End-to-end certificate pinning for CDN security
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Solution Overview
Problem
Content delivery networks (CDNs) face security threats where attackers use fraudulent security certificates to intercept and replace content, compromising the authenticity of content received and distributed, necessitating improved verification of both sender and certificate authority identities.
Innovation Solution
Implementing end-to-end certificate pinning, where content distributors and user browsers pin specific certificate authorities, ensuring that only verified content from authorized providers is accepted, using authority verification identifiers such as certificate authority names, SPKI hashes, or self-signed certificates to prevent fraudulent activity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional security certificate verification is used, then the CDN can establish secure connections with content providers, but the system becomes vulnerable to attacks using fraudulent certificates from compromised certificate authorities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring authority verification identifiers (such as pinned certificate authority names or SPKI hashes) in the content distributor system before content delivery occurs. This allows the system to have verification criteria ready in advance, enabling immediate detection of fraudulent certificates when content is received, thus preventing fraudulent content distribution before it can propagate.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback by creating a verification loop where the content distributor checks received certificates against pre-configured authority verification identifiers, and uses the verification results to accept or reject content. This closed-loop feedback mechanism ensures that only content from authenticated sources is distributed, while fraudulent content is detected and blocked, providing continuous security monitoring and response.
2Ease of operation
If the CDN verifies only the sender's identity with a security certificate, then connection establishment is simplified, but the system cannot detect certificates issued by compromised certificate authorities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the identity verification process into two distinct verification layers: (1) verifying the sender's identity through the certificate subject, and (2) verifying the certificate authority's legitimacy through authority verification identifiers. This segmentation allows each verification step to be performed independently and systematically, improving both the ease of operation and the precision of identity verification without significantly complicating the overall process.
3Productivity
If the CDN distributes content from multiple content providers using the same infrastructure, then delivery efficiency is improved, but the CDN becomes a more frequent target of network attacks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing fine-grained, content-provider-specific verification criteria through unique authority verification identifiers for each content provider. Instead of applying a single blanket verification policy to all content, the system tailors verification to each local context (content provider), allowing efficient distribution from multiple providers while maintaining targeted security measures that address the specific attack vectors each provider may face.
Data Source
AI summary
Some embodiments implement end-to-end certificate pinning for content intake from various content providers and for content distribution to various end users. To ensure secure retrieval of content provider content, the content distributor pins the content provider to one or more certificate authorities. Accordingly, the content distributor only retrieves content from a sender identified as the content provider when the sender identity is verified with a certificate issued by a certificate authority pinned to the content provider. To ensure secure delivery of content from the content distributor to an end user, the content distributor modifies the pinset of the user browser to pin the content distributor to one or more certificate authorities. Thereafter, the user browser only accepts content from a sender identified as the content distributor when the sender identity is verified with a certificate issued by a certificate authority pinned to the content distributor in the browser pinset.