8.1.2 Simple client example with X.509 certificate support

Let’s assume now that we want to create a TCP client which communicates with servers that use X.509 or OpenPGP certificate authentication. The following client is a very simple TLS client, which uses the high level verification functions for certificates, but does not support session resumption.

/* This example code is placed in the public domain. */

#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
#include <config.h>
#endif

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <gnutls/gnutls.h>
#include <gnutls/x509.h>
#include "examples.h"

/* A very basic TLS client, with X.509 authentication and server certificate
 * verification. Note that error checking for missing files etc. is missing
 * for simplicity.
 */

#define MAX_BUF 1024
#define CAFILE "/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt"
#define MSG "GET / HTTP/1.0\r\n\r\n"

extern int tcp_connect (void);
extern void tcp_close (int sd);
static int _verify_certificate_callback (gnutls_session_t session);

int main (void)
{
  int ret, sd, ii;
  gnutls_session_t session;
  char buffer[MAX_BUF + 1];
  const char *err;
  gnutls_certificate_credentials_t xcred;

  gnutls_global_init ();

  /* X509 stuff */
  gnutls_certificate_allocate_credentials (&xcred);

  /* sets the trusted cas file
   */
  gnutls_certificate_set_x509_trust_file (xcred, CAFILE, GNUTLS_X509_FMT_PEM);
  gnutls_certificate_set_verify_function (xcred, _verify_certificate_callback);
  
  /* If client holds a certificate it can be set using the following:
   *
     gnutls_certificate_set_x509_key_file (xcred, 
                                           "cert.pem", "key.pem", 
                                           GNUTLS_X509_FMT_PEM); 
   */

  /* Initialize TLS session 
   */
  gnutls_init (&session, GNUTLS_CLIENT);

  gnutls_session_set_ptr (session, (void *) "my_host_name");
  gnutls_server_name_set (session, GNUTLS_NAME_DNS, "my_host_name", 
                          strlen("my_host_name"));

  /* Use default priorities */
  ret = gnutls_priority_set_direct (session, "NORMAL", &err);
  if (ret < 0)
    {
      if (ret == GNUTLS_E_INVALID_REQUEST)
        {
          fprintf (stderr, "Syntax error at: %s\n", err);
        }
      exit (1);
    }

  /* put the x509 credentials to the current session
   */
  gnutls_credentials_set (session, GNUTLS_CRD_CERTIFICATE, xcred);

  /* connect to the peer
   */
  sd = tcp_connect ();

  gnutls_transport_set_ptr (session, (gnutls_transport_ptr_t) sd);

  /* Perform the TLS handshake
   */
  do
    {
      ret = gnutls_handshake (session);
    }
  while (ret < 0 && gnutls_error_is_fatal (ret) == 0);

  if (ret < 0)
    {
      fprintf (stderr, "*** Handshake failed\n");
      gnutls_perror (ret);
      goto end;
    }
  else
    {
      printf ("- Handshake was completed\n");
    }

  gnutls_record_send (session, MSG, strlen (MSG));

  ret = gnutls_record_recv (session, buffer, MAX_BUF);
  if (ret == 0)
    {
      printf ("- Peer has closed the TLS connection\n");
      goto end;
    }
  else if (ret < 0)
    {
      fprintf (stderr, "*** Error: %s\n", gnutls_strerror (ret));
      goto end;
    }

  printf ("- Received %d bytes: ", ret);
  for (ii = 0; ii < ret; ii++)
    {
      fputc (buffer[ii], stdout);
    }
  fputs ("\n", stdout);

  gnutls_bye (session, GNUTLS_SHUT_RDWR);

end:

  tcp_close (sd);

  gnutls_deinit (session);

  gnutls_certificate_free_credentials (xcred);

  gnutls_global_deinit ();

  return 0;
}

/* This function will verify the peer's certificate, and check
 * if the hostname matches, as well as the activation, expiration dates.
 */
static int
_verify_certificate_callback (gnutls_session_t session)
{
  unsigned int status;
  const gnutls_datum_t *cert_list;
  unsigned int cert_list_size;
  int ret;
  gnutls_x509_crt_t cert;
  const char *hostname;

  /* read hostname */
  hostname = gnutls_session_get_ptr (session);

  /* This verification function uses the trusted CAs in the credentials
   * structure. So you must have installed one or more CA certificates.
   */
  ret = gnutls_certificate_verify_peers2 (session, &status);
  if (ret < 0)
    {
      printf ("Error\n");
      return GNUTLS_E_CERTIFICATE_ERROR;
    }

  if (status & GNUTLS_CERT_INVALID)
    printf ("The certificate is not trusted.\n");

  if (status & GNUTLS_CERT_SIGNER_NOT_FOUND)
    printf ("The certificate hasn't got a known issuer.\n");

  if (status & GNUTLS_CERT_REVOKED)
    printf ("The certificate has been revoked.\n");

  if (status & GNUTLS_CERT_EXPIRED)
    printf ("The certificate has expired\n");

  if (status & GNUTLS_CERT_NOT_ACTIVATED)
    printf ("The certificate is not yet activated\n");

  /* Up to here the process is the same for X.509 certificates and
   * OpenPGP keys. From now on X.509 certificates are assumed. This can
   * be easily extended to work with openpgp keys as well.
   */
  if (gnutls_certificate_type_get (session) != GNUTLS_CRT_X509)
    return GNUTLS_E_CERTIFICATE_ERROR;

  if (gnutls_x509_crt_init (&cert) < 0)
    {
      printf ("error in initialization\n");
      return GNUTLS_E_CERTIFICATE_ERROR;
    }

  cert_list = gnutls_certificate_get_peers (session, &cert_list_size);
  if (cert_list == NULL)
    {
      printf ("No certificate was found!\n");
      return GNUTLS_E_CERTIFICATE_ERROR;
    }

  /* This is not a real world example, since we only check the first 
   * certificate in the given chain.
   */
  if (gnutls_x509_crt_import (cert, &cert_list[0], GNUTLS_X509_FMT_DER) < 0)
    {
      printf ("error parsing certificate\n");
      return GNUTLS_E_CERTIFICATE_ERROR;
    }


  if (!gnutls_x509_crt_check_hostname (cert, hostname))
    {
      printf ("The certificate's owner does not match hostname '%s'\n",
              hostname);
      return GNUTLS_E_CERTIFICATE_ERROR;
    }

  gnutls_x509_crt_deinit (cert);

  /* notify gnutls to continue handshake normally */
  return 0;
}

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