SSL Root CAs

The module you need to solve node's SSL woes when including a custom certificate.

Let's say you're trying to connect to a site with a cheap-o SSL cert - such as RapidSSL certificate from name.com (the best place to get your domains, btw) - you'll probably get an error like UNABLE_TO_VERIFY_LEAF_SIGNATURE and after you google around and figure that out you'll be able to connect to that site just fine, but now when you try to connect to other sites you get CERT_UNTRUSTED or possibly other errors.

This module is the solution to your woes!

FYI, I'm merely the publisher, not the author of this module. See here: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/nodejs/AjkHSYmiGYs/1LfNHbMhd48J

The script downloads the same root CAs that are included with Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, libnss, and OpenSSL*: https://mxr.mozilla.org/nss/source/lib/ckfw/builtins/certdata.txt?raw=1

* OpenSSL doesn't actually bundle these CAs, but they suggest using them

Other Implementations

• Golang https://github.com/agl/extract-nss-root-certs
• Perl https://github.com/bagder/curl/blob/master/lib/mk-ca-bundle.pl

Usage Examples

• https://github.com/coolaj86/nodejs-self-signed-certificate-example
• https://github.com/coolaj86/nodejs-ssl-trusted-peer-example

Install

npm i ssl-root-cas --save

Usage

'use strict';
 
// This will add the well-known CAs
// to `https.globalAgent.options.ca`
require('ssl-root-cas/latest')
  .inject()
  .addFile(__dirname + '/ssl/01-cheap-ssl-intermediary-a.pem')
  .addFile(__dirname + '/ssl/02-cheap-ssl-intermediary-b.pem')
  .addFile(__dirname + '/ssl/03-cheap-ssl-site.pem')
  ;

For the sake of version consistency this package ships with the CA certs that were available at the time it was published, but for the sake of security I recommend you use the latest ones.

If you want the latest certificates (downloaded as part of the postinstall process), you can require those like so:

require('ssl-root-cas/latest').inject();

You can use the ones that shippped with package like so:

require('ssl-root-cas').inject();

API

inject()

I thought it might be rude to modify https.globalAgent.options.ca on require, so I afford you the opportunity to inject() the certs at your leisure.

inject() keeps track of whether or not it's been run, so no worries about calling it twice.

addFile(filepath)

This is just a convenience method so that you don't have to require fs and path if you don't need them.

require('ssl-root-cas/latest')
  .addFile(__dirname + '/ssl/03-cheap-ssl-site.pem')
  ;

is the same as

var https = require('https')
  , cas
  ;
 
cas = https.globalAgent.options.ca || [];
cas.push(fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, 'ssl', '03-cheap-ssl-site.pem')));

rootCas

If for some reason you just want to look at the array of Root CAs without actually injecting them, or you just prefer to https.globalAgent.options.ca = require('ssl-root-cas').rootCas; yourself, well, you can.

Kinda Bad Ideas

    'use strict';
    
    var request = require('request');
    var agentOptions;
    var agent;
    
    agentOptions = {
      host: 'www.example.com'
    , port: '443'
    , path: '/'
    , rejectUnauthorized: false
    };

    agent = new https.Agent(agentOptions);
    
    request({
      url: "https://www.example.com/api/endpoint"
    , method: 'GET'
    , agent: agent
    }, function (err, resp, body) {
      // ...
    });

By using an agent with rejectUnauthorized you at limit the security vulnerability to the requests that deal with that one site instead of making your entire node process completely, utterly insecure.

Other Options

If you were using a self-signed cert you would add this option:

    agentOptions.ca = [ selfSignedRootCaPemCrtBuffer ];

For trusted-peer connections you would also add these 2 options:

    agentOptions.key = clientPemKeyBuffer;
    agentOptions.cert = clientPemCrtSignedBySelfSignedRootCaBuffer;

REALLY Bad Ideas

Don't use dissolutions such as these. :-)

This will turn off SSL validation checking. This is not a good idea. Please do not do it. (really I'm only providing it as a reference for search engine seo so that people who are trying to figure out how to avoid doing that will end up here)

process.env.NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED = "0"

The same dissolution from the terminal would be

export NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED="0"
node my-service.js

It's unfortunate that process.env.NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED = '0'; is even documented. It should only be used for debugging and should never make it into in sort of code that runs in the wild. Almost every library that runs atop https has a way of passing agent options through. Those that don't should be fixed.

Index

Other information you might want to know while you're here.

Generating an SSL Cert

Just in case you didn't know, here's how you do it:

openssl req -new -sha256 -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout server.key -out server.csr

DO NOT FILL OUT email address, challenge password, or optional company name

However, you should fill out country name, FULL state name, locality name, organization name.

organizational unit is optional.

cat server.csr

That created a signing request with a sha-256 hash.

