Re: [PATCH v7] http: add http.sslVerifyStatus to check stapled OCSP responses

["SZEDER Gábor" <szeder.dev@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Sep 15, 2026 at 12:23:48PM -0400, graysongordon-gl wrote:
> From: Grayson Gordon <graysongordon1@gmail.com>
> 
> git never sets CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYSTATUS, so libcurl never requests the
> OCSP "Certificate Status Request" extension and any stapled response a
> server sends is ignored, including responses that explicitly state the
> certificate has been revoked.
> 
> Add an http.sslVerifyStatus boolean that maps to
> CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYSTATUS. http_options() is already the collect_fn for a
> urlmatch config, so the per-URL form works with no changes:
> 
>     git config http.https://example.com/.sslVerifyStatus true
> 
> Defaults to false/"off". This is due to the nature of the OCSP protocol.
> If enabled, git would expect to receive OCSP stapled responses. If the
> stapled responses were not present, the connection would be blocked as
> the status of the server's certificate could not be verified. This would
> break connections to legitimate services that don't use OCSP as their
> certificate revocation mechanism.
> 
> If the backend can't check the staple, curl_easy_setopt() returns
> CURLE_NOT_BUILT_IN. The error message includes curl_easy_strerror()
> along with the option name, so a libcurl built without status
> verification is easy to identify.
> 
> CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYSTATUS has existed since libcurl 7.41.0, below our
> 7.61.0 floor, so no version guard is needed.
> 
> The tests that need no OCSP infrastructure stay in t5551, which t5559
> runs over https. The rest need a certificate authority, a responder to
> answer for it and a server configured to staple, so lib-httpd gains an
> opt-in LIB_HTTPD_OCSP mode and t5585 uses it to check that a "good"
> staple is accepted, a "revoked" one is refused, and that the revoked one
> is ignored when the option is off.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Grayson Gordon <graysongordon1@gmail.com>
> ---

This patch was merged to 'next' the other day, and the last test in
the new t5585 fails on my system.

> diff --git a/t/lib-httpd.sh b/t/lib-httpd.sh
> index 115455784c..554b0e44fa 100644
> --- a/t/lib-httpd.sh
> +++ b/t/lib-httpd.sh
> @@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
>  #    LIB_HTTPD_DAV               enable DAV
>  #    LIB_HTTPD_SVN               enable SVN at given location (e.g. "svn")
>  #    LIB_HTTPD_SSL               enable SSL
> +#    LIB_HTTPD_OCSP              enable OCSP stapling
>  #    LIB_HTTPD_PROXY             enable proxy
>  #
>  # Copyright (c) 2008 Clemens Buchacher <drizzd@aon.at>
> @@ -183,15 +184,26 @@ prepare_httpd() {
>  
>  	ln -s "$LIB_HTTPD_MODULE_PATH" "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/modules"
>  
> +	if test -n "$LIB_HTTPD_OCSP"
> +	then
> +		LIB_HTTPD_SSL=t
> +	fi
> +
>  	if test -n "$LIB_HTTPD_SSL"
>  	then
>  		HTTPD_PROTO=https
>  
> -		RANDFILE_PATH="$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH"/.rnd openssl req \
> -			-config "$TEST_PATH/ssl.cnf" \
> -			-new -x509 -nodes \
> -			-out "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.pem" \
> -			-keyout "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.pem"
> +		if test -n "$LIB_HTTPD_OCSP"
> +		then
> +			prepare_ocsp_stapling
> +			HTTPD_PARA="$HTTPD_PARA -DOCSP"
> +		else
> +			RANDFILE_PATH="$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH"/.rnd openssl req \
> +				-config "$TEST_PATH/ssl.cnf" \
> +				-new -x509 -nodes \
> +				-out "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.pem" \
> +				-keyout "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.pem"
> +		fi
>  		GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY=t
>  		export GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY
>  		HTTPD_PARA="$HTTPD_PARA -DSSL"
> @@ -262,6 +274,114 @@ stop_httpd() {
>  		-f "$TEST_PATH/apache.conf" $HTTPD_PARA -k stop
>  }
>  
> +restart_httpd () {
> +	httpd_pid=$(cat "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.pid") &&
> +	stop_httpd &&
> +	while kill -0 "$httpd_pid" 2>/dev/null
> +	do
> +		sleep 1
> +	done &&
> +	"$LIB_HTTPD_PATH" -d "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH" \
> +		-f "$TEST_PATH/apache.conf" $HTTPD_PARA \
> +		-c "Listen 127.0.0.1:$LIB_HTTPD_PORT" -k start
> +}
> +
> +# Check if the linked libcurl can verify stapled OCSP responses.
> +test_lazy_prereq SSL_VERIFYSTATUS '
> +	test "$HTTPD_PROTO" = "https" &&
> +	test_might_fail git -c http.sslVerifyStatus=true \
> +		ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL" 2>err &&
> +	! grep "http.sslVerifyStatus is set" err
> +'

