METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING CONNECTIVITY FOR AN SSL/TLS SERVER BEHIND A RESTRICTIVE FIREWALL OR NAT

Abstract

A method and a relay service node to facilitate establishment of a secure connection between a first node within a restrictive access network, and a second node, the method accepting a control connection from the first node; accepting a second connection from the second node, and receiving, over the second connection, a message requesting secure connection establishment with the first node and providing an identifier for the first node; sending, over the control connection, a connection attempt request to establish a third connection from the first node; accepting the third connection from the first node; binding the second connection with the third connection; and forwarding the message requesting secure connection establishment with the first node to the first node.

Description

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to secure socket layer (SSL)/transport layer security (TLS) and in particular relates to an SSL/TLS server behind a restrictive firewall or network address translator (NAT).

BACKGROUND

Any server running or residing on an Internet Protocol (IP) node that resides on a first IP network, where the first IP network is a restricted access IP network, may not reachable by a second IP node that resides on a second IP network where the second IP network is not the same as the first IP network but is connected to the first IP network. This may be due to the first IP node using an IP address that is dynamically allocated and therefore subject to change. It may also be because the first IP node is behind a firewall and/or NAT which may restrict receiving incoming IP communications including datagrams, packets, connections, communications, and sessions, among other possibilities. Further, a third IP node that resides on the first IP network may also not be able to reach the first IP node due to the first IP node using a dynamic IP address.

The use of an SSL/TLS server on an IP node that resides only on one or more restricted access IP network networks may be desirable in some situations. For example, an SSL/TLS server may be implement on a mobile device in order to be able to securely host services, functionality or abilities including remote user file access, remote user control of the mobile device, the ability to receive or terminate secure incoming voice/video over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls, among others.

For example, one popular usage of SSL/TLS is for hypertext transfer protocol over TLS (HTTPS), where the user can access the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) server with end to end security from the browser. Such application may, for example, be used for such functionality as online banking, online shopping, among others.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will be better understood with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an example data flow diagram showing handshaking for SSL/TLS communications between a client and a server;

FIG. 2 is an example data flow diagram showing handshaking for resumption of an SSL session between a client and a server;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example network architecture for communication between a client and a peer using a TURN server;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary data flow diagram showing initialization of a client to a TURN server;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary data flow diagram showing establishment of a connection from a client to a peer through a TCP TURN server;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary data flow diagram showing establishment of a connection from a peer to a client through a TCP TURN server;

FIG. 7 is a simplified data flow diagram showing the use of an intermediary service for SSL communications;

FIG. 8 is an example block diagram showing the use of a relay service node to relay SSL/TLS communications between an SSL/TLS server in a restricted access network and an SSL/TLS client;

FIG. 9 is an example data flow diagram showing establishment of a first connection between a first IP node and a relay service node;

FIG. 10 is an example flow diagram showing refreshing of binding for a first connection between a first IP node and a relay service node;

FIG. 11 is an example data flow diagram showing the establishment of an SSL/TLS connection between a second IP node and a first IP node;

FIG. 12 is an example block diagram showing the use of a relay service front end in a first IP node for SSL communications between an SSL/TLS server in a restricted access network and an SSL/TLS client;

FIG. 13 is an example data flow diagram showing the establishment of an SSL/TLS connection between a second IP node and a first IP node using a push notification server; and

FIG. 14 is a simplified block diagram of an example computing device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure provides a method at a relay service node to facilitate establishment of a secure connection between a first node within a restrictive access network, and a second node, the method comprising: accepting a control connection from the first node; accepting a second connection from the second node, and receiving, over the second connection, a message requesting secure connection establishment with the first node and providing an identifier for the first node; sending, over the control connection, a connection attempt request to establish a third connection from the first node; accepting the third connection from the first node; binding the second connection with the third connection; and forwarding the message requesting secure connection establishment with the first node to the first node.

The present disclosure further provides a relay service node configured to facilitate establishment of a secure connection between a first node within a restrictive access network, and a second node, the relay service node comprising: a processor; and a communications subsystem, wherein the relay service node is configured to: accept a control connection from the first node; accept a second connection from the second node, and receiving, over the second connection, a message requesting secure connection establishment with the first node and providing an identifier for the first node; send, over the control connection, a connection attempt request to establish a third connection from the first node; accept the third connection from the first node; bind the second connection with the third connection; and forward the message requesting secure connection establishment with the first node to the first node.

The present disclosure further provides a method at a first node residing in a restrictive network for establishing a secure connection initiated from a second node, the method comprising: establishing a control connection with a relay service node; receiving a connection attempt request over the control connection to establish a connection with a second node; establishing a third connection with the relay service node; sending a control message over the third connection to request the relay service node to bind the a second connection from the second node and the third connection; and establishing a secure connection with the second node via the relay service node.

The present disclosure further provides a first node residing in a restrictive network configured for establishing a secure connection initiated from a second node, the first node comprising: a processor; and a communications subsystem, wherein the first node is configured to establish a control connection with a relay service node; receive a connection attempt request over the control connection to establish a connection with a second node; establish a third connection with the relay service node; send a control message over the third connection to request the relay service node to bind the a second connection from the second node and the third connection; and establish a secure connection with the second node via the relay service node.

The present disclosure provides for SSL/TLS connectivity and is typically over an IP network. An IP based network (referred to herein as an “IP network”) consists of a plurality of connecting nodes that have at least, but are not limited to, one interface, referred to herein as an “IP node” and/or may consist of other IP networks. Such other IP networks may in turn consist of other IP nodes and/or other IP networks, etc. If an IP node has a plurality of interfaces, the IP node may be allowed to connect to more than one IP network at a time or may be connected multiple times to the same IP network. For example, multiple connections may be used for redundancy or fail-over. If an IP node has at least one interface providing a connection to an IP network, it may be said that the IP node resides on the IP network.

SSL/TLS is one way to provide IP based secure entrusted services between two IP based nodes or end points. Such service may be between an IP node acting as a client and an IP node acting as a server and may include, for example, an e-mail client server. The trusted service may be based on protocols including, but not limited to Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP), Post Office Protocol-Version 3 (POP3), an IP node acting as a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) client or user agent and an IP node acting as a SIP server/proxy, and an IP node acting as a web client and an IP node acting as a web server, using such protocols as HTTP or File Transfer Protocol (FTP) among others. The SSL/TLS is generally well adopted in IP networks.

Handshaking for an SSL/TLS session is described in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request For Consultation (RFC) 5246, “The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol Version 1.2”, August 2008, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. As described in IETF RFC 5246,

• • When a TLS client and server first start communicating, they agree on a protocol version, select cryptographic algorithms, optionally authenticate each other, and use public-key encryption techniques to generate shared secrets. The TLS Handshake Protocol involves the following steps:
    • Exchange hello messages to agree on algorithms, exchange random values, and check for session resumption.
    • Exchange the necessary cryptographic parameters to allow the client and server to agree on a premaster secret.
    • Exchange certificates and cryptographic information to allow the client and server to authenticate themselves.
    • Generate a master secret from the premaster secret and exchanged random values.
    • Provide security parameters to the record layer.
    • Allow the client and server to verify that their peer has calculated the same security parameters and that the handshake occurred without tampering by an attacker.

SSL/TLS provides for two kinds of handshake. The first one is called a full handshake and happens when a client and server establish a session for the first time. Reference is now made to FIG. 1.

As seen in FIG. 1, an SSL/TLS server 110 and client 112 are attempting to establish an SSL/TLS session. In the first step of the handshake protocol, the client sends a “ClientHello” message, as shown by arrow 120, to which the server responds with a “ServerHello” message, as shown by reference 122. If the ServerHello is not sent at reference 122 then a fatal error occurs and the connection fails.

The ClientHello and ServerHello are used to establish security enhancement capabilities between the client and the server. The ClientHello and ServerHello establish the following attributes: Protocol Version, Session ID, Cipher Suite, and a Compression Method. Additionally, two random values are generated and these are exchanged.

The actual key exchange uses up to four messages. These are the server certificate, the ServerKeyExchange, the client certificate, and the ClientKeyExchange.

Referring to FIG. 1, as shown by arrow 130, the server certificate is provided to client 112 in the embodiment of FIG. 1. However, in some cases the certificate may not be sent and may depend on the situation. As marked in the example of FIG. 1, those messages having an asterisk (*) are optional or situation dependent messages that are not always sent.

