Re:For sale: Trusted root SSL CA signing certificate
by agl on Saturday February 09, 2013 @04:15PM
(#5194030)
It's a question of terminology, but when groups like Chrome Security, Mozilla etc talk about MITM certificates and that they are forbidden, we mean those that are used for intercepting traffic.
Re:For sale: Trusted root SSL CA signing certificate
by marshray on Saturday February 09, 2013 @04:30PM
(#5194093)
I think this is a case where the precise terminology is critical.
The only way to know how a certificate may or may not "be used" is by looking at how the source code of all client applications to see how they will interpret it.
How many of the cases of trusted-root chained MITM seen in the wild (Iran, Turkey) were prevented by the business agreements making MITM "forbidden"?
There's a huge difference in security between a cryptographic-strength guarantee enforced by reliable technical mechanisms and the security provided by a civil law contract enforced by an audit regime. Also, note that the world's true Relying Parties (i.e., every web user and server operator who could potentially be MITM'd by this private key) are usually not formally acknowledged as parties to these contracts and as such have no say in their creation or even knowledge of their existence.