5.4 Ephemeral Certificates

Short-lived session certificates for enhanced security.

Concept

  • Main certificate authenticates once
  • Server issues ephemeral certificate
  • Ephemeral certificate valid only for this session
  • Automatic rotation every X minutes

Flow

1. Client -> Server: Main certificate
2. Server validates against CA
3. Server -> Client: Ephemeral certificate (signed)
4. Client uses ephemeral certificate for requests
5. After expiry: Back to step 1

Configuration

{
  "Security": {
    "EphemeralCertificate": {
      "Enabled": true,
      "ValidityMinutes": 15,
      "RotationBeforeExpiryMinutes": 2
    }
  }
}

Rotation

The client must request a new ephemeral certificate in time:

// Check if rotation needed
if (ephemeralCert.NotAfter < DateTime.UtcNow.AddMinutes(2))
{
    ephemeralCert = await RequestNewEphemeralCert();
}

Benefits

  • Compromised certificate only valid briefly
  • Forward Secrecy
  • Minimized attack surface

PQ-Crypto Library

Zuletzt geändert: on 2026/01/30 at 08:47 AM