How Do I Remove Legacy Ciphers (SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler? (2024)

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Objective

This article describes how to remove legacy ciphers(SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler.

Use case

  • Ramesh wishes to interact in a secure fashion (some arbitrary, some known) free from any security attack through a web browser. Recent attacks on weaker ciphers in SSL layer has rendered them useless and thus Ramesh wants to ensure that he is not using the weak ciphers.
  • Banking.com wishes to host webservers to be used by people like Ramesh in a secure fashion free from any security threat.

Background

Secure transfer of data between the client and server is facilitated by Transport Layer Security(TLS) and its predecessor Secure Socket Layer(SSL). They are not just used by websites that use HTTP protocol, but also is utilized by wide variety of services. Some of the services include e-mail, Chat applications, FTP applications and Virtual Private Networks (VPN).

Choice of ciphers used has become critical as they ensure safety of data exchanged between client and server. Making a mistake in choosing ciphers would bring in a false sense of security. Intruders can successfully decrypt or gain access to sensitive information when choice of ciphers used for secure communication includes outdated ciphers which are prone to different kind of attacks.

Key points to be considered while securing SSL layer,

  • SSL 2.0 and SSL 3.0 should be disabled
  • Weak ciphers like DES, 3DES, RC4 or MD5 should not be used

Instructions

This article is divided into the following sections:

  • Remove Legacy Ciphers that Use SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4
    • Remove Legacy Ciphers SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4 from cipher group
    • Remove Legacy Ciphers SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4 from SSL Profile
  • Disable SSL2.0 and SSL3.0 on NetScaler
    • Disable SSL 3.0/2.0 on a vserver
    • Disable SSL 3.0/2.0 on SNIP
    • Disable SSL 3.0/2.0 on NetScaler Management Interface

Remove Legacy Ciphers that Use SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4

Legacy ciphers that use SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4 can be removed from NetScaler by two ways. They can either be removed from cipher group or they can be removed from SSL profile.

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Remove Legacy CiphersSSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4 from cipher group

Complete the following steps to remove SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4:

  1. Configuration tab > Traffic Management > SSL > Cipher Groups.

    How Do I Remove Legacy Ciphers (SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler? (1)

  2. Select DEFAULT cipher groups > click Add.

    How Do I Remove Legacy Ciphers (SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler? (2)

    Edit the Cipher Group Name to anything else but “Default”

    Check the below list for SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4 ciphers and remove them from the group.

    How Do I Remove Legacy Ciphers (SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler? (3)

  3. Click create. You will have a list of ciphers from default cipher group without legacy ciphers.

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Remove Legacy CiphersSSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4 from SSL Profile

  1. Configuration tab > System > Profiles > SSL Profle Tab > <profile name to be modified> > Edit.

    How Do I Remove Legacy Ciphers (SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler? (4)

  2. Select SSL Ciphers > Add > Select Cipher > uncheck SSL3, DES, MD5, RC4 Ciphers > Move the selected ones under configured.

    How Do I Remove Legacy Ciphers (SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler? (5)

  3. After moving list of Ciphers to Configured, select OK and save the configuration.

    How Do I Remove Legacy Ciphers (SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler? (6)

    After the above mentioned steps, SSL profile will not have any legacy ciphers.

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Disable SSL2.0 and SSL3.0 on NetScaler

You will have to disable to SSL2.0 and SSL3.0 on NetScaler virtual server, SNIP and NetScaler management interface to completely disable SSL2.0 and SSL3.0 on NetScaler.

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Disable SSL 3.0/2.0 on a vserver

The below mentioned command will disable SSL 3.0/SSL2.0 on a vserver
> set ssl vserver vpn -ssl3 DISABLED
> set ssl vserver vpn –ssl2 DISABLED

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Disable SSL 3.0/2.0 on SNIP

To disable SSL 3.0/2.0 for a SNIP, internal services on the IP should be identified using following command
>show service –internal | grep <IP>

Internal services resides inside NetScaler and takes action on behalf of NetScaler. For example an internal service, nshttps-<SNIP IP Address>-443 services SSL connections for the SNIP on NetScaler.

