TLS Cipher Suites
A cipher suite specifies the algorithms used for key exchange, authentication, encryption, and message authentication. TLS 1.3 reduced the list to 5 secure suites. TLS 1.2 has 300+ including many broken ones – only use the recommended ECDHE+AEAD suites.
TLS 1.3 Cipher Suites
TLS 1.3 defines exactly 5 cipher suites. All use AEAD encryption and mandatory forward secrecy. There is nothing to misconfigure.
| Cipher Suite | Encryption | FS | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 | AES-128-GCM | Yes | Recommended | |
TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 | AES-256-GCM | Yes | Recommended | |
TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256 | ChaCha20 | Yes | Recommended |
TLS 1.2 Cipher Suites
TLS 1.2 supports hundreds of cipher suites including many insecure ones. Only use ECDHE+AEAD suites. Disable everything else.
| Cipher Suite | Encryption | FS | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 | AES-128-GCM | Yes | Recommended | |
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 | AES-256-GCM | Yes | Recommended | |
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 | AES-128-GCM | Yes | Recommended | |
ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305 | ChaCha20 | Yes | Recommended | |
DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 | AES-128-GCM | Yes | Acceptable | |
AES128-GCM-SHA256 | AES-128-GCM | No | Weak | |
RC4-MD5 | RC4 | No | Insecure | |
DES-CBC3-SHA | 3DES-EDE-CBC | No | Insecure | |
NULL-SHA | None | No | Insecure |