Secure Server Client using OpenSSL in C

Overview of the SSL handshake

Courtesy:http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter

Steps involved in SSL handshake(Courtesy:http://www.pierobon.org):

1. The client sends the server the client's SSL version number, cipher settings, randomly generated data, and other information the server needs to communicate with the client using SSL.
2. The server sends the client the server's SSL version number, cipher settings, randomly generated data, and other information the client needs to communicate with the server over SSL. The server also sends its own digital certificate and, if the client is requesting a server resource that requires client authentication, requests the client's digital certificate.
3. The client uses the information sent by the server to authenticate the server. If the server cannot be authenticated, the user is warned of the problem that an encrypted and authenticated connection cannot be established. If the server can be successfully authenticated, the client proceeds.
4. Using all data generated in the handshake so far, the client creates the premaster secret for the session, encrypts it with the server's public key (obtained from the server's digital certificate), and sends the encrypted premaster secret to the server.
5. If the server has requested client authentication (an optional step in the handshake), the client also signs another piece of data that is unique to this handshake and known by both the client and server. In this case the client sends both the signed data and the client's own digital certificate to the server along with the encrypted premaster secret.
6. If the server has requested client authentication, the server attempts to authenticate the client. If the client cannot be authenticated, the session is terminated. If the client can be successfully authenticated, the server uses its private key to decrypt the premaster secret, then performs a series of steps which the client also performs, starting from the same premaster secret to generate the master secret.
7. Both the client and the server use the master secret to generate session keys which are symmetric keys used to encrypt and decrypt information exchanged during the SSL session and to verify its integrity.
8. The client informs the server that future messages from the client will be encrypted with the session key. It then sends a separate encrypted message indicating that the client portion of the handshake is finished.
9. The server sends a message to the client informing it that future messages from the server will be encrypted with the session key. It then sends a separate encrypted message indicating that the server portion of the handshake is finished.
10. The SSL handshake is now complete, and the SSL session has begun. The client and the server use the session keys to encrypt and decrypt the data they send to each other and to validate its integrity.

Here's an implementation of Secure Server Client using openssl.

It is a piece of code taken from http://www.cs.utah.edu/~swalton/listings/sockets/programs

Of course you need to have OpenSSL installed in your system first. You can download latest OpenSSL package at OpenSSL Source

Before running this program you will need a Certificate which is used in this program. You can generate your own certificate using this command

openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout mycert.pem -out mycert.pem

, where mycert.pem is the name of the Certificate file.

To run the Server
Compile : gcc -Wall -o ssl-server SSL-Server.c -L/usr/lib -lssl -lcrypto
Run : sudo ./ssl-server <portnum> 

To run the Client
Compile : gcc -Wall -o ssl-client SSL-Client.c -L/usr/lib -lssl -lcrypto
Run : ./ssl-client <hostname> <portnum> 

Note: The code and the compilation process are updated for TLSv1.2 recently. To install openssl libraries in Ubuntu use sudo apt-get install libssl-dev


To see the SSL handshake - Use ssldump tool 

//SSL-Server.c
#include <errno.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <malloc.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <resolv.h>
#include "openssl/ssl.h"
#include "openssl/err.h"

#define FAIL    -1

int OpenListener(int port)
{   int sd;
    struct sockaddr_in addr;

    sd = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
    bzero(&addr, sizeof(addr));
    addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
    addr.sin_port = htons(port);
    addr.sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY;
    if ( bind(sd, (struct sockaddr*)&addr, sizeof(addr)) != 0 )
    {
        perror("can't bind port");
        abort();
    }
    if ( listen(sd, 10) != 0 )
    {
        perror("Can't configure listening port");
        abort();
    }
    return sd;
}

int isRoot()
{
    if (getuid() != 0)
    {
        return 0;
    }
    else
    {
        return 1;
    }

}
SSL_CTX* InitServerCTX(void)
{   SSL_METHOD *method;
    SSL_CTX *ctx;

    OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms();  /* load & register all cryptos, etc. */
    SSL_load_error_strings();   /* load all error messages */
    method = TLSv1_2_server_method();  /* create new server-method instance */
    ctx = SSL_CTX_new(method);   /* create new context from method */
    if ( ctx == NULL )
    {
        ERR_print_errors_fp(stderr);
        abort();
    }
    return ctx;
}

void LoadCertificates(SSL_CTX* ctx, char* CertFile, char* KeyFile)
{
    /* set the local certificate from CertFile */
    if ( SSL_CTX_use_certificate_file(ctx, CertFile, SSL_FILETYPE_PEM) <= 0 )
    {
        ERR_print_errors_fp(stderr);
        abort();
    }
    /* set the private key from KeyFile (may be the same as CertFile) */
    if ( SSL_CTX_use_PrivateKey_file(ctx, KeyFile, SSL_FILETYPE_PEM) <= 0 )
    {
        ERR_print_errors_fp(stderr);
        abort();
    }
    /* verify private key */
    if ( !SSL_CTX_check_private_key(ctx) )
    {
        fprintf(stderr, "Private key does not match the public certificate\n");
        abort();
    }
}

void ShowCerts(SSL* ssl)
{   X509 *cert;
    char *line;

    cert = SSL_get_peer_certificate(ssl); /* Get certificates (if available) */
    if ( cert != NULL )
    {
        printf("Server certificates:\n");
        line = X509_NAME_oneline(X509_get_subject_name(cert), 0, 0);
        printf("Subject: %s\n", line);
        free(line);
        line = X509_NAME_oneline(X509_get_issuer_name(cert), 0, 0);
        printf("Issuer: %s\n", line);
        free(line);
        X509_free(cert);
    }
    else
        printf("No certificates.\n");
}

