IBM MQ Channel Authentication

© 2014 IBM Corporation
IBM Software Group WebSphere Software
MQ ChannelMQ Channel
Authentication RecordsAuthentication Records
Graham Richards – graham.richards@uk.ibm.com
IBM Hursley - UK
WebSphere MQ
IBM Software Group | WebSphere software
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Abstract
WebSphere MQ V7.1 introduced a new feature for securing channels, known as
Channel Authentication Records, or CHLAUTH for short. This new feature allows
you to set rules to indicate which inbound connections are allowed to use your
queue manager and which are banned. In V8, CHLAUTH was updated to tie in with
a number of other new security features, including connection authentication (using
CHCKCLNT on CHLAUTH); more advanced certificate checking (using SSLCERTI
on CHLAUTH) and hostname support.
This session will take you through the concepts behind this feature, how to create
these rules and how to monitor and manage their use.

WebSphere MQ
Channel Authentication Records
Set rules to control how inbound connections are treated
Inbound Clients
Inbound QMgr to QMgr channels
Other rogue connections causing FDCs
Rules can be set to
Allow a connection
Allow a connection and assign an MCAUSER
Block a connection
Ban privileged access
Provide multiple positive or negative SSL/TLS Distinguished Name matching
Mandate user ID & password checking
Rules can use any of the following identifying
characteristics of the inbound connection
IP Address
Hostnames
SSL/TLS Subject’s Distinguished Name
SSL/TLS Issuer’s Distinguished Name
Client asserted user ID
Remote queue manager name
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Channel Authentication Records – Notes
Channel Authentication records allow you to define rules about how inbound
connections into the queue manager should be treated. Inbound connections might
be client channels or queue manager to queue manager channels. These rules can
specify whether connections are allowed or blocked. If the connection in question is
allowed, the rules can provide a user ID that the channel should run with or indicate
that the user ID provided by the channel (flowed from the client or defined on the
channel definition) is to be used.
These rules can therefore be used to
– Set up appropriate identities for channels to use when they run against the queue manager
– Block unwanted connections
– Ban privileged users
Which users are considered privileged users is slightly different depending on which
platform you are running your queue manager on. There is a special value
‘*MQADMIN’ which has been defined to mean “any user that would be privileged on
this platform”. This special value can be used in the rules that check against the
final user ID to be used by the channel – TYPE(USERLIST) rules – to ban any
connection that is about to run as a privileged user. This catches any blank user IDs
flowed from clients for example.

WebSphere MQ
Channel Access Blocking Points
Listener Blocking
NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR
AN IP FIREWALL!!
Blocked before any data read from the socket
Simplistic avoidance of DoS attack
Really the place of the IP firewall
Network Pingers if blocked don’t raise an alert
Channel Blocking/Mapping
Rules to block channels
Rules to map channels to MCAUSER
Rules to allow channels as they are
Runs before security exit
Final check for user ID before allowing through
After Security Exit has run and final MCAUSER is
assigned
Ban privileged users with ‘*MQADMIN’
IP Firewall
Lstr blocking
Channel
ACLs
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Channel Access Blocking Points – Notes
In this picture we illustrate that there are a number of points that an inbound
connection must get through in order to actually make use of an MQ queue.
First, we remind you that your IP firewall is included in this set of blocking points
and should not be forgotten, and is not superseded by this feature in MQ.
One point of note, the inbound connections can be from any version of MQ. There
is no requirement that the clients or remote queue managers also be on
WebSphere MQ V7.1 to be blocked or mapped by these rules.