When you submit that to the likes of RapidSSL you'll get back an X.509 that you should call server.crt.pem (at least for the purposes of this mini-tutorial).

You cannot use "bundled" certificates (multiple certs in a single file) with node.js.

A single HTTPS server

Here's a complete working example:

'use strict';

var https = require('https')
  , fs = require('fs')
  , connect = require('connect')
  , app = connect()
  , sslOptions
  , server
  , port = 4080
  ;

require('ssl-root-cas/latest')
  .inject()
  .addFile(__dirname + '/ssl/Geotrust Cross Root CA.txt')
  .addFile(__dirname + '/ssl/Rapid SSL CA.txt')
  ;

sslOptions = {
  key: fs.readFileSync('./ssl/server.key')
, cert: fs.readFileSync('./ssl/server.crt')
};

app.use('/', function (req, res) {
  res.end('<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1></body></html>');
});

server = https.createServer(sslOptions, app).listen(port, function(){
  console.log('Listening on https://' + server.address().address + ':' + server.address().port);
});

Multiple HTTPS servers using SNI

I know this works - because I just bought two SSL certs from RapidSSL (through name.com), a Digital Ocean VPS, and played around for an hour until it did.

:-)

File hierarchy:

webapps/
└── vhosts
    ├── aj.the.dj
    │   └── ssl
    │       ├── server.crt
    │       └── server.key
    ├── ballprovo.com
    │   └── ssl
    │       ├── server.crt
    │       └── server.key
    ├── server.js
    └── ssl
        ├── Geotrust Cross Root CA.txt
        └── Rapid SSL CA.txt

server.js

'use strict';

var https = require('https')
  , http = require('http')
  , fs = require('fs')
  , crypto = require('crypto')
  , connect = require('connect')
  , vhost = require('vhost')

  // connect / express app
  , app = connect()

  // SSL Server
  , secureContexts = {}
  , secureOpts
  , secureServer
  , securePort = 4443

  // force SSL upgrade server
  , server
  , port = 4080

  // the ssl domains I have
  , domains = ['aj.the.dj', 'ballprovo.com']
  ;

require('ssl-root-cas/latest')
  .inject()
  .addFile(__dirname + '/ssl/Geotrust Cross Root CA.txt')
  .addFile(__dirname + '/ssl/Rapid SSL CA.txt')
  ;

function getAppContext(domain) {
  // Really you'd want to do this:
  // return require(__dirname + '/' + domain + '/app.js');

  // But for this demo we'll do this:
  return connect().use('/', function (req, res) {
    console.log('req.vhost', JSON.stringify(req.vhost));
    res.end('<html><body><h1>Welcome to ' + domain + '!</h1></body></html>');
  });
}

domains.forEach(function (domain) {
  secureContexts[domain] = crypto.createCredentials({
    key:  fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/' + domain + '/ssl/server.key')
  , cert: fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/' + domain + '/ssl/server.crt')
  }).context;

  app.use(vhost('*.' + domain, getAppContext(domain)));
  app.use(vhost(domain, getAppContext(domain)));
});

// fallback / default domain
app.use('/', function (req, res) {
  res.end('<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1></body></html>');
});

//provide a SNICallback when you create the options for the https server
secureOpts = {
  //SNICallback is passed the domain name, see NodeJS docs on TLS
  SNICallback: function (domain) {
    console.log('SNI:', domain);
    return secureContexts[domain];
  }
  // fallback / default domain
  , key:  fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/aj.the.dj/ssl/server.key')
  , cert: fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/aj.the.dj/ssl/server.crt')
};

secureServer = https.createServer(secureOpts, app).listen(securePort, function(){
  console.log("Listening on https://localhost:" + secureServer.address().port);
});

server = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.setHeader(
    'Location'
  , 'https://' + req.headers.host.replace(/:\d+/, ':' + securePort)
  );
  res.statusCode = 302;
  res.end();
}).listen(port, function(){
  console.log("Listening on http://localhost:" + server.address().port);
});

Other SSL Resources

Zero-Config clone 'n' run (tm) Repos:

• io.js / node.js HTTPS SSL Example
• io.js / node.js HTTPS SSL Self-Signed Certificate Example
• io.js / node.js HTTPS SSL Trusted Peer Client Certificate Example
• SSL Root CAs

Articles

• [http://greengeckodesign.com/blog/2013/06/15/creating-an-ssl-certificate-for-node-dot-js/](Creating an SSL Certificate for node.js)
• [http://www.hacksparrow.com/express-js-https-server-client-example.html/comment-page-1](HTTPS Trusted Peer Example)
• How to Create a CSR for HTTPS SSL (demo with name.com, node.js)
• coolaj86/Painless-Self-Signed-Certificates-in-node