Re: #612: 9.2.2 and ALPN

> On Nov 12, 2014, at 4:40 PM, Eric Rescorla <ekr@rtfm.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 8:58 PM, Greg Wilkins <gregw@intalio.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I think it is a downgrade attack vector, but what I think this WG is trying to say is that it is an acceptable one.  If either peer wants to avoid it, they simple need to not offer the bad ciphers.
>> 
> Can you please explain how this downgrade attack works?

In order to deal with servers which, perhaps mistakenly, accept non-h2 compliant ciphers, a client has to choose between failing the connection entirely (when H1 would have worked fine), or opening a new connection. If that new connection offers a weaker selection of ciphers (perhaps some kind of fallback to an old code path) it becomes a potential target. 

--
Jason T. Greene
WildFly Lead / JBoss EAP Platform Architect
JBoss, a division of Red Hat

Received on Thursday, 13 November 2014 05:28:18 UTC