When initialised, the GnuTLS library tries to read its system-wide configuration file
/etc/gnutls/config. If the file doesn’t exist, built-in defaults are used. To make configuration changes, the /etc/gnutls directory and the config file in it must be created manually, since they are not shipped in the Ubuntu packaging.
This config file can be used to disable (or mark as insecure) algorithms and
protocols in a system-wide manner, overriding the library defaults. Note that,
intentionally, any algorithms or protocols that were disabled or marked as insecure cannot then be re-enabled or marked as secure.
There are many configuration options available for GnuTLs, and we strongly
recommend that you carefully read the upstream documentation listed in the
References section at the end of this page if creating this file or making changes to it.
Structure of the config file
The GnuTLS configuration file is structured as an INI-style text file. There
are three sections, and each section contains key = values lines. For
example:
[global]
override-mode = blocklist
[priorities]
SYSTEM = NORMAL:-MD5
[overrides]
tls-disabled-mac = sha1
The global section
The [global] section sets the override mode used in the [overrides] section:
override-mode = blocklist: the algorithms listed in[overrides]are disabledoverride-mode = allowlist: the algorithms listed in[overrides]are enabled.
Note that in the allowlist mode, all algorithms that should be enabled must be listed in [overrides], as the library starts with marking all existing algorithms as disabled/insecure. In practice, this means that using allowlist tends to make the list in [overrides] quite large. Additionally, GnuTLS automatically constructs a SYSTEM keyword (that can be used in [priorities]) with all the allowed algorithms and ciphers specified in [overrides].
When using allowlist, all options in [overrides] will be of the enabled form. For example:
[global]
override-mode = allowlist
[overrides]
secure-hash = sha256
enabled-curve = secp256r1
secure-sig = ecdsa-secp256r1-sha256
enabled-version = tls1.3
tls-enabled-cipher = aes-128-gcm
tls-enabled-mac = aead
tls-enabled-group = secp256r1
And when using blocklist, all [override] options have the opposite meaning (i.e. disabled):
[global]
override-mode = blocklist
[overrides]
tls-disabled-cipher = aes-128-cbc
tls-disabled-cipher = aes-256-cbc
tls-disabled-mac = sha1
tls-disabled-group = group-ffdhe8192
For other examples and a complete list of the valid keys in the [overrides] section, please refer to disabling algorithms and protocols.
Priority strings
The [priorities] section is used to construct priority strings. These strings are a way to specify the TLS session’s handshake algorithms and options in a compact, easy-to-use, format. Note that priority strings are not guaranteed to imply the same set of algorithms and protocols between different GnuTLS versions.
The default priority string is selected at package build time by the vendor, and in the case of Ubuntu Jammy it’s defined in debian/rules as:
NORMAL:-VERS-ALL:+VERS-TLS1.3:+VERS-TLS1.2:+VERS-DTLS1.2:%PROFILE_MEDIUM
A priority string can start with a single initial keyword, and then add or remove algorithms or special keywords. The NORMAL priority string is defined in this table in the upstream documentation reference, which also includes many other useful keywords that can be used.
To see the resulting list of ciphers and algorithms from a priority string, one can use the gnutls-cli command-line tool. For example, to list all the ciphers and algorithms allowed with the priority string SECURE256:
$ gnutls-cli --list --priority SECURE256
Cipher suites for SECURE256
TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 0x13, 0x02 TLS1.3
TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256 0x13, 0x03 TLS1.3
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 0xc0, 0x2c TLS1.2
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_CHACHA20_POLY1305 0xcc, 0xa9 TLS1.2
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_AES_256_CCM 0xc0, 0xad TLS1.2
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 0xc0, 0x30 TLS1.2
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_CHACHA20_POLY1305 0xcc, 0xa8 TLS1.2
TLS_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 0x00, 0x9d TLS1.2
TLS_RSA_AES_256_CCM 0xc0, 0x9d TLS1.2
TLS_DHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 0x00, 0x9f TLS1.2
TLS_DHE_RSA_CHACHA20_POLY1305 0xcc, 0xaa TLS1.2
TLS_DHE_RSA_AES_256_CCM 0xc0, 0x9f TLS1.2
Protocols: VERS-TLS1.3, VERS-TLS1.2, VERS-TLS1.1, VERS-TLS1.0, VERS-DTLS1.2, VERS-DTLS1.0
Ciphers: AES-256-GCM, CHACHA20-POLY1305, AES-256-CBC, AES-256-CCM
MACs: AEAD
Key Exchange Algorithms: ECDHE-ECDSA, ECDHE-RSA, RSA, DHE-RSA
Groups: GROUP-SECP384R1, GROUP-SECP521R1, GROUP-FFDHE8192
PK-signatures: SIGN-RSA-SHA384, SIGN-RSA-PSS-SHA384, SIGN-RSA-PSS-RSAE-SHA384, SIGN-ECDSA-SHA384, SIGN-ECDSA-SECP384R1-SHA384, SIGN-EdDSA-Ed448, SIGN-RSA-SHA512, SIGN-RSA-PSS-SHA512, SIGN-RSA-PSS-RSAE-SHA512, SIGN-ECDSA-SHA512, SIGN-ECDSA-SECP521R1-SHA512
You can manipulate the resulting set by manipulating the priority string. For example, to remove CHACHA20-POLY1305 from the SECURE256 set:
$ gnutls-cli --list --priority SECURE256:-CHACHA20-POLY1305
