Security/Features/TLS Telemetry
Status
| TLS Telemetry | |
| Stage | Development |
| Status | In progress |
| Release target | Firefox 11 |
| Health | At risk |
| Status note | Waiting for feature review |
{{#set:Feature name=TLS Telemetry
|Feature stage=Development |Feature status=In progress |Feature version=Firefox 11 |Feature health=At risk |Feature status note=Waiting for feature review }}
Team
| Product manager | David Chan |
| Directly Responsible Individual | David Chan |
| Lead engineer | David Chan |
| Security lead | David Chan |
| Privacy lead | Sid Stamm |
| Localization lead | ` |
| Accessibility lead | ` |
| QA lead | ` |
| UX lead | ` |
| Product marketing lead | ` |
| Operations lead | ` |
| Additional members | Brandon Sterne |
{{#set:Feature product manager=David Chan
|Feature feature manager=David Chan |Feature lead engineer=David Chan |Feature security lead=David Chan |Feature privacy lead=Sid Stamm |Feature localization lead=` |Feature accessibility lead=` |Feature qa lead=` |Feature ux lead=` |Feature product marketing lead=` |Feature operations lead=` |Feature additional members=Brandon Sterne }}
Open issues/risks
NSS currently doesn't expose information exchanged during the initial client-server handshake. See bugs bug 704675 and bug 704584
We have decided to collect a smaller subset of the data in the initial feature. The study will be updated when more data is exposed through NSS.
Stage 1: Definition
1. Feature overview
The goal of this telemetry study is to collect SSL/TLS errors that Firefox users encounter during browsing. The data can be used to decide whether Firefox should support legacy / less secure protocols such as weak keys or SSLv2 .
2. Users & use cases
The target users are Firefox users.
Use Cases
- Collect cipher suites exchanged during handshake and negotiated cipher
- Ciphersuites in PSM are ordered in decreasing preference. The SSL/TLS specification says that the client should send their supported ciphersuites in this order. The server then choose the most preferred ciphersuite that it also supports.
- Collecting this data allows us to make decisions whether to remove certain weaker ciphers from our supported list.
- Collect SSL/TLS version
- This is the version of SSL/TLS that ends up being negotiated. This doesn't correspond directly to whether the client has the preference for "Use SSL 3.0" or "Use TLS 1.0" enabled.
- The resulting version may be different due to what the server supports.
- Collect certificate key strength (bits)
- This is the server RSA public key modulus. A larger modulus is preferred
- It would be desirable to disable weak certificates. bug 360126
- Collect SSL/TLS certificate related errors
- Collect count of TLS intolerant websites
- Some websites do not implement the SSL protocol correctly and there is special handling for those cases.
- In those cases, Firefox tries to reconnect but downgrading from TLS 1.0 to SSL 3.0
- It may be possible to remove this downgrading if the number of TLS intolerant sites is small enough.
3. Dependencies
N/A
4. Requirements
- Collect type of SSL/TLS error
- Collect information about strength of negotiated channel
Non-goals
The study is not designed to assert anything about the underlying security of the SSL/TLS protocol.
Stage 2: Design
5. Functional specification
All SSL/TLS certificate related errors will be logged. Certain more specific errors such as domain mismatch, revoked certificate, untrusted issuer, etc will be collected as well. We will also collect the number of OK vs FAIL secure connections. These histograms will used to address requirement 1 (SSL/TLS errors).
We will determine the strength of the negotiated channel by collecting: negotiated ciphersuite, SSL/TLS version, server public key bits, whether the server is TLS intolerant.
6. User experience design
The study uses the default Telemetry UI/UX. The only code changes are to add more probes. Histogram names / descriptions may need to be localized.
Stage 3: Planning
7. Implementation plan
- Determine best areas of code to insert Telemetry probes
- Add probes as needed
8. Reviews
Security review
Security team has decided that the feature does not require an in-depth review
Privacy review
Review is in progress. Please see review page
Localization review
`
Accessibility
`
Quality Assurance review
No specific testing is needed for this feature
Operations review
No operations changes need to be performed for this review
Stage 4: Development
9. Implementation
Implementation bug
- Data collected is noted on the privacy review page
Stage 5: Release
10. Landing criteria
` {{#set:Feature open issues and risks=NSS currently doesn't expose information exchanged during the initial client-server handshake. See bugs bug 704675 and bug 704584
We have decided to collect a smaller subset of the data in the initial feature. The study will be updated when more data is exposed through NSS. |Feature overview=The goal of this telemetry study is to collect SSL/TLS errors that Firefox users encounter during browsing. The data can be used to decide whether Firefox should support legacy / less secure protocols such as weak keys or SSLv2 . |Feature users and use cases=The target users are Firefox users.