Further, as shown by arrow 132, the ServerKeyExchange is provided. Subsequently, the server provides a CertificateRequest if the server requests a certificate from the client, as shown by arrow 134 and a ServerHelloDone message shown by arrow 136.

Based on the server certificate request at arrow 134, client 112 provides the client certificate, as shown by arrow 140, and a ClientKeyExchange, as shown by arrow 142. The client certificate at arrows 140 must be provided if the server sent a CertificateRequest at reference 134.

The content of the ClientKeyExchange message will depend on the public key algorithm selected between the ClientHello and the ServerHello. If the client has sent a certificate with signing ability, a digitally signed CertificateVerify message, as shown by arrow 144, is sent to explicitly verify possession of the private key in the certificate.

At this point, a ChangeCipherSpec message is sent by client 112, as shown by arrow 150, and the client copies the pending Cipher Spec into the current Cipher Spec. The client then immediately sends a “finished” message under the new algorithms, keys and secrets, as shown by arrow 152.

In response, server 110 sends its own ChangeCipherSpec message, as shown by arrow 160, and then transfers the pending to the current Cipher Spec and sends a “finished” message shown by arrow 162 under the new Cipher Spec.

At this point, the handshake is complete and the client and server may begin to exchange application layer data, as shown by arrow 170. Application data is not sent prior to the completion of the handshaking.

The second type of handshaking occurs when the client and server decide to resume a previous session or duplicate an existing session instead of negotiating new security parameters. Reference is now made to FIG. 2 which shows a message flow for the second form of handshaking.

In FIG. 2, server 210 is communicating with client 212. The client 212 sends a ClientHello message using the Session ID of the session to be resumed shown by arrow 220 and in response the server sends a ServerHello message as shown by arrow 222. The ServerHello message at arrow 222 is based on the server checking its session cache for a match. If a match is found and the server is willing to re-establish the connection under the specified session state then the ServerHello message is sent with the same Session ID value.

After the ServerHello, both the client and the server exchange a ChangeCipherSpec message. The message from the server is shown at arrow 230 which is followed by a “finished” message 232 from the server 210 to the client 212.

The message from client 212 for the ChangeCipherSpec as shown at arrow 240 and the “finished” message is shown by arrow 242.

Once the re-establishment is complete, the client and server may begin to exchange Application Data, as shown by arrow 250.

With the second handshaking technique, if a Session ID match is not found at the server upon receiving the ClientHello message then a full handshake may occur as described above with regard to FIG. 1.

Further to RFC 5246, the server name of the server that is being contacted may be provided in accordance with the IETF RFC 6066, “Transport Layer Security (TLS) Extensions: Extension Definitions”, January 2011, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. As indicated in RFC 6066, the TLS does not provide a mechanism for a client to tell a server the name of the server it is contacting. In some cases the client may provide this information to facilitate secure connections to servers that host multiple virtual servers at a single underlying network address. In order to provide for any of the server names, the client may include an extension of the type “server name” to the (extended) ClientHello. This Server Name Indication (SNI) may be added to the ClientHello message. Further, for session resumption as shown in FIG. 2 above, the SNI value may be included in the ClientHello message if the full handshake also includes the SNI value.

Currently, the only server names supported are fully qualified domain name server (DNS) host names, as specified in IETF RFC 6066. SNI is widely supported by major browsers and is further supported by major libraries.

NAT/NAT-PT and Firewalls

Some IP networks are made more private by segregating or splitting them off from other IP networks by means of such solutions as Firewall functions and Network Address Translation functions that may also provide for Port Translation (NAPT). For the sake of brevity, NAT/NAPT are referred to together as NAT hereinafter. These solutions may be, but are not necessarily, collocated with a Firewall functions, and typically may reside within but at the edge of a private or segregated network.

IP nodes that reside only on private IP network are typically not discoverable or contactable by IP nodes residing on other IP networks. In other words, inbound IP based connections cannot be established to IP nodes on the private IP network. Various reasons exist for this. A first reason that the IP node in the private network is not addressable outside of the private IP network may be because the private IP network is using an IP addressing scheme which has no routing outside of the private IP network e.g. a private IP addressing scheme (e.g. those described in IETF RFC 1918 [10] for IPv4 addressing scheme and/or those described in IETF RFC 4193 [11] for the IPv6 addressing scheme).

A second reason may be that a public addressing scheme is used but the owner of the allocated IP addresses/address-range(s) has not provided the necessary routing information required for the other IP network to route IP connections to it.

Further, for outbound IP connections, the same restrictions may apply for the same reasons. However, such restrictions are commonly overcome in order to allow the IP node to establish outgoing IP connections or communications to enable the end user of the IP node to browse the World Wide Web, download files, among other functionality.

Typically restrictions are overcome for outbound IP connections by using or employing a NAT function as provided above. This allows a “translation” of the IP addressing scheme used on the private IP network, referred to herein as a “private-IP-network-facing address” to another addressing scheme that is assumed or known to be routable at the destination IP node, referred to herein as a “public-IP-network-facing address”. Thus, for example, the destination IP node can reply to the IP connection/communication establishment initiated by the IP node and both IP nodes can then transmit or receive further data. Optionally, port numbers may also be translated to allow multiple private-IP-network-facing addresses to map or bind to a single public-IP-network-facing address. This allows a plurality of IP nodes within the private IP network to use a number of public-IP-network-facing addresses that are less than the number of IP nodes and/or IP node interfaces within the private IP network.

Other reasons for incoming connections and/or outgoing IP connections or communications being denied include, but are not limited to, policies, rules, configurations, settings, among others, being applied at the firewall function. For example, the firewall may block based on the source and/or destination UDP/TCP ports of the incoming or outgoing connections, block based on the source and/or destination IP address or address range of the incoming IP connection, block based on the protocol being carried inside the IP protocol packet/datagram, among others. Typically all transport layer protocol ports are blocked or prohibited for inbound IP traffic/connections/packets/datagrams and only port 80 is used for HTTP and port 443 is used for HTTPS for the TCP transport layer protocol for outbound IP traffic/connections/packets/datagrams in order to enable IP nodes and to access the World Wide Web but nothing else. Other ports may be allowed in addition to, or alternative to, the above described ports. Such practice is common in a company, corporate or enterprise network environment, and is referred to herein as a “restricted-access network environment”.

STUN/TURN

The presence of a NAT function enhances the security of a network by obscuring the IP addresses of nodes on the network thus preventing the nodes from being directly reachable by other networks outside of the network. However, this feature also may cause issues in real-time communications in that the nodes on the network cannot directly receive incoming calls.

In order to overcome such hindrance, Session Traversal For NAT (STUN) provides a way for client software on an IP node to learn its assigned address and port on the NAT observed from other networks outside of its network. Due to the varieties and complexity of NAT/Firewall functions, STUN itself may not be enough to allow incoming traffic to traverse a NAT. Traversal Using Relays around NAT (TURN) introduces a man-in-the-middle type server that relays the IP data traffic on behalf of a client behind a NAT, thus allowing that client to be reachable for the other side of the NAT.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which follows Section 2 of IETF RFC 5766, “Traversal Using Relays around NAT (TURN): Relay Extensions to Session Traversal Utilities for NAT (STUN)”, April 2010, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. As seen in FIG. 3, a TURN client 310 is a host behind a NAT/firewall 312. As indicated in IETF RFC 5766, TURN client 310 is typically connected to a private network defined by IETF RFC 1918 and through one or more NATs 312 to the public internet.

TURN client 310 communicates with a TURN server 314 through the NAT/firewall 312. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the TURN client 310 is on the private side and the TURN server 314 is on the public side. As further indicated in Section 2 of IETF RFC 5766, TURN client 310 talks with TURN server 314 from an IP address and port combination called the client's host transport address. The combination of the IP address and transport layer protocol port (referred to hereafter as just “port”) is called the transport address.

Thus, TURN client 310 sends TURN messages from its host transport address to transport address on the TURN server 314, known as the TURN server transport address. The TURN server transport address may be configured on the TURN client 310 in some embodiments. In other embodiments the address may be discovered by other techniques.

Further, as indicated in Section 2 of IETF RFC 5766, since the TURN client 310 is behind the NAT, TURN server 114 may see packets from the client 310 as coming from a transport address on the NAT itself. The address may be known as the TURN client's “Server-Reflexive transport address”. Packets sent by the TURN server to the TURN Client's server-reflexive transport address may be forwarded by the NAT to the TURN Client's host transport address.

