Beyond Linux® From Scratch - Version 7.5

Chapter 4. Security

stunnel-4.56

Introduction to stunnel

The stunnel package contains a program that allows you to encrypt arbitrary TCP connections inside SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) so you can easily communicate with clients over secure channels. stunnel can be used to add SSL functionality to commonly used Inetd daemons like POP-2, POP-3, and IMAP servers, to standalone daemons like NNTP, SMTP and HTTP, and in tunneling PPP over network sockets without changes to the server package source code.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-7.5 platform.

Package Information

stunnel Dependencies

Required

OpenSSL-1.0.1f

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/stunnel

Installation of stunnel

The stunnel daemon will be run in a chroot jail by an unprivileged user. Create the new user and group using the following commands as the root user: 

groupadd -g 51 stunnel &&
useradd -c "stunnel Daemon" -d /var/lib/stunnel \
        -g stunnel -s /bin/false -u 51 stunnel
[Note]

Note

A signed SSL Certificate and a Private Key is necessary to run the stunnel daemon. If you own, or have already created a signed SSL Certificate you wish to use, copy it to /etc/stunnel/stunnel.pem before starting the build (ensure only root has read and write access), otherwise you will be prompted to create one during the installation process. The .pem file must be formatted as shown below: 

-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
<many encrypted lines of private key>
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
<many encrypted lines of certificate>
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
-----BEGIN DH PARAMETERS-----
<encrypted lines of dh parms>
-----END DH PARAMETERS-----

Install stunnel by running the following commands: 

./configure --prefix=/usr \
            --sysconfdir=/etc \
            --localstatedir=/var \
            --disable-fips &&
make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user: 

make docdir=/usr/share/doc/stunnel-4.56 install

Command Explanations

--disable-fips: This switch disables FIPS support which will cause Stunnel to fail to start if it is enabled.

make docdir=... install: This command installs the package, changes the documentation installation directory to standard naming conventions and, if you did not copy an stunnel.pem file to the /etc/stunnel directory, prompts you for the necessary information to create one. Ensure you reply to the 

Common Name (FQDN of your server) [localhost]:

prompt with the name or IP address you will be using to access the service(s).

Configuring stunnel

Config Files

/etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf

Configuration Information

As the root user, create the directory used for the .pid file that is created when the stunnel daemon starts: 

install -v -m750 -o stunnel -g stunnel -d /var/lib/stunnel/run &&
chown stunnel:stunnel /var/lib/stunnel

Next, create a basic /etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf configuration file using the following commands as the root user: 

cat >/etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf << "EOF" &&
; File: /etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf

pid    = /run/stunnel.pid
chroot = /var/lib/stunnel
client = no
setuid = stunnel
setgid = stunnel
cert   = /etc/stunnel/stunnel.pem

EOF
chmod -v 644 /etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf

Finally, you need to add the service(s) you wish to encrypt to the configuration file. The format is as follows: 

[<service>]
accept  = <hostname:portnumber>
connect = <hostname:portnumber>

If you use stunnel to encrypt a daemon started from [x]inetd, you may need to disable that daemon in the /etc/[x]inetd.conf file and enable a corresponding <service>_stunnel service. You may have to add an appropriate entry in /etc/services as well.

For a full explanation of the commands and syntax used in the configuration file, run man stunnel.

Boot Script

To automatically start the stunnel daemon when the system is rebooted, install the /etc/rc.d/init.d/stunnel bootscript from the blfs-bootscripts-20140301 package. 

make install-stunnel

Contents

Installed Programs: stunnel and stunnel3
Installed Library: libstunnel.so
Installed Directories: /etc/stunnel, /usr/lib/stunnel, /usr/share/doc/stunnel-4.56, and /var/lib/stunnel

Short Descriptions

stunnel

is a program designed to work as an SSL encryption wrapper between remote clients and local ({x}inetd-startable) or remote servers.

stunnel3

is a Perl wrapper script to use stunnel 3.x syntax with stunnel >=4.05.

libstunnel.so

contains the API functions required by stunnel.

Last updated on 2014-02-19 12:16:20 -0800