Stateless TLS Proxy Session Ticket Embedding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Transport Layer Security (TLS) proxy systems face resource-intensive challenges in managing session tickets, leading to performance issues and inability to seamlessly resume TLS connections when the proxy device fails, as they need to store and manage multiple session tickets, which consumes computing resources and complicates state retrieval across devices.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a stateless TLS proxy system that generates and embeds session tickets, allowing the client device to store both proxy-server and real-server session tickets, eliminating the need for the proxy to store session information and enabling any available computing component to resume TLS connections without full handshake operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the TLS proxy system stores and manages multiple session tickets, then session resumption capability is maintained, but computing resources are consumed and device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the session ticket management into two separate components: a first session ticket for resuming the TLS communication session between client and proxy, and a second session ticket for resuming the communication session between proxy and server. This segmentation allows each ticket to be independently managed and reduces the complexity of tracking multiple session states within a single system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the session state information from the proxy device itself and stores it externally in a database or storage system. The proxy device no longer needs to maintain session tickets in memory, but instead retrieves them from external storage when needed. This extraction eliminates the need for the proxy to track session states, reducing device complexity while preserving resumption capability.
2Reliability
If the TLS proxy system stores session tickets, then session resumption is possible, but performance deteriorates due to resource-intensive operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a stateless proxy architecture where the proxy device does not actively manage or store session tickets. Instead, session tickets are generated by the original communicating parties (client and server) and stored externally. When resumption is needed, the proxy simply forwards the appropriate tickets without performing management operations, allowing the system to scale without increasing proxy computational burden.
3Reliability
If the proxy device fails, then service continuity is interrupted, but with proper session ticket management, seamless resumption across devices should be possible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an external database or storage system as an intermediary between the proxy device and session tickets. This intermediary stores session tickets in a distributed manner, allowing any proxy device in the system to retrieve and use session tickets from the database. This eliminates the dependency on a specific proxy device instance, enabling seamless failover and cross-device resumption of TLS sessions.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system communicates, with a client device, to establish a first TLS communication session between the system and the client device, and with a server device, to establish a second TLS communication session between the system and the server device. The system generates a first session ticket associated with the first TLS communication session, and obtains, from the server device, a second session ticket associated with the second TLS communication session. The system sends, to the client device and via the first TLS communication session, the first session ticket, with the second session ticket included in the first session ticket. The system receives, from the client device and after the first TLS communication session and the second TLS communication session terminate, the first session ticket that includes the second session ticket, which the system uses to facilitate resumption of the first TLS communication session and the second TLS communication session.