Installing SSL certificate in Apache

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StartSSL is no longer a recognized CA. It is better to use Installing lets-encrypt SSL certicficate for free automated SSL certificate for your servers

Using startssl SSL certificates for HTTPS

It is good to have HTTPS certificate signed by recognized CA instead of using self-signed certificate. One very viable option for simple HTTPS certificate is http://www.startssl.com Using this website one can generate SSL certificates recognized by all popular browsers for free. Steps for obtaining such certificate are:

1. Register on website and provide authetication code from email
2. Wait for another acceptance email with code and paste same in browser
3. Generate client certificate to recognize oneself. Take backup of this certificate with password at some safe location.
4. Go to control panel -> Validation wizard -> Domain name validation
5. Verify by email ID of domain owner. An email with verification code will be sent to chosen email ID.
6. Go to Certificate wizard -> SSL/TLS web certificate
7. Enter domain name of validated domain/sub-domain for which certificate is requested
8. Generate certificate using displayed openssl command, such as:

   openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout mail.rekallsoftware.com.key -out mail.rekallsoftware.com.csr

   The password can be simple. We would need it only once.

9. Remove the password from private key using:

   openssl rsa -in mail.rekallsoftware.com.key -out mail.rekallsoftware.com-2.key

10. Download the certificate and copy it to server along with key.
11. Download CA (pem) format with CRL included ( https://www.startssl.com/certs/ca-bundle.pem )

    Other option is to download all CA root and intermediate certificate. Append all these certificates into one single ca-bundle.crt or ca-bundle.pem file.

Install SSL certificate in apache

For installation of certificate in apache use following steps:

1. Copy all (certificate, key, CA bundle) to /etc/httpd/conf folder
2. chmod 400 ssl.key
3. Edit /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf and replace appropriate values. Following three values need to be updated:

   SSLCertificateFile /etc/httpd/conf/ssl.pem
   SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/httpd/conf/ssl.key
   SSLCACertificateFile /etc/httpd/conf/ca-bundle.pem

4. Restart apache and verify that certificate is working as expected.

Securing Apache SSL configuration

Default SSL configuration of apache is vulnerable to many attacks. We can improve apache SSL configuration as follows:

1. Edit /etc/httpd/conf/ssl.conf and replace/insert following two values

   SSLProtocol all -SSLv2 -SSLv3
   SSLHonorCipherOrder on
   SSLCipherSuite "EECDH+ECDSA+AESGCM EECDH+aRSA+AESGCM EECDH+ECDSA+SHA384 EECDH+ECDSA+SHA256 EECDH+aRSA+SHA384 EECDH+aRSA+SHA256 EECDH+aRSA+RC4 EECDH EDH+aRSA !RC4 !aNULL !eNULL !LOW !3DES !MD5 !EXP !PSK !SRP !DSS"

   In case of Virtualhost 'SSLEngine On' line is also required.

2. Check ranking of HTTPS security using https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/index.html

Steps learned from https://www.sslshopper.com/article-how-to-disable-weak-ciphers-and-ssl-2.0-in-apache.html

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