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  2. BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager: Configuring a Custom Cipher String for SSL Negotiation
  3. Configuring a Custom Cipher String for SSL Negotiation
Manual Chapter : Configuring a Custom Cipher String for SSL Negotiation

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BIG-IP ASM

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Manual Chapter

Configuring a Custom Cipher String for SSL Negotiation

Overview: Configuring a custom cipher string for SSL negotiation

Before the BIG-IP system can process SSL traffic, you need to define the cipher string that the system will use to negotiate security settings with a client or server system.
Typing a raw cipher string on the system can be tedious and contain typos. It can also be unsecure, since the cipher string could inadvertently cause the system to negotiate in a way that you didn't intend.
To avoid these problems, you can use cipher rules and cipher groups. With cipher rules and groups, you instruct the BIG-IP system which cipher suites to include and exclude, and the system will build the cipher string for you. This illustration shows the main screen for creating a cipher group.
Use of cipher groups and cipher rules is optional.

About BIG-IP cipher support

The BIG-IP system includes a default cipher string named DEFAULT, which contains a subset of the cipher suites that the BIG-IP system supports.
The full set of cipher suites that the BIG-IP system supports are contained in the NATIVE cipher string. The cipher suites contained in both the DEFAULT and NATIVE cipher string are eligible for hardware acceleration.
The BIG-IP system supports a large set of cryptographic parameters that you can use to modify how the BIG-IP manages SSL/TLS connections.
For TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3, you can configure all or some of the cryptographic parameters:
  • Ciphersuites.
  • Key exchange algorithms, for example RSA, DH, or ECDHE.
  • Signature algorithms, for example RSA or ECDSA.
  • Encryption primitives, for example AES128 or CAMELLIA.
  • Hash algorithms, for example SHA256.
  • Message authentication codes, for example HMAC-SHA256 or HMAC-SHA384.

What is a cipher rule?

A
cipher rule
 is an object that contains a list of cipher suites. After you create a cipher rule, you specify it within a cipher group. A
cipher group
 is the object that builds the actual cipher string that the system will use during SSL negotiation.
You can use pre-defined cipher rules that the BIG-IP system provides, or you can create your own.
An example of a cipher rule might be one that specifies only cipher suites that use a particular bulk encryption algorithm and key exchange method.
DH Groups and Signature Algorithms allow modification of TLS 1.2 and 1.3 key agreements and signature algorithms respectively.
To create a custom SM2 cipher rule to use when creating a custom client SSL profile that supports SM2, see the
Create a custom Client SSL profile that supports SM2
 section for task details.

What is a cipher group?

A
cipher group
 contains a list of cipher rules, and the instructions that the BIG-IP system needs for building the cipher string it will use for security negotiation. The instructions tell the system which cipher rules to include in the string, and how to apply them (allow, restrict, or exclude, and in what order).

Pre-built cipher groups

The BIG-IP system offers a few pre-built cipher groups that you can choose from to use as is to build your final cipher string, However, it's common to create your own custom cipher group instead.

Custom cipher groups

This illustration shows an example of a custom cipher group. Using this cipher group, the BIG-IP system builds the final cipher string using a user-created custom cipher rule named
/Common/my_ecdhe_rsa
 and the pre-built cipher rule
/Common/f5-default
.
Notice that the system will exclude from the string any cipher suites defined in the pre-built cipher rule
/Common/f5-hw_keys
.
Also notice that the cipher group displays a preview of the final cipher string after the instructions are applied.
To create a custom SM2 cipher group to use when creating a custom client SSL profile that supports SM2, see the
Create a custom Client SSL profile that supports SM2
 section for task details. This section also provides information on creating a custom SM2 cipher rule.

Best practices for BIG-IP cipher strings

For security and performance reasons, consider the following recommendations:
  • When modifying cipher suites, F5 strongly recommends that you append cipher suite modifications to the
    DEFAULT
     cipher string.
  • Include a cipher string that specifies the ECC key type. Due to their smaller size, ECC keys reduce computing costs while maintaining a similar level of security.
  • Disable ADH ciphers but also include the keyword
    HIGH
    . To do this, just include both
    !ADH
     and
    :HIGH
     in your cipher string.
  • For AES, DES, and RC4 encryption types, make sure you specify the DHE key exchange method. DHE uses
    perfect forward secracy
    , which creates an ephemeral private key for each new secure connection. This ensures the same private key is never used twice.
  • When you use DHE, make sure that the SSL private key isn't being shared with a monitoring system or a security device like an intrusion detection or prevention system. And by the way, diagnostic tools like
    ssldump
     won't work when you're using Forward Secrecy.