When checking this prereq in t5585, I get the following trace:

  mkdir -p "$TRASH_DIRECTORY/prereq-test-dir-SSL_VERIFYSTATUS" &&
  (
  	cd "$TRASH_DIRECTORY/prereq-test-dir-SSL_VERIFYSTATUS" &&
  	test "$HTTPD_PROTO" = "https" &&
  	test_might_fail git -c http.sslVerifyStatus=true \
  		ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL" 2>err &&
  	cat err && # debug
  	! grep "http.sslVerifyStatus is set" err
  
  )
  + mkdir -p /home/szeder/src/git/t/trash directory.t5585-http-ssl-ocsp/prereq-test-dir-SSL_VERIFYSTATUS
  + cd /home/szeder/src/git/t/trash directory.t5585-http-ssl-ocsp/prereq-test-dir-SSL_VERIFYSTATUS
  + test https = https
  + test_might_fail git -c http.sslVerifyStatus=true ls-remote https://127.0.0.1:5585
  + cat err
  fatal: repository 'https://127.0.0.1:5585/' not found
  + grep http.sslVerifyStatus is set err
  prerequisite SSL_VERIFYSTATUS ok

I added that 'cat err' to see the error message.  Turns out that 'git
ls-remote' can't even find the repository on the remote, but the
prereq is still considered fulfilled.  Is that right?


In t5559 I get the following trace:

  + mkdir -p /home/szeder/src/git/t/trash directory.t5559-http-fetch-smart-http2/prereq-test-dir-SSL_VERIFYSTATUS
  + cd /home/szeder/src/git/t/trash directory.t5559-http-fetch-smart-http2/prereq-test-dir-SSL_VERIFYSTATUS
  + test https = https
  + test_might_fail git -c http.sslVerifyStatus=true ls-remote https://127.0.0.1:5559
  + cat err
  fatal: unable to access 'https://127.0.0.1:5559/': No OCSP response received
  + grep http.sslVerifyStatus is set err
  prerequisite SSL_VERIFYSTATUS ok

This time the error message talks about missing OCSP response, but the
prereq is still considered fulfilled.  Again: is that right?!

Instead of the lack of a certain string in the error message, is
there something positive that we can test instead?

