Self-Signed Certificate Authentication for Local Web Services
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing web service authentication mechanisms require explicit login credentials or trusted third-party certificates, which are not feasible for local processes accessing web services on the same server, especially when users do not want to monitor script executions or manage certificates.
Innovation Solution
A method where a local process generates a self-signed certificate with subject information identifying its owner and hostname, stored in a world-writeable directory with 'sticky bit' permissions, allowing the web service to authenticate the process by matching file system metadata, thus eliminating the need for explicit credentials or trusted certificates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional authentication mechanisms (login credentials or trusted third-party certificates) are used for web service access, then security and authorization are ensured, but local processes cannot authenticate without user intervention or certificate management
Solution Approach 1:
The local process autonomously generates its own self-signed certificate and stores it in a world-writable directory with sticky bit permissions. The certificate contains the process owner's username and hostname, enabling the process to authenticate itself to the web service without requiring external certificate authorities or user intervention. This self-service mechanism resolves the contradiction by making authentication both secure (through cryptographic verification) and simple (automatic process-level authentication).
Solution Approach 2:
The authentication credentials (self-signed certificate) are prepared in advance by the local process before accessing the web service. The certificate is generated with the process owner's identity information and stored in a predetermined location with appropriate permissions. This preliminary preparation eliminates the need for runtime user intervention or complex certificate management, achieving both security and ease of operation.
2Reliability
If users must provide authentication credentials for each script execution, then security is maintained, but user convenience deteriorates especially for scheduled jobs
Solution Approach 1:
The local process automatically performs authentication using its self-signed certificate without requiring the user to provide credentials. The authentication happens transparently in the background, eliminating the time users would otherwise spend entering usernames and passwords for each script execution or scheduled job.
Solution Approach 2:
Authentication credentials are prepared in advance in the form of a self-signed certificate containing the process owner's identity. This pre-prepared credential allows the process to authenticate automatically without user intervention during execution, saving time especially for scheduled jobs that run without user presence.
3Reliability
If trusted third-party certificates are used for authentication, then security is improved, but device complexity and certificate management overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of relying on external certificate authorities and complex certificate provisioning infrastructure, each local process generates its own self-signed certificate. This eliminates the need for trusted third-party certificate management while maintaining security through cryptographic verification of the self-signed credentials.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the certificate authority function from the system, allowing processes to generate and manage their own certificates locally without external intervention. This removes the complexity of certificate provisioning, renewal, and revocation management while maintaining authentication security through the self-signed mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are presented herein for authenticating local process to a web service, both executing on a common host computer server. The local process may present a self-signed certificate to the web service. In response, the web service may identify a file system directory on the first computer server containing a file storing the self-signed certificate. If the subject information identifying the owner of the process matches file system metadata indicating an owner of the file, then the web service may consider the process as being authenticated to the web service.