View all cipher suites supported by BIG-IP system

Before you start this task, make sure your user account gives you permission to access the BIG-IP advanced shell.
You can use the BIG-IP advanced shell to view all cipher suites that the BIG-IP system supports.
  1. Using a console access application such as PuTTY, log in to the advanced shell on the BIG-IP system.
  2. At the system prompt, type either
    tmm --clientciphers all
     or
    tmm --serverciphers all
    .
    The system lists all supported cipher suites for either client-side or server-side traffic.

Task summary for configuring a custom cipher string

There are a few tasks you need to perform to use cipher rules and cipher groups to configure the cipher string that the BIG-IP system will use for SSL negotiation.
This illustration shows the order that you need to perform these tasks in.

Confirm the need for a custom cipher group

Before you create and deploy a custom cipher group (that is, the final cipher string for SSL negotiation), you can review the pre-built cipher groups on the BIG-IP system to see if any of them already contains the cipher suites you need.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Ciphers
    Groups
    .
    The screen displays a list of pre-built cipher groups.
  2. In the Name column, click the name of a cipher group.
    For example, click
    /Common/f5-ecc
    .
    The system displays the contents of the cipher group.
  3. In the
    Available Cipher Rules
     list, find the corresponding cipher rule and click the plus sign to view the cipher suites included in the rule.
    For example, this shows the pre-built cipher group
    /Common/f5-ecc
     and the cipher suites included in it.
    If the cipher suites in the corresponding cipher rule, as well as the single instruction
    Allow the following
    , are not sufficient for your cipher string, you'll need to create your own custom cipher group.
  4. Click
    Cancel
    .
  5. As an option, you can repeat this task for any other pre-built cipher groups.

Create a custom cipher rule

When you create your own cipher rules for inclusion in a custom cipher group, the BIG-IP system builds a cipher string that includes or excludes the cipher suites and algorithms needed for negotiating SSL connections.
To create a custom SM2 cipher rule to use when creating a custom client SSL profile that supports SM2, see the
Create a custom Client SSL profile that supports SM2
 section for task details.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Ciphers
    Rules
    .
    The screen displays a list of pre-built cipher rules.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a name for the cipher rule.
    Never include the prefix
    f5-
     in a cipher rule name. This prefix is reserved for pre-built cipher rules only.
    For example:
  4. In the
    Cipher Suites
     field, type one or more cipher suites.
    For example:
  5. In the
    DH Groups
    field, type one or more Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithms, separated by commas (:).
    The available named groups (formerly known as
    curves
    ) are:
    secp256r1
    ,
    secp384r1
    , and
    X25519
    . You can also type a special keyword,
    DEFAULT
    , which represents the recommended set of named groups.
    For example, you can specify
    secp256r1:X25519
    .
  6. In the
    Signature Algorithms
     field, type one or more signature algorithms, separated by commas (:), that you want to include in the cipher rule. You can also type a special keyword,
    DEFAULT
    , which represents the recommended set of signature algorithms.
    The available signature algorithms are:
    DSA-SHA1
    ,
    DSA-SHA256
    ,
    DSA-SHA384
    ,
    DSA-SHA512
    ,
    ECDSA-SHA1
    ,
    ECDSA-SHA256
    ,
    ECDSA-SHA384
    ,
    ECDSA-SHA512
    ,
    RSA-PKCS1-SHA1
    ,
    RSA-PKCS1-SHA256
    ,
    RSA-PKCS1-SHA384
    ,
    RCS-PKCS1-SHA512
    ,
    RSA-PSS-SHA256
    ,
    RSA-PSS-SHA384
    , and
    RSA-PSS-SHA512
     .
    For example, you can specify
    RSA_PKCS1_SHA256:ECDSA_P256_SHA256
    .
  7. Click
    Finished
    .
The cipher rule now appears within any custom cipher group, in the list of available cipher rules.