WebSphere MQ
Channel Authentication Records – Configuration
Create rules using
MQSC: SET CHLAUTH
PCF
Pattern matching
Channel Name/QMgr Name/Hostname
Beginning, middle, end
IP addresses (IPV4 or IPV6)
SSL Peer Name (as today)
Starting MQSC for queue manager TEST1.
SET CHLAUTH(‘*’) TYPE(ADDRESSMAP) ADDRESS(‘*’) USERSRC(NOACCESS)
SET CHLAUTH(‘*’) TYPE(BLOCKUSER) USERLIST(‘*MQADMIN’)
SET CHLAUTH(‘*’) TYPE(ADDRESSMAP) ADDRESS(‘9.20.1-3.*’) USERSRC(CHANNEL)
SET CHLAUTH(‘APP1.CHL*’) TYPE(ADDRESSMAP) ADDRESS(‘*.ibm.com’) USERSRC(CHANNEL)
SET CHLAUTH(‘*.ADMIN.*’) TYPE(SSLPEERMAP) SSLPEER(‘O=IBM,L=Hursley’) USERSRC(CHANNEL)
SET CHLAUTH(‘QM1.TO.QM2’) TYPE(QMGRMAP) QMNAME(QM1) USERSRC(MAP) MCAUSER(‘QM1USER’)
SET CHLAUTH(‘*.SVRCONN’) TYPE(USERMAP) CLNTUSER(‘mhughson’) MCAUSER(‘hughson@hursley’)
SET CHLAUTH(‘*’) TYPE(SSLPEERMAP) SSLPEER(‘O=IBM’) ADDRESS(‘9.*’) MCAUSER(‘hughson’)
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Channel Authentication – Configuration – Notes
Here we show some example rules illustrating the commands used for creating the
rules. These examples are in MQSC. There is also PCF, and this is used by the MQ
Explorer GUI.
Some of these examples illustrate the pattern matching that can be applied to
channel names, IP addresses, Hostnames, SSL/TLS DNs and remote queue
manager names. Also we see all three types of rules, blocking channels –
USERSRC(NOACCESS); allowing channels to run with the user ID provided by the
channel – USERSRC(CHANNEL); and assigning a user ID to a channel –
USERSRC(MAP) MCAUSER(user-id). USERSRC(MAP) is the default so we also
see in another example that it does not need to be specified on the command.

WebSphere MQ
IP Address Pattern Matching
Single Address
Wildcard at the end
Wildcard in the middle
Ranges
IPV4 or IPV6
IPV6 wildcarded
IPV4 will also block IPV6 and vice
versa
9.20.4.6
9.20.*
9.20.*.6
9.20.4.1-10
3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:
f8ff:fe21:67cf
3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:*
0:0:0:0:0:ffff:192.1.56.10
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IP Address Pattern Matching – Notes
The IP addresses can be specified as single addresses, e.g. 9.20.4.6 or as
patterns, e.g. 9.20.* which would of course also match the former. There patterns
can also be generic in the middle, not just at the end, e.g. 9.20.*.6; and can provide
ranges (rather akin to how you might configure a firewall) e.g. 9.20.4.1-20.
These patterns of course will also understand IPV6 address, so as another example
one might provide 3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:f8ff:fe21:67cf or 3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:*
which would also match the specific address. We must also understand that
0:0:0:0:0:ffff:192.1.56.10 is the same as 192.1.56.10 so that the correct refusals are
made when IPV6 and IPV4 are both in use.
Hostnames cannot be specified in the BLOCKADDR list – only IP addresses. They
can be used in ADDRESS fields rules though.

WebSphere MQ
Channel Authentication Rules using Hostnames
Initial Listener blocking list
Hostnames not allowed
Channel based blocking of
Hostnames
Single IP address/range/pattern
or hostname/pattern
Channel allowed in, based on
Hostnames
Single IP address/range/pattern
or hostname/pattern
Further qualified rule including
hostname on another rule type
Works with SSLPEER,
QMNAME and CLNTUSER
SET CHLAUTH(‘*’) TYPE(BLOCKADDR)
ADDRLIST( )
SET CHLAUTH(‘APPL1.*’) TYPE(ADDRESSMAP)
ADDRESS(‘*.ibm.com’) USERSRC(NOACCESS)
SET CHLAUTH(‘*’) TYPE(SSLPEERMAP)
SSLPEER(‘CN=“Morag Hughson”’)
ADDRESS(‘s*.ibm.*’) MCAUSER(HUGHSON)
SET CHLAUTH(‘*.SVRCONN’) TYPE(ADDRESSMAP)
ADDRESS(‘mach123.ibm.com’) MCAUSER(HUSER)
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Channel Authentication Rules using Hostnames – Notes
Hostnames can be used in almost all places in channel authentication records that IP address
could be used. The one exception to this is the TYPE(BLOCKADDR) record. This is only
going to accept IP addresses.
If you want to block IP addresses with CHLAUTH rules permanently in MQ, rather than via
your IP firewall, you should be doing it using the TYPE(ADDRESSMAP) record and specifying
USERSRC(NOACCESS). This type of rules will allow hostnames as well.
Additionally, positive mapping records allow hostnames, and address restrictors can also use
hostnames.
Channel Authentication rules utilise pattern matching to allow the most flexible control. IP
Addresses have a special form of pattern matching that includes ranges and wildcards within
each ‘.’ (or ‘:’ for IPv6) section of an IP address. Other pattern matching which is done on
channel names, and queue manager names is simpler with just wild-carded string matching
(in other words dots are not considered special).
Hostnames also have pattern matching applied to them – as for channel names and queue
manager names. That is it is just a wild-carded string matching and separators such as dots
are not considered special.

