Re: [TLS] prohibit <1.2 support on 1.3+ servers (but allow clients)

[Thijs van Dijk <[e-mail]>]

On 21 May 2015 at 18:10, Dave Garrett wrote:

> Old versions of TLS need to be phased out at some point (even the one
> we're designing now), however the current modus operandi is generally to
> wait until a catastrophic breakage forces everyone into a panic disable.
> I'd like to at least try to do better prior to the next time. I'd like to
> propose giving servers & clients different expectations as a transitional
> measure:
>
> 1) No general change to current TLS other than pointing to the UTA BCP
> from time to time.
> https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525
>
> 2) For TLS 1.3, add a blurb to the effect of:
> "Server TLS implementations supporting TLS 1.3 or later MUST NOT negotiate
> TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1 for any reason.
> Client TLS implementations are RECOMMENDED to not support old TLS
> versions, where possible."


In an ideal world I'd be all for it, but in reality I think this would do
more harm than good in the sense that it would postpone deployment of
TLS1.3 rather than speed up the deprecation of 1.1 and 1.0.

Case in point: as of last month, 15-20% of my employer's revenue still
comes from clients using IE6-8. (Mostly law firms and government branches
who don't care so much about security as they do about liability - if at
all. And barring the n'th catastrophic breakage, TLS1.1 is not a
liability yet.)
My boss isn't going to forfeit that amount of cash simply because his IT
guy says the BCP says he should. Nor should he! If it's an exclusive choice
between either supporting 1.0 and 1.1 but not the newest 1.3, OR having 1.3
but having to make do without one-sixth of his revenue, this is a
no-brainer.

Users and site operators alike would benefit the most from a
having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too scenario, where users with a modern
browser can enjoy the newest security features, while the soft-touch
deployment will make adopting the newer version more palatable for the
managers of this world, even if it does mean the odd panicky removal every
other month.

-Thijs