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TLS support Last revised: Mar 1, 2025
TLS support
This document provides information about TLS support which is a new
Eggdrop feature since version 1.8.0.
ABOUT
Eggdrop can be optionally compiled with TLS support. This requires
OpenSSL 0.9.8 or later installed on your system. TLS support includes
encryption for IRC, DCC, botnet, telnet and scripted connections as well
as certificate authentication for users and bots.
INSTALLATION
./configure and install as usual, the configure script will detect if
your system meets the requirements and will enable TLS automatically.
You can override the autodetection and manually disable TLS with
./configure --disable-tls. You can't forcefully enable it though. The
configure script will look for OpenSSL at the default system locations.
If you have it installed at a non-standard location or locally in your
home directory, you'll need to specify the paths to header and library
files with the --with-sslinc and --with-ssllib options. You can also use
these if you want to override the default OpenSSL installation with a
custom one, as they take precedence over any system-wide paths.
USAGE
As of v1.9.0, TLS support must be requested explicitly for botnet links.
To create a TLS-enabled listening port or connect to a TLS-enabled
listening port, you must prefix the port with a plus sign (+). If a port
number could normally be omitted as part of a command syntax must be
included (and prefixed) to enable TLS.
Scripts can also upgrade a regular plaintext connection to TLS via
STARTTLS using the starttls Tcl command.
Prior to v1.9.0, Eggdrop would use STARTTLS to automatically attempt to
upgrade a plain connection to an encrypted connection for botnet links,
without any additional configuration (This was changed to provide users
the flexibility to configure their own environments and assist in
debugging).
IRC
To connect to IRC using SSL, specify the port number and prefix it with
a plus sign. Example: .jump irc.server.com +6697. The same goes for the
server list in the config file.
Some NickServ services allow you to authenticate with a certificate.
Eggdrop will use the certificate pair specified in ssl-privatekey/
ssl-certificate for authentication.
Botnet
Eggdrop can use TLS connections to protect botnet links if it is
compiled with TLS support. As of version 1.9.0, only raw TLS sockets are
used to protect a connection. By prefixing a listen port in the Eggdrop
configuration with a plus (+), that specifies that port as a TLS-enabled
port, and will only accept TLS connections (no plain text connections
will be allowed). With two TLS-enabled Eggdrops, it graphically looks
like this:
----------------------- ---------------------- ------------------------
Leaf bot sets hub port and Hub bot config the connection will...
as... uses...
port listen port be plain, but can be
upgraded to TLS manually
with the starttls
Tcl/bot command
+port listen +port connect with TLS
port listen +port fail as hub only wants
TLS
+port listen port fail as leaf only wants
TLS
----------------------- ---------------------- ------------------------
In short, a bot added to your Eggdrop with a +port in the address can
only connect to a bot listening with a +port in the config. Conversely,
a bot added to your Eggdrop without a + prefix can only connect to a bot
listening without a + prefix in the config.
If TLS negotiation fails, the connection is deliberately aborted and no
clear text is ever sent by the TLS-requiring party.
Eggdrop can also upgrade a plaintext connection with the starttls Tcl
command. To use this, a plaintext connection is first made to a non-TLS
port (ie, one that is not prefixed with a plus), then the starttls
command is issued to upgrade that link to a TLS connection. In the
Eggdrop 1.8 series, Eggdrop automatically attempted a starttls upgrade
on all botnet connections. As such, if a 1.8 Eggdrop connects to a plain
listening port on a 1.9.0 or later Eggdrop, it will automatically
attempt to upgrade the link to TLS.
Secure DCC
Eggdrop supports the SDCC protocol, allowing you to establish DCC chat
and file transfers over SSL. Example: /ctcp bot schat Note, that
currently the only IRC client supporting SDCC is KVIrc. For information
on how to initiate secure DCC chat from KVIrc (rather than from the bot
with /ctcp bot chat), consult the KVIrc documentation.
Scripts
Scripts can open or connect to TLS ports the usual way specifying the
port with a plus sign. Alternatively, the connection could be
established as plaintext and later switched on with the starttls Tcl
command. (Note that the other side should also switch to TLS at the same
time - the synchronization is the script's job, not Eggdrop's.)
KEYS, CERTIFICATES AND AUTHENTICATION
You need a private key and a digital certificate whenever your bot will
act as a server in a connection of any type. Common examples are hub
bots and TLS listening ports. General information about certificates and
public key infrastructure can be obtained from Internet. This document
only contains eggdrop-specific information on the subject. The easy way
to create a key and a certificate is to type 'make sslcert' after
compiling your bot (If you installed Eggdrop to a non-standard location,
use make sslcert DEST=/path/to/eggdrop). This will generate a 4096-bit
private key (eggdrop.key) and a certificate (eggdrop.crt) after you fill
in the required fields. Alternatively, you can use 'make sslsilent' to
generate a key and certificate non-interactively, using pre-set values.
This is useful when installing Eggdrop via a scripted process.
To authenticate with a certificate instead of using password, you should
make a ssl certificate for yourself and enable ssl-cert-auth in the
config file. Then either connect to the bot using TLS and type ".fprint
+" or enter your certificate fingerprint with .fprint SHA1-FINGERPRINT.
To generate a ssl certificate for yourself, you can run the following
command from the Eggdrop source directory:
openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -keyout my.key -out my.crt -config ssl.conf
When asked about bot's handle, put your handle instead. How to use your
new certificate to connect to Eggdrop, depends on your irc client. To
connect to your bot from the command line using the key/cert files
generated in the previous step, you can use the OpenSSL ssl client :
openssl s_client -cert my.crt -key my.key -connect host:sslport
SSL/TLS SETTINGS
There are some new settings allowing control over certificate
verification and authorization.
ssl-privatekey
file containing Eggdrop's private key, required for the certificate.
ssl-certificate
Specify the filename where your SSL certificate is located. if your
bot will accept SSL connections, it must have a certificate.
ssl-verify-depth
maximum verification depth when checking certificate validity.
Determines the maximum certificate chain length to allow.
ssl-capath
ssl-cafile
specify the location of certificate authorities certificates. These
are used for verification. Both can be active at the same time. If
you don't set this, validation of the issuer won't be possible and
depending on verification settings, the peer certificate might fail
verification.
ssl-ciphers
specify the list of ciphers (in order of preference) allowed for use
with ssl.
ssl-cert-auth
enables or disables certificate authorization for partyline/botnet.
This works only for SSL connections (SDCC or telnet over SSL). A
setting of 1 means optional authorization: If the user/bot has a
fingerprint set and it matches the certificate SHA1 fingerprint,
access is granted, otherwise ordinary password authentication takes
place.
If you set this to 2 however, users without a fingerprint set or
with a fingerprint not matching the certificate, will not be allowed
to enter the partyline with SSL. In addition to this user and bot
certificates will be required to have an UID field matching the
handle of the user/bot.
ssl-verify-dcc
ssl-verify-bots
ssl-verify-server
ssl-verify-clients
control ssl certificate verification. A value of 0 disables
verification completely. A value of 1 enables full verification.
Higher values enable specific exceptions like allowing self-signed
or expired certificates. Details are documented in eggdrop.conf.
Copyright (C) 2010 - 2025 Eggheads Development Team
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