> +# Set up a certificate authority. It issues certificate "httpd.pem"
> +# and is able to revoke it. Used instead of the self-signed
> +# certificate when LIB_HTTPD_OCSP is set.
> +prepare_ocsp_stapling () {
> +	LIB_HTTPD_OCSP_PORT=$((LIB_HTTPD_PORT + 10000))
> +
> +	# Referenced by ocsp-ca.cnf.
> +	OCSP_CA_DIR="$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ocsp-ca"
> +	OCSP_URI="http://127.0.0.1:$LIB_HTTPD_OCSP_PORT"
> +	export OCSP_CA_DIR OCSP_URI
> +
> +	mkdir -p "$OCSP_CA_DIR/newcerts" &&
> +	>"$OCSP_CA_DIR/index.txt" &&
> +	echo 1000 >"$OCSP_CA_DIR/serial" &&
> +
> +	openssl req -config "$TEST_PATH/ocsp-ca.cnf" \
> +		-new -x509 -nodes -days 2 \
> +		-subj "/CN=git-test-ca" -extensions v3_ca \
> +		-keyout "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.key" \
> +		-out "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.pem" &&
> +	openssl req -config "$TEST_PATH/ocsp-ca.cnf" \
> +		-new -nodes \
> +		-subj "/CN=127.0.0.1" \
> +		-keyout "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.key" \
> +		-out "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.csr" &&
> +	openssl ca -config "$TEST_PATH/ocsp-ca.cnf" -batch \
> +		-cert "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.pem" \
> +		-keyfile "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.key" \
> +		-in "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.csr" \
> +		-out "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.crt" &&
> +	cat "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.key" "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.crt" \
> +		>"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.pem"
> +}
> +
> +run_ocsp_responder () {
> +	openssl ocsp -port "$LIB_HTTPD_OCSP_PORT" \
> +		-index "$OCSP_CA_DIR/index.txt" \
> +		-CA "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.pem" \
> +		-rsigner "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.pem" \
> +		-rkey "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.key" \
> +		-nmin 60 >>"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ocsp.log" 2>&1 &
> +	echo $! >"$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ocsp.pid"
> +
> +	for i in $(test_seq 1 10)
> +	do
> +		if openssl ocsp -no_nonce \
> +			-CAfile "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.pem" \
> +			-issuer "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.pem" \
> +			-cert "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.crt" \
> +			-url "$OCSP_URI" >/dev/null 2>&1
> +		then
> +			return 0
> +		fi
> +		sleep 1
> +	done
> +	return 1
> +}
> +
> +start_ocsp_responder () {
> +	test_atexit stop_ocsp_responder
> +
> +	if ! run_ocsp_responder
> +	then
> +		cat "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH"/ocsp.log >&4 2>/dev/null
> +		test_skip_or_die GIT_TEST_HTTPD "OCSP responder setup failed"
> +	fi
> +}
> +
> +stop_ocsp_responder () {
> +	if test -f "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ocsp.pid"
> +	then
> +		kill "$(cat "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ocsp.pid")" 2>/dev/null
> +		rm -f "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ocsp.pid"
> +	fi
> +}
> +
> +# Revoke the certificate used by httpd and make both the OCSP responder
> +# and httpd aware of it.
> +revoke_httpd_cert () {
> +	openssl ca -config "$TEST_PATH/ocsp-ca.cnf" \
> +		-cert "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.pem" \
> +		-keyfile "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.key" \