TURN Client 310 uses TURN commands to create and manipulate an allocation on the TURN server 314. An allocation is a data structure on the TURN server 314 and may contain, among other things, the allocated relayed transport address for the TURN Client 310. The relayed transport address is the transport address on the TURN server 314 that peers can use to have the TURN server 314 relay data to the TURN client 310. An allocation is uniquely identified by its relayed transport address. The above is specified in IETF RFC 5766.

Once an allocation is created, TURN client 310 can send application data to TURN server 314, along with an indication of which peer the data is to be sent to. The TURN server 314 may then relay this data to the appropriate peer. The communication of the application data to the TURN server 314 may be inside a TURN message and the data may be extracted from the TURN message at the TURN server 314 and sent to the peer in a user datagram protocol (UDP) datagram. Thus, in the example of FIG. 3, one of a peer 320 and a peer 330 may be selected by TURN client 310. In the example of FIG. 3, peer 320 is behind a NAT/firewall 322.

In the reverse direction, a peer, such as peer 330, can send application data to TURN server 314 in a UDP datagram. The application data would be sent to the relayed transport address allocated to the TURN client 310 and the TURN server 314 can then encapsulate the data inside a TURN message and send it to TURN client 310 with an indication of which peer sent the data.

Since the TURN message contains an indication of which peer the client is communicating with, a TURN client 310 can use a single allocation on TURN server 314 to communicate with multiple peers.

When the peer, such as peer 320, is behind a NAT/firewall 322, then the client may identify the peer using the server-reflexive transport address rather than its host transport address. Thus, as seen in FIG. 3, NAT/firewall 322 has a server-reflexive transport address of 192.0.2.150:32102 and this would be the address that TURN client 310 utilizes instead of the peer host's actual host transport address of 192.168.100.2:49582.

Each allocation at TURN server 314 is associated with exactly one TURN client 310, and thus when the packet arrives at the relayed transport address on the TURN server 314, the TURN server 314 knows which client the data is intended for. However, a TURN client 310 may have multiple allocations between itself and the TURN server 314 at one time.

IETF RFC 5766 defines the use of UDP, TCP and transport layer security (TLS) over TCP between the TURN client 310 and TURN server 314. However, only UDP is defined to be used between the TURN server 314 and a peer such as peer 320. IETF RFC 6062, “Traversal Using Relays around NAT (TURN) Extensions for TCP Allocations”, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, introduces TCP for communication between TURN server 314 and a peer such as peer 320.

The ability to utilize TCP connections between a TURN server and a peer allows the TURN client to then use an end to end TCP connection between the TURN client and the peer for services. Such services may include, but are not limited to, web browsing, for example using HTTP, file transfer, for example using file transfer protocol (FTP), instant messaging, for example using message session relay protocol (MSRP) among others.

In addition, RFC 6062 substitutes the TURN messages with TCP connections between TURN client 310 and TURN server 314. The peer to whom the application data is destined is identified by the relayed transport address, which is the IP address and port on the TURN server 314, as allocated by the TURN server 314 and sent to the TURN client 310.

As used herein, a TURN server that has the extensions for TCP in accordance with IETF RFC 6062 is referred to as a “TCP TURN Server”.

In order to create an allocation between a client and a TCP TURN Server, various messaging may be provided. Reference is now made to FIG. 4.

A TURN client 410 starts by establishing a control connection with TCP TURN server 414, as shown by block 420 in FIG. 4. The control connection is made with the TCP TURN server's transport address, which may include a well-known TURN TCP port, such as port 3478.

Next TURN client 410 sends a TURN ALLOCATE request message, as shown by arrow 430, to the NAT/firewall 412. The TURN ALLOCATE request message is then forwarded to TCP TURN Server 414, as shown by arrow 432.

TCP TURN Server 414 authenticates TURN client 410 based on the message at arrow 432. Various authentication protocols may exist and for example may be based on MD5 hashing functions. Other authentication methods would be however known to those in the art.

Assuming authentication succeeds, TCP TURN server 414 then allocates an IP address and a port for TURN client 410, known as the “relayed transport address”, and sends an ALLOCATE response message back to client 410, indicating a successful allocation and containing the allocated relayed transport address. The ALLOCATE response message is shown by arrow 440 between TCP TURN server 414 and NAT/firewall 412, and by arrow 442 between NAT/firewall 412 and TURN client 410.

Once the allocation is completed on the TCP TURN server 414, two operations are possible. These operations may occur any number of times and in any order for the duration of the allocation.

A first operation relates to the establishment of outbound TCP connections from a TURN client to a peer outside of the TURN client's network. Reference is now made to FIG. 5.

In order to establish an outbound connection, TURN client 510 utilizes the TCP TURN server 514 by sending a CONNECT request message over the control connection. The CONNECT request message contains the peers outward facing IP address. Referring to FIG. 3, the outward facing IP address could be the host transport address of the Peer such as that of Peer 330 or could be the Server-Reflexive Transport Address, such as that provided by NAT/firewall 322, depending whether the Peer is behind a NAT.

Thus, as seen in FIG. 5, TURN client 510 communicates with a TCP TURN server 514 through a NAT/firewall 512. TURN client 510 wishes to establish communications with a peer 516.

The CONNECT request message, as described above is shown in FIG. 5 by arrows 520 and 522 between client 510 and NAT/firewall 512 and between NAT/firewall 512 and TCP TURN server 514 respectively.

Upon receiving the CONNECT request message at arrow 522, TCP TURN server 514 establishes a TCP connection with peer 516, as shown by block 534. The connection is referred to hereinafter as a peer connection.

After successfully establishing a peer connection, TCP TURN server 514 assigns a connection ID (connection identifier) to the peer connection and sends back the connection ID in response to the CONNECT request to the TURN client 510. The CONNECT response, with a connection ID, is shown with arrows 530 and 532 in the embodiment of FIG. 5.

TURN Client 510, upon receiving the response at arrow 532, then establishes another outbound TCP connection using a different source address (which may differ only by source TCP port), known as a “data connection” to the same transport address for TCP TURN server 514 as used in the control connection. This is shown with block 540 in the embodiment of FIG. 5.

TURN client 510 then sends a CONNECTION_BIND request message, containing the connection ID as received in the previous CONNECT response message, over the data connection to the TCP TURN Server 514. This shown with arrows 542 and 544 in the embodiment of FIG. 5.

The TCP TURN Server 514 then sends a CONNECTION_BIND response message with the connection ID back to TURN Client 510 through NAT/Firewall 512, as shown by arrows 546 and 548 in the embodiment of FIG. 5.

TCP TURN Server 514 then internally binds together the data connection established at block 540 and the peer connection established at block 534. The binding is shown by block 550 in the embodiment of FIG. 5.

After the binding, no further TURN messages are sent on the data connection and just application data packets are provided. Packets received on the data connection from the TURN client 510 are relayed by the TCP TURN server 514 “as is” over the peer connection to the peer 516. Similarly, packets received on the peer connection from the remote peer are relayed by the TCP TURN server 514 “as is” over the data connection to the TURN client 510.

The second operation that may occur based on the ALLOCATION of FIG. 4 relates to the establishment of the TCP inbound connections to the TURN client from a peer outside of the TURN client's network. In other words, the peer wishes to make an outbound TCP connection to the TURN client. Reference is now made to FIG. 6.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6, a TURN client 610 has already established a control connection with a TURN server 614 and the TURN server 614 has allocated a relayed transport address for the TURN client 610. Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, peer 616 wishes to establish a TCP connection with TURN client 610.

In order to establish the TCP connection, peer 616 establishes a TCP connection to the TURN client 610's relayed transport address on TCP TURN server 614. TCP TURN server 614 first accepts this TCP connection from peer 616, referred to herein as a “peer connection” and shown by block 620 in FIG. 6. TCP TURN server 614 then checks the permissions to see if remote peer 616 is allowed to make a connection to the TURN client 610. In other words, the check is made to determine whether the peer is allowed to send data to the TURN client's allocated relayed transport address on the TCP TURN server 614.

If permission is granted, the TCP TURN server assigns a connection ID to the connection and sends the connection ID in a CONNECTION_ATTEMPT request message to TURN client 610. Such message travels through NAT/firewall 614 and is shown by arrows 630 and 632 in the embodiment of FIG. 6.