Use Cases
- Collect cipher suites exchanged during handshake and negotiated cipher
- Ciphersuites in PSM are ordered in decreasing preference. The SSL/TLS specification says that the client should send their supported ciphersuites in this order. The server then choose the most preferred ciphersuite that it also supports.
- Collecting this data allows us to make decisions whether to remove certain weaker ciphers from our supported list.
- Collect SSL/TLS version
- This is the version of SSL/TLS that ends up being negotiated. This doesn't correspond directly to whether the client has the preference for "Use SSL 3.0" or "Use TLS 1.0" enabled.
- The resulting version may be different due to what the server supports.
- Collect certificate key strength (bits)
- This is the server RSA public key modulus. A larger modulus is preferred
- It would be desirable to disable weak certificates. bug 360126
- Collect SSL/TLS certificate related errors
- Collect count of TLS intolerant websites
- Some websites do not implement the SSL protocol correctly and there is special handling for those cases.
- In those cases, Firefox tries to reconnect but downgrading from TLS 1.0 to SSL 3.0
- It may be possible to remove this downgrading if the number of TLS intolerant sites is small enough.
|Feature dependencies=N/A |Feature requirements=# Collect type of SSL/TLS error
- Collect information about strength of negotiated channel
|Feature non-goals=The study is not designed to assert anything about the underlying security of the SSL/TLS protocol. |Feature functional spec=All SSL/TLS certificate related errors will be logged. Certain more specific errors such as domain mismatch, revoked certificate, untrusted issuer, etc will be collected as well. We will also collect the number of OK vs FAIL secure connections. These histograms will used to address requirement 1 (SSL/TLS errors).
We will determine the strength of the negotiated channel by collecting: negotiated ciphersuite, SSL/TLS version, server public key bits, whether the server is TLS intolerant. |Feature ux design=The study uses the default Telemetry UI/UX. The only code changes are to add more probes. Histogram names / descriptions may need to be localized. |Feature implementation plan=* Determine best areas of code to insert Telemetry probes
- Add probes as needed
|Feature security review=Security team has decided that the feature does not require an in-depth review |Feature privacy review=Review is in progress. Please see review page |Feature localization review=` |Feature accessibility review=` |Feature qa review=No specific testing is needed for this feature |Feature operations review=No operations changes need to be performed for this review |Feature implementation notes=Implementation bug
- Data collected is noted on the privacy review page
|Feature landing criteria=` }}
Feature details
| Priority | Unprioritized |
| Rank | 999 |
| Theme / Goal | ` |
| Roadmap | ` |
| Secondary roadmap | ` |
| Feature list | Desktop |
| Project | ` |
| Engineering team | Security |
{{#set:Feature priority=Unprioritized
|Feature rank=999 |Feature theme=` |Feature roadmap=` |Feature secondary roadmap=` |Feature list=Desktop |Feature project=` |Feature engineering team=Security }}
Team status notes
| status | notes | |
| Products | ` | ` |
| Engineering | ` | ` |
| Security | sec-review-unnecessary | ` |
| Privacy | ` | ` |
| Localization | ` | ` |
| Accessibility | ` | ` |
| Quality assurance | ` | ` |
| User experience | ` | ` |
| Product marketing | ` | ` |
| Operations | ` | ` |
{{#set:Feature products status=`
|Feature products notes=` |Feature engineering status=` |Feature engineering notes=` |Feature security status=sec-review-unnecessary |Feature security health=OK |Feature security notes=` |Feature privacy status=` |Feature privacy notes=` |Feature localization status=` |Feature localization notes=` |Feature accessibility status=` |Feature accessibility notes=` |Feature qa status=` |Feature qa notes=` |Feature ux status=` |Feature ux notes=` |Feature product marketing status=` |Feature product marketing notes=` |Feature operations status=` |Feature operations notes=` }}