Question 1

Cryptographic Operations with OpenSSL [8 marks]

Your task is to use OpenSSL to perform a set of cryptographic operations. When performing cryptographic operations you must be very careful, as a small mistake (such as a typo) may mean the result is an insecure system. Read the instructions carefully, understand the examples, and where possible, test your approach (e.g. if you encrypt a file, test it by decrypting it and comparing the original to the decrypted). It is recommended you use virtnet to perform the operations.

Perform the following steps:

1. (a)  For all the following steps, record the command(s) you used in a file called commands.bash. This file should be a Bash shell script, containing only commands that can be executed and optionally comments (starting with # character).
2. (b)  Generate your own RSA 2048-bit key pair. Use the public exponent of 65537. Save your key pair as keypair.pem.
3. (c)  Extract your public key and save it as pubkey.pem.
4. (d)  Create a text file called message.txt and include your student ID and full name inside

   the file. This file is referred to as the message or plaintext.

5. (e)  Sign your message file using SHA256, saving the signature as signature.bin.
6. (f)  Generate a 128 bit random value using OpenSSL. This value will be used as a secret

   key. Store the key as a 32 hex digit string in a file key.txt.

7. (g)  Encrypt your message file using AES-128-CBC and the key generated in step (f). Use

   an IV of all 0’s (that is, 32 hex 0’s). Save the ciphertext as ciphertext.bin.

8. (h)  Encrypt your key.txt file using RSA so that only the Unit Coordinator can view the

   contents. Save the encrypted key as secretkey.bin.

Multiple files are output from the above steps. You must all the files listed above. The file names must be exactly as listed above. Use lowercase for all files and double-check the extensions (be careful that Windows doesn’t change the extension).

Examples of the OpenSSL operations needed to complete this task are on Moodle.

Marking Scheme

Once files are submitted, they will be decrypted/verified using the reverse operations of what you were expected to do.

• If your files successfully decrypt/verify, and the commands (commands.bash) submitted are correct, then you will receive 8 marks.
• If your files successfully decrypt/verify, but the commands contain errors, then you will receive between 5 and 7 marks, depending on the severity of the errors (e.g. small typo vs wrong command).
• If your files do NOT successfully decrypt/verify, then your commands will be reviewed to determine what mistakes you made. You will receive between 0 and 6 marks, depending on the severity of the errors.

  Up to 5 marks may be deducted for incorrect submissions (e.g. not all files submitted, additional files submitted, wrong files submitted, wrong filenames).

Question 2

HTTPS and Certificates [15 marks]

For this question you must use virtnet (as used in the workshops) to study HTTPS and certificates. This assumes you have already setup and are familiar with virtnet. See Moodle and workshop instructions for information on setting up and using virtnet, deploying the website, and testing the website.

Your task is to:

1. Create topology 5 in virtnet
2. Deploy the MyUni demo website on the nodes
3. Setup the webserver to support HTTPS, including obtaining a certificate cert-

   myuni-YourID.pem.

4. Capture traffic from the web browser on node1 to the web server that includes a

   HTTPS session. Save the file as https.pcap.

5. Test and analyse the HTTPS connection.

Step 3, involves obtaining a certificate from a Certificate Authority. Another student from COIT20262 must act as the Certificate Authority for you, and similarly, you can act as the Certificate Authority for them (that is, do this phase in pairs). You must do that in the following way:

1. Use your RSA key pair from Question 1 to generate a certificate signing request, saved as cert-myuni-YourID.csr (where YourID is replaced with your student ID).
2. Send the certificate signing request to another student in COIT20262.
3. That other student will act as the Certificate Authority and generate your certificate as cert-myuni-YourID.pem. They will send your certificate, as well as the CA’s certificate as cert-ca-TheirID.pem (where TheirID is the student ID of your partner),

   back to you.

In the same way that your partner will act as your CA, you will act as your partners CA. You will need to setup a CA, using your RSA key pair from Question 1 to generate a self-signed certificate cert-ca-YourID.pem, and then you receive their certificate signing request that you sign.

Answer the following sub-questions based on above test and analysis.

(a) Submit the following files on Moodle. Each will be analysed to ensure they include correct information (e.g. values specific to you).

• cert-myuni-YourID.csr(yourcertificatesigningrequest)[0.5mark]
• cert-myuni-YourID.pem (your certificate) [1 mark]
• cert-ca-TheirID.pem (partner’s CA certificate) [1 mark]
• default-ssl.conf (a copy of the Apache configuration file from your web

  server) [0.5 mark]

• https.pcap(thecaptureofHTTPSsession)[2marks]

2. (b)  Draw a message sequence diagram that illustrates the TLS/SSL packets belonging to the first HTTPS session in the file. Refer to the instructions in assignment 1 for drawing a message sequence diagram, as well as these additional requirements:
   • Only draw the TLS/SSL packets; do not draw the 3-way handshake, TCP ACKs or connection close. Hint: identify which packets belong to the first TCP connection and then filter with “ssl” in Wireshark. Depending on your Wireshark version, the protocol may show as “TLSv1.2”.
   • A single TCP packet may contain one or more SSL messages (in Wireshark look inside the packet for each “Record Layer” entry to find the SSL message names). Make sure you draw each SSL message. If a TCP packet contains multiple SSL messages, then draw multiple arrows, one for each SSL message, and clearly label each with SSL message name.
   • Clearly mark which packets/messages are encrypted. [3 marks]
3. (c)  Based on your certificate and the capture, write answers to the following questions in the table. When giving algorithms, you may use the abbreviation but must accurately identify the variant. For example, AES128 is different from AES256, and SHA256 is different from SHA512. [4 marks, 0.5 mark each]