TURN client 610 then sends back a CONNECTION_ATTEMPT response message to the CONNECTION_ATTEMPT request message, as shown by arrows 634 and 636 in the embodiment of FIG. 6.

If the connection attempt is accepted, TURN client 610 establishes an outbound TCP connection using a different source address (which may differ only by source TCP port), known as a “data connection”, to the same transport address for TCP TURN server 614 as used in the control connection. This is shown with block 640 in the embodiment of FIG. 6.

TURN client 610 then sends a CONNECTION_BIND request message, containing the connection ID as received in the previous CONNECTION_ATTEMPT request message, over the data connection to TCP TURN server 614. The CONNECTION_BIND request message which contains the connection ID travels through NAT/firewall 612 and is shown by arrows 642 and 644 in the embodiment of FIG. 6.

The TCP TURN server 614 then sends a CONNECTION_BIND response message with the connection ID through the NAT/firewall 612 to TURN client 610, as shown by arrows 646 and 648 in the embodiment of FIG. 6.

The TCP TURN server 614 then internally binds together the data connection established at block 640 and the peer connection established at block 620. The binding is shown by block 650 in the embodiment of FIG. 6.

After the binding, no further TURN messages are sent on the data connection and just application data packets are provided. Packets received on the peer connection from the remote peer are relayed by the TCP TURN server 614 “as is” over the data connection to the client. Similarly, packets received on the data connection from client 610 are then forwarded, “as is”, over a peer connection to peer 616.

With the embodiments of FIGS. 5 and 6 above, a firewall may restrict TCP connections only to certain ports for security or privacy reasons, among other reasons. For example, only TCP port 80 (e.g. for HTTP) and port 443 (e.g. for HTTPS) may be allowed for outbound TCP connections in order to enable users to access the World Wide Web but nothing else. Ports 80 and 443 are however merely provided as examples and other ports could be enabled in addition or alternatively to these two example ports.

Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) Network

In computer security, a DMZ, which is also referred to as perimeter networking, is a physical or logical sub-network (subnet) that contains and exposes an organization's external-facing services to a large un-trusted network such as the Internet. The purpose of a DMZ is to add an additional layer of security to an organization's local area network (LAN). An external attacker only has access to equipment in the DMZ, rather than any other part of the network.

As indicated above, any server running or residing on an IP node that resides on a first IP network may not be reachable by a second IP node that resides in a separate network where the separate network is connected to the network of the first node. In particular, running or hosting an SSL/TLS server on an IP node that resides on one or more restricted access IP networks may be desirable in order to reach the host securely. For example, the SSL/TLS server may be used for remote user file access to obtain files stored locally on the server. If the server is on a mobile device, then pictures, videos, music or ringtones stored on the device may be obtained using an SSL/TLS server on the device. Further, remote control of the device may be desired through an SSL/TLS connection. In this case, a user may see the screen of the mobile device, for example, from a browser running on another IP node such as a desktop PC.

An SSL/TLS server on a device may also be used to receive or terminate secure incoming voice or video over Internet Protocol calls.

In one embodiment, the first IP node may be a mobile device or other computing device such as a smartphone, PC, tablet/tablet computer, (USB) dongle, laptop, notebook, netbook, ultrabook, among others. Typically, but not always, such a device resides only on a mobile/cellular operator or carrier network such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) Radio Access Network (GERAN), Universal Terrestrial Mode System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), Enhanced UTRAN (E-UTRAN), code division multiple access (CDMA) network, CDMA 2000 network, among others.

Typically, but not always, wherein a cellular network offers a connection to an IP network, the IP network may be a restricted access IP network and thus it would disable or prohibit the IP node from being reachable by other IP nodes.

Some mobile devices may support wireless local area network (WLAN) technology in order to connect to a WLAN such as a hotspot. Typically, the WLAN owner may deploy the NAT function and/or a firewall function on the IP network provided by the WLAN, thus making the IP network provided by the WLAN a restricted access IP network.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to establish a SSL/TLS session between one computer and another, an intermediary computer may be used. For example, in a chat setting a first computer may connect to a host and a second computer may also connect to the host. Reference is now made to FIG. 7.

As seen in FIG. 7, a first device 710 wishes to communicate with a second device 720 through a service 730. Either of devices 710 or 720 may be behind a NAT or firewall. In order to provide such connection between the devices, device 710 may establish an outgoing SSL/TLS session with service 730 as shown by arrow 740. Similarly, device 720 may establish an outgoing SSL/TLS connection with service 730 as shown by arrow 742. If device 710 wishes to send a message to device 720, the message is encrypted using a key shared between device 710 and service 730, and is sent to service 730, where service 730 then decrypts the message, finds the routing information, encrypts the message using a key shared between device 720 and service 730, and forwards the information to device 720.

Similarly, if device 720 wishes to send a message to device 710, the message is encrypted using a key shared between device 720 and service 730, and is sent to service 730, which decrypts the message, finds the routing information, encrypts the message with a key shared between service 730 and device 710, forwards the encrypted message to the device 710.

As will be appreciated, such communications are not end-to-end secured. In this case, service 730 holds the key for communications between device 710 and service 730. Further, service 730 holds a second key for communications between device 720 and service 730. Every message sent from device 710 to device 720 is first decrypted by Service 730 and then encrypted by Service 730, and vice versa. Service 730 knows every message sent between device 710 and device 720.

Based on the above, in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, an SSL/TLS connection is established between a first IP node acting as an SSL/TLS server and a second node acting as an SSL/TLS client. This SSL/TLS connection transits through a relay service node that is used to route IP data and traffic through a firewall/NAT entity.

In one embodiment, a first IP node resides only on a restricted access IP network and is running or hosting a SSL/TLS server. The first IP node is enhanced or modified to also run or host a relay agent, which communicates with a relay service node.

The relay service node resides on the public Internet and the whole system may work in accordance with the example of FIG. 8.

As seen in FIG. 8, a first IP node 810 is within a restricted access IP network 812 and behind a Firewall/NAT 814.

A first IP node 810 includes an SSL/TLS server 816. The SSL/TLS server includes a relay agent 820 consisting of an SSL/TLS client 822 and a TCP client 824.

A relay service node 830 includes an SSL/TLS server 832 and a relay function 834 as described below. Relay service node 830 may be in a public or private network 836, which may include the Internet, for example. A second IP node 840 includes an SSL/TLS client 842 and resides on a network 844 which may be a public or private network. In some embodiments the second IP node 840 may also be behind a NAT or firewall.

In the embodiment of FIG. 8, network 836 is reachable by both network 812 and network 844. Network 844 may or may not be reachable by network 836. Further, network 812 and network 844 may or may not be the same network.

Relay service node 830 listens and accepts incoming TCP connection requests on certain transport layer ports, where such transport layer ports are known to be allowed or not blocked by any function such as a NAT or firewall function in the restrictive IP network where the first IP node 810 resides.

Three types of connections may exist between the first IP node 810, relay service node 830 and second IP node 840. All three connection types utilize SSL/TLS, which in turn utilizes TCP.

As shown by arrow 850, a first connection (referred to herein as Connection Type I) is established from the first IP node to the relay service node. The purpose of this connection is to carry control messaging between the first IP node 810 and the relay service node 830.

A second connection (referred to herein as Connection Type II), is shown by arrow 852 in the embodiment of FIG. 8, and is a connection established from the second IP node to the relay service 830. The purpose of connection 852 is to carry application TCP traffic or data between the second IP node 840 and the first IP node 810 via the relay service node 830. In some embodiments, the network that the second IP node 840 resides on may or may not be a restricted access network.

A third connection (referred to herein as Connection Type III), is shown by reference numeral 854 and is a connection established from first IP node 810 to the relay service node 830. The purpose of the connection 854 is to carry application TCP data and traffic between the first IP node and the second IP node via the relay service node 830. Each connection is discussed in detail below.

The relay service node 830 associates or binds one or a plurality of fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) to the connection 850 and uses the associated or bound FQDN to reach the first IP node.

The relay service node 830 then extracts the associated or bound FQDN from the SSL/TLS server name indication (SNI) field of an incoming SSL/TLS ClientHello message on connection 852 from second IP node 840. The relay server node 830 then buffers the SSL/TLS ClientHello message.

The relay service node 830 next sends a control message over connection 850 to IP node 810 to notify of the pending connection from second IP node 840.

