5

We're thinking of improving the authentication of some critical webpages with client certificates, but we're not sure whether it's a widely used standard.

Are SSL Client Certificates well supported by all major browsers? In particular, do they work on the following browsers?

  • Internet Explorer
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Google Chrome
  • Apple Safari (Mac and iOS)
  • Android Web Browser

(We use Apache on the servers, if that matters)

3
  • Any browser that can access https sites supports certificates. Sep 18, 2011 at 1:16
  • @John Could you please confirm you're talking about the client certificates that are used to authenticate the client?
    – netvope
    Sep 18, 2011 at 1:19
  • sorry, I think I misunderstood the question. Sep 18, 2011 at 4:12

2 Answers 2

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I don't have a way of testing all of this, but this site came up on google with instructions for installing PKCS#12 certificate/key pairs in a number of different situations, including on the iPhone.

It seems that Android only uses PKCS#12 certificates for VPN authentication. Here is the wishlist entry for browser client authentication support using imported certificates.

-2

That depends on the CA (Certificate Authority) and whether they are included as defaults or updates to the various web browsers. You can get a general idea by looking through the default CAs included/identified with the various web browsers.

Non-included CAs will result in a warning screen via the web browsers, which may cause some alarm/concern with some users.

SSL over HTTPS support is generally universal across the contemporary web browsers.

5
  • Do you imply that all browsers support client certificates, and the only problem is that the browser's trusted CA list may not include the one I used (i.e. the same problem server certificates face)?
    – netvope
    Sep 18, 2011 at 1:07
  • Yes, SSL support is practically universal for all contemporary web browsers.
    – user48838
    Sep 18, 2011 at 1:11
  • 1
    Are you sure you you're not talking about server certificates?
    – MDMarra
    Sep 18, 2011 at 1:14
  • Actually, there may be additional warnings if a certificate is not used in the application/use that is has been identified for (if it can be somehow installed in the first place).
    – user48838
    Sep 18, 2011 at 1:20
  • 1
    You're talking about something completely different what the OP asked.
    – womble
    Sep 18, 2011 at 3:37

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