Using the internal service name on the IP, SSL 3.0/2.0 can be disabled using the following command:
set ssl service <internal service name for that ip> -ssl3 disabled
set ssl service <internal service name for that ip> -ssl2 disabled

How Do I Remove Legacy Ciphers (SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler? (7)

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Disable SSL 3.0/2.0 on NetScaler Management Interface

“nshttps-127.0.0.1-443” is the service running on NetScaler Management Interface.
>show service –internal | grep nshttps-127.0.0.1-443

How Do I Remove Legacy Ciphers (SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler? (8)

Using the the following commands, SSL2.0 SSL3.0 can be disabled on older versions of ADC. Replace NSIP in the last command with the NSIP of the device. However if you receive "Warning: Operation not permitted. Use set ssl profile for setting these parameters" then follow the alternate commands:
>set ssl service nshttps-127.0.0.1-443 –ssl2 DISABLED
>set ssl service nshttps-127.0.0.1-443 –ssl3 DISABLED

>set ssl service nshttps-NSIP-443 –ssl3 DISABLED

Alternate commands:
>add ssl profile no_SSL3_TLS1 -ssl3 DISABLED-tls1 DISABLED
>set ssl service nshttps-127.0.0.1-443 -sslprofile no_SSL3_TLS1
>set ssl service nshttps-NSIP-443 -sslProfileno_SSL3_TLS1

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How Do I Remove Legacy Ciphers (SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler? (2024)

FAQs

How Do I Remove Legacy Ciphers (SSL2, SSL3, DES, 3DES, MD5 and RC4) on NetScaler? ›

Navigate to Configuration tab > System > Profiles > SSL Profle Tab > <profile name to be modified> > Edit. Select SSL Ciphers > Add > Select Cipher (by clicking the + before the cipher) > uncheck RC4 Ciphers > Move them under Configured. After moving list of Ciphers to Configured, Click OK and save the configuration.

How do I disable weak ciphers in Citrix NetScaler? ›

Navigate to Configuration tab > System > Profiles > SSL Profle Tab > <profile name to be modified> > Edit. Select SSL Ciphers > Add > Select Cipher (by clicking the + before the cipher) > uncheck RC4 Ciphers > Move them under Configured. After moving list of Ciphers to Configured, Click OK and save the configuration.

How do I remove weak ciphers from SSL? ›

You can do this using GPO or Local security policy under Computer configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> SSL Configuration Settings -> SSL Cipher Suite Order. Set this policy to enable. Each cipher suite should be separated with a comma. Remove as needed based on the list below.

How do I disable SSL cipher suite? ›

Disable specific ciphers and protocols- Version 16.2 (Build 37799) and above
  1. In a text editor, open the following file: ...
  2. Locate the two lines starting with “#server.ssl.disabled-protocols” and “#server.ssl.disabled-cipher-suites”
  3. Remove the proceeding # sign to uncomment the lines and edit the list as needed.
Jul 5, 2023

How do I disable RC2 ciphers? ›

Disable export ciphers, NULL ciphers, RC2 and RC4
  1. go to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Ciphers\NULL and set DWORD value Enabled to 0 .
  2. go to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Ciphers\DES 56/56 and set DWORD value Enabled to 0 .

How do I disable certain ciphers? ›

The Disable-TlsCipherSuite cmdlet disables a cipher suite. This cmdlet removes the cipher suite from the list of Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol cipher suites for the computer.

How do I disable DES ciphers? ›

Disable RC4/DES/3DES cipher suites in Windows using registry, GPO, or local security settings. You can do this using GPO or Local security policy under Computer configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> SSL Configuration Settings -> SSL Cipher Suite Order.