Upon receiving the control message from the relay service node 830, the first IP node 810 establishes a connection 854 to the relay service node 830 and indicates to the relay service node which connection 842 to bind connection 854 with.

Upon accepting the connection 854 and receiving an indication from the first IP node, relay service node 830 binds connection 854 with connection 852 and then sends the buffered ClientHello message to the first IP node 810 over connection 854.

The relay service node 830, once the binding is successfully established, then relays, forwards, proxies or redirects application TCP traffic or data between the first IP node and the second IP node via connections 852 and 854.

Based on the above, the solution therefore allows for a first IP node 810, while residing in restricted access IP network, to be reachable by other IP nodes that reside out of the restricted IP network where the first IP network currently resides, without changing the settings or configuration of the Firewall/NAT 814 and further preserving end to end SSL/TLS security.

As will be appreciated by those in the art, relay service node 830 may service a plurality of first IP nodes 810 and second IP nodes 840 on a plurality of networks. Some of these networks may be restricted and others may not be. The relay service node 830 may use one or a plurality of ports that are allowed by the restricted access IP networks.

Details of the above are provided below.

SSL/TLS Server Relay Service Node Initialization

In one embodiment, relay service node 830 resides on the public Internet and listens on either one or a set of TCP ports noted as PS={p1, p2, . . . pn} which is or are allowed by restrictive access network.

In order to establish the Connection Type I (connection 850 from the embodiment of FIG. 8), reference is now made to FIG. 9.

As seen in FIG. 9, first IP node 910 communicates through NAT Firewall 912 with relay service node 914. First IP node 910 behind NAT Firewall 912 acts as an SSL/TSL server and establishes an outbound SSL/TLS connection to relay service node 914, as shown by reference numeral 920.

If the connection is successfully established then the first IP node 910 sends a first control message (referred to herein as Control Message I), as shown by reference numeral 930, to NAT/Firewall 912. NAT/Firewall 912 then forwards the message, as shown by reference numeral 932, to relay service node 914.

Upon receiving the control message at reference numeral 932 from the first IP node 910, relay service node 914 associates a fully qualified domain name or a plurality of FQDNs with the first IP node 910. Two options are provided in the present disclosure.

In the first option, the Relay Service Node 914 can assign an FQDN or a set of FQDNs to the First IP Node 910, and for each FQDN the Relay Service Node 914 can create an entry in a DNS server to map said FQDN with the IP address of the Relay Service Node 914. The entry in the DNS server is referred to as a “DNS A record” in some embodiments.

In a second option, the First IP Node 910 provides an FQDN or a set of FQDNs to the Relay Service Node 914 and creates an entry in a DNS server such as an DNS “A” record to map the FQDN(s) to the Relay Service Node's IP address for each of the FQDNs.

In both options the Relay Service Node also returns a port p from PS, pεPS to the First IP Node in the response of Control Message I of arrows 930 and 932. In one embodiment, port p may be HTTPS port 443 in order to support a browser as an SSL/TLS client.

In response to the receipt of Control Message I at arrow 932, relay service node 914 sends a Control Message I response back to first IP node 910, as shown by reference numerals 940 and 942.

In one embodiment, since the relay node functionality consumes bandwidth and CPU resources, the use of the relay node by the first IP node 910 may be authenticated, for example, through a user name and password and the connection 920 messaging may be secured using SSL/TLS.

In one embodiment, the first IP node 910 may advertise its FQDN or set of FQDNs and the port p to other IP nodes through out-of-band mechanisms.

Keep-Alive Procedure

The first IP node needs to periodically send a Control Message II to refresh the binding between the FQDN and the Connection Type I (e.g. first connection 850 from FIG. 8) in order that the relay service node can detect any unexpected disappearance of the first IP node. For example, the first IP node may disappear if it loses power. Control Message II, as used herein, is used for refreshing the binding on a Connection Type I.

Control Message II also serves as a NAT keep alive function in order to retain the NAT bindings in the NAT Firewall. Thus, in some embodiments if the relay service node does not receive a Control Message II from the first IP node for a certain period of time, the relay service node will terminate the associated connection 850 between the first IP node and the relay service node.

Reference is now made to FIG. 10. FIG. 10, the first IP node 1010 communicates through NAT Firewall 1012 with relay service node 1014.

First IP node 1010 may periodically send a keep-alive message in the form of a Control Message II request, as shown by reference numerals 1020 and 1022 to relay service node 1014.

In response, relay service node 1014 sends a Control Message II response, as shown by reference numerals 1030 and 1032.

SSL/TLS Client Established Communications

Reference is now made to FIG. 11, which shows a Second IP Node 1110 trying to establish an SSL/TLS connection with a First IP Node 1112. The First IP Node 1112 is behind a NAT/Firewall 1114 and the communication for the SSL/TLS uses a Relay Service Node 1116 as described below.

In order to establish the communication, a Second IP Node 1110 performs a DNS “A” record resolution of the FQDN of the First IP Node and then establishes a TCP connection to the IP address of the Relay Service Node 1116 resulting from the DNS “A” record resolution and the destination port p learned from the First IP Node. The TCP connection establishment is shown in FIG. 11 with the reference numeral 1120.

Once the TCP connection is accepted by Relay Service Node 1116, the Second IP Node 1110 starts the SSL/TLS handshake procedure as described above by sending an SSL/TLS ClientHello message with an SNI value, as shown by reference 1122 in FIG. 11. The SNI value of the ClientHello message 1122 is the same as the FQDN of the First IP Node. The connection from the Second IP Node 1110 to the Relay Service Node 1116 is designated as “Connection Type II” and Relay Service Node 1116 internally assigns a unique connection identifier (UCI) for this Connection Type II.

Upon receiving the SSL/TLS ClientHello message, Relay Service Node 1116 checks the SNI value of the ClientHello message 1122. If the SNI value is present, the Relay Service Node 1116 checks if there is a “Connection Type I” from the First IP Node 1112 associated with the SNI value. If there is, Relay Service Node 1116 sends a “Control Message III” request over the associated Connection Type I to notify the First IP Node 1112 that there is a pending connection. Such message is shown with reference numerals 1124 and 1126 for the Control Message III request as well as messages 1128 and 1130 for the Control Message III response. Messages 1128 and 1130 are sent by the First IP Node 1112 upon receiving the Control Message III request from the Relay Service Node 1116 and are used to acknowledge the receipt of the Control Message III request. Messages 1128 and 1130 are sent over Connection Type I. Relay Service Node 1116 buffers the ClientHello message internally 1122.

The First IP Node 1112 then makes a new Connection Type III connection to the Relay Service Node 1116, as shown by block 1132. The Connection Type III may be an unsecured TCP connection, for example.

The First IP Node 1112 then sends a binding message (Control Message IV) over the Connection Type III to bind the Connection Type II and Connection Type III together. The Control Message IV includes the same UCI included in the Control Message III. Such request is shown with messages 1134 and 1136 in the example of FIG. 11.

After receiving the Control Message IV over the Connection Type III from the First IP Node 1112, the Relay Service Node 1116 binds the Connection Type II and Connection Type III together, using the UCI received in the Control Message IV and then sends back a Control Message IV response to the First IP Node 1112, as shown by messages 1138 and 1140.

The Relay Service Node 1116 then sends the buffered ClientHello message from message 1112 over the Connection Type III to the First IP Node 1112, as shown by messages 1142 and 1144.

From this point on, all traffic from the First IP Node 1112 to the Relay Service Node 1116 over Connection Type III is relayed “as is” to the Second IP Node 1110 over the bound Connection Type II by the Relay Service Node. Similarly, all traffic sent from the Second IP Node 1110 to the Relay Service Node 1116 over Connection Type II is relayed “as is” to the First IP Node 1112 over the bound Connection Type III by the Relay Service Node 1116.

Further, in the example of FIG. 11, the handshaking as described above with regard to FIG. 1 is then performed based on the binding and is shown in general with reference numeral 1150.

Once the handshaking is finished, encrypted application data can be sent between First IP Node 1112 and Second IP Node 1110, shown in general by reference numeral 1160 in the example of FIG. 11.

The operation continues until the Relay Service Node 1116 detects the termination of the Connection Type III, whereupon it terminates the bound Connection Type II. Similarly, whenever the Relay Service Node 1116 detects the termination of Connection Type II, it terminates the bound Connection Type III.

