[openssl-users] Implementing deprecation of commonname and emailaddress

[Robert Moskowitz]

On 08/17/2017 12:56 AM, Jeffrey Walton wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 17, 2017 at 12:28 AM, Robert Moskowitz <rgm at htt-consult.com> wrote:
>> I have skimmed through a few RFCs following today's postings and a few web
>> sites.  It would seem to me that I should:
>>
>> Remove commonName and emailAddress completely from the cnf file. They no
>> longer belong in any cert, root or intermediate CA certs, server or user
>> certs.
> CommonName is supplied for viewing by tools like certificate viewers.
> It should probably be a friendly name, like "Example Web Services".
>
> Don't include hostnames in the CN. If you list it in the CN, then it
> must be listed in the SAN, too. You must list it twice.
>
> When you see a name like "example.com" in the CN, its usually a CA
> including a domain name and not a hostname. It confusing for users and
> user agents. I've seen user agents match a hostname based on the
> domain name.
>
> On the backend, there's usually a redirect for the domain example.com
> to send user agents to a host like www.example.com. It happens up at
> layer 7, not at layer 4.

So commonName does make some sense, for those that want to verbosely 
define the name.  But not for fqdns.

>
>> For servers include something like in the cnf file:
>>
>> subjectAltName = DNS:www.example.com, DNS:example.com, DNS=localhost,
>> EMAIL:postmaster at example.com
> Don't include an email address.
>
> X.509 and PKIX certificates don't really have a proper field for email
> addresses. That's why they get mashed into CommonName.

I have looked through a lot of rfcs and do not see this.  If you mean a 
full email address like

Jeffrey Walton <noloader at gmail.com>

I see that.  And it explains the mashing you see when you display the 
subjectName:

CN=www.htt-consult.com/emailAddress=admin at htt-consult.com

Yes, I now know I should not have put the fqdn in there....

But

subjectAltName      = email:hostmaster at example.org

Clearly is a valid rfc822name and is a proper email address for server 
contact and even user certs.

So why do you recommend NOT putting email address in SAN when so many 
others DO recommend it.  Is there some clear directive from some forum 
(CA/B BR)?  And it seems this is how Microsoft encodes email addresses 
(but not user names, see below).

>
>> (That is all suppose to be on a single line in case your mail viewer wraps
>> it).
>>
>> Um, I can specify 'localhost' in this manner if I am on the server and
>> connecting in the browser with https://localhost ??
> Yes.
>
> You can also put IP addresses there. The RFC's mostly allow it. The
> CA/Browser Forum Baseline Requirements (CA/B BR) forbids it, but its
> not clear (to me) what current browser behavior is.
>
> For completeness, non-browser user agents, like wget and openssl,
> follow the RFC standards and issuing policies. Browsers follow the
> CA/B BR. That's why you often see browsers reject something accepted
> by other user agents.
>
> You might also be interested in
> https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21297139/how-do-you-sign-certificate-signing-request-with-your-certification-authority/21340898#21340898
> and https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10175812/how-to-create-a-self-signed-certificate-with-openssl.
> They questions and answers reference about 6 different standards.
>
>> And for clients:
>>
>> subjectAltName = EMAIL:user at example.com
>>
>> I am looking at how to build the above line using ENV variables. It is more
>> a matter of how I do it than can I do it...
> This is a whole 'nother can of worms. Also see
> https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/62746/how-to-encode-a-username-in-pkix-certificate.

Fun read.  Since I am not striving for MS coordination, and so far I 
have not dove into LDAP issues, I would go for DN/UID added to the user 
cnf file.

thanks

Bob