rustls / rustls/rustls-platform-verifier

Consider adding Verifier::new_with_extra_roots implementation to other platforms

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#58 21 comments 10 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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enhancement O-Android O-Apple O-Windows
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
158
Forks
60
Avg merge
5d 10h
Merged PRs (30d)
3

Description

The functionality of new_with_extra_roots is primarily useful for Linux/WASM/BSD platforms that don't have a consistent source of trusted CA root/anchors available. However, many private/internal applications often use their own private CAs instead of publicly issued ones. This seems like a use case we could support without much burden, even if those users might be better off making their own webpki-based verifier instead.

Implementation details

It's worth noting that the Apple and Windows code for this already exists in a near-drop in form. Android would require more work to make a TrustManager that combined certificates.

macOS/iOS

We can call SecTrustSetAnchorCertificates to add additional roots to the evaluation, and then call SecTrustSetAnchorCertificatesOnly with false to trust both the custom roots and the default OS-provided ones.

Windows

We can create a custom CERT_CHAIN_ENGINE_CONFIG and set cAdditionalStore to a custom, in-memory certificate store. This engine and store are then included in our call to CertGetCertificateChain.

Android

I believe this can be done by using a PKIXParameters. I think the best idea is to create a custom TrustManager class that considers the system Keystore's trustmanager and then a custom Keystore containing the user-provided roots. I'm not yet sure about the exact implementation strategy though since the Android X509 and PKIX APIs are a handful. This and this blog may be helpful references.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at the existing Verifier::new_with_extra_roots implementation and compare the near-drop-in Apple and Windows verifier code described in the issue. Investigate the Android TrustManager and PKIXParameters approach, then define completion as supporting additional private roots while retaining the platforms’ default trusted roots.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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