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Re: Using/validating DANE certs?

From: Daniel Stenberg via curl-library <curl-library_at_lists.haxx.se>
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:23:16 +0200 (CEST)

On Thu, 11 Sep 2025, Timothe Litt via curl-library wrote:

>> If curl doesn't verify the responses itself, how can a user be *sure* the
>> DANE cert they are going to use is the right one?
>>
> The same way that (s)he is *sure* that a non-DANE TLS host is the right
> one.  At some point, you trust your configuration.

"Everyone" has a CA store to verify TLS certificates against. And if not, we
fail such attempts by default. DNSSEC is not in the same boat.

> Even if curl were to (correctly) validate responses itself, it would
> ultimately count on the root zone's signing keys.

Yeps. Which is similar in spirit to a CA cert store I think. Magic that has to
be somehow setup.

> Implement the full DNSSEC validation
...
> and serious scope expansion for curl.

There's this magic concept of *libraries* poeple make to provide
functionality. A concept we use quite a lot already. We don't have to
implement everything ourselves.

I don't see how supporting DANE is a "serious scope expansion".

I also don't think supporting DANE in a half-baked insecure way is too
interesting.

> It's not a perfect world.  But curl shouldn't take on replicating the
> functions of other available services.

Agreed. But if those other services can't be proven to be trusted, then they
can't be used. So we're back to square one.

-- 
  / daniel.haxx.se || https://rock-solid.curl.dev


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Received on 2025-09-11