TLS/SSL and PyMongo
===================

PyMongo supports connecting to MongoDB over TLS/SSL. This guide covers the
configuration options supported by PyMongo. See `the server documentation
<http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/tutorial/configure-ssl/>`_ to configure
MongoDB.

Dependencies
............

For connections using TLS/SSL, PyMongo may require third party dependencies as
determined by your version of Python. With PyMongo 3.3+, you can install
PyMongo 3.3+ and any TLS/SSL-related dependencies using the following pip
command::

  $ python -m pip install pymongo[tls]

Earlier versions of PyMongo require you to manually install the dependencies
listed below.

Python 2.x
``````````
The `ipaddress`_ module is required on all platforms.

When using CPython < 2.7.9 or PyPy < 2.5.1:

- On Windows, the `wincertstore`_ module is required.
- On all other platforms, the `certifi`_ module is required.

Python 3.x
``````````
On Windows, the `wincertstore`_ module is required when using PyPy3 < 3.5.

.. _ipaddress: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/ipaddress
.. _wincertstore: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/wincertstore
.. _certifi: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/certifi

.. warning:: Industry best practices recommend, and some regulations require,
  the use of TLS 1.1 or newer. Though no application changes are required for
  PyMongo to make use of the newest protocols, some operating systems or
  versions may not provide an OpenSSL version new enough to support them.

  Users of macOS older than 10.13 (High Sierra) will need to install Python
  from `python.org`_, `homebrew`_, `macports`_, or another similar source.

  Users of Linux or other non-macOS Unix can check their OpenSSL version like
  this::

    $ openssl version

  If the version number is less than 1.0.1 support for TLS 1.1 or newer is not
  available. Contact your operating system vendor for a solution or upgrade to
  a newer distribution.

  You can check your Python interpreter by installing the `requests`_ module
  and executing the following command::

    python -c "import requests; print(requests.get('https://www.howsmyssl.com/a/check', verify=False).json()['tls_version'])"

  You should see "TLS 1.X" where X is >= 1.

  You can read more about TLS versions and their security implications here:

  `<https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Transport_Layer_Protection_Cheat_Sheet#Rule_-_Only_Support_Strong_Protocols>`_

.. _python.org: https://www.python.org/downloads/
.. _homebrew: https://brew.sh/
.. _macports: https://www.macports.org/
.. _requests: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/requests

Basic configuration
...................

In many cases connecting to MongoDB over TLS/SSL requires nothing more than
passing ``ssl=True`` as a keyword argument to
:class:`~pymongo.mongo_client.MongoClient`::

  >>> client = pymongo.MongoClient('example.com', ssl=True)

Or passing ``ssl=true`` in the URI::

  >>> client = pymongo.MongoClient('mongodb://example.com/?ssl=true')

This configures PyMongo to connect to the server using TLS, verify the server's
certificate and verify that the host you are attempting to connect to is listed
by that certificate.

Certificate verification policy
...............................

By default, PyMongo is configured to require a certificate from the server when
TLS is enabled. This is configurable using the `ssl_cert_reqs` option. To
disable this requirement pass ``ssl.CERT_NONE`` as a keyword parameter::

  >>> import ssl
  >>> client = pymongo.MongoClient('example.com',
  ...                              ssl=True,
  ...                              ssl_cert_reqs=ssl.CERT_NONE)

Or, in the URI::

  >>> uri = 'mongodb://example.com/?ssl=true&ssl_cert_reqs=CERT_NONE'
  >>> client = pymongo.MongoClient(uri)

Specifying a CA file
....................

In some cases you may want to configure PyMongo to use a specific set of CA
certificates. This is most often the case when using "self-signed" server
certificates. The `ssl_ca_certs` option takes a path to a CA file. It can be
passed as a keyword argument::

  >>> client = pymongo.MongoClient('example.com',
  ...                              ssl=True,
  ...                              ssl_ca_certs='/path/to/ca.pem')

Or, in the URI::

  >>> uri = 'mongodb://example.com/?ssl=true&ssl_ca_certs=/path/to/ca.pem'
  >>> client = pymongo.MongoClient(uri)

Specifying a certificate revocation list
........................................

Python 2.7.9+ (pypy 2.5.1+) and 3.4+ provide support for certificate revocation
lists. The `ssl_crlfile` option takes a path to a CRL file. It can be passed as
a keyword argument::

  >>> client = pymongo.MongoClient('example.com',
  ...                              ssl=True,
  ...                              ssl_crlfile='/path/to/crl.pem')

Or, in the URI::

  >>> uri = 'mongodb://example.com/?ssl=true&ssl_crlfile=/path/to/crl.pem'
  >>> client = pymongo.MongoClient(uri)

Client certificates
...................

PyMongo can be configured to present a client certificate using the
`ssl_certfile` option::

  >>> client = pymongo.MongoClient('example.com',
  ...                              ssl=True,
  ...                              ssl_certfile='/path/to/client.pem')

If the private key for the client certificate is stored in a separate file use
the `ssl_keyfile` option::

  >>> client = pymongo.MongoClient('example.com',
  ...                              ssl=True,
  ...                              ssl_certfile='/path/to/client.pem',
  ...                              ssl_keyfile='/path/to/key.pem')

Python 2.7.9+ (pypy 2.5.1+) and 3.3+ support providing a password or passphrase
to decrypt encrypted private keys. Use the `ssl_pem_passphrase` option::

  >>> client = pymongo.MongoClient('example.com',
  ...                              ssl=True,
  ...                              ssl_certfile='/path/to/client.pem',
  ...                              ssl_keyfile='/path/to/key.pem',
  ...                              ssl_pem_passphrase=<passphrase>)


These options can also be passed as part of the MongoDB URI.

Troubleshooting TLS Errors
..........................

TLS errors often fall into two categories, certificate verification failure or
protocol version mismatch. An error message similar to the following means that
OpenSSL was not able to verify the server's certificate::

  [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed

This often occurs because OpenSSL does not have access to the system's
root certificates or the certificates are out of date. Linux users should
ensure that they have the latest root certificate updates installed from
their Linux vendor. macOS users using Python 3.6.0 or newer downloaded
from python.org `may have to run a script included with python
<https://bugs.python.org/issue29065#msg283984>`_ to install
root certificates::

  open "/Applications/Python <YOUR PYTHON VERSION>/Install Certificates.command"

Users of older PyPy and PyPy3 portable versions may have to `set an environment
variable <https://github.com/squeaky-pl/portable-pypy/issues/15>`_ to tell
OpenSSL where to find root certificates. This is easily done using the `certifi
module <https://pypi.org/project/certifi/>`_ from pypi::

  $ pypy -m pip install certifi
  $ export SSL_CERT_FILE=$(pypy -c "import certifi; print(certifi.where())")

An error message similar to the following message means that the OpenSSL
version used by Python does not support a new enough TLS protocol to connect
to the server::

  [SSL: TLSV1_ALERT_PROTOCOL_VERSION] tlsv1 alert protocol version

Industry best practices recommend, and some regulations require, that older
TLS protocols be disabled in some MongoDB deployments. Some deployments may
disable TLS 1.0, others may disable TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1. See the warning
earlier in this document for troubleshooting steps and solutions.