Why does the cipher list in sslcert test show disabled ciphers? 🔗 link

wrote:

Why does the list of ciphers in the "sslcert" xymon test show ciphers that
are disabled on the server? For example, we have disabled RC4 ciphers on
our servers, and confirmed using the "Qualys SSL Labs" server test, that
they are turned off. However, xymon still shows them.

g

From: Ralph Mitchell [mailto:user-00a5e44c48c0@xymon.invalid]
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2015 15:43
To: Ribeiro, Glauber
Cc: xymon at xymon.com
Subject: Re: [Xymon] Why does the cipher list in sslcert test show disabled ciphers?


It's not giving you a list of the ciphers the remote host permits.  All it does is cycle through the list of ciphers available on the Xymon server. I think there's a flag (for xymonnet, maybe?) that turns off that list.  A long time back I patched my copy of xymonnet to only return the cipher actually used to talk to the remore server.

There's a program called sslscan that actually tests the entire list of ciphers against the remote host and tells you what works and what fails.  That could be incorporated into an external test, maybe.

Ralph Mitchell
On Aug 4, 2015 12:41 PM, "Ribeiro, Glauber" <user-59d088777028@xymon.invalid<mailto:user-59d088777028@xymon.invalid>> wrote:
Why does the list of ciphers in the "sslcert" xymon test show ciphers that are disabled on the server? For example, we have disabled RC4 ciphers on our servers, and confirmed using the "Qualys SSL Labs" server test, that they are turned off. However, xymon still shows them.

g

On Tue, August 4, 2015 1:42 pm, Ralph Mitchell wrote:

It's not giving you a list of the ciphers the remote host permits.  All it
does is cycle through the list of ciphers available on the Xymon server. I
think there's a flag (for xymonnet, maybe?) that turns off that list.  A
long time back I patched my copy of xymonnet to only return the cipher
actually used to talk to the remore server.

There's a program called sslscan that actually tests the entire list of
ciphers against the remote host and tells you what works and what fails.
That could be incorporated into an external test, maybe.

Ralph Mitchell
On Aug 4, 2015 12:41 PM, "Ribeiro, Glauber" <user-59d088777028@xymon.invalid>
wrote:

Why does the list of ciphers in the "sslcert" xymon test show ciphers
that
are disabled on the server? For example, we have disabled RC4 ciphers on
our servers, and confirmed using the "Qualys SSL Labs" server test, that
they are turned off. However, xymon still shows them.

g

Ralph Mitchell
On Aug 4, 2015 6:14 PM, "J.C. Cleaver" <user-87556346d4af@xymon.invalid> wrote:

Hmm. This would seem like something we should probably look into changing.

A list of ciphers the remote host is permiting would be much more valuable
from a monitoring perspective (when enabled).

-jc


On Tue, August 4, 2015 1:42 pm, Ralph Mitchell wrote:

It's not giving you a list of the ciphers the remote host permits.  All
it
does is cycle through the list of ciphers available on the Xymon server.

I

think there's a flag (for xymonnet, maybe?) that turns off that list.  A
long time back I patched my copy of xymonnet to only return the cipher
actually used to talk to the remore server.

There's a program called sslscan that actually tests the entire list of
ciphers against the remote host and tells you what works and what fails.
That could be incorporated into an external test, maybe.

Ralph Mitchell
On Aug 4, 2015 12:41 PM, "Ribeiro, Glauber" <
user-59d088777028@xymon.invalid>
wrote:

Why does the list of ciphers in the "sslcert" xymon test show ciphers
that
are disabled on the server? For example, we have disabled RC4 ciphers on
our servers, and confirmed using the "Qualys SSL Labs" server test, that
they are turned off. However, xymon still shows them.

g

From: Ralph Mitchell [mailto:user-00a5e44c48c0@xymon.invalid]
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2015 17:20
To: Japheth Cleaver
Cc: Ribeiro, Glauber; xymon at xymon.com
Subject: Re: [Xymon] Why does the cipher list in sslcert test show disabled ciphers?