WebSphere MQ
QMgr
Obtaining a hostname
Hostname is not ‘sent’ from the other end of the channel
IP address is obtained from TCP/IP socket
We must ask the Domain Name Server what the hostname is, a.k.a. Reverse
Lookup
If you want to use hostname rules
Your queue manager must be able to contact your DNS
Your DNS must be able to resolve the IP addresses
Sender/Client address
More than previously needed just to use
CONNAME(‘hostname(port)’)
NO DNS – NO HOSTNAME
NO HOSTNAME – NO MATCH
IP address from
TCP/IP
Other attributes from
internal channel flows
Channel Name
Certificate DN
Remote QMgr Name
Client User ID
MQCONNX
User3 + pwd3
Application (User4)
Network
Communications
DNS
IP Address
Hostname
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Obtaining a hostname – Notes
In order to be able to process channel authentication records that contain rules using
hostnames we need to be able to obtain the hostname that represents the IP address of the
socket. The hostname is not ‘sent’ to us by the channel or by TCP/IP. We get the IP address
from the socket. We get the other attributes that channel authentication records use from the
various internal flows across the socket.
To get the hostname we must ask the Domain Name Server (DNS) what hostname goes with
the IP address we are currently looking at. In order for this to be successful our queue
manager must be able to use the DNS. This may already be true if you are using hostnames
in CONNAME fields for example – which is certainly common-place. Also, the DNS must be
able to reverse look-up the IP address and find a hostname for us. This may not be true in
your current set up. Are all the sender channel or client application IP addresses currently
available in your DNS? In order for hostname rules to be used, this must be the case.
If you cannot reverse look up the hostname then CHLAUTH hostname rules will not be able to
be matched.

WebSphere MQ
Avoiding obtaining a hostname
To stop the Queue Manager
asking the Domain Name Server
for hostnames that go with
IP address,
a.k.a. Reverse Lookup
No CHLAUTH rules containing a
hostname will be able to match
ALTER QMGR REVDNS(DISABLED)
QMgr
MQCONNX
User3 + pwd3
Application (User4)
Network
Communications
DNS
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Avoiding obtaining a hostname – Notes
It is possible that you wish this to always be the case. Some people are more
nervous about the potential security hazards of using hostnames than others. When
CHLAUTH only used IP addresses to match on, this was not something you had to
worry about. Now someone might start to get lazy and use hostname rules.
We have added a control to turn off the reverse look up of hostnames. There were
previously undocumented parameters on both z/OS® and distributed to allow this,
but as part of this feature we have made an official version of these.
When REVDNS is ENABLED, the reverse look-up of the IP Address to retrieve the
hostname will still only be done when it is required. If you do not use hostnames in
CHLAUTH rules, then the only time a reverse look-up will be done is when writing
an error message which contains that information. This is the same as the product
behaviour pre-V8.

