Original text:
As a domain may resolve to multiple IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, the server will connect to at least one of the hosts found in A and AAAA <del> records, at its discretion.  The HTTP server may be made available over either HTTPS or unencrypted HTTP; the client tells the server in its response which to check. </del>  The string "simpleHttp"

Reviewer comments:
On the mailing list, NAME and NAME pointed out some risks arising from the default virtual host behavior of some web servers. This PR integrates the changes they suggest, namely (1) removing the "tls" option from the challenge, and (2) adding iterations to the challenge. This PR is based on top of and .
Sorry, feel free to tell me to go away, but reading the backing decision to drop HTTPS for SimpleHTTP doesn't make sense to me. If I understand everything correctly, you control the originator of the HTTPS requests and the requests are always sent to domains. So why can't you just enforce to always send the Host header and this wouldn't be an issue?
From : behaviour that if a default TLS/HTTPS virtual host is not configured explicitly, one will be selected based on the ordering of vhosts in the webserver configuration (in practice, this often amounts to alphabetical ordering of files in a configuration directory). As far as I know Apache does the exact same thing for nonencrypted HTTP hosts (this is also acknowledged by a later mail in the thread), so the reasoning is a little weird. I suppose the idea is that hosters are more likely to have HTTP configured correctly rather than HTTPS?
The section on the "" registry says that "Fields marked as "client configurable" may be included in a new-account request". This seems like a copy-paste-o, and perhaps should say that such fields may be included in a new-order request.
Good catch. I opened URL to fix. Thanks! Apache (and I gather nginx too) have the subtle and non-intuitive behaviour that if a default TLS/HTTPS virtual host is not configured explicitly, one will be selected based on the ordering of vhosts in the webserver configuration (in practice, this often amounts to alphabetical ordering of files in a configuration directory). URL URL This creates a vulnerability for SimpleHTTP and DVSNI in any multiple-tenant virtual hosting environment that failed to explicitly select a default vhost [1]. The vulnerability allows one tenant (typically one with the alphabetically lowest domain name -- a situation that may be easy for an attacker to arrange) to obtain certificates for other tenants. The exact conditions for the vulerability vary: SimpleHTTP is vulnerable if no default vhost is set explicitly, the server accepts the "tls": true parameter as currently specified, and the domains served over TLS/HTTPS are a strict subset of those served over HTTP. DVSNI is vulnerable if no default vhost is set explicitly, and the hosting environment provides a way for tenants to upload arbitrary certificates to be served on their vhost. James Kasten and Alex Halderman have done great work proposing a fix for DVSNI: URL That fix also has some significant performance benefits on systems with many virtual hosts, and the resulting challenge type should perhaps be called DVSNI2. The simplest fix for SimpleHTTP is to remove the "tls" option from the client's SimpleHTTP response, and require that the challenge be completed on port 80. URL Alternatively, the protocol could allow the server to specify which ports it will perform SimpleHTTP and SimpleHTTPS requests on; HTTPS on port 443 SHOULD be avoided unless the CA can confirm that the server has an explicitly configured default vhost. The above diffs are currently against Let's Encrypt's version of the ACME spec, we'll be happy to rebase them against the IETF version upon request. [1] though I haven't confirmed it, it's possible that sites that attempted to set a default vhost are vulernable if they followed advice like this when doing so: URL ; an attacker need only sign up with a lexicographically lower name on that hosting platform to obtain control of the default. Peter Eckersley EMAIL Chief Computer Scientist Tel +1 415 436 9333 x131 Electronic Frontier Foundation Fax +1 415 436 9993

Revised text:
As a domain may resolve to multiple IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, the server will connect to at least one of the hosts found in A and AAAA  <ins> records, at its discretion.  Because many webservers allocate a default HTTPS virtual host to a particular low-privilege tenant user in a subtle and non-intuitive manner, the challenge must be completed over HTTP, not HTTPS. </ins> The string "simpleHttp"