The problem there is that you have to try each cipher in your local list. That's setting up and tearing down possibly 40 or more cipher connections per ssl test per server per test cycle.  That's the bit where I bailed out and went with just displaying the cipher actually used.

Ralph Mitchell
On Aug 4, 2015 6:14 PM, "J.C. Cleaver" <user-87556346d4af@xymon.invalid<mailto:user-87556346d4af@xymon.invalid>> wrote:

Hmm. This would seem like something we should probably look into changing.

A list of ciphers the remote host is permiting would be much more valuable
from a monitoring perspective (when enabled).

-jc


On Tue, August 4, 2015 1:42 pm, Ralph Mitchell wrote:

It's not giving you a list of the ciphers the remote host permits.  All it
does is cycle through the list of ciphers available on the Xymon server. I
think there's a flag (for xymonnet, maybe?) that turns off that list.  A
long time back I patched my copy of xymonnet to only return the cipher
actually used to talk to the remore server.

There's a program called sslscan that actually tests the entire list of
ciphers against the remote host and tells you what works and what fails.
That could be incorporated into an external test, maybe.

Ralph Mitchell
On Aug 4, 2015 12:41 PM, "Ribeiro, Glauber" <user-59d088777028@xymon.invalid<mailto:user-59d088777028@xymon.invalid>>
wrote:

Why does the list of ciphers in the "sslcert" xymon test show ciphers
that
are disabled on the server? For example, we have disabled RC4 ciphers on
our servers, and confirmed using the "Qualys SSL Labs" server test, that
they are turned off. However, xymon still shows them.

g

user-59d088777028@xymon.invalid> wrote:

Yes. This tests every cipher: https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/

It tests a bunch of other things too, and it takes forever, because it’s
cautious not to overload the server with too many requests.

I think a test of every cipher is too much to do every 5 minutes. But
displaying the cipher actually used, is more useful than displaying the
full list.


g


*From:* Ralph Mitchell [mailto:user-00a5e44c48c0@xymon.invalid]
*Sent:* Tuesday, August 04, 2015 17:20
*To:* Japheth Cleaver
*Cc:* Ribeiro, Glauber; xymon at xymon.com
*Subject:* Re: [Xymon] Why does the cipher list in sslcert test show
disabled ciphers?


The problem there is that you have to try each cipher in your local list.
That's setting up and tearing down possibly 40 or more cipher connections
per ssl test per server per test cycle.  That's the bit where I bailed out
and went with just displaying the cipher actually used.

Ralph Mitchell

On Aug 4, 2015 6:14 PM, "J.C. Cleaver" <user-87556346d4af@xymon.invalid> wrote:


Hmm. This would seem like something we should probably look into changing.

A list of ciphers the remote host is permiting would be much more valuable
from a monitoring perspective (when enabled).

-jc


On Tue, August 4, 2015 1:42 pm, Ralph Mitchell wrote:

It's not giving you a list of the ciphers the remote host permits.  All
it
does is cycle through the list of ciphers available on the Xymon server.

I

think there's a flag (for xymonnet, maybe?) that turns off that list.  A
long time back I patched my copy of xymonnet to only return the cipher
actually used to talk to the remore server.

There's a program called sslscan that actually tests the entire list of
ciphers against the remote host and tells you what works and what fails.
That could be incorporated into an external test, maybe.

Ralph Mitchell
On Aug 4, 2015 12:41 PM, "Ribeiro, Glauber" <
user-59d088777028@xymon.invalid>
wrote:

Why does the list of ciphers in the "sslcert" xymon test show ciphers
that
are disabled on the server? For example, we have disabled RC4 ciphers on
our servers, and confirmed using the "Qualys SSL Labs" server test, that
they are turned off. However, xymon still shows them.

g