WebSphere MQ
Restricting the Mappings
Rules matching on
SSL Peer Name
Remote QMgr Name
Client User ID
Can add IP address/Hostname
Restrict where an SSL Certificate
can be used from
Specific IP address/Hostname
Restrict where a queue manager
or client user ID can come from
Specific IP address/Hostname
X
ClientUser
IP Address
8Client User
8QM Name
8XSSL Peer
IPAddress/Hostname
QMName
SSLPeer
Restrict
By
Mapped
SET CHLAUTH(*) TYPE(SSLPEERMAP)
SSLPEER(‘L=”Hursley”’) MCAUSER(HURUSER) ADDRESS(‘9.20.*’)
SET CHLAUTH(*) TYPE(QMGRMAP)
QMNAME(CLUSQM*) MCAUSER(CLUSUSR) ADDRESS(‘*.ibm.com’)
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Restricting the Mappings - Notes
When mapping from an SSL certificate DN, you may also want to ensure that
certificate is being used from the correct IP address, mitigating what might happen
if a certificate is stolen.
When mapping from a queue manager name, you may also want to ensure that the
queue manager is running on the correct IP address to ensure it is not a rogue
queue manager with the same name as one in your cluster for example.
We could imagine using the remote queue manager name or the client user ID as a
restrictor on an SSL Peer rule, however feedback from EAP did not suggest anyone
needed it so it was not implemented. For the most part, attributes within the X509
DN will contain the same information for most practical uses. For example
CN=<Queue Manager Name>.

WebSphere MQ
Fully Qualifying your Peer Name rules
Key Repository contains
All CA certs we trust
Multiple CAs means possible DN clashes
External CAs
Checks and balances
Unlikely to have DN clashes
Internal CAs
Less rigid
May give out certs exactly as requested
May end up with clashes
Could solved in a Security Exit
MQCD.SSLPeerNamePtr
MQCXP.SSLRemCertIssNamePtr
CHLAUTH rules extended
Check Subject’s DN (SSLPEER)
Check Issuer’s DN (SSLCERTI)
SET CHLAUTH(BPA.TO.ME)
TYPE(SSLPEERMAP)
SSLPEER(‘O=IBM’)
MCAUSER(BPAUSR)
SSLCERTI(‘CN=External’)
SSLKEYR
CA Certificate
External
CA Certificate
Internal
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Fully Qualifying your Peer Name rules – Notes
As we just saw, you can add IP address or hostname restrictors to many of the rule types to
further qualify the matching that happens.
In the case of a Peer name map, you can fully qualify the certificate matching by providing
both the Subject’s DN (SSLPEER) and the Issuer’s DN (SSLCERTI) on a rule. SSLCERTI is
new in MQ V8.
This is especially important if you have more than one Certificate Authority (CA) certificate in
your key repository which you may be more likely to do with the introduction of multiple
certificates for one queue manager which was a new feature in MQ V8.
However, since we now accept certificates which come from two different Certificate Authorities
(CAs) we can run foul of another issue.
One of the benefits of Externals CAs is that they guarantee not to issue the certificates with the
same DN as another certificate that they have already issued. However, an internal CA may not be
so diligent. Some internal CAs may simply accept what the user requests as their DN, so our rogue
could obtain a certificate with non-unique DN from such a CA.
The only way to solve this issue in the past was to use a security exit, since security exits are
presented with both the issuer’s and subject’s Distinguished Name. However, we are trying to get
away from people having to write exits for common security issues, and this very much falls into that
category.
In MQ V8, we can solve this issue by using a new attribute on CHLAUTH rules which matches the
issuer’s DN – SSLCERTI. Our CHLAUTH rules can now be fully qualified to use both SSLPEER (the
subject’s DN) and SSLCERTI (the issuer’s DN).