With regard to FIG. 11, the Second IP Node 1110 may also in some embodiments reside in a restricted access IP network and may also have a NAT/Firewall between it and the Relay Service Node 1116.

From FIG. 11, the SSL/TLS handshake is performed between the First IP Node and the Second IP Node, and SSL/TLS traffic between the First IP Node 1112 and the Second IP Node 1110 is transparent to the Relay Service Node 1116, thus preserving end-to-end SSL/TLS security between the First IP Node 1112 and the Second IP Node 1110.

All connections, including Connection Type I, Connection Type II and Connection Type III are SSL/TLS connections. From the point of view of the Relay Service Node 1116, Connection Type I is an SSL/TLS connection terminated at the Relay Service Node 1116 while Connection Type II and Connection Type III are just normal unsecured TCP connections.

As defined above, a Control Message I is a message that serves a purpose to request the Relay Service Node 1116 to bind an FQDN or plurality of FQDNs to the First IP Node 1112.

A Control Message II is a message that refreshes the binding of Control Message I.

Control Message III is a message that notifies the First IP Node 1112 of a pending SSL/TLS connection from the Second IP Node 1110 by a Relay Service Node 1116.

Connection Message IV is a message that serves the purpose to request to Relay Service Node 1116 to bind the Connection Type III and Connection Type II, and is sent over a Connection Type III.

Control Messages I, II, and III are sent over Connection Type I, which is secured by SSL/TLS.

Security Considerations

The purpose of SSL/TLS is to provide trusted and end-to-end secured service over TCP. In accordance with the present disclosure, additional elements and details are provided in order to traverse NAT/Firewall. In order to preserve end-to-end SSL/TLS security, messages 1124 to 1140 need to be fully secured. In order to accomplish this, the following mechanisms may be adopted.

The Connection Type I between the First IP Node 1112 and Relay Service Node 1116 is an SSL/TLS connection.

Further, the Unique Connection Identifier (UCI) sent from Relay Service Node 1116 to First IP Node 1112 in message 1124 and 1126 is random and unpredictable.

Further, all Control Messages I, II, III and IV between the First IP Node 1112 and the Relay Service Node 1116 are protected by the long-term credential mechanism described in Section of 10.2 of IETF RFC 5389 “Session Traversal Utilities for NAT (STUN)”, October 2008, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Section 10.2 of RFC 5389 indicates:

• • The long-term credential mechanism relies on a long-term credential, in the form of a username and password that are shared between client and server. The credential is considered long-term since it is assumed that it is provisioned for a user, and remains in effect until the user is no longer a subscriber of the system, or is changed. This is basically a traditional “log-in” username and password given to users because these usernames and passwords are expected to be valid for extended periods of time, replay prevention is provided in the form of a digest challenge. In this mechanism, the client initially sends a request, without offering any credentials or any integrity checks. The server rejects this request, providing the user a realm (used to guide the user or agent in selection of a username and password) and a nonce. The nonce provides the replay protection. It is a cookie, selected by the server, and encoded in such a way as to indicate a duration of validity or client identity from which it is valid. The client retries the request, this time including its username and the realm, and echoing the nonce provided by the server. The client also includes a message-integrity, which provides an HMAC over the entire request, including the nonce. The server validates the nonce and checks the message integrity. If they match, the request is authenticated. If the nonce is no longer valid, it is considered “stale”, and the server rejects the request, providing a new nonce.

In one embodiment, the Relay Service Node 1116 also maintains a timer while waiting for Control Message IV from the First IP Node 1112. Thus, while sending the Control Message III at message 1124, Relay Service Node 1116 starts a timer. If a Control Message IV is not received by the time the timer has expired, the Relay Service Node 1116 terminates the TCP connection accepted in block 1120 from Second IP Node 1110. The Relay Service Node may also terminate the TCP connection accepted at block 1132 from First IP Node 1112.

Variations

While the above examples with regard to FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 show one embodiment, variations are possible. For example, it is assumed that Relay Service Node 1116 listens on at least HTTP port 80 and HTTPS port 443 since most enterprise networks allow outbound TCP connections on these ports. However, local firewall policy may allow a different port or ports. If the Second IP Node 1110 makes an SSL/TLS connection from the browser, the Relay Service Node 1116 may use HTTPS port 443 to accept the Connection Type II. However, the above does not specify which port or ports the Relay Service Node 1116 listens to for Connections Type I and Connections Type III messages. Four variations are described below.

Connection Type II and III Share Port 443 and Connection Type I Uses Port 80

In this embodiment, Connection Type I is accepted on port 80 and is an SSL/TLS connection terminated on the Relay Service Node 1116. Connection Type II and Connection Type III are normally unsecured TCP connections accepted on port 443, and then become an SSL/TLS connection between the First IP Node 1112 and the Second IP Node 1110. The Relay Service Node 1116 checks the first message on the normal unsecured TCP connection accepted on port 443 to determine the connection type as described below,

If the first message is Control Message IV, then the connection is a Connection Type III.

However, if the first message is an SSL/TLS ClientHello message and the SNI is present in the ClientHello message, then the Relay Service Node 1116 tries to find the corresponding Connection Type I. If there is a matched Connection Type I, then this connection becomes a Connection Type II, and the Relay Service Node 1116 forwards the ClientHello message to the First Node 1112 as described above with regard to FIG. 11.

Otherwise, the Relay Service Node terminates the TCP connection.

From the above, no changes are necessary to an SSL/TLS library such as openSSL.

Connection Type I and II Share Port 443 and Connection Type III Uses Port 80

In this variant, Connection Type I is accepted on port 443 and is an SSL/TLS connection terminated on the Relay Service Node 1116. Connections Type II and Type III are normal unsecured TCP connections accepted on port 443 and port 80 respectively. These connections become an SSL/TLS connection between the First IP Node 1112 and the Second IP Node 1110. The first message on the connection accepted on port 443 is the SSL/TLS ClientHello message. The Relay Service Node 1116 checks the SNI presence in the ClientHello message to determine the connection type as described below.

If the SNI is not present in the ClientHello message, or the SNI matches the Relay Service Node's own FQDN, this connection becomes a Connection Type I, and the Relay Service Node 1116 handles the SSL/TLS handshake locally.

Otherwise, if there is a matched Connection Type I corresponding to the SNI value, and this SNI value does not match the Relay Service Node's own FQDN, the connection becomes a Connection Type II, and the Relay Service Node 1116 will relay the ClientHello message to the corresponding First IP Node 1112 described above with regard to FIG. 11.

If the Relay Service Node 1116 cannot find the matched Connection Type I, the Relay Service Node terminates the TCP connection immediately.

The above may require some modification to SSL/TLS libraries such as openSSL.

One Port

In this embodiment, all Connection Type I, II and III share one port. Since the browser only uses port 443 for HTTPS, port 443 may be chosen. However, this is not limiting and other ports could be chosen.

Connection Type I is an SSL/TLS connection terminated on the Relay Service Node 1116. Connections Type II and Type III are normal unsecured TCP connections, and then become an SSL/TLS connection between the First IP Node 1112 and the Second IP Node 1110. The Relay Service Node 1116 determines the connection type based on the first message over the connection in accordance with the following.

If the first message is Control Message IV, then the connection is a Connection Type III.

If the first message is the ClientHello message and there is no SNI present in the ClientHello or the SNI matches the Relay Service Node's own FQDN, then the connection is a Connection Type I.

If the first message is a ClientHello message, and the SNI matches one of the Connection Type I, then the connection is a Connection Type II.

Some modification may be needed in this embodiment for an SSL/TLS library such as openSSL.

Three or More Ports

If a firewall policy allows outgoing TCP connections to three or more TCP ports, then the connection type may be determined solely by the port. For example, if the Relay Service Node 1116 listens on three ports p₁, p₂ and p₃ the Relay Service Node 1116 could assign the incoming connections Connection Type I, II and III for TCP on ports p₁, p₂ and p₃ respectively. One advantage of this approach is that there is no need to change the SSL/TLS library.

SSL/TLS Server Adaption

In a further embodiment, the SSL/TLS server acts as a client of the Relay Service Node, referred to as the Relay Agent. The Relay Agent provides the following functionalities on behalf of the SSL/TLS server in order to interact with the Relay Service Node:

Establish and maintain an SSL/TLS Connection Type Ito the Relay Service Node to send/receive Control Message I, II and III both to and from the Relay Service Node;

Establish and maintain a TCP Connection Type III to the Relay Service Node and send Control Message IV over this connection. All application traffic is sent or received over this Connection Type III to or from the Relay Service Node.