> +		-revoke "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/httpd.crt" &&
> +	stop_ocsp_responder &&
> +	run_ocsp_responder &&
> +	restart_httpd
> +}
> +
>  test_http_push_nonff () {
>  	REMOTE_REPO=$1
>  	LOCAL_REPO=$2
> diff --git a/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf b/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
> index 4149fc1078..de5ca45bb8 100644
> --- a/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
> +++ b/t/lib-httpd/apache.conf
> @@ -242,6 +242,22 @@ SSLSessionCache none
>  SSLEngine On
>  </IfDefine>
>  
> +<IfDefine OCSP>
> +<IfModule !mod_socache_shmcb.c>
> +	LoadModule socache_shmcb_module modules/mod_socache_shmcb.so
> +</IfModule>
> +
> +SSLCertificateChainFile ca.pem
> +SSLUseStapling On
> +# Stapling needs a mutex, which apache would put in a system-wide
> +# runtime directory that need not be writable. Keep it in the server
> +# root, or httpd refuses to start instead of skipping the tests.
> +DefaultRuntimeDir .
> +SSLStaplingCache shmcb:ssl_stapling(65536)
> +# Staple non-"good" responses too, so clients get to see "revoked".
> +SSLStaplingReturnResponderErrors On
> +</IfDefine>
> +
>  <Location /auth/>
>  	AuthType Basic
>  	AuthName "git-auth"
> diff --git a/t/lib-httpd/ocsp-ca.cnf b/t/lib-httpd/ocsp-ca.cnf
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000..47a58139b5
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/t/lib-httpd/ocsp-ca.cnf
> @@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
> +[ ca ]
> +default_ca		= CA_default
> +
> +[ CA_default ]
> +dir			= $ENV::OCSP_CA_DIR
> +database		= $dir/index.txt
> +new_certs_dir		= $dir/newcerts
> +serial			= $dir/serial
> +default_md		= sha256
> +default_days		= 2
> +policy			= policy_anything
> +email_in_dn		= no
> +unique_subject		= no
> +x509_extensions		= server_cert
> +
> +[ policy_anything ]
> +commonName		= supplied
> +
> +[ req ]
> +default_bits		= 2048
> +distinguished_name	= req_distinguished_name
> +prompt			= no
> +
> +[ req_distinguished_name ]
> +# The subject is always given on the command line via -subj.
> +
> +[ v3_ca ]
> +basicConstraints	= critical, CA:TRUE
> +keyUsage		= critical, digitalSignature, keyCertSign, cRLSign
> +subjectKeyIdentifier	= hash
> +
> +[ server_cert ]
> +basicConstraints	= CA:FALSE
> +subjectAltName		= IP:127.0.0.1
> +authorityInfoAccess	= OCSP;URI:$ENV::OCSP_URI
> diff --git a/t/meson.build b/t/meson.build
> index 3ca7b27104..72cbd12d8f 100644
> --- a/t/meson.build
> +++ b/t/meson.build
> @@ -728,6 +728,7 @@ integration_tests = [
>    't5582-fetch-negative-refspec.sh',
>    't5583-push-branches.sh',
>    't5584-http-429-retry.sh',
> +  't5585-http-ssl-ocsp.sh',
>    't5600-clone-fail-cleanup.sh',
>    't5601-clone.sh',
>    't5602-clone-remote-exec.sh',
> diff --git a/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh b/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
> index 805bec025c..c51b14291d 100755
> --- a/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
> +++ b/t/t5551-http-fetch-smart.sh
> @@ -680,6 +680,28 @@ test_expect_success 'passing hostname resolution information works' '
>  	git -c "http.curloptResolve=$BOGUS_HOST:$LIB_HTTPD_PORT:127.0.0.1" ls-remote "$BOGUS_HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git" >/dev/null
>  '
>  
> +test_expect_success SSL_VERIFYSTATUS 'http.sslVerifyStatus=true fails without a staple' '
> +	test_must_fail git -c http.sslVerifyStatus=true \
> +		ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git"

