Testing and Debugging TLS Connections

Test TLS Connections with a Web Browser

Testing TLS connections is sometimes a bit tricky. You have to find a SIP client which supports TLS, and then if there are problems, you often do not know if the problem is caused by the SIP client or the SIP server.

When using Kamailio as SIP proxy it is very easy to test TLS connections by using a web browser and configure Kamailio to accept HTTP(S) connections too. Just add the following config snippets to kamailio.cfg and restart Kamailio:

# to allow HTTP requests
tcp_accept_no_cl=yes

.
.
.

# load web server module
loadmodule "xhttp.so"

.
.
.

# xhttp event route
event_route[xhttp:request] {
  xhttp_reply("200", "OK", "text/html","<html><body>Received HTTP request to $hu from [$si:$sp] with protocol $proto</body></html>");
}

Then point your browser to Kamailio and check if the configuration works:

  1. Try plain TCP (HTTP) connections: http://ip.address.ofyour.sipproxy:5060/
  2. If TCP works, try TLS (HTTPS) connections: https://ip.address.ofyour.sipproxy:5061/

If the browser complains about invalid certificates, but after accepting the invalid certificate you receive the response from Kamailio, then TLS works technically, but you have problems with the certificate validation (e.g. Kamailio's certificate was not signed by a well known CA and you have to import the CA into the browser's certificate store).

Test TLS Connections with OpenSSL

This command is useful to connect to the TLS server without any certificate validation.

openssl s_client -connect 83.136.32.159:5061 -no_ssl2 -bugs

For full debugging and inspection of all server certificates use "-showcerts" and "-debug":

openssl s_client -showcerts -debug -connect 83.136.32.159:5061 -no_ssl2 -bugs

Debugging TLS Connections

On the server side you can use the "ssldump" utility to see the TLS handshake, e.g. "ssldump port 5061". This will show you which party closes the TLS connection (e.g. sends "Alert" message) and maybe also the cause (e.g. "unknown CA"). Note: ssldump is quite old and sometimes fails to decode some TLS protocol elements.

For example this is the ssldump trace from a failing handshake between Kamailio 3.3 and Eyebeam 1.5:

New TCP connection #1: pc177.example.com(51642) <-> sip.example.com(5061)
1 1  0.0009 (0.0009)  C>S  Handshake
      ClientHello
        Version 3.1
        cipher suites
        TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
        TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
        TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
        compression methods
                  NULL
1 2  0.0022 (0.0012)  S>C  Handshake
      ServerHello
        Version 3.1
        session_id[0]=

        cipherSuite         TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
        compressionMethod                   NULL
1 3  0.0022 (0.0000)  S>C  Handshake
      Certificate
1 4  0.0022 (0.0000)  S>C  Handshake
      ServerHelloDone
1 5  0.0038 (0.0016)  C>S  Alert
    level           fatal
    value           unknown_ca
1    0.0044 (0.0005)  C>S  TCP RST

Above trace clearly shows that the client closes the TLS/TCP connection due to "unknown_ca". This usually means that the client is configured to perform certificate validation but the validation failed. Either the signing CA is unknown to the client, or the intermediate certificates are missing. After adding the intermediate certificates to Kamailio's TLS configuration ("ca_list" parameter) Eyebeam accepted the certificate and the correct trace is:

New TCP connection #1: pc177.example.com(51733) <-> sip.example.com(5061)
1 1  0.0009 (0.0009)  C>S  Handshake
      ClientHello
        Version 3.1
        cipher suites
        TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
        TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
        TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
        compression methods
                  NULL
1 2  0.0024 (0.0015)  S>C  Handshake
      ServerHello
        Version 3.1
        session_id[0]=

        cipherSuite         TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
        compressionMethod                   NULL
1 3  0.0024 (0.0000)  S>C  Handshake
      Certificate
1 4  0.0024 (0.0000)  S>C  Handshake
      ServerHelloDone
1 5  0.0118 (0.0093)  C>S  Handshake
      ClientKeyExchange
1 6  0.0118 (0.0000)  C>S  ChangeCipherSpec
1 7  0.0118 (0.0000)  C>S  Handshake
1 8  0.0311 (0.0193)  S>C  ChangeCipherSpec
1 9  0.0311 (0.0000)  S>C  Handshake
1 10 0.0433 (0.0121)  C>S  application_data
1 11 0.0433 (0.0000)  C>S  application_data
1 12 0.1175 (0.0741)  S>C  application_data
1 13 0.1185 (0.0010)  S>C  application_data

On the client side it is handy to use Wireshark to capture the SIPS traffic via connections attempts. Then verify the handshake to find out which party closes the connection. Wireshark is also handy to inspect the certificates exchanged in the TLS handshake, e.g. if the server also provided the proper server certificate and intermediate certificates.

Decoding of TLS Connections with Wireshark

Wireshark can be used to decode SSL/TLS sessions. To decode SSL/TLS connections, the following requirements must be fulfilled:

  • The private key of the TLS server is known (maybe both keys are needed if mutual TLS (=client certificate) is used?)
  • The TLS connections does not use a Diffie-Hellman cipher
  • Wireshark captures the TLS session from the beginning (including the TLS handshake)

To decode TLS connections configure Wireshark and Kamailio:

  • Copy the server's private key to the PC running Wireshark. Then configure Wireshark to use this key:
  • Edit → Preferences → Protocols → SSL → RSA Keys List: e.g.: ip.address.of.server,5061,sip,c:\key.pem
  • If the server uses Diffie-Hellman (DH) Ciphers (depends on default compile time settings of libssl) you have to configure Kamailio to use other ciphers. See:
  • http://kamailio.org/docs/modules/3.3.x/modules/tls.html#cipher_list and
  • http://www.openssl.org/docs/apps/ciphers.html
  • To make sure you capture the TLS handshake
  • Close the SIP client
  • Start Wireshark and start capturing
  • Start the SIP client.

If you have problems decoding the TLS session you should enable debugging in Wireshark: Edit -> Preferences -> Protocols -> SSL -> SSL Debug File

Unencrypted TLS (NULL cipher)

TLS allows unencrypted usage when using the NULL cipher. This is very useful for debugging TLS connection, as you immediately see the SIP traffic.

The NULL cipher is usually disabled, thus it must be explicitly enabled. In Kamailio this can be done by configuring the TLS module:

modparam("tls", "cipher_list", "NULL")

Of course also the SIP client must be configured to use the NULL cipher. Unfortunately this is hardly supported by SIP clients.

TLS Clients

Following a list of TLS clients and the certificate store they use (please extend):

  • Eyebeam Windows: Windows certificate store
  • QjSimple: select CA file in configuration dialog
  • Internet Explorer: Windows certificate store
  • Chrome: Windows certificate store
  • Firefox: Dedicated Firefox certificate store
  • Asterisk: Configured in sip.conf

SIP Clients with TLS Client Certificate Support

Following a list of SIP clients that support TLS user certificates (needed for incoming TLS connections, of if the TLS server requires mutual TLS (MTLS))

  • QjSimple: select private key and certificate file in configuration dialog
  • Jitis: Settings -> Advanced -> TLS

Trunking with Microsoft Lync

For Microsoft Lync it is very important that the CN in the Kamailio server (and client) certificate use the name configured in the Topology as the PSTN trunk. Other names may be in the SubjectAltName fields. Lync by default asks for a TLS client certificate when connecting to it using TLS. MS calls this MTLS - Mutual TLS.