void Servlet(SSL* ssl) /* Serve the connection -- threadable */
{   char buf[1024];
    char reply[1024];
    int sd, bytes;
    const char* HTMLecho="<html><body><pre>%s</pre></body></html>\n\n";

    if ( SSL_accept(ssl) == FAIL )     /* do SSL-protocol accept */
        ERR_print_errors_fp(stderr);
    else
    {
        ShowCerts(ssl);        /* get any certificates */
        bytes = SSL_read(ssl, buf, sizeof(buf)); /* get request */
        if ( bytes > 0 )
        {
            buf[bytes] = 0;
            printf("Client msg: \"%s\"\n", buf);
            sprintf(reply, HTMLecho, buf);   /* construct reply */
            SSL_write(ssl, reply, strlen(reply)); /* send reply */
        }
        else
            ERR_print_errors_fp(stderr);
    }
    sd = SSL_get_fd(ssl);       /* get socket connection */
    SSL_free(ssl);         /* release SSL state */
    close(sd);          /* close connection */
}

int main(int count, char *strings[])
{   SSL_CTX *ctx;
    int server;
    char *portnum;

    if(!isRoot())
    {
        printf("This program must be run as root/sudo user!!");
        exit(0);
    }
    if ( count != 2 )
    {
        printf("Usage: %s <portnum>\n", strings[0]);
        exit(0);
    }
    SSL_library_init();

    portnum = strings[1];
    ctx = InitServerCTX();        /* initialize SSL */
    LoadCertificates(ctx, "mycert.pem", "mycert.pem"); /* load certs */
    server = OpenListener(atoi(portnum));    /* create server socket */
    while (1)
    {   struct sockaddr_in addr;
        socklen_t len = sizeof(addr);
        SSL *ssl;

        int client = accept(server, (struct sockaddr*)&addr, &len);  /* accept connection as usual */
        printf("Connection: %s:%d\n",inet_ntoa(addr.sin_addr), ntohs(addr.sin_port));
        ssl = SSL_new(ctx);              /* get new SSL state with context */
        SSL_set_fd(ssl, client);      /* set connection socket to SSL state */
        Servlet(ssl);         /* service connection */
    }
    close(server);          /* close server socket */
    SSL_CTX_free(ctx);         /* release context */
}

//SSL-Client.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <malloc.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <resolv.h>
#include <netdb.h>
#include <openssl/ssl.h>
#include <openssl/err.h>

#define FAIL    -1

int OpenConnection(const char *hostname, int port)
{   int sd;
    struct hostent *host;
    struct sockaddr_in addr;

    if ( (host = gethostbyname(hostname)) == NULL )
    {
        perror(hostname);
        abort();
    }
    sd = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
    bzero(&addr, sizeof(addr));
    addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
    addr.sin_port = htons(port);
    addr.sin_addr.s_addr = *(long*)(host->h_addr);
    if ( connect(sd, (struct sockaddr*)&addr, sizeof(addr)) != 0 )
    {
        close(sd);
        perror(hostname);
        abort();
    }
    return sd;
}

SSL_CTX* InitCTX(void)
{   SSL_METHOD *method;
    SSL_CTX *ctx;

    OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms();  /* Load cryptos, et.al. */
    SSL_load_error_strings();   /* Bring in and register error messages */
    method = TLSv1_2_client_method();  /* Create new client-method instance */
    ctx = SSL_CTX_new(method);   /* Create new context */
    if ( ctx == NULL )
    {
        ERR_print_errors_fp(stderr);
        abort();
    }
    return ctx;
}

void ShowCerts(SSL* ssl)
{   X509 *cert;
    char *line;

    cert = SSL_get_peer_certificate(ssl); /* get the server's certificate */
    if ( cert != NULL )
    {
        printf("Server certificates:\n");
        line = X509_NAME_oneline(X509_get_subject_name(cert), 0, 0);
        printf("Subject: %s\n", line);
        free(line);       /* free the malloc'ed string */
        line = X509_NAME_oneline(X509_get_issuer_name(cert), 0, 0);
        printf("Issuer: %s\n", line);
        free(line);       /* free the malloc'ed string */
        X509_free(cert);     /* free the malloc'ed certificate copy */
    }
    else
        printf("Info: No client certificates configured.\n");
}

int main(int count, char *strings[])
{   SSL_CTX *ctx;
    int server;
    SSL *ssl;
    char buf[1024];
    int bytes;
    char *hostname, *portnum;

    if ( count != 3 )
    {
        printf("usage: %s <hostname> <portnum>\n", strings[0]);
        exit(0);
    }
    SSL_library_init();
    hostname=strings[1];
    portnum=strings[2];

    ctx = InitCTX();
    server = OpenConnection(hostname, atoi(portnum));
    ssl = SSL_new(ctx);      /* create new SSL connection state */
    SSL_set_fd(ssl, server);    /* attach the socket descriptor */
    if ( SSL_connect(ssl) == FAIL )   /* perform the connection */
        ERR_print_errors_fp(stderr);
    else
    {   char *msg = "Hello???";

        printf("Connected with %s encryption\n", SSL_get_cipher(ssl));
        ShowCerts(ssl);        /* get any certs */
        SSL_write(ssl, msg, strlen(msg));   /* encrypt & send message */
        bytes = SSL_read(ssl, buf, sizeof(buf)); /* get reply & decrypt */
        buf[bytes] = 0;
        printf("Received: \"%s\"\n", buf);
        SSL_free(ssl);        /* release connection state */
    }
    close(server);         /* close socket */
    SSL_CTX_free(ctx);        /* release context */
    return 0;
}

Update: The code is updated to use more secure TLS v1.2 methods . To compile and use this code, please make sure you have latest OpenSSL which support TLS v1.2