Built-in Relay Agent of the SSL/TLS Server

If the source code of the SSL/TLS server is accessible, then the Relay Agent can be a module of the SSL/TLS server as illustrated in FIG. 8 above.

When the SSL/TLS server starts, the built-in Relay Agent follows the procedure described above to bind the FQDN or a plurality of FQDNs to the SSL/TLS Server. After the initialization procedure is finished, the built-in Relay Agent also follows the keep-alive procedures described above to refresh the bindings.

Whenever an SSL/TLS client wants to connect the SSL/TLS server, the SSL/TLS client makes a TCP connection to the Relay Service Node followed by a ClientHello message with the SNI value set as the SSL/TLS Server's FQDN. The Relay Service Node then sends a Control Message III to the Relay Agent of the SSL/TLS server. The Relay Agent then makes a new TCP connection (Connection Type III) to the Relay Service Node, sends a Control Message IV to the Relay Service Node whereupon the Relay Service Node sends a response to the Relay Agent and upon receiving the response the Relay Agent upgrades the TCP connection which normally is unsecured TCP to an SSL/TLS connection.

The above may be implemented using the following code in openSSL library, as provided in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1
Code for Relay Agent
mSocket = createSocket( ) ; // create a socket/TCP connection to the Relay
Service Node
sendControlMessageIV(mSocket); // send Control Message IV to the Relay
Service Node
waitControlMessageIVResponse( );
mSSL = SSL_new(mSSLContext); // creates a SSL connection
mSSLBIO = BIO_new_socket(mSocket, BIO_NOCLOSE)
SSL_set_bio(mSSL, mSSLBIO, mSSLBIO)
SSL_set_accept_state(mSSL) // upgrade TCP connection to SSL/TLS
connection
SSL_do_handshake(mSSL) // starts handshake

Relay Service Front End

If the source code of the SSL/TLS server is not accessible, then a back-to-back Relay Agent/TCP client may be put in front of the SSL/TLS server. Reference is now made to FIG. 12.

As illustrated in FIG. 12, within a First IP Node 1202, a Relay Service Front End 1210 is placed before the SSL/TLS service 1212. Relay Service Front End 1210 functions as a Relay Service Node client on the Firewall/NAT side, and as a TCP client to the SSL/TLS server on the SSL/TLS server side.

When the Relay Service Front End 1210 starts, it follows the initialization procedures described above to bind the FQDN or a plurality of FQDNs to the SSL/TLS Server 1212. After the initialisation procedure is completed, the Relay Service Front End 1210 also follows the keep-alive procedures described above to refresh the binding.

As illustrated in FIG. 12, Relay Service Front End 1210 includes a TCP client 1214 for the connection with the SSL/TLS server 1212. Relay Service Front End 1210 also includes a relay agent 1220 which includes an SSL/TLS client 1222 to establish a Connection Type 1 1226 with Relay Service Node 1240, as well as a TCP client 1224.

The NAT/Firewall 1230 for restricted access IP Network 1204 is then between the relay service front end 1210 and the Relay Service Node 1240. Relay Service Node 1240 is on Network 1 1246 and includes an SSL/TLS server 1242 as well as a relay function 1244.

Thus, when a Relay Service Node 1240 sends a Control Message III to the Relay Service Front End 1210, the following procedure may occur:

• • a. The Relay Service Front End 1210 makes a new TCP Connection Type III, shown with reference numeral 1216, to the Relay Service Node 1240.
  • b. The Relay Service Front End 1210 then sends a Control Message IV over the TCP connection 1216.
  • c. The Relay Service Front End then makes another TCP connection 1218 to the SSL/TLS server 1212.
  • d. Upon receiving a Control Message IV indicating a successful response from the Relay Service Node 1240, the Relay Service Front End 1210 binds the Connection Type III 1216 from the Relay Service Front End 1210 to the Relay Service Node 1240 and the TCP connection 1218 from the Relay Service Front End 1210 to the SSL/TLS 1212 server together.

From this point on, the Relay Service Front End 1210 relays packets from the Connection Type III to the TCP connection to the SSL/TLS server, and vice versa.

Whenever a Connection Type III 1216 between the Relay Service Front End 1210 and Relay Service Node 1240 is terminated, the Relay Service Front End 1210 terminates the bound TCP connection 1218 to the SSL/TLS server 1212, and vice versa.

In this case, the SSL handshake is handled by the SSL/TLS server 1212 instead of the Relay Service Front End 1210. The SSL/TLS traffic between SSL/TLS server 1212 and SSL/TLS Client on Second IP Node 1250 then becomes transparent to Relay Service Front End 1210.

Otherwise, second IP node 1250 on a second network 1252 communicates in a similar manner to that described above with regard to FIG. 11 over a Connection Type II 1254

DNS Setup

As described in the various embodiments above, the Relay Service Node checks the presence of an SNI value in the SSL/TLS ClientHello message and associates the First IP Node with the SNI value. Currently, only DNS host names are supported server names.

Whether the DNS must setup properly in order to match the SNI value of the First IP Node to the IP address of the Relay Service Node depends on how the Second IP Node initiates the TCP connection to the IP address of the Relay Service Node. If the Second IP Node is a browser or makes a TCP connection via a browser, then the DNS needs to be setup properly to match the SNI value to the IP address of the Relay Service Node. Otherwise, the setup of the DNS is not necessary. In the latter case, the Second IP Node merely needs to make a TCP connection to the IP address of the Relay Service Node and sets up the SNI value in the SSL/TLS ClientHello message to the FQDN of the First IP Node via the SSL library when starting the SSL/TLS handshake.

Example Implementation Using STUN/TURN

In one embodiment, STUN/TURN may be used to implement the above. STUN/TURN are a well adopted suite of standards for NAT traversal. They define a message format and authentication methods, consider possible attacks and provide recommended practice in mitigating attacks in real world deployments.

The mapping between the connection type defined in the embodiments above and the TURN-TCP RFC 6062 is provided in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2
Mapping of Connection Type
Connection Type     TURN-TCP connection
Connection Type I   Control Connection
Connection Type II  Peer Connection
Connection Type III Data Connection

The mapping between control messages defined in the embodiments above and the TURN messages is listed below in Table 3.

TABLE 3
Mapping of Message Type
Message             TURN-TCP message
Control Message I   ALLOCATE
Control Message II  REFRESH
Control Message III CONNECTION_ATTEMPT
Control Message IV  CONNECTION_BIND

As seen from Table 2 and Table 3 above, each connection type may be mapped to a TURN-TCP connection and further each message type may be mapped to a TURN-TCP message.

However, unlike TURN-TCP, the embodiments above do not allocate a port for each SSL/TLS server behind the NAT/Firewall. Instead, the FQDN is associated with an SSL/TLS server. The matched SSL/TLS server is found based upon the SNI value in the ClientHello message from the SSL/TLS client.

Thus, STUN/TURN is one option to implement the above embodiments. However, other options are possible.

Mobile Device Implementation

One possible implementation is the case where the First IP Node is a mobile computing device such as a smart phone or tablet. In this case, battery consumption may be a consideration. Further, in some platforms, limitations may exist for running background services such as SSL/TLS Servers and in some cases may not even be possible.

Mobile platforms currently support push notification channels that are persistent SSL/TLS connections to a push notification server running on the public Internet. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, existing push notification channels may be utilized to receive Control Message III from Relay Service Nodes via the push notification server. One example of such a procedure is provided below with regard to FIG. 13.

Referring to FIG. 13, a First IP Node 1310 establishes an SSL/TLS connection to the Relay Service Node 1312 asking the Relay Service Node 1312 to associate a fully qualified domain name or set of fully qualified domain names with the First IP Node 1310. In the embodiment of FIG. 13, a First IP Node 1310 is behind NAT/Firewall 1314 and further a Push Notification Server 1316 may be utilized, as described below.

After receiving a successful response to the association of the fully qualified domain name, the first IP node 1310 can terminate the SSL/TLS connection established above. In order to refresh the association between an FQDN or set of FQDNs with the First IP Node 1310, the First IP Node could establish a new SSL/TLS connection to the Relay Service Node 1312.

