Enabling Support for TLS and TLS Fingerprinting in Network Stack Tester

Abstract

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the standard protocol widely used for securing client-server communications over the Internet. It ensures the confidentiality and integrity of data transmitted between systems. With the rising deployment of TLS 1.3, which is the latest version of the protocol, stronger encryption and improved security features are introduced. The adoption of TLS 1.3 brings about the need for techniques such as TLS fingerprinting. TLS fingerprinting involves analyzing the unique characteristics of TLS handshakes to identify and classify different implementations or configurations of TLS. However, researchers currently lack a dedicated platform to test TLS and TLS fingerprinting techniques in a controlled environment. To address this gap, we aim to enhance NeST (Network Stack Tester) by adding support for TLS and TLS fingerprinting. NeST is a Python tool for network emulation that internally uses Linux network namespaces and Linux utilities to create virtual testbeds, perform experiments using various network protocols and collect statistics. By integrating TLS and TLS fingerprinting into NeST, we provide an easy-to-use tool that enables researchers to experiment with TLS, analyze TLS traffic, and evaluate the effectiveness of TLS fingerprinting techniques. © 2024 IEEE.