11.14.3. Enable FIPS 140-2 Cryptography for SSL on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

This task describes how to configure the web container (JBoss Web) of JBoss EAP 6 to FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptography for SSL. This task only covers the steps to do this on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
This task uses the Mozilla NSS library in FIPS mode for this feature.

Prerequisites

Procedure 11.45. Enable FIPS 140-2 Compliant Cryptography for SSL

  1. Create the database

    Create the NSS database in a directory own by the jboss user.
    $ mkdir -p  /usr/share/jboss-as/nssdb
    $ chown jboss /usr/share/jboss-as/nssdb 
    $ modutil -create -dbdir /usr/share/jboss-as/nssdb
  2. Create NSS configuration file

    Create a new text file with the name nss_pkcsll_fips.cfg in the /usr/share/jboss-as directory with the following contents:
    name = nss-fips
    nssLibraryDirectory=/usr/lib64
    nssSecmodDirectory=/usr/share/jboss-as/nssdb
    nssModule = fips
    The NSS configuration file must specify:
    • a name,
    • the directory where the NSS library is located, and
    • the directory where the NSS database was created as per step 1.
    If you are not running a 64bit version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 then set nssLibraryDirectory to /usr/lib instead of /usr/lib64.
  3. Enable SunPKCS11 provider

    Edit the java.security configuration file for your JRE ($JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security/java.security) and add the following line:
    security.provider.1=sun.security.pkcs11.SunPKCS11  /usr/share/jboss-as/nss_pkcsll_fips.cfg
    Note that the configuration file specified in this line is the file created in step 2.
    Any other security.provider.X lines in this file must have the value of their X increased by one to ensure that this provider is given priority.
  4. Enable FIPS mode for the NSS library

    Run the modutil command as shown to enable FIPS mode:
    modutil -fips true -dbdir /usr/share/jboss-as/nssdb
    Note that the directory specified here is the one created in step 1.
    You may get a security library error at this point requiring you to regenerate the library signatures for some of the NSS shared objects.
  5. Change the password on the FIPS token

    Set the password on the FIPS token using the following command. Note that the name of the token must be NSS FIPS 140-2 Certificate DB.
    modutil -changepw "NSS FIPS 140-2 Certificate DB" -dbdir /usr/share/jboss-as/nssdb
    The password used for the FIPS token must be a FIPS compliant password.
  6. Create certificate using NSS tools

    Enter the following command to create a certificate using the NSS tools.
    certutil -S -k rsa -n jbossweb  -t "u,u,u" -x -s "CN=localhost, OU=MYOU, O=MYORG, L=MYCITY, ST=MYSTATE, C=MY" -d /usr/share/jboss-as/nssdb
  7. Configure the HTTPS connector to use the PKCS11 keystore

    Add a HTTPS connector using the following command in the JBoss CLI Tool:
    /subsystem=web/connector=https/:add(socket-binding=https,scheme=https,protocol=HTTP/1.1,secure=true)
    Then add the SSL configuration with the following command, replacing PASSWORD with the FIPS compliant password from step 5.
    /subsystem=web/connector=https/ssl=configuration:add(name=https,password=PASSWORD,keystore-type=PKCS11,
    cipher-suite="SSL_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,SSL_DHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,
    TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,
    TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,
    TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,
    TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,
    TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,
    TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,
    TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,
    TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,
    TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,
    TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,
    TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA")
  8. Verify

    Verify that the JVM can read the private key from the PKCS11 keystore by running the following command:
    keytool -list -storetype pkcs11

Example 11.39. XML configuration for HTTPS connector using FIPS 140-2 compliance

<connector name="https" protocol="HTTP/1.1" scheme="https" socket-binding="https" secure="true">
  <ssl name="https" password="****" 
      cipher-suite="SSL_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,SSL_DHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,
         TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA, TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,
         TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,
         TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,
         TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,
         TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,
         TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,
         TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,
         TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,
         TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA,
         TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA,
         TLS_ECDH_anon_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA"
      keystore-type="PKCS11"/>
</connector>
Note that the cipher-suite attribute has linebreaks inserted to make it easier to read.