4

1) Here openssl verifies the www.google.com certificate, telling me everything is fine, see last line from the openssl return output: 

Verify return code: 0 (ok)

2) But the actual root CA certificate is not sent, here the last intermediate CA certificate referring to the Root CA certificate:

2 s:/C=US/O=GeoTrust Inc./CN=GeoTrust Global CA
  i:/C=US/O=Equifax/OU=Equifax Secure Certificate Authority

3) And the openssl command executed has no CAfile specified, which would include the Root CA certificate to complete the chain:

openssl  s_client -connect www.google.com:443 -showcerts

So how can openssl verify the whole server certificates' chain up to the root CA?

Here is the whole output:

# openssl  s_client -connect www.google.com:443 -showcerts
CONNECTED(00000003)
depth=2 C = US, O = GeoTrust Inc., CN = GeoTrust Global CA
verify return:1
depth=1 C = US, O = Google Inc, CN = Google Internet Authority G2
verify return:1
depth=0 C = US, ST = California, L = Mountain View, O = Google Inc, CN = www.google.com
verify return:1
---
Certificate chain
 0 s:/C=US/ST=California/L=Mountain View/O=Google Inc/CN=www.google.com
   i:/C=US/O=Google Inc/CN=Google Internet Authority G2
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----
 1 s:/C=US/O=Google Inc/CN=Google Internet Authority G2
   i:/C=US/O=GeoTrust Inc./CN=GeoTrust Global CA
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----
 2 s:/C=US/O=GeoTrust Inc./CN=GeoTrust Global CA
   i:/C=US/O=Equifax/OU=Equifax Secure Certificate Authority
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----
---
Server certificate
subject=/C=US/ST=California/L=Mountain View/O=Google Inc/CN=www.google.com
issuer=/C=US/O=Google Inc/CN=Google Internet Authority G2
---
No client certificate CA names sent
Peer signing digest: SHA256
Server Temp Key: ECDH, P-256, 256 bits
---
SSL handshake has read 3832 bytes and written 434 bytes
---
New, TLSv1/SSLv3, Cipher is ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
Server public key is 2048 bit
Secure Renegotiation IS supported
Compression: NONE
Expansion: NONE
No ALPN negotiated
SSL-Session:
    Protocol  : TLSv1.2
    Cipher    : ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
    Session-ID: 7D57BFBABDC7BA509D54CDDAFEA198BD74EAE81735FA9F00F899A709215A0594
    Session-ID-ctx:
    Master-Key: 54C91529C5098B4C19D58E560EAF17EC48F46B9FA3AC8814DEEB5356C5C0CD80731B4D8811022DFD77AB7FA9C8049964
    Key-Arg   : None
    PSK identity: None
    PSK identity hint: None
    SRP username: None
    TLS session ticket lifetime hint: 100799 (seconds)
    TLS session ticket:
    0000 - 00 5b 6a fd 5b 84 91 88-da 5f e6 d2 51 35 e3 db   .[j.[...._..Q5..
    0010 - 95 61 bd e3 9c 7a 09 1a-60 ca 1a 49 ad fd 30 19   .a...z..`..I..0.
    0020 - 98 14 54 b6 f4 23 93 35-09 f3 44 6a f0 fe 39 5c   ..T..#.5..Dj..9\
    0030 - 39 58 a5 9a 59 58 d6 04-49 5e bf 24 15 90 3d cd   9X..YX..I^.$..=.
    0040 - 88 47 09 1e bd a9 af 76-fa 68 ba ba bd 53 e4 68   .G.....v.h...S.h
    0050 - de bb 33 81 59 48 ae 5f-8a fa 62 7b 9d dc 69 db   ..3.YH._..b{..i.
    0060 - 5b fd 1e 80 11 fb 62 b0-af 1b 9e bc 40 84 fb 74   [.....b.....@..t
    0070 - 6d 79 47 54 fa 08 a6 2d-6b 46 a9 c0 80 99 36 76   myGT...-kF....6v
    0080 - 58 53 bf 99 8a a4 53 48-18 93 7a b0 38 f5 dd 87   XS....SH..z.8...
    0090 - b7 e7 ca a4 3e d1 79 7f-9c 84 d1 16 e0 41 dc e3   ....>.y......A..
    00a0 - a6 a8 cb 4d 34 48 f5 d5-75 40 4c 9c 4d ae 61 f6   ...M4H..u@L.M.a.
    00b0 - e8 23 1e 27 bb e2 d6 5c-9e bb b7 a1 96 e6 c4 ef   .#.'...\........
    00c0 - 4d c6 9b 29 af be d1 fd-70 69 7a 11 f6 b6 59 a4   M..)....piz...Y.
    00d0 - e0 c0 db 7f e9                                    .....

    Start Time: 1509720918
    Timeout   : 300 (sec)
    **Verify return code: 0 (ok)**
---
user2050516
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1 Answers1

4

And the openssl command executed has no CAfile specified, which would include the Root CA certificate to complete the chain

Absent a directive telling it what should be trusted, it uses the default system trust list. By convention that's /etc/ssl/certs/* (and/or multiple values from /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt`), but the specific directory (and/or multi-certificate file) are build-time options and vary by distro (though frequently they leave symbolic links behind to allow convention-based programs to still work).