4. (d)  In practice, some Certificate Authorities use self-signed certificates, while others have their certificate signed by another CA. Explain why self-signed certificates are needed by CAs, as well as the benefits of one CA signing another CA’s certificate. [2 marks]
5. (e)  In practice, Certificate Authorities must keep their private keys very secure, usually storing them offline in special hardware devices. Explain an attack a malicious user could be perform if they could compromise the CA private key. Use your MyUni website as an example. [1 mark]

Question 3

Access Control [10 marks]

For this question you must use virtnet (as used in the workshops) to study Linux access control and passwords. This assumes you have already setup and are familiar with virtnet. See Moodle and workshop instructions for information on setting up and using virtnet, and using Linux access control commands.

Your task is to:

1. Create topology 1 in virtnet (or any topology that has a node; you could use nodes from previous questions).
2. Create five new users named student1, student2, teacher3, teacher4 and other5. Set the passwords to be different except for two users (that is, two users have the same password, the other users have different passwords), however do not use passwords that you use on other systems.
3. View the password information stored for the new users in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow. Understand the information stored.
4. Create two new groups named student and teacher. Allocate the users to groups as follows:

   o User1,student1:primarygroupstudent
   o User2,student2:primarygroupstudent
   o User3,teacher3:primarygroupteacher
   o User4,teacher4:primarygroupteacher
   o User 5, other5: primary group is their own (i.e. not in student or teacher).

   Even though there are only five users created, in the following you should assume there may be more users (e.g. more users in the student group, more users in the teacher group, and more users not in either of the groups).

5. Create the following files and directories for each user. Unless specified, the files/directories can be any name and can contain any content:

   o Both students (User 1 and 2) have directories personal and shared in their home directory. All teachers have read-only access to each students shared directory (and files within). Only the user can access their personal directory.

o The first teacher (User 3) has directory security, which has two sub- directories: lectures and exam. lectures is read-only by all teachers. exam is only accessible by the user.

o The second teacher (User 4) has directories network and personal. network is editable by everyone, while personal is only accessible by the user.

o Each directory mentioned above should have at least 1 file in it (the name and contents of the file doesn’t matter).

o Every user (including User 5) has a file in their home directory called schedule.txt. This file is readable and writable by everyone.

6. In addition to the access control rules mentioned above, assume:
o Every user has read, write permissions on their own files, and full permissions  on their own directories.
o No other user can access the files/directories of other users.
o If permissions are not covered by the above, then assume the defaults.

o If there are conflicts in the above, then assume the most restrictive permission. o Use only the basic Linux permissions (see example commands below). Do NOT use advanced permissions such as with setfacl or getfacl.
7. Test that the access control works by logging in as each user and checking they can(not) access the specified files/directories.
Answer the following questions after completing the task.

(a) Submit the following files on Moodle:

a. /etc/passwd named as passwd.txt when you submit [0.5 mark]

b. /etc/shadow as shadow.txt [0.5 mark]

c. /etc/group as group.txt [0.5 mark]

d. The output of the following command as files.txt:
sudo sh -c ‘ls -lR /home > /home/network/files.txt’

The listing in files.txt will be used to determine if you have set the correct permissions. [4.5 marks]

2. (b)  Explain where and how password information is stored in Linux. You should mention the files, formats of storing passwords (e.g. what is stored, how is the information created) and any specific algorithms used. [1 mark]
3. (c)  In the above task on Linux you used a form of discretionary access control. Two other forms of access control are role-based access control (RBAC) and mandatory access control (MAC). Give a description of both RBAC and MAC, and using the student/teacher scenario, give an example of each that demonstrates the key characteristics of these forms of access control. [3 marks]

Question 4

Firewalls [9 marks]

An educational institute has a single router, referred to as the gateway router, connecting its internal network to the Internet. The institute has the public address range 138.53.0.0/16 and the gateway router has address 138.53.178.1 on its external interface (referred to as interface ifext). The internal network consists of four subnets:

• A DMZ, which is attached to interface ifdmz of the gateway router and uses address range 138.53.179.0/24.
• A small network, referred to as shared, with interface ifint of the gateway router connected to three other routers, referred to as staff_router, student_router, and research_router. This network has no hosts attached (only four routers) and uses network address 10.4.0.0/16.
• A staff subnet, which is for use by staff members only, that is attached to the staff_router router and uses network address 10.4.1.0/24.
• A student subnet, which is for use by students only, that is attached to the student_router router and uses network address 10.4.2.0/24.
• A research subnet, which is for use by research staff, that is attached to the research_router router and uses network address 10.4.3.0/24.

  In summary, there are four routers in the network: the gateway router, and routers for each of the staff, student and research subnets. There are five subnets: DMZ, shared, staff, student, and research.