WebSphere MQ
Channel Authentication Records – Configuration
Precedence matching
Most specific rule is matched
Identifying attributes are
Channel Name
SSL Peer Name pattern
Precedence defined for partial patterns
Remote queue manager name pattern
(MCA channels)
Client asserted user ID (MQI channels)
No pattern matching on this
IP address pattern
Hostname pattern (least specific)
Within SSL Peer Name matching
Most specific substring is
matched
Chl: MY.CHANNEL
IP: 9.20.1.123
DN: CN=Morag Hughson.O=IBM UK
UID: mhughson
SSL Subject’s Distinguished Name1
One IP address can have multiple
hostnames
Hostname6
Channel Name0
IP address5
Clearly several different queue managers
can be running on the same IP address
Queue Manager Name3=
Clearly several different user IDs can be
running on the same IP address.
Client asserted User ID3=
SSL Issuer’s Distinguished Name2
NotesIdentity mechanismOrder
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When there is more than one rule that could match the inbound connection in
question, then we define which rule will actually be used by defining the precedence
order of what is the most specific match. The table shows that SSL Peer Names are
considered a more specific match than a queue manager name or client user ID
(because there is much more detailed information in an SSL Peer Name); and
Hostnames are considered the least specific since clearly more than one queue
manager or client can be connecting from the same IP address/Hostname.
Hostnames are even less specific than IP addresses because an IP address can
have multiple hostnames.

WebSphere MQ
SSL DN Precedence Mapping Example
CN=Morag Hughson.OU=MQ Devt.
O=IBM UK.L=Hursley.C=UK
SET CHLAUTH(*) TYPE(SSLPEERMAP) SSLPEER(‘OU=“MQ Devt”’)
MCAUSER(MQUSER)
SET CHLAUTH(*) TYPE(SSLPEERMAP) SSLPEER(‘L=“Hursley”’)
MCAUSER(HURUSER)
CountryC=7
State or province nameST=, SP=, S=6
LocalityL=5
OrganizationO=4
Organizational unitOU=3
TitleT=2
Common nameCN=1
NameDN SubstringOrder
Certificate
CN=Morag
Hughson
CountryC=7
State or province nameST=, SP=, S=6
LocalityL=5
OrganizationO=4
Organizational unitOU=3
TitleT=2
Common nameCN=1
NameDN SubstringOrder
Most
Specific
Match
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SSL DN Precedence Mapping Example – Notes
Not only do we define the order of precedence between the various different
identifying characteristics of an inbound connection, we also must do a similar job
for SSL Peer Name.
Here is an example to illustrate what happens when two partial patterns could both
match an inbound Distinguished Name (DN) from a client.
We want the most specific match to be used, so we have defined a precedent order
of what we mean by the most specific.
The table shown here that defines the precedence order is a subset of the contents
of an SSL Peer Name in WebSphere MQ V7.1. It suffices to describe this example.
For the full table of SSL Peer Name attributes, search the MQ Information Centre
for “Distinguished Names”.

WebSphere MQ
User's Digital
Certificate
CA
Sig
Connection Authentication – Configuration Granularity
MQCONNX
User3 + pwd3
Application (User4)
QMgr
ClearNetwork
Com
m
unications
DEFINE AUTHINFO(USE.PW) AUTHTYPE(IDPWOS)
CHCKCLNT(OPTIONAL)
SET CHLAUTH(‘*’) TYPE(ADDRESSMAP) ADDRESS(‘*’)
USERSRC(CHANNEL) CHCKCLNT(REQUIRED)
SET CHLAUTH(‘*’) TYPE(SSLPEERMAP)
SSLPEER(‘CN=*’) USERSRC(CHANNEL)
CHCKCLNT(ASQMGR)
MQRC_NOT_AUTHORIZED (2035)
MQCONNX
User1 + pwd1
Application (User2)
MQRC_NONE (0)
SSL/TLS Network
Communications
REQDADM
REQUIRED
ASQMGR
CHCKCLNT
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Connection Authentication – Configuration Granularity
MQ V8 introduces a new feature called Connection Authentication which allows the
queue manager to be configured to check user ID and password provided by
applications.
It is clear that a single switch – CHCKCLNT on the AUTHINFO object in use - to
configure this for every single client application is not granular enough. So
CHLAUTH is enhanced in MQ V8 to provide the ability to mandate password
checking for some clients, for example, those not making use of SSL/TLS, and to
indicate it is optional for others.
You can set the overall CHCKCLNT value to OPTIONAL, and then upgrade it to be
more stringent for certain channels by setting CHCKCLNT to REQUIRED or
REQDADM on the CHLAUTH rule. By default, CHLAUTH rules will run with
CHCKCLNT(ASQMGR) so this granularity does not have to be used.

