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This guide will cover 64 bit Linux installation only.

1.) First update the repo cache, then install the NSS package on the host#

RHEL6/7 family:

yum update
yum install nss-pkcs11-devel

Debian 8 family:

apt-get update
apt install libnss3-tools

2.) Create the FIPS-140 compliant PKCS-11 cryto provider and security token#

The "token" practically is a database, we'll use this in Crush as the SSL cert store (in opposite to normal operation mode PKCS12 compliant "file" ). In case the Crush process isn't running as root, will need to change the ownership and permissions on the database folder accordingly.

mkdir -p /var/opt/nss/crush-nssdb
modutil -create -dbdir /var/opt/nss/crush-nssdb

Create the NSS config file

touch /var/opt/nss/nss_pkcsll_fips.cfg

then edit it

vi /var/opt/nss/nss_pkcsll_fips.cfg

and paste into the following ( Centos/Redhat)

name = NSS
nssLibraryDirectory=/usr/lib64
nssSecmodDirectory=/var/opt/nss/crush-nssdb
nssModule = fips

On Debian/Ubuntu the NSS libraries are located at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/nss. It may be different on various versions of same operating system, best to locate the "libnss3.so" kernal module , the "nssLibraryDirectory" path has to point to it's parent directory.

Now enable FIPS mode on the token

modutil -fips true -dbdir /var/opt/nss/crush-nssdb

should get a confirmation message prompt, indicating all operations until this step were successful.

At this point, we can set the password on the token

modutil -changepw "NSS FIPS 140-2 Certificate DB" -dbdir /var/opt/nss/crush-nssdb

when prompted for , enter a password or just hit Enter for blank, will need to use the password in Crush later, if set. In the below steps, no password was used.

3.) Import or issue FIPS-140 compliant certificate#

Certutil allows any regular PKI operations to generate key pair and issue certs, import, etc. By this example will just import from a PKCS12 cert store, most real life-like scenario, for an existing cert

pk12util -i intranet_local.p12 -d /var/opt/nss/crush-nssdb

If the .p12 file was password protected, there will be a prompt to enter the password.

Check if key and cert chain in place

certutil -K -d /var/opt/nss/crush-nssdb
certutil -L -d /var/opt/nss/crush-nssdb

4.) Configure Java crypto bridge for FIPS-140 mode#

Can modify the server wide Java environment, though, for easy switching (or emergency reversal) between FIPS and non-FIPS mode, it's recommanded to use a Java alternative installation for Crush only. In this example , Oracle Java JRE 8 with JCE plicy files applied (mandatory), placed into /var/opt/java8-fips/ folder. Edit the java.security config file

vi /var/opt/java8-fips/lib/security/java.security

Find this line

"# List of providers and their preference orders"

edit the crypto provider list to be:

security.provider.1=sun.security.provider.Sun
security.provider.2=sun.security.rsa.SunRsaSign
security.provider.3=sun.security.ec.SunEC
security.provider.4=com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider SunPKCS11-NSS
security.provider.5=com.sun.crypto.provider.SunJCE
security.provider.6=sun.security.jgss.SunProvider
security.provider.7=com.sun.security.sasl.Provider
security.provider.8=org.jcp.xml.dsig.internal.dom.XMLDSigRI
security.provider.9=sun.security.smartcardio.SunPCSC
security.provider.10=sun.security.pkcs11.SunPKCS11 /var/opt/nss/nss_pkcsll_fips.cfg
security.provider.11=sun.security.pkcs11.SunPKCS11-NSScrypto

5.) Configure Crush#

First, we need to switch over to the FIPS compliant Java environment, for that edit the init script , modify the $JAVA local environment variable to point to the new Java main binary

vi /var/opt/CrushFTP8_PC/crushftp_init.sh

find the line

JAVA="java"

comment it out then add in place

JAVA="/var/opt/java8-fips/bin/java"

then edit the main server config file prefs.XML

vi /var/opt/CrushFTP8_PC/prefs.XML

, locate and set the

<fips140>false</fips140>

key value to

true

After this step, before restarting the service, log in into the Webinterface as the main admin, navigate to Preferences->Encryption->SSL page enter into the "Keystore Location" field the "PKCS11" literal (without the quotes), supply the PKCS11 token password, if any set in Step 2. In both "Tls versions" fields leave only "TLSv1,TLSv1.1" , save.



Restart the Crush service afterwards

systemctl restart crushftp

Normally, all SSL ports should come on line after this step ( HTTPS, FTPES, FTPS ), can test with a client application. SSL cypher assessment should reveal now only FIPS-140-2 compliant cyphers.

Warning: At this point the HTTPS port may go offline, if token password was incorrect, or the PKCS11 token bad, etc., make sure there is an plain HTTP port available for adminstration. In case the java.security config file has syntax errors, the Crush service may not come on line at all.

Running in FIPS mode has a few drawbacks:

• online updates won't work, for our update repo server is not running in FIPS compliant mode, can only use the manual update method ( from file)
  
• server to server connections against a non-FIPS compliant server won't work either, when using VFS proxy or CrushTask.
  
• ldaps:// connections for the SAML or LDAP Group plugin don't work as well unless the directory controller is also set to FIPS mode, the trusted cert needs to be imported into the PKCS11 trust store; plain ldap:// will work just fine
  
• some web browsers may not work with the FIPS compliant cypher set
  
• SSL cypher strength assessment will never give the server "A" or close rating, for a few of the FIPS compliant cyphers are "B"-rated, or lower.
  

Known issues:#

• later builds of Oracle Jre/JDK 8 have a bug , require the presence of secmod.db in the NSS DB folder, have to create a dummy file manually

touch /var/opt/nss/crush-nssdb/secmod.db

then add to crushftp_init.sh , before launching the Jvm (the beginning of the script will do)

export NSS_DEFAULT_DB_TYPE=sql

• apparently Java 13 is missing the FIPS module

• works with Java 11 , the security config file is located in javadir/conf/security/java.security needs editing the line with PKCS11 compliant provider like

security.provider.12=SunPKCS11 /var/opt/nss/nss_pkcs11_fips.cfg