Remove less secure ciphers from WHM by decrpyting different convoluted references to the same ciphers

Question

I have previously removed less secure ciphers from WHM (Web Host Manager) however it has been a while and I want to learn how to fish, not be handed a fish.

The trouble seems to stem from the fact that there is little-to-no consistency in how ciphers are referenced or even where they are defined.

WHM Cipher Definitions

Ciphers seem to be listed in two places: Exim Configuration Manager and Apache Configuration ⇨ Exim Configuration Manager.

• The Apache Configuration has a field "SSL/TLS Protocols" which is currently defined as ALL:!ADH:!AECDH:!EDH:!RC4:+HIGH:+MEDIUM:-LOW:-EXP.
• The Exim Configuration Manager currently has a field "SSL/TLS Cipher Suite List" which is set to ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256.

Definition of Weak Ciphers

Here is the SSL Labs test for my domain. I have everything except TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 disabled and many less secure ciphers disabled. The test lists the following ciphers as being weak:

TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA (0xc013) ECDH x25519 (eq. 3072 bits RSA) FS WEAK 128
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA (0xc014) ECDH x25519 (eq. 3072 bits RSA) FS WEAK 256
TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 (0x9c) WEAK 128
TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (0x9d) WEAK 256
TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA (0x2f) WEAK 128
TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA (0x35) WEAK 256

I attempted to "translate" though after updating the values in both sections and running cPanel's AutoSSL I still got the same results on the test.

Translating Cipher References

I attempted to reference the TLS 1.2 standard as well as some documentation from OpenSSL. I made numerous other search queries and spent hours reading through documentation, standards and forums without luck.

Here is my attempt to make the lists look more similar to each other:

From the Exim Configuration Manager:

• ECDHE_ECDSA_CHACHA20_POLY1305
• ECDHE_RSA_AES128_GCM_SHA256
• ECDHE_RSA_AES256_GCM_SHA384
• ECDHE_RSA_AES128_SHA256
• ECDHE_RSA_AES256_SHA384
• ECDHE_RSA_CHACHA20_POLY1305

From the SSL Labs Test to be removed:

• ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
• ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
• RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256
• RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
• RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA
• RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA

The list says to remove two ECDHE and the rest don't have ECDHE. In that example how do I remove something not defined? Secondly it suggests removing CBC though that is not defined in the first list.

Desirable Answer Format

Learning is the detection of patterns so I'm really looking for an answer with a table where column A lists the ciphers from the SSL Labs test and column B references how they are referenced (to be defined (for stronger ciphers) and disabled for weaker ciphers). Just enough that I can detect the pattern of how the test references the same ciphers as Apache (or whichever software directly handles all of this). A good reference URL with such a table (and where on the page if it's more than just a few paragraphs) would be very helpful.

It would also be incredibly useful to know how to have the server define a preferred cipher and to know which is considered the strongest if possible please.

Answer 1

For now, you probably would be best and most quickly served by relying on others who have studied cryptography and network security, and who offer their recommendations freely as a service. Sites like Mozilla's SSL Configuration Generator are a great way to obtain a clear list of ciphers that best meet your security needs.

Once you have solved your immediate problem and have your services configured securely based on the recommendations of experts in the field, you can consider spending more time digging deeper into this topic. But it's a deep field; you'll end up needing to understand the different families and types of cryptographic algorithms, key sizes, protocols, weaknesses, attacks, public key infrastructure, TLS, and network security.

The problem with cryptography is that it's hard for someone outside of the field to know how to compare the strengths of the various algorithms and key sizes, or which protocols or algorithms are known to have weaknesses.

Answer 2

The Bad

I did not get to learn how to fish, so-to-speak.

The Good

The weaker ciphers were removed via a new configuration set by my web host. Here is the before and after. Please keep in mind this is valid as of the end of March 2020.

WHM Apache Configuration Before

ALL:!ADH:!AECDH:!EDH:!RC4:+HIGH:+MEDIUM:-LOW:-EXP

WHM Apache Configuration After

ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256:TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256

WHM Exim Configuration Manager Before

ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256

WHM Exim Configuration Manager After

ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384

Enabling TLS 1.3 in WHM

Simply set the SSL/TLS Protocols field to +TLSv1.2 +TLSv1.3. This did not work on Cent OS 6 though it does on Cent OS 7. This is working with OpenSSL 1.0.2k-fips.