WebSphere MQ
MQ Explorer
New concept
Wizard to walk you through the thought-
process of creating a rule
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Additionally, the MQ Explorer GUI provides a wizard to walk you through the steps
for setting up these rules and at the end of the wizard, the MQSC command that
would do the same job as you have done in the wizard, is displayed in a window
that you can cut’n’paste from to put the command into a script for future use.

WebSphere MQ
SET CHLAUTH(*) TYPE(ADDRESSMAP) ADDRESS(‘*’) USERSRC(NOACCESS) WARN(YES)
SET CHLAUTH(BPCHL.*) TYPE(SSLPEERMAP) SSLPEER(‘O=Bank of Shetland’) MCAUSER(BANK123)
SET CHLAUTH(BPCHL.*) TYPE(SSLPEERMAP) SSLPEER(‘O=Bank of Orkney’) MCAUSER(BANK456)
SET CHLAUTH(SYSTEM.ADMIN.SVRCONN) TYPE(ADDRESSMAP)
ADDRESS(‘9.20.1-30.*’) CHCKCLNT(REQUIRED) MCAUSER(ADMUSER)
SET CHLAUTH(TO.CLUS.*) TYPE(QMGRMAP)
QMNAME(CLUSQM*) MCAUSER(CLUSUSR) ADDRESS(‘*.datacenter.ibm.com’)
How should I use this?
“We must make sure our system is completely locked down”
“Our Business Partners must all connect using SSL, so we will map
their access from the certificate DNs”
“Our Administrators connect in using MQ Explorer, but don’t use
SSL. We will map their access by IP Address and require them to
provide a username and password”
“Our internal cluster doesn’t use SSL, but we must ensure only the
correct queue managers can connect into the cluster”
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How should I use this? - Notes
Here is an example of how we expect this to be used.
Our business requires that “We must make sure our system is completely locked
down”. So we start off with a rule that blocks everyone. Therefore anyone that
doesn’t match a more specific rule will not be allowed in.
Our business requires that “Our Business Partners must all connect using SSL, so
we will map their access from the certificate DNs”. So we have some rules that map
specific DNs of our Business Partners to specific user IDs. Previously you might
have done this by having separate channel definitions for each BP, now if you wish
they can come into the same receiver definition.
Our business requires that “Our Administrators connect in using MQ Explorer, but
don’t use SSL. We will map their access by IP Address”. So we have a rule that
gives them all a single administrative access user ID based on a range of IP
addresses.
Our business requires that “Our internal cluster doesn’t use SSL, but we must
ensure only the correct queue managers can connect into the cluster”. So we have
a rule that gives access to the correctly named queue managers but only if they
come from a recognised hostname.

WebSphere MQ
What happens if…?
MATCH(RUNCHECK)
mandates an IP address is provided
Then the queue manager will employ
DNS to find the hostname
MATCH(RUNCHECK) thus also tests
whether your DNS is correctly set up.
DISPLAY CHLAUTH(SYSTEM.ADMIN.SVRCONN) MATCH(RUNCHECK)
SSLPEER(‘CN=“Morag Hughson”, O=“IBM UK”’)
CLNTUSER(‘mhughson’) ADDRESS(‘9.180.165.163’)
returns ===>
CHLAUTH(SYSTEM.ADMIN.SVRCONN)
TYPE(ADDRESSMAP)
ADDRESS(‘*.ibm.com’) MCAUSER(HUGHSON)
Chl: SYSTEM.ADMIN.SVRCONN
DN: CN=Morag Hughson.O=IBM UK
UID: mhughson
IP: 9.180.165.163
Hostname: mh.ibm.com
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What happens if…? - Notes
Here is an example of the special matching version of the DISPLAY command to
show exactly what would happen should a channel matching these identifying
attributes, connect into the system. This should serve as a useful testing tool,
service aid, and validation tool, although we would of course recommend not
creating such complicated rules that you need it in the first place!
As we noted earlier, the hostname is not one of those pieces of information, the
queue manager has to go and find that information out from the Domain Name
Server (DNS).
So when providing information into the MATCH(RUNCHECK) command, you
provide the IP address. The queue manager will then make the call to DNS as it
would if the real inbound connection appeared and find out what the hostname is,
then run the matching against the rules. If it was able to find out a hostname then it
will match against a hostname rules, but if it was not, then it won’t.
If you have your queue manager configured to use REVDNS(DISABLED) and you
also have some CHLAUTH rules that use hostnames, then a message will appear
along with the output of the MATCH(RUNCHECK) display in rather the same way
that it warns you that CHLAUTH is DISABLED.
Thus DISPLAY CHLAUTH MATCH(RUNCHECK) can help you to determine
whether your reverse look-up for particular IP addresses is likely to work.

