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TLS on syslog

Hi,
we have a problem with transferring syslog from Sophos firewall to the Arcsight SmartConnector. When we try UDP, logs can be seen in connector. However, with TLS communication fails.


This is only example, but ours handshake also fails at Change Cipher Spec.
We have checked it in Wireshark and both Sophos and Arcsight agreed on the cipher.

4 0.003000    192.168.1.100    93.184.216.34   TLSv1.2  229   Client Hello
5 0.005000    93.184.216.34    192.168.1.100   TLSv1.2  148   Server Hello
6 0.005500    93.184.216.34    192.168.1.100   TLSv1.2  1500 Certificate
7 0.006000    93.184.216.34    192.168.1.100   TLSv1.2  143   Server Key Exchange
8 0.006500    93.184.216.34    192.168.1.100   TLSv1.2  89     Server Hello Done
9 0.007000    192.168.1.100    93.184.216.34   TLSv1.2  110   Client Key Exchange
10 0.007500  192.168.1.100    93.184.216.34   TLSv1.2  66     Change Cipher Spec
11 0.008000   93.184.216.34   192.168.1.100   TLSv1.2  85      Encrypted Alert

What I have checked:
1) Sophos trust CA that sign Arcsight connector certificate.
2) Arcsight connector certificate have correct hostname in CN and SAN field.
3) Both Sophos and Arcsight support same cipher.
4) Communication on FW allowed.
5) Arcsight listening on syslog port
6) Sophos sending data to syslog port

How should I troubleshoot this issue ?
Thanks and regards



Added TAGs
[edited by: Raphael Alganes at 11:47 AM (GMT -7) on 7 Oct 2024]
Parents Reply
  • In a mutual TLS authentication setup between Sophos Firewall (client) and syslog-ng (Arcsight) server, both sides need to authenticate each other using certificates signed by a trusted external CA. While both Sophos and Arcsight already have the external CA, the Sophos CA is missing from the Arcsight server's trust store, which is causing the connection issue. Unlike browser-based TLS where only the server is authenticated, mutual TLS requires both the client (Sophos) and the server (Arcsight) to trust each other's certificates.

    In your TLS handshake, the connection fails after the Client Key Exchange with an Encrypted Alert, indicating that Arcsight cannot verify the certificate presented by Sophos. To resolve this, the Sophos CA must be imported into Arcsight's trust store, allowing it to verify Sophos’s client certificate and successfully establish mutual authentication.

    Komala Yaganti
    Technical Support Engineer | Sophos Technical Support

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