envoyproxy/envoy

Support loading TLS certificates in DER format.

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#5,713 opened on Jan 24, 2019

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area/tlsenhancementhelp wanted

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Description

Currently supported PEM format is base64-encoded DER-encoded certificate with some extra prettifiers.

Supporting DER format would allow passing ~30% smaller certificates and private keys over xDS (compared to currently supported PEM format) and avoid base64-decoding in Envoy.

The idea is to support both formats, not replace PEM with DER.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate how TLS certificates are currently loaded in Envoy, particularly the PEM parsing code in source/extensions/transport sockets/tls/. Identify where DER parsing can be added, ensuring backward compatibility with PEM. Look for existing utility functions for certificate loading and determine the minimal changes needed to support DER format. Also check the xDS protocol to understand how certificates are passed.
Tech stack
None
Domain
backendsecurity
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
C++TLSEnvoy
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60