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<p class="MsoNormal">I am setting up an Web Application Firewall, based upon Apache 2.4 and mod_security. This will act as a reverse proxy for a number of Tomcat (and other) services, some of which are authenticated by the Shibboleth SP 2.5 (with a couple of
patches for Apache 2.4).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The page contents of some sections / sites are sensitive, and would be running over https between the client and apache. I do not trust the security of the network connection between the Apache WAF and backend service (tomcat etc.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It seems to me if I want to authenticate a user in Apache, and pass the username to the application I have three options:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><![if !supportLists]><span style="mso-list:Ignore">1)<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span>Environment variable , with AJP connector (no encryption)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><![if !supportLists]><span style="mso-list:Ignore">2)<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span>Environment variable, with AJP connector, using SSL tunnel<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><![if !supportLists]><span style="mso-list:Ignore">3)<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span>Header, with mod_http connector using https<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If I’ve missed any better options, I would be delighted to hear about them. But of these options:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2"><![if !supportLists]><span style="mso-list:Ignore">1)<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span>No encryption is a big concern<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2"><![if !supportLists]><span style="mso-list:Ignore">2)<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span>The extra complexity of SSL tunnel and managing this for a *<b>lot</b>* of different services, seems like a major management overhead and something else to go wrong<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2"><![if !supportLists]><span style="mso-list:Ignore">3)<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span><![endif]><span dir="LTR"></span>Would seem preferable but concerned about the spoofing issues :
<a href="https://wiki.shibboleth.net/confluence/display/SHIB2/NativeSPSpoofChecking">
https://wiki.shibboleth.net/confluence/display/SHIB2/NativeSPSpoofChecking</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The wiki page suggests the Shib SP has some spoof protection, but still recommends against using headers. Is it possible to say how significant the risk is? Is there any known ways to currently overcome the Shib SP’s spoof protection?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Any other thoughts, comments or advice on the subject would be very welcome.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Paul<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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