Https Proxy Http
Pros and cons of using a Http proxy v/s https proxy? – Stack …
HTTP proxy gets a plain-text request and [in most but not all cases] sends a different HTTP request to the remote server, then returns information to the client.
HTTPS proxy is a relayer, which receives special HTTP request (CONNECT verb) and builds an opaque tunnel to the destination server (which is not necessarily even an HTTPS server). Then the client sends SSL/TLS request to the server and they continue with SSL handshake and then with HTTPS (if requested).
As you see, these are two completely different proxy types with different behavior and different design goals. HTTPS proxy can’t cache anything as it doesn’t see the request sent to the server. With HTTPS proxy you have a channel to the server and the client receives and validates server’s certificate (and optionally vice versa). HTTP proxy, on the other hand, sees and has control over the request it received from the client.
While HTTPS request can be sent via HTTP proxy, this is almost never done because in this scenario the proxy will validate server’s certificate, but the client will be able to receive and validate only proxy’s certificate, and as name in the proxy’s certificate will not match the address the socket connected to, in most cases an alert will be given and SSL handshake won’t succeed (I am not going into details of how to try to address this).
Finally, as HTTP proxy can look into the request, this invalidates the idea of security provided by HTTPS channel, so using HTTP proxy for HTTPS requests is normally done only for debugging purposes (again we omit cases of paranoid company security policies which require monitoring of all HtTPS traffic of company employees).
Addition: also read my answer on the similar topic here.
Pros and cons of using a Http proxy v/s https proxy? – Stack …
HTTP proxy gets a plain-text request and [in most but not all cases] sends a different HTTP request to the remote server, then returns information to the client.
HTTPS proxy is a relayer, which receives special HTTP request (CONNECT verb) and builds an opaque tunnel to the destination server (which is not necessarily even an HTTPS server). Then the client sends SSL/TLS request to the server and they continue with SSL handshake and then with HTTPS (if requested).
As you see, these are two completely different proxy types with different behavior and different design goals. HTTPS proxy can’t cache anything as it doesn’t see the request sent to the server. With HTTPS proxy you have a channel to the server and the client receives and validates server’s certificate (and optionally vice versa). HTTP proxy, on the other hand, sees and has control over the request it received from the client.
While HTTPS request can be sent via HTTP proxy, this is almost never done because in this scenario the proxy will validate server’s certificate, but the client will be able to receive and validate only proxy’s certificate, and as name in the proxy’s certificate will not match the address the socket connected to, in most cases an alert will be given and SSL handshake won’t succeed (I am not going into details of how to try to address this).
Finally, as HTTP proxy can look into the request, this invalidates the idea of security provided by HTTPS channel, so using HTTP proxy for HTTPS requests is normally done only for debugging purposes (again we omit cases of paranoid company security policies which require monitoring of all HtTPS traffic of company employees).
Addition: also read my answer on the similar topic here.
HTTPS connections over proxy servers – Stack Overflow
The short answer is: It is possible, and can be done with either a special HTTP proxy or a SOCKS proxy.
First and foremost, HTTPS uses SSL/TLS which by design ensures end-to-end security by establishing a secure communication channel over an insecure one. If the HTTP proxy is able to see the contents, then it’s a man-in-the-middle eavesdropper and this defeats the goal of SSL/TLS. So there must be some tricks being played if we want to proxy through a plain HTTP proxy.
The trick is, we turn an HTTP proxy into a TCP proxy with a special command named CONNECT. Not all HTTP proxies support this feature but many do now. The TCP proxy cannot see the HTTP content being transferred in clear text, but that doesn’t affect its ability to forward packets back and forth. In this way, client and server can communicate with each other with help of the proxy. This is the secure way of proxying HTTPS data.
There is also an insecure way of doing so, in which the HTTP proxy becomes a man-in-the-middle. It receives the client-initiated connection, and then initiate another connection to the real server. In a well implemented SSL/TLS, the client will be notified that the proxy is not the real server. So the client has to trust the proxy by ignoring the warning for things to work. After that, the proxy simply decrypts data from one connection, reencrypts and feeds it into the other.
Finally, we can certainly proxy HTTPS through a SOCKS proxy, because the SOCKS proxy works at a lower level. You may think a SOCKS proxy as both a TCP and a UDP proxy.
Frequently Asked Questions about https proxy http
What is HTTP and HTTPS proxy?
With HTTPS proxy you have a channel to the server and the client receives and validates server’s certificate (and optionally vice versa). HTTP proxy, on the other hand, sees and has control over the request it received from the client.Nov 24, 2017
Can I use HTTP proxy for HTTPS?
The short answer is: It is possible, and can be done with either a special HTTP proxy or a SOCKS proxy. First and foremost, HTTPS uses SSL/TLS which by design ensures end-to-end security by establishing a secure communication channel over an insecure one.Nov 30, 2016
How does proxy work with HTTPS?
HTTPS proxies were invented to ensure communication with end-to-end security. In this flow, the client sends a special request to the proxy with the CONNECT verb. The proxy builds an opaque tunnel by connecting to the requested server using TCP and nothing else.