Cipher suites for SECURE256:-CHACHA20-POLY1305
TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 0x13, 0x02 TLS1.3
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 0xc0, 0x2c TLS1.2
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_AES_256_CCM 0xc0, 0xad TLS1.2
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 0xc0, 0x30 TLS1.2
TLS_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 0x00, 0x9d TLS1.2
TLS_RSA_AES_256_CCM 0xc0, 0x9d TLS1.2
TLS_DHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 0x00, 0x9f TLS1.2
TLS_DHE_RSA_AES_256_CCM 0xc0, 0x9f TLS1.2
Protocols: VERS-TLS1.3, VERS-TLS1.2, VERS-TLS1.1, VERS-TLS1.0, VERS-DTLS1.2, VERS-DTLS1.0
Ciphers: AES-256-GCM, AES-256-CBC, AES-256-CCM
MACs: AEAD
Key Exchange Algorithms: ECDHE-ECDSA, ECDHE-RSA, RSA, DHE-RSA
Groups: GROUP-SECP384R1, GROUP-SECP521R1, GROUP-FFDHE8192
PK-signatures: SIGN-RSA-SHA384, SIGN-RSA-PSS-SHA384, SIGN-RSA-PSS-RSAE-SHA384, SIGN-ECDSA-SHA384, SIGN-ECDSA-SECP384R1-SHA384, SIGN-EdDSA-Ed448, SIGN-RSA-SHA512, SIGN-RSA-PSS-SHA512, SIGN-RSA-PSS-RSAE-SHA512, SIGN-ECDSA-SHA512, SIGN-ECDSA-SECP521R1-SHA512
And you can give this a new name by adding the following to the [priorities] section:
[priorities]
MYSET = SECURE256:-CHACHA20-POLY1305
Which allows the MYSET priority string to be used like this:
$ gnutls-cli --list --priority @MYSET
Verification profile (overrides)
When verifying a certificate, or TLS session parameters, GnuTLS uses a set of profiles associated with the session to determine whether the parameters seen in the session are acceptable. These profiles are normally set using the %PROFILE priority string, but it is also possible to set a low bar that applications cannot override. This is done with the min-verification-profile setting in the [overrides] section.
For example:
[overrides]
# do not allow applications use the LOW or VERY-WEAK profiles.
min-verification-profile = legacy
The list of values that can be used, and their meaning, is shown in the key sizes and security parameters table in the upstream documentation.
Practical examples
Let’s see some practical examples of how we can use the configuration file to tweak the default cryptographic settings of an application linked with GnuTLS.
Contrary to OpenSSL, GnuTLS does not allow a cipher that was once removed to be allowed again. So if you have a setting in the GnuTLS config file that prohibits CHACHA20, an application using GnuTLS will not be able to allow it.
Only use TLSv1.3
One way to do it is to set a new default priority string that removes all TLS versions and then adds back just TLS 1.3:
[global]
override-mode = blocklist
[overrides]
default-priority-string = NORMAL:-VERS-TLS-ALL:+VERS-TLS1.3
With our test server providing everything but TLSv1.3:
$ sudo openssl s_server -cert j-server.pem -key j-server.key -port 443 -no_tls1_3 -www
Connections will fail:
$ gnutls-cli j-server.lxd
Processed 125 CA certificate(s).
Resolving 'j-server.lxd:443'...
Connecting to '10.0.100.87:443'...
*** Fatal error: A TLS fatal alert has been received.
*** Received alert [70]: Error in protocol version
An application linked with GnuTLS will also fail:
$ lftp -c "cat https://j-server.lxd/status"
cat: /status: Fatal error: gnutls_handshake: A TLS fatal alert has been received.
But an application can override these settings, because it’s only the priority string that is being manipulated in the GnuTLS config:
$ lftp -c "set ssl:priority NORMAL:+VERS-TLS-ALL; cat https://j-server.lxd/status" | grep ^New
New, TLSv1.2, Cipher is ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
Another way to limit the TLS versions is via specific protocol version configuration keys:
[global]
override-mode = blocklist
[overrides]
disabled-version = tls1.1
disabled-version = tls1.2
disabled-version = tls1.0
Note that setting the same key multiple times will append the new value to the previous value(s).
In this scenario, the application cannot override the config anymore:
$ lftp -c "set ssl:priority NORMAL:+VERS-TLS-ALL; cat https://j-server.lxd/status" | grep ^New
cat: /status: Fatal error: gnutls_handshake: A TLS fatal alert has been received.
Use only AES256 with TLSv1.3
TLSv1.3 has a small list of ciphers, but it includes AES128. Let’s remove it:
[global]
override-mode = blocklist
[overrides]
disabled-version = tls1.1
disabled-version = tls1.2
disabled-version = tls1.0
tls-disabled-cipher = AES-128-GCM
If we now connect to a server that was brought up with this config:
$ sudo openssl s_server -cert j-server.pem -key j-server.key -port 443 -ciphersuites TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 -www
Our GnuTLS client will fail:
$ gnutls-cli j-server.lxd
Processed 126 CA certificate(s).
Resolving 'j-server.lxd:443'...
Connecting to '10.0.100.87:443'...
*** Fatal error: A TLS fatal alert has been received.
*** Received alert [40]: Handshake failed
And given GnuTLS’s behavior regarding re-enabling a cipher that was once removed, we cannot allow AES128 from the command line either:
$ gnutls-cli --priority="NORMAL:+AES-128-GCM" j-server.lxd
Processed 126 CA certificate(s).
Resolving 'j-server.lxd:443'...
Connecting to '10.0.100.87:443'...
*** Fatal error: A TLS fatal alert has been received.
*** Received alert [40]: Handshake failed