Subject: [websec] #32: HSTS: explain some practical implications of includeSubDomains directive

From: "websec issue tracker" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:46:53 -0000

#32: HSTS: explain some practical implications of includeSubDomains directive

 the includeSubDomains directive has some practical implications -- for
 example, if a HSTS host offers http-based services on various ports, then
 they will all have to be TLS/SSL-based in order to work properly.

 For example, certification authorities often offer their CRL distribution
 and OCSP services over plain HTTP, and sometimes at a subdomain of a
 publicly-available web application which may be secured by TLS/SSL. E.g.
 https://example-ca.com/ is a publicly-available web application for
 "Example CA", a certification authority. Customers use this web
 application to register their public keys and obtain certificates. Example
 CA generates certificates for customers containing <http://crl-and-ocsp
 .example-ca.com/> as the value for the "CRL Distribution Points" and
 "Authority Information Access:OCSP" certificate fields.

 If example-ca.com were to issue an HSTS Policy with the includeSubDomains
 directive, then HTTP-based user agents implementing HSTS, and that have
 interacted with the example-ca.com web application, would fail to retrieve
 CRLs and fail to check OCSP for certificates because these services are
 offered over plain HTTP.

 In this case, Example CA can either..

 * not use the includeSubDomains directive, or,

 * ensure HTTP-based services offered at subdomains of example-ca.com are
 uniformly offered over TLS/SSL, or,

 * offer plain HTTP-based services at a different domain name, e.g.
 example-ca-services.net.

-- 
-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
 Reporter:               |      Owner:  draft-ietf-websec-strict-transport-
  jeff.hodges@…          |  sec@…
     Type:  defect       |     Status:  new
 Priority:  minor        |  Milestone:
Component:  strict-      |    Version:
  transport-sec          |   Keywords:
 Severity:  Active WG    |
  Document               |
-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------

Ticket URL: <http://wiki.tools.ietf.org/wg/websec/trac/ticket/32>
websec <http://tools.ietf.org/websec/>