A First IP Node 1310 sends a Control Message II and terminates the SSL/TLS connection after receiving the response for Control Message II. Therefore, no persistent SSL/TLS connection between the First IP Node 1310 and Relay Service Node 1312 exists, thereby saving battery consumption on the mobile device.

Whenever a Second IP Node 1320 wants to make an SSL/TLS connection to the First IP Node 1310, the following procedure could be followed.

The Second IP Node 1320 may first perform a DNS A record resolution of the FQDN of the First IP Node 1310 and establish a TCP connection to the IP address of the Relay Service Node 1312 from the result of the DNS A record resolution and destination port p learned from the First IP Node 1310. The TCP connection is shown with reference to block 1322 in the embodiment of FIG. 13.

Once the TCP connection is established, the Second IP Node 1320 starts the SSL/TLS handshake procedure provided above with regard to FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 by sending an SSL/TLS ClientHello message with an embedded SNI value. The SNI value of the ClientHello message is the same as the FQDN of the First IP Node 1310. This connection from the Second IP Node 1320 to the Relay Service Node 1312 is a Connection Type II, and the Relay Service Node 1312 internally assigns a unique connection identifier for each TCP Connection Type II to identify a particular connection.

The ClientHello message is shown in FIG. 13 with reference numeral 1330.

The Relay Service Node 1312 then sends a Control Message III to Push Notification Server 1316, as shown by message 1332 in the embodiment of FIG. 13. Push Notification Server 1316 then relays the message to the First IP Node 1310 over push notification channel, as shown by messages 1334 and 1336.

The remaining procedure is the same as that provided above with regard to FIG. 11 and the messages are sent over a Connection Type III and are shown in general with reference numeral 1340 in the embodiment of FIG. 13.

From the above, the First IP Node 1310 does not need to maintain a separated persistent SSL/TLS Connection Type I with the Relay Service Node 1312.

Further, the Relay Service Front End can be used to provide a framework for a third party application developer to develop applications with end-to-end SSL/TLS security. The third party application developers need only design a standalone SSL/TLS server while the Relay Service Front End can handle all interactions with Relay Service Node. Here each mobile device can be assigned a unique domain name in order to route incoming traffic to different applications on the same device. Each application can have a different DNS name or SNI value under the same DNS of the device. For example, if a developer designs two applications, one for sharing files on the mobile device and one for text chat on the mobile device, it may be possible to assign two DNS/SNI values for the two applications. The Relay Service Front End could then route traffic to different applications based on the SNI value of the SSL/TLS ClientHello message.

The SSL/TLS handshake is handled by the application instead of the Relay Service Front End and thus maintains end-to-end SSL/TLS security.

The nodes, peers, servers, clients and NATs, in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 13 above can be any computing device or network element, or part of any computing device or network element, including various network servers. Reference is now made to FIG. 14, which shows a generalized computing device, which may comprise a computing client, server, peer computing device, NAT, among others.

In FIG. 14, computing device 1410 includes a processor 1420 and a communications subsystem 1430, where the processor 1420 and communications subsystem 1430 cooperate to perform the methods of the embodiments described above.

In particular, computing device 1410 may be any computer or server, and can include, for example, a network based server, a personal computer, a combination of servers, a mobile device, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, among others.

Processor 1420 is configured to execute programmable logic, which may be stored, along with data, on computing device 1410, and shown in the example of FIG. 14 as memory 1440. Memory 1440 can be any tangible storage medium.

Alternatively, or in addition to memory 1440, computing device 1410 may access data or programmable logic from an external storage medium, for example through communications subsystem 1430.

Communications subsystem 1430 allows computing device 1410 to communicate with other network elements, such as a client computer through a NAT, a peer, a client or a server, depending on the function of computing device 1410. Examples of protocols for communication subsystem 1430 include Ethernet, WiFi, cellular, WiLAN, among others.

Communications between the various elements of computing device 1410 may be through an internal bus 1450 in one embodiment. However, other forms of communication are possible.

The embodiments described herein are examples of structures, systems or methods having elements corresponding to elements of the techniques of this application. This written description may enable those skilled in the art to make and use embodiments having alternative elements that likewise correspond to the elements of the techniques of this application. The intended scope of the techniques of this application thus includes other structures, systems or methods that do not differ from the techniques of this application as described herein, and further includes other structures, systems or methods with insubstantial differences from the techniques of this application as described herein.

Claims

1. A method at a relay service node to facilitate establishment of a secure connection between a first node within a restrictive access network, and a second node, the method comprising: accepting a control connection from the first node;accepting a second connection from the second node, and receiving, over the second connection, a message requesting secure connection establishment with the first node and providing an identifier for the first node;sending, over the control connection, a connection attempt request to establish a third connection from the first node;accepting the third connection from the first node;binding the second connection with the third connection; andforwarding the message requesting secure connection establishment with the first node to the first node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein following the accepting the control connection a control message is received from the first node to request the relay service node to associate a fully qualified domain name with the first node.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the relay service node returns a transmission control protocol port which is allowed in the restrictive access network and is shared by all second connections in a response of the control message.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the message requesting secure connection establishment with the first node uses the fully qualified domain name for the first node and the transmission control protocol port to establish a secure sockets layer/transport layer security (SSL/TLS) connection with the first node.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the relay service node assigns a fully qualified domain name for the first node, and returns the fully qualified domain name in a response of the control message.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the control message received at the relay service node provides the fully qualified domain name from the first node to the relay service node and wherein the message received over the second connection is a secure socket layer ClientHello message having a server name indication with a value of a fully qualified domain name for the first node.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the relay service node further checks to determine that the value of the server name indication matches a fully qualified domain name to a network node for which the control connection exists.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the relay service node buffers the ClientHello message and the forwarding the message forwards the buffered ClientHello message to the first node over the third connection.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the relay service node listens on first transmission control protocol port for the control connection, and wherein the relay service node further listens on second transmission control protocol port for the second connection and the third connection.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the relay service node listens on first transmission control protocol port for the control connection and the second connection, and the relay service node listens on second transmission control protocol port for the third connection.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second node is in a restrictive access network.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the relay service node sends the request to establish the third connection via a push notification server to the first node.

13. A relay service node configured to facilitate establishment of a secure connection between a first node within a restrictive access network, and a second node, the relay service node comprising: a processor; anda communications subsystem,

14. The relay service node of claim 13, wherein the relay service node is further configured to receive a control message from the first node to request the relay service node to associate a fully qualified domain name with the first node following the accepting the control connection.

15. The relay service node of claim 13, wherein the relay service node returns a transmission control protocol port which is allowed in the restrictive access network and is shared by all second connections in a response of the control message.

16. The relay service node of claim 14, wherein the message requesting secure connection establishment with the first node uses the fully qualified domain name for the first node and the transmission control protocol port to establish a secure sockets layer/transport layer security (SSL/TLS) connection with the first node.

17. The relay service node of claim 14, wherein the relay service node assigns a fully qualified domain name for the first node, and returns the fully qualified domain name in a response of the control message.

18. The relay service node of claim 14, wherein the control message received at the relay service node provides the fully qualified domain name from the first node to the relay service node and the message received over the second connection is a secure socket layer ClientHello message having a server name indication with a value of a fully qualified domain name for the first node.

19. The relay service node of claim 18, wherein the relay service node further checks to determine that the value of the server name indication matches a fully qualified domain name to a network node for which the control connection exists.

20. The relay service node of claim 18, wherein the relay service node buffers the ClientHello message and forward the message by forwarding the buffered ClientHello message to the first node over the third connection.

21. The relay service node of claim 13, wherein the relay service node listens on first transmission control protocol port for the control connection, and wherein the relay service node further listens on second transmission control protocol port for the second connection and the third connection.

22. The relay service node of claim 13, wherein the relay service node listens on first transmission control protocol port for the control connection and the second connection, and the relay service node listens on second transmission control protocol port for the third connection.

23. The relay service node of claim 13, wherein the second node is in a restrictive access network.

24. The relay service node of claim 13, wherein the relay service node sends the request to establish the third connection via a push notification server to the first node.

25. A method at a first node residing in a restrictive network for establishing a secure connection initiated from a second node, the method comprising: establishing a control connection with a relay service node;receiving a connection attempt request over the control connection to establish a connection with a second node;establishing a third connection with the relay service node;sending a control message over the third connection to request the relay service node to bind the a second connection from the second node and the third connection; andestablishing a secure connection with the second node via the relay service node.