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Configure Post-Quantum TLS

To overcome the quantum threat on traditional cryptographic techniques, WSO2 Identity Server integrates post-quantum cryptography with the current traditional methods. Specifically, it adopts the X25519MLKEM768 key agreement algorithm for inbound TLS communications, ensuring robust protection against quantum threats. To configure TLS with post-quantum security, WSO2 Identity Server should be configured to utilize OpenSSL 3.x as the JSSE provider, along with liboqs library to support post-quantum algorithms.

Post-quantum TLS is disabled by default on WSO2 Identity Server.

Note

Characteristics of post-quantum TLS in WSO2 Identity Server are as follows:

  • Post-quantum TLS only works with TLS 1.3.
  • Currently, post-quantum TLS in WSO2 Identity Server is only supported on Linux and MacOS operating systems.

Build native libraries

For post-quantum TLS to work, a few native libraries are required. These libraries are not packed with the WSO2 Identity Server distribution by default as native libraries are system architecture-dependent. Hence, these libraries must be built and installed into your WSO2 Identity Server distribution.

The native libraries can be built using one of two methods given below.

Method 1: Using system libraries for runtime dependencies

In this method, system-level dependencies are utilized for the build-time and runtime, resulting in a faster build time and minimal disk space usage.

Build dependencies

The following dependencies are required during build-time.

  • Build tools (make, cmake, wget, tar)
  • GNU compiler
  • APR library
  • OpenSSL libraries

Important

For this method, OpenSSL 3.0 or higher is required as a system library to build the other libraries and for the runtime.

To install OpenSSL 3.0+, download the source and follow the instructions given here.

Install the other required build dependencies using the command for your relevant Linux distribution.

In Debian-based Linux:

apt-get install make cmake wget tar gcc libapr1-dev libssl-dev

In Red Hat Linux distributions:

yum install make cmake wget tar gcc apr-devel openssl-devel perl

On macOS, you can use Homebrew to install all the required build dependencies.

brew install wget cmake openssl@3 apr

Add the following line to your shell configuration file (e.g., ~/.bash_profile, ~/.zshrc, or ~/.bashrc):

For Intel-based Macs:

export PATH="/usr/local/opt/apr/bin:$PATH"
For Apple Silicon-based Macs:

export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/apr/bin:$PATH"

Runtime dependencies

The OpenSSL and APR libraries installed from the previous section will also be used as runtime dependencies in this method.

Follow the instructions given below to install the other required runtime dependencies. These dependencies will be installed within the WSO2 Identity Server directory.

  1. Shut down the WSO2 Identity Server instance if it's running.
  2. Open a terminal, navigate to <IS_HOME>/bin/ folder, and execute the following command: 
    sh openssl-tls.sh --build_pqclib

Note

If you change the location of the WSO2 Identity Server folder, you need to re-run the above command to reconfigure the runtime libraries.

Method 2: Using self-contained libraries

In this method, all the runtime dependencies are installed into the WSO2 Identity Server folder, providing isolation from the system environment for post-quantum TLS operation and ensuring maximum compatibility across different systems and configurations.

Build dependencies

The following dependencies are required during build-time.

  • Build tools (make, cmake, wget, tar)
  • GNU compiler (GCC/Clang)

Install the other required build dependencies using the command for your relevant Linux distribution.

In Debian-based Linux:

apt-get install make cmake wget tar gcc git python3 autoconf libtool-bin

In Red Hat Linux distributions:

yum install make cmake wget tar gcc perl git python3 autoconf libtool

On macOS, you can use Homebrew to install dependencies.

brew install wget cmake git python3 autoconf libtool

Runtime dependencies

Follow the instructions given below to install the required runtime dependencies. These dependencies will be installed within the Identity Server directory.

  1. Shut down the WSO2 Identity Server instance if it's running.

  2. Open a terminal, navigate to <IS_HOME>/bin/ folder, and execute the following command:

    sh openssl-tls.sh --build_openssl --build_pqclib

Note

If you change the location of the WSO2 Identity Server folder, you need to re-run the above command to reconfigure the runtime libraries.

Enable post-quantum TLS

  1. Shut down the WSO2 Identity Server instance if it's running.

  2. Add the following configurations to the <IS_HOME>/repository/conf/deployment.toml file.

    [transport.https.openssl]
enabled = true
named_groups="X25519MLKEM768:x25519"

[transport.https.sslHostConfig.properties]
protocols="TLSv1+TLSv1.1+TLSv1.2+TLSv1.3"

  3. Restart WSO2 Identity Server.

Disable post-quantum TLS

If you need to disable the post-quantum TLS after enabling it:

  1. Shut down the WSO2 Identity Server instance if it's running.
  2. In the <IS_HOME>/repository/conf/deployment.toml file, remove the previously added configurations.
  3. Restart WSO2 Identity Server.

Tip

If you want to keep using TLS 1.3 while disabling post-quantum TLS, change the <IS_HOME>/repository/conf/deployment.toml into following configuration.

[transport.https.openssl]
enabled = true

[transport.https.sslHostConfig.properties]
protocols="TLSv1+TLSv1.1+TLSv1.2+TLSv1.3"