README.md

docker-https-with-self-CA

🗄 About docker-https-with-self-CA

docker-https-with-self-CA enables https communication between client and server.

• Using Docker compose
• Using self certification authority(CA) with mkcert

👟 Set Up

• Certificate Authority(CA)
  • rootCA-key.pem: private key of CA
  • rootCA.pem: root certificate of CA
• Server
  • server-key.pem: private key of Server
  • server-req.pem: certificate signing request(CSR) of Server
  • server.pem: certificate valid for Server

For https communication between Client and Server, a server certificate is required on the Server side and a root certificate of the CA is required on the Client side.

Step1. Create secret key and CSR at server

• Create private key(server-key.pem) and CSR(server-req.pem) of Server on Local. These files are mounted with the server container after the server is launched with docker compose.

  cd server/cert
  openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout server-key.pem -out server-req.pem -subj "/C=JP/ST=Osaka/CN=server"

  Note: Common Name(CN) must be match container name of server.

Step2. Create self CA using mkcert

• Run CA

  make up-CA

• In myca, create self CA using mkcert -install command.

  docker compose exec myca /bin/bash
  
  root@myca:/# cd ~
  root@myca:~# pwd
  /root
  root@myca:~# mkcert -install
  Created a new local CA 💥
  The local CA is now installed in the system trust store! ⚡️

• Then, CA private key(rootCA-key.pem) and root CA certificate(rootCA.pem) are generated.

  root@myca:~# ls .local/share/mkcert/
  rootCA-key.pem	rootCA.pem

Step3. Upload CSR to CA

• Copy the CSR(server-req.pem) to the mkcert directory mounted inside the CA container(myca). In this way, the CSR file can be uploaded inside myca in a pseudo-style.

  cp server/cert/server-req.pem mkcert/

Step4. Create a new certificate from CSR valid for server

• server.pem file is server certificate.

  root@myca:~# mkcert -csr server-req.pem
  
  Created a new certificate valid for the following names 📜
  - "server"
  
  The certificate is at "./server.pem" ✅
  
  It will expire on 16 August 2025 🗓

Step5. Send the certificate to server

• Copy the server certificate(server.pem) to the server/cert directory mounted inside the server container(server). In this way, the certificate file can be send to server by CA(myca) in a pseudo-style.

  cp mkcert/server.pem server/cert

• Run server.

  make up-server

Step6. Add rootCA certificate to Client

• Run client.

  make up-client

• Copy the root CA certificate(rootCA.pem) to the client/cert/ directory mounted inside the Client container(client). In this way, the certificate can be send to client by CA(myca) in a pseudo-style.

  cp mkcert/.local/share/mkcert/rootCA.pem client/cert/

• In the Client container, place the root certificate in the appropriate directory.

  docker compose exec client sh -c "cp client/cert/rootCA.pem  /etc/ssl/certs/"

Throw https request from client to server.

curl localhost:8081
{"message":"Hello, World!, Current Time:2023/05/22 16:54:25"}

🦈 Packet Capture

make start-server-packet-capture

• This command allows packet capture in the server container for 3 minutes.
• During the 3 minutes, throw a request from the client to the server(curl localhost:8081).
• The resulting pcap file will be output under the captured/server directory.
• You can analyzed pcap files using WireShark or similar.

🍀 Reference

• https://www.openssl.org/docs/man3.0/man1/openssl.html
• https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert
• https://dev.to/techschoolguru/how-to-create-sign-ssl-tls-certificates-2aai
• https://github.com/luizhlelis/go-lang-https-self-signed

🐶 I hope this repository helps you studying self signed CA.