How do I disable weak ciphers and algorithms? ›

Solution
  1. Log in to the instance using the ssh command.
  2. Switch to a root user using the sudo su - command.
  3. List the currently enabled ciphers by running the command sshd -T | grep -i 'cipher'.
  4. Copy the list and remove the unwanted ciphers. ...
  5. Make a backup of the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config by running the command:

Should I disable weak ciphers? ›

The only way to protect from such an issue is to disable weak cipher suites on the server side. After disabling them, even if an attacker is able to tamper with the negotiation, the server will refuse to use a weak cipher and abort the connection.

Which ciphers should be disabled? ›

You should also disable weak ciphers such as DES and RC4. DES can be broken in a few hours and RC4 has been found to be weaker than previously thought. In the past, RC4 was advised as a way to mitigate BEAST attacks.

How to disable SSL in PostgreSQL? ›

Disabling SSL/TLS

If you want to disable SSL instead, be sure to not lose the client connection after you set ssl=off and make changes to the pg_hba. conf file, otherwise you may be locked out if you don't have any accounts using “host” only access method, and your only way out is to restart the service.

How to bypass SSL authentication? ›

To bypass SSL certificate validation for local and test servers, you can pass the -k or --insecure option to the Curl command. This option explicitly tells Curl to perform "insecure" SSL connections and file transfers. Curl will ignore any security warnings about an invalid SSL certificate and accept it as valid.

How to disable SSL from command line? ›

Apache: How to Disable the SSL v3 Protocol
  1. Type one the following commands: grep -i -r "SSLProtocol" /etc/apache2. or. grep -i -r "SSLProtocol" /etc/httpd. ...
  2. The command will output the available Virtual Hosts or your config file.
  3. Open the config file or Virtual Host for which you are disabling the SSL v3 protocol.

How do I disable 3DES and RC4? ›

We can disable 3DES and RC4 ciphers by removing them from registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Cryptography\Configuration\Local\SSL\00010002 and then restart the server.

How to disable RC4 md5 cipher? ›

Disabling RC4
  1. Open registry editor: ...
  2. Navigate to: ...
  3. Right-click on Ciphers >> New >> Key. ...
  4. Right-click on RC4 40/128 >> New >> DWORD (32-bit) Value. ...
  5. Double-click the created Enabled value and make sure that there is zero (0) in Value Data: field >> click OK.

How do I disable DES and triple DES ciphers? ›

Disable RC4/DES/3DES cipher suites in Windows using registry, GPO, or local security settings. You can do this using GPO or Local security policy under Computer configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> SSL Configuration Settings -> SSL Cipher Suite Order.

How do I check my NetScaler ciphers? ›

Navigate to Configuration > Traffic Management > Virtual Servers and select the virtual server on which you want to enable DH. b. Click Edit > SSL Ciphers and select the ECDHE cipher groups and click Bind. Note: Ensure that the ECDHE ciphers are at the top of the cipher list bound to the virtual server.

How do I disable TLS 1.0 and 1.1 on NetScaler? ›

Make the required changes on all the applicable ports individually. Click the pencil icon under SSL Parameters section to disable the required TLS. Finally click OK and click Done. Note: If the NetScaler appliance is in a high availability setup, the TLS must be disabled on both the nodes individually.

How do I disable RSA key exchange ciphers? ›

Disable RSA ciphers
  1. Open $IMPACT_HOME/sdk/jre/lib/security/java. security in a text editor.
  2. Locate the jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms property. It should have some existing entries. ...
  3. Add each cipher you want to disable, separated by a comma. ...
  4. Save the changes to java. ...
  5. Restart the Impact server.

What does weak ciphers enabled mean? ›

Weak cipher suites enabled. The server supports weak cipher suites for SSL/TLS connections. These cipher suites are currently considered broken and, depending on the specific cipher suite, offer poor or no security at all. Thus defeating the purpose of using a secure communication channel in the first place.

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