResult matches_subject_alternative_name(const char *hostname, const X509 *server_cert) {
        HostnameValidationResult result = MatchNotFound;
        int i;
        int san_names_nb = -1;
        STACK_OF(GENERAL_NAME) *san_names = NULL;

        // Try to extract the names within the SAN extension from the certificate
        san_names = X509_get_ext_d2i((X509 *) server_cert, NID_subject_alt_name, NULL, NULL);
        if (san_names == NULL) {
                return NoSANPresent;
        }
        san_names_nb = sk_GENERAL_NAME_num(san_names);

        // Check each name within the extension
        for (i=0; i<san_names_nb; i++) {
                const GENERAL_NAME *current_name = sk_GENERAL_NAME_value(san_names, i);

                if (current_name->type == GEN_DNS) {
                        // Current name is a DNS name, let's check it
                        char *dns_name = (char *) ASN1_STRING_data(current_name->d.dNSName);

                        // Make sure there isn't an embedded NUL character in the DNS name
                        if ((size_t)ASN1_STRING_length(current_name->d.dNSName) != strlen(dns_name)) {
                                result = MalformedCertificate;
                                break;
                        }
                        else { // Compare expected hostname with the DNS name
                                if (Curl_cert_hostcheck(dns_name, hostname)
                                    == CURL_HOST_MATCH) {
                                        result = MatchFound;
                                        break;
                                }
                        }
                }
        }
        sk_GENERAL_NAME_pop_free(san_names, GENERAL_NAME_free);

        return result;
}


/**
* Validates the server's identity by looking for the expected hostname in the
* server's certificate. As described in RFC 6125, it first tries to find a match
* in the Subject Alternative Name extension. If the extension is not present in
* the certificate, it checks the Common Name instead.
*
* Returns MatchFound if a match was found.
* Returns MatchNotFound if no matches were found.
* Returns MalformedCertificate if any of the hostnames had a NUL character embedded in it.
* Returns Error if there was an error.
*/
HostnameValidationResult validate_hostname(const char *hostname, const X509 *server_cert) {
        HostnameValidationResult result;

        if((hostname == NULL) || (server_cert == NULL))
                return Error;

        // First try the Subject Alternative Names extension
        result = matches_subject_alternative_name(hostname, server_cert);
        if (result == NoSANPresent) {
                // Extension was not found: try the Common Name
                result = matches_common_name(hostname, server_cert);
        }

        return result;
}