Shouldn't we check the error message, to make sure that the command
failed for the expected reason (here and in t5585 as well)?

> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success SSL_VERIFYSTATUS 'http.sslVerifyStatus=false is a no-op' '
> +	git -c http.sslVerifyStatus=false \
> +		ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git" >actual &&
> +	test_line_count -gt 0 actual
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success SSL_VERIFYSTATUS 'per-URL sslVerifyStatus applies to a matching URL' '
> +	test_must_fail git -c "http.$HTTPD_URL/.sslVerifyStatus=true" \
> +		ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git"
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success SSL_VERIFYSTATUS 'per-URL sslVerifyStatus is not applied to other URLs' '
> +	git -c "http.https://example.com/.sslVerifyStatus=true" \
> +		ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git" >actual &&
> +	test_line_count -gt 0 actual
> +'
> +
>  # here user%40host is the URL-encoded version of user@host,
>  # which is our intentionally-odd username to catch parsing errors
>  url_user=$HTTPD_URL_USER/auth/smart/repo.git
> diff --git a/t/t5585-http-ssl-ocsp.sh b/t/t5585-http-ssl-ocsp.sh
> new file mode 100755
> index 0000000000..0d1310215f
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/t/t5585-http-ssl-ocsp.sh
> @@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
> +#!/bin/sh
> +
> +test_description='verification of stapled OCSP responses via http.sslVerifyStatus'
> +
> +GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME=main
> +export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
> +
> +. ./test-lib.sh
> +
> +LIB_HTTPD_OCSP=1
> +. "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/lib-httpd.sh
> +
> +start_httpd
> +start_ocsp_responder
> +
> +test_expect_success 'setup repository' '
> +	test_commit one &&
> +	git init --bare "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/repo.git" &&
> +	git push "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/repo.git" HEAD:refs/heads/main
> +'
> +
> +# lib-httpd.sh exports GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY, which would keep us from ever
> +# looking at the certificate. Trust our own CA instead.
> +with_ssl_verification () {
> +	(
> +		sane_unset GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY &&
> +		GIT_SSL_CAINFO="$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH/ca.pem" "$@"

According to our CodingGuidelines, a temporary variable assignment
like this should not be used for shell functions for portability
reasons.  In most test cases this is fine, becase "$@" is a git
command, but ...

> +	)
> +}
> +
> +test_expect_success SSL_VERIFYSTATUS 'certificate verification works against test CA' '
> +	with_ssl_verification git ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git" >actual &&
> +	test_line_count -gt 0 actual
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success SSL_VERIFYSTATUS 'fetch succeeds with stapled "good" OCSP response' '
> +	with_ssl_verification git -c http.sslVerifyStatus=true \
> +		ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git" >actual &&
> +	test_line_count -gt 0 actual
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success SSL_VERIFYSTATUS 'revoked certificate is rejected' '
> +	revoke_httpd_cert &&
> +	with_ssl_verification test_must_fail git -c http.sslVerifyStatus=true \
> +		ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git" 2>err &&
> +	test_grep -i -e "ocsp" -e "revocation" -e "revoked" -e "certificate status" err
> +'

... in this case "$@" is the test_must_fail shell function.

Please set and then export that variable instead; it's already in a
subshell because of the sane_unset anyway.

> +# Depends on the certificate revoked by the preceding test.
> +test_expect_success SSL_VERIFYSTATUS 'revoked certificate is accepted without http.sslVerifyStatus' '
> +	with_ssl_verification git ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git" >actual &&
> +	test_line_count -gt 0 actual
> +'

So this test case fails for me with the following trace output:

  expecting success of 5585.5 'revoked certificate is accepted without http.sslVerifyStatus': 
  	with_ssl_verification git ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git" >actual &&
  	test_line_count -gt 0 actual
  
  + with_ssl_verification git ls-remote https://127.0.0.1:5585/smart/repo.git
  + sane_unset GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY
  + unset GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY
  + return 0
  + GIT_SSL_CAINFO=/home/szeder/src/git/t/trash directory.t5585-http-ssl-ocsp/httpd/ca.pem git ls-remote https://127.0.0.1:5585/smart/repo.git
  fatal: unable to access 'https://127.0.0.1:5585/smart/repo.git/': server certificate verification failed. CAfile: /home/szeder/src/git/t/trash directory.t5585-http-ssl-ocsp/httpd/ca.pem CRLfile: none
  error: last command exited with $?=128
  not ok 5 - revoked certificate is accepted without http.sslVerifyStatus
  #	
  #		with_ssl_verification git ls-remote "$HTTPD_URL/smart/repo.git" >actual &&
  #		test_line_count -gt 0 actual
  #	
 
libcurl is 7.81.0, apache is 2.4.52 (whatever is shipped in this
slowly aging LTS...)