Hi, I was looking at private CAs since I don’t want to pay for a domain to use in my homelab.
What is everyone using for their private CA? I’ve been looking at plain OpenSSL with some automation scripts but would like more ideas. Also, if you have multiple reverse-proxy instances, how do you distribute domain-specific signed certificates to them? I’m not planning to use a wildcard, and would like to rotate certificates often.
Thanks!
Edit: thank you for everyone who commented! I would like to say that I recognise the technical difficulty in getting such a setup working compared to a simple certbot setup to Let’s Encrypt, but it’s a personal choice that I have made.
Finally got around to replying to the comments I got haha!
Thanks for the explanation. I’m curious why you’re not running your own CA since that seems to be a more seamless process than having to deal with ugly SSL errors for every website, every time you rotate the certificate.
I’m wondering about different the process is between running an ACME server and another daemon/process like certbot to pull certificates from it, vs writing an ansible playbook/simple shell script to automate the rotation of server certificates.
About my clients: I am likely never going to purchase Apple products since I recognise how much they lock down their device. Unfortunately, there are not that many android devices in the US with custom ROM support. With that said, I do plan to root all of my Android devices when KernelSU matures (in about a year, I think) - I’m currently reading up on how to insert a root and client certificate into Android’s certificate store, but I think it’s definitely possible. Other than that, I might have a throwaway Windows VM sometimes, which is doable, alongside a Void linux box with a Debian chroot. All in all, fairly doable, just a bit of work to automate.
I’m curious why you’re not running your own CA since that seems to be a more seamless process than having to deal with ugly SSL errors for every website
It’s not, it’s another service to deploy, maintain, monitor, backup and troubleshoot. The ugly SSL warning only appears once, I check the certificate fingerprint and bypass the warning, from there it’s smooth sailing. The certificate is pinned, so if it ever changes I would get a new warning and would know something shady is going on.
every time you rotate the certificate.
I don’t really rotate these certs, they have a validity of several years.
I’m wondering about different the process is between running an ACME server and another daemon/process like certbot to pull certificates from it, vs writing an ansible playbook/simple shell script to automate the rotation of server certificates.
Generating self-signed certs is ~40 lines of clean ansible [1], 2 lines of apache config, and one click to get through the self-signed cert warning, once.
Obtaining Let’s Encrypt certs is 2 lines of apache config with mod_md and the HTTP-01 challenge. But it requires a domain name in the public DNS, and port forwarding.
Obtaining certs from a custom ACME CA is 3 lines of apache config (the extra line is to change the ACME endpoint) and a 100k LOC ACME server daemon running somewhere with its own bugs, documentation, deployment and upgrade management tooling, config quirks… and you still have to manage certs for this service. It may be worth it if you have a lot of clients who don’t want to see the self-signed cert warning and/or worry about their private keys being compromised and thus needing to rotate the certs frequently (you still need to protect the CA key…)
likely never going to purchase Apple products since I recognise how much they lock down their device
hear hear
there are not that many android devices in the US with custom ROM support. With that said, I do plan to root all of my Android devices when KernelSU mature
I bought a cheap refurbished Samsung, installed LineageOS on it (Europe, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work in the US?), without root - I don’t really need root, it’s a security liability, and I think the last time I tried Magisk it didn’t work. The only downside is that I have to manually tap Update for F-Droid updates to run (fully unattended requires root).
I’m currently reading up on how to insert a root and client certificate into Android’s certificate store, but I think it’s definitely possible.
I did it on that LineageOS phone, using adb push, can’t remember how exactly (did it require root? I don’t know). It works but you get a permanent warning in your notifications telling you that The network might be monitored or something. But some apps would still ignore it.
Samsung devices in the US have their bootloaders locked, regardless of whether you bought it from a carrier or not. I’ll be looking at other devices, and even then, custom ROM support has all but stopped for everything but the pixel. Living in Europe is great for this, for you have the FP5 available.
But some apps would still ignore it.
Apps with their own certificate store like Firefox? Yeah, I’m thinking about how I can deal with that. Is there a FOSS Android MDM solution that I can use?
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Finally got around to replying to the comments I got haha!
Thanks for the explanation. I’m curious why you’re not running your own CA since that seems to be a more seamless process than having to deal with ugly SSL errors for every website, every time you rotate the certificate.
I’m wondering about different the process is between running an ACME server and another daemon/process like
certbotto pull certificates from it, vs writing an ansible playbook/simple shell script to automate the rotation of server certificates.About my clients: I am likely never going to purchase Apple products since I recognise how much they lock down their device. Unfortunately, there are not that many android devices in the US with custom ROM support. With that said, I do plan to root all of my Android devices when KernelSU matures (in about a year, I think) - I’m currently reading up on how to insert a root and client certificate into Android’s certificate store, but I think it’s definitely possible. Other than that, I might have a throwaway Windows VM sometimes, which is doable, alongside a Void linux box with a Debian chroot. All in all, fairly doable, just a bit of work to automate.
Thanks!
It’s not, it’s another service to deploy, maintain, monitor, backup and troubleshoot. The ugly SSL warning only appears once, I check the certificate fingerprint and bypass the warning, from there it’s smooth sailing. The certificate is pinned, so if it ever changes I would get a new warning and would know something shady is going on.
I don’t really rotate these certs, they have a validity of several years.
mod_mdand the HTTP-01 challenge. But it requires a domain name in the public DNS, and port forwarding.hear hear
I bought a cheap refurbished Samsung, installed LineageOS on it (Europe, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work in the US?), without root - I don’t really need root, it’s a security liability, and I think the last time I tried Magisk it didn’t work. The only downside is that I have to manually tap
Updatefor F-Droid updates to run (fully unattended requires root).I did it on that LineageOS phone, using
adb push, can’t remember how exactly (did it require root? I don’t know). It works but you get a permanent warning in your notifications telling you that The network might be monitored or something. But some apps would still ignore it.Samsung devices in the US have their bootloaders locked, regardless of whether you bought it from a carrier or not. I’ll be looking at other devices, and even then, custom ROM support has all but stopped for everything but the pixel. Living in Europe is great for this, for you have the FP5 available.
Apps with their own certificate store like Firefox? Yeah, I’m thinking about how I can deal with that. Is there a FOSS Android MDM solution that I can use?