In this particular case, for my machine, the chain doesn't actually end at Equifax Secure Certificate Authority, because I don't trust that one. But I do happen to trust GeoTrust Global CA, so OpenSSL builds the chain using the 0 and 1 certs from the TLS connection and ignores the 2 cert as belonging to a chain that it doesn't care about, using the one from the trusted store instead.

$ openssl x509 -in /etc/ssl/certs/2c543cd1.0 -text -noout
Certificate:
    Data:
        Version: 3 (0x2)
        Serial Number: 144470 (0x23456)
    Signature Algorithm: sha1WithRSAEncryption
        Issuer: C=US, O=GeoTrust Inc., CN=GeoTrust Global CA
        Validity
            Not Before: May 21 04:00:00 2002 GMT
            Not After : May 21 04:00:00 2022 GMT
        Subject: C=US, O=GeoTrust Inc., CN=GeoTrust Global CA
        Subject Public Key Info:
            Public Key Algorithm: rsaEncryption
                Public-Key: (2048 bit)
                Modulus:
                    00:da:cc:18:63:30:fd:f4:17:23:1a:56:7e:5b:df:
                    3c:6c:38:e4:71:b7:78:91:d4:bc:a1:d8:4c:f8:a8:
                    43:b6:03:e9:4d:21:07:08:88:da:58:2f:66:39:29:
                    bd:05:78:8b:9d:38:e8:05:b7:6a:7e:71:a4:e6:c4:
                    60:a6:b0:ef:80:e4:89:28:0f:9e:25:d6:ed:83:f3:
                    ad:a6:91:c7:98:c9:42:18:35:14:9d:ad:98:46:92:
                    2e:4f:ca:f1:87:43:c1:16:95:57:2d:50:ef:89:2d:
                    80:7a:57:ad:f2:ee:5f:6b:d2:00:8d:b9:14:f8:14:
                    15:35:d9:c0:46:a3:7b:72:c8:91:bf:c9:55:2b:cd:
                    d0:97:3e:9c:26:64:cc:df:ce:83:19:71:ca:4e:e6:
                    d4:d5:7b:a9:19:cd:55:de:c8:ec:d2:5e:38:53:e5:
                    5c:4f:8c:2d:fe:50:23:36:fc:66:e6:cb:8e:a4:39:
                    19:00:b7:95:02:39:91:0b:0e:fe:38:2e:d1:1d:05:
                    9a:f6:4d:3e:6f:0f:07:1d:af:2c:1e:8f:60:39:e2:
                    fa:36:53:13:39:d4:5e:26:2b:db:3d:a8:14:bd:32:
                    eb:18:03:28:52:04:71:e5:ab:33:3d:e1:38:bb:07:
                    36:84:62:9c:79:ea:16:30:f4:5f:c0:2b:e8:71:6b:
                    e4:f9
                Exponent: 65537 (0x10001)
        X509v3 extensions:
            X509v3 Basic Constraints: critical
                CA:TRUE
            X509v3 Subject Key Identifier:
                C0:7A:98:68:8D:89:FB:AB:05:64:0C:11:7D:AA:7D:65:B8:CA:CC:4E
            X509v3 Authority Key Identifier:
                keyid:C0:7A:98:68:8D:89:FB:AB:05:64:0C:11:7D:AA:7D:65:B8:CA:CC:4E

    Signature Algorithm: sha1WithRSAEncryption
         35:e3:29:6a:e5:2f:5d:54:8e:29:50:94:9f:99:1a:14:e4:8f:
         78:2a:62:94:a2:27:67:9e:d0:cf:1a:5e:47:e9:c1:b2:a4:cf:
         dd:41:1a:05:4e:9b:4b:ee:4a:6f:55:52:b3:24:a1:37:0a:eb:
         64:76:2a:2e:2c:f3:fd:3b:75:90:bf:fa:71:d8:c7:3d:37:d2:
         b5:05:95:62:b9:a6:de:89:3d:36:7b:38:77:48:97:ac:a6:20:
         8f:2e:a6:c9:0c:c2:b2:99:45:00:c7:ce:11:51:22:22:e0:a5:
         ea:b6:15:48:09:64:ea:5e:4f:74:f7:05:3e:c7:8a:52:0c:db:
         15:b4:bd:6d:9b:e5:c6:b1:54:68:a9:e3:69:90:b6:9a:a5:0f:
         b8:b9:3f:20:7d:ae:4a:b5:b8:9c:e4:1d:b6:ab:e6:94:a5:c1:
         c7:83:ad:db:f5:27:87:0e:04:6c:d5:ff:dd:a0:5d:ed:87:52:
         b7:2b:15:02:ae:39:a6:6a:74:e9:da:c4:e7:bc:4d:34:1e:a9:
         5c:4d:33:5f:92:09:2f:88:66:5d:77:97:c7:1d:76:13:a9:d5:
         e5:f1:16:09:11:35:d5:ac:db:24:71:70:2c:98:56:0b:d9:17:
         b4:d1:e3:51:2b:5e:75:e8:d5:d0:dc:4f:34:ed:c2:05:66:80:
         a1:cb:e6:33
bartonjs
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