Building a custom Cipher Group

Before starting this task, make sure you've confirmed the need to create a custom cipher string instead of using a pre-built cipher group.
You build a final, custom cipher string by creating a cipher group. A
cipher group
 contains the cipher rules and instructions that the BIG-IP system needs for building the cipher string it will use for security negotiation with a client or server system.
To create a custom SM2 cipher group to use when creating a custom client SSL profile that supports SM2, see the
Create a custom Client SSL profile that supports SM2
 section for task details. This section also provides information on creating a custom SM2 cipher rule.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Ciphers
    Groups
    .
    The screen displays a list of pre-built cipher groups.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a name for the cipher group.
    Never include the prefix
    f5-
     in a cipher rule name. This prefix is reserved for pre-built cipher groups only.
  4. If you created any custom rules, then in the Cipher Creation area of the screen in the
    Available Cipher Rules
     list, verify that the custom rules appear in the list.
  5. For each cipher rule in the
    Available Cipher Rules
     list, click the plus sign to view the cipher suites included in the rule.
    For example, this shows the cipher suites included in the pre-built cipher rule named
    /Common/f5-ecc
    .
  6. In the
    Available Cipher Rules
     list, select the boxes for the cipher rules you want to allow for negotiating security for SSL connections.
    We strongly recommend that you select the cipher rule
    /Common/f5-default
    , and for added security, select other cipher rules, too.
    Here's an example of a list of available cipher rules that you might see within a cipher group. Notice that we've selected both a pre-built cipher rule and a custom cipher rule:
  7. In the
    Group Details
     setting, move the selected cipher rules to the
    Allow the following
     box.
    Here we see that we're instructing the BIG-IP system to allow, during security negotiation, the cipher suites contained in the selected cipher rules:
  8. Again from the
    Available Cipher Rules
     list, select the boxes for the cipher rules you want to restrict the allowed cipher rules to when negotiating security for SSL connections.
  9. Move the selected cipher rules to the
    Restrict the Allowed list to the following
     box.
  10. If you want to exclude any cipher rules from the allowed list, then from the
    Available Cipher Rules
     list, select the boxes for the rules you want to exclude.
  11. Move the selected cipher rules to the
    Exclude the following from the Allowed list
     box.
  12. From the
    Order
     list, select the order that you want the BIG-IP system to use when negotiating SSL connections.
    The choices are:
    Default
    ,
    Speed
    ,
    Strength
    ,
    FIPS
    , and
    Hardware
    .
  13. In the
    Cryptographic Parameters
     box, view the cipher suites that the BIG-IP system will use to construct the final cipher string, based on the selections you made in the previous steps.
  14. Click
    Finished
    .
After you complete this task, the BIG-IP system has a custom cipher group that the BIG-IP system will use to build the final cipher string.

Specify the custom cipher group within an SSL traffic filter

Before starting this task, make sure that the relevant traffic filter for managing SSL traffic (either a Client SSL or Server SSL profile) exists on the BIG-IP system.
Specifying a custom cipher group within a particular Client SSL or Server SSL profile tells the BIG-IP system which cipher string to use when negotiating security settings.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Profiles
    SSL
    Client
    or
    Local Traffic
    Profiles
    SSL
    Server
    .
    The Client SSL or Server SSL profile list screen opens.
  2. Click the name of a profile.
  3. From the
    Configuration
     list, select
    Advanced
    .
  4. On the right side of the screen, select the
    Custom
     check box.
  5. For the
    Ciphers
     setting, click
    Cipher Group
     and from the list, select a custom cipher group.
    This shows a custom cipher group selected for the
    Ciphers
     setting:
  6. If you are using TLS 1.3, locate the
    Options List
     setting and confirm that the
    No TLSv1.3
     option does not appear in the
    Enabled Options
     list.
  7. Click
    Update
    .

Activate a cipher string for an application flow

Before starting this task, make sure that the virtual server for the relevant SSL application flow exists on the BIG-IP system.
You activate a cipher string for a specific application flow by assigning a Client SSL or Server SSL profile (or both) to a virtual server. This causes the BIG-IP system to use the cipher group specified in the profile to build the cipher string for negotiating security settings for SSL connections.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Virtual Servers
    .
    The Virtual Server List screen opens.
  2. Click the name of a virtual server.
  3. From the
    Configuration
     list, select
    Advanced
    .
  4. For the
    SSL Profile (Client)
     and the
    SSL Profile (Server)
     settings, from the
    Available
     list, select the name of the SSL profile you previously created, and move the name to the
    Selected
     list:
    Using the
    SSL Profile (Server)
     setting is optional.
  5. Click
    Update
     to save the changes.
The BIG-IP system now uses the cipher group specified in an SSL profile to build a cipher string to use when negotiating security for the relevant application flow.
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