WebSphere MQ
Out of the Box
We supply these rules out-of-the-box.
For all channels, ban the assertion of privileged users by inbound channels.
For all SYSTEM channels except SYSTEM.ADMIN.SVRCONN (the
MQ Explorer GUI channel), ban anyone from using them.
Difficult to supply any default rules regarding IP addresses and SSL Peer Names since they are very
installation specific.
Enabling Switch ALTER QMGR CHLAUTH(ENABLED|DISABLED) different for Migrated or
New Queue Manager
SET CHLAUTH(*) TYPE(BLOCKUSER) USERLIST(*MQADMIN)
SET CHLAUTH(SYSTEM.*) TYPE(ADDRESSMAP)
ADDRESS(*) USERSRC(NOACCESS)
SET CHLAUTH(SYSTEM.ADMIN.SVRCONN) TYPE(ADDRESSMAP) ADDRESS(*)
USERSRC(CHANNEL)
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Out of the Box - Notes
Out of the box we supply some rules.
The first is a rule which bans privileged users and blank users from being asserted
by connecting inbound channels. This rule may break some channels, but it will
secure many more channels than it breaks so we believe it to be a worthwhile out-
of-the-box position.
The second rules secures the use of SYSTEM channels by disallowing any address
from connecting. This stops hackers from connecting in to the
SYSTEM.DEF.RECEIVER for example. It also locks down the
SYSTEM.DEF.SVRCONN which will hit lots of people initially!
The third rule allows the SYSTEM.ADMIN.SVRCONN but it will still be affected by
the first rule if you try to use a privileged user ID, so some work must be done to
provide a user ID that has access to do what is needed.
There is a queue manager switch which determines whether CHLAUTH rules are
acted upon (it does not stop the commands from be used though). This switch is
ENABLED for new queue managers, and DISABLED for migrated queue
managers.

WebSphere MQ
Events
Command events (as normal)
Configuration events (as normal)
Channel event
Controlled by existing
switch
Considered to be an EXCEPTION
Written to existing queue
One event for each type
of connection refusal
MQRC_CHANNEL_BLOCKED
MQRC_CHANNEL_BLOCKED_WARN
MQRQ_CHANNEL_BLOCKED_ADDRESS
MQRQ_CHANNEL_BLOCKED_USERID
MQRQ_CHANNEL_BLOCKED_NOACCESS
SYSTEM.ADMIN.CHANNEL.EVENT
ALTER QMGR CHLEV(ENABLED|EXCEPTION)
WebSphere MQ
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Events - Notes
These commands will generate command events and configuration events
(assuming that these events are enabled by the existing CMDEV and CONFIGEV
switches).
There are some new events to record whenever an inbound connection attempt is
blocked. Controlled by the current CHLEV switch (and considered to be an
EXCEPTION) this new event message will be issued to the
SYSTEM.ADMIN.CHANNEL.EVENT queue when a channel or listener blocks an
attempt to connect.
The reason qualifier of the event message can be
– MQRQ_CHANNEL_BLOCKED_ADDRESS
Channel was blocked due to its IP address being in the list to be refused.
– MQRQ_CHANNEL_BLOCKED_USERID
Channel was blocked due to its asserted (or mapped) user ID being in the list to be refused.
– MQRQ_CHANNEL_BLOCKED_NOACCESS
Channel was blocked due to its identity (e.g. IP address or SSL Peer name) being mapped to a rule that
says it is to be blocked.

