Re: OpenSSL ciphers

Harri,

On 10/29/25 6:25 AM, Harri Pesonen wrote:
> 08:47:44.257 WRN> (main) (org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SSLUtilBase#getEnabled) Tomcat interprets the [ciphers] attribute in a manner consistent with the latest OpenSSL development branch. Some of the specified [ciphers] are not supported by the configured SSL engine for this connector (which may use JSSE or an older OpenSSL version) and have been skipped: [[TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256, TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256, TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256, TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256]]
> 
> Configuration is:
> 
> ciphers="TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256,TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256,TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256,TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256,TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256,TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256,TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256,TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256,TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256"/>
> 
> Should we just drop these or replace them with something else:

This is largely a matter of taste -- in general -- but for your 
environment it looks like they will not be used no matter what. So, in 
your case, removing these will remove the warning and not otherwise 
change the behavior.

I am interested in the underlying TLS engine you are using. I don't know 
of any engines which have removed support from those cipher suites.

>    *   TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
>    *   TLS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256
>    *   TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
>    *   TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256

None of the above cipher suites feature "forward security" which is one 
reason why they are potential candidates for removal from your set of 
supported ciphers.

The CBC-based cipher suites have a bit of an issue, but with these 
cipher suites enabled (note the use of ECDHE and not ECDH):

TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384

Qualys's SSL labs is still willing to give your site an A+ rating. So 
take that for what you will. Also, for what it's worth, all of the 
following companies still allow CBC-based cipher suites on their sites:

- Facebook
- Google
- Microsoft
- Qualys

So take that for what you will, too.

It looks like you are already (successfully) supporting the ECDHE 
versions of these cipher suites. So if I were you, I think I'd just 
remove them from my configuration if I were you.

-chris