Do you need to (or are forced to) support old / legacy software like IE < 11, Android < 4.4 or Java < 8? Yes, give me a ciphersuite that works with legacy / old software.
Cipherlist
Strong Ciphers for Apache, nginx, Lighttpd and other software.
Apache
SSLCipherSuite EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM
# Requires Apache 2.4.36 & OpenSSL 1.1.1
SSLProtocol -all +TLSv1.3 +TLSv1.2
SSLOpenSSLConfCmd Curves X25519:secp521r1:secp384r1:prime256v1
# Older versions
# SSLProtocol All -SSLv2 -SSLv3 -TLSv1 -TLSv1.1
SSLHonorCipherOrder On
Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload"
Header always set X-Frame-Options DENY
Header always set X-Content-Type-Options nosniff
# Requires Apache >= 2.4
SSLCompression off
SSLUseStapling on
SSLStaplingCache "shmcb:logs/stapling-cache(150000)"
# Requires Apache >= 2.4.11
SSLSessionTickets Off
nginx
ssl_protocols TLSv1.3;# Requires nginx >= 1.13.0 else use TLSv1.2
ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
ssl_dhparam /etc/nginx/dhparam.pem; # openssl dhparam -out /etc/nginx/dhparam.pem 4096
ssl_ciphers EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM;
ssl_ecdh_curve secp384r1; # Requires nginx >= 1.1.0
ssl_session_timeout 10m;
ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;
ssl_session_tickets off; # Requires nginx >= 1.5.9
ssl_stapling on; # Requires nginx >= 1.3.7
ssl_stapling_verify on; # Requires nginx => 1.3.7
resolver $DNS-IP-1 $DNS-IP-2 valid=300s;
resolver_timeout 5s;
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload";
add_header X-Frame-Options DENY;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
Lighttpd
ssl.honor-cipher-order = "enable"
ssl.cipher-list = "EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM"
ssl.use-compression = "disable"
ssl.dh-file = "/etc/lighttpd/dhparam.pem" # openssl dhparam -out /etc/lighttpd/dhparam.pem 4096
setenv.add-response-header = (
"Strict-Transport-Security" => "max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload",
"X-Frame-Options" => "DENY",
"X-Content-Type-Options" => "nosniff"
)
ssl.use-sslv2 = "disable"
ssl.use-sslv3 = "disable"
ssl.openssl.ssl-conf-cmd = ("Protocol" => "-TLSv1.1, -TLSv1, -SSLv3") # v1.4.48 or up
ssl.ec-curve = "secp384r1"
Warning
These examples are meant for sysadmins who have done this before (and sysadmins are forced to support Windows XP with IE < 9, therefore des3cbc), as an easily copy-pastable example, not for newbies who have no idea what all this means. The settings are very secure, but if you don't know what you are doing might make your website and subdomains unavailable for a long, long time (see HSTS). Research what you are doing and think before you act.Other suggestions
- sha256 certificates
- 4096-bit private key
- >2048 DH Pool size -
openssl dhparam -out dhparams.pem 4096
- HTTP Public Key Pinning
Why?
The above ciphers are Copy Pastable in your nginx, Lighttpd or Apache config. These provide Strong SSL Security for all modern browsers, plus you get an A+ on the SSL Labs Test. In short, they set a strong Forward Secrecy enabled ciphersuite, they disable SSLv2 and SSLv3, add HTTP Strict Transport Security and X-Frame-Deny headers and enable OCSP Stapling (except on Lighttpd, it does not support that yet).
Using IIS? Check out IIS Crypto. Other software like Zeus, Tomcat? Detailed info? Read the Mozilla Page.
Cipherlist is made by Remy van Elst (Raymii.org) & Juerd (not the server admin, suggestions to Remy or as pull request) after the idea spawned at a Privacy Cafe at Revspace. The image is Public Domain from here. Feedback here please. Source code here.