WebSphere MQ
Troubleshooting
DISPLAY CHLAUTH( ’SYSTEM.DEF.SVRCONN’ ) MATCH(RUNCHECK)
ADDRESS( ‘9.180.165.163’ ) CLNTUSER(‘hughson’) ALL
AMQ8878: Display channel authentication record details.
CHLAUTH(SYSTEM.*) TYPE(ADDRESSMAP)
DESCR(Default rule to disable all SYSTEM channels)
CUSTOM( ) ADDRESS(*)
USERSRC(NOACCESS) WARN(NO)
ALTDATE(2013-09-03) ALTTIME(12.20.25)
AMQ9777: Channel was blocked
EXPLANATION:
The inbound channel 'SYSTEM.DEF.SVRCONN' was blocked from address
'mhughson.ibm.com(9.180.165.163)' because the active values of the channel matched a record
configured with USERSRC(NOACCESS). The active values of the channel were
'CLNTUSER(hughson) ADDRESS(mhughson.ibm.com, morag.hursley.ibm.com)'.
‘SYSTEM.DEF.SVRCONN’
‘9.180.165.163’ CLNTUSER(‘hughson’)
USERSRC(NOACCESS)
USERSRC(NOACCESS)
Descriptions are Good!!
WebSphere MQ
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Troubleshooting – Notes
Most people’s first experience of Channel Authentication Records is being blocked by them,
so very quickly people learn how to issue the command:-
– ALTER QMGR CHLAUTH(DISABLED)
However, working out why you have been blocked is not really that difficult – all the
information you need is provided, so instead why not add in the rule that allows you in, instead
of turning it all off?
When an inbound connection is blocked, an error is written to the AMQERR01.LOG (or
CHINIT joblog on z/OS) indicating that is was blocked and providing additional information
describing exactly the inbound connection. As we’ve just seen, this information is also written
to the event queue. You can use this information to work out exactly why it was blocked.
In WebSphere MQ V8, this message will also now contain the hostname (possibly several) that go
with the IP address, assuming that we have been able to find one. The description of the message
will indicate that if a hostname is not shown this implies that either REVDNS is DISABLED or that
reverse DNS lookup was unable to obtain a hostname for this IP address.
We saw an example earlier of the DISPLAY CHLAUTH command running in the
MATCH(RUNCHECK) mode. We can use this command with the information from the error
message (or event message) to determine exactly which rule caused the connection to be
blocked.
This also shows why it is so useful to make use of the description field when putting your rules
in place.

WebSphere MQ
Channel Authentication Records - Recap
Set rules to control how inbound connections are treated
Inbound Clients
Inbound QMgr to QMgr channels
Other rogue connections causing FDCs
Rules can be set to
Allow a connection
Allow a connection and assign an MCAUSER
Block a connection
Ban privileged access
Provide multiple positive or negative SSL/TLS Distinguished Name matching
Mandate user ID & password checking
Rules can use any of the following identifying
characteristics of the inbound connection
IP Address
Hostnames
SSL/TLS Subject’s Distinguished Name
SSL/TLS Issuer’s Distinguished Name
Client asserted user ID
Remote queue manager name
WebSphere MQ
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Recap
We saw this page at the beginning, but we will use it again as a summary. We have
learned today how to use this feature which was introduced in WebSphere MQ V7.1
to control how our inbound connections will behave.
We have seen a number of new features added to CHLAUTH in MQ V8 (these are
highlighted in red on this page).

WebSphere MQ
Additional Resources
MQ Knowledge Center
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/api/content/SSFKSJ_8.0.0/com.ibm.mq.sec.doc/
q010250_.htm
developerWorks
blog posts
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/aimsupport/tags/chlauth
WebSphere MQ
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Additional Resources
You can read more about CHLAUTH in the MQ Information Center.
This page also provides links to a number of blog posts that I have written about
CHLAUTH.

© 2014 IBM Corporation
IBM Software Group WebSphere Software
Questions & AnswersQuestions & Answers
Graham Richards – graham.richards@uk.ibm.com
IBM Hursley - UK

IBM MQ Channel Authentication

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IBM MQ Channel Authentication