tlsdate: secure parasitic rdate replacement
tlsdate sets the local clock by securely connecting with TLS to remote
servers and extracting the remote time out of the secure handshake. Unlike
ntpdate, tlsdate uses TCP, for instance connecting to a remote HTTPS or TLS
enabled service, and provides some protection against adversaries that try to
feed you malicious time information.
On Debian GNU/Linux and related systems, we provide an init.d script that
controls the tlsdated daemon. It will notice network changes and regularly
invoke tlsdate to keep the clock in sync. Start it like so:
/etc/init.d/tlsdate start
Here is an example an unprivileged user fetching the remote time:
% tlsdate -V -n -H encrypted.google.com
Fri Apr 19 17:56:46 PDT 2013
This is an example run - starting as root and dropping to nobody, setting the
clock and printing it:
% sudo tlsdate -V
Fri Apr 19 17:57:49 PDT 2013
Here is an example with a custom host and custom port without verification:
% sudo tlsdate --skip-verification -p 80 -H rgnx.net
Here is an example where a system may not have any kind of RTC at boot. Do the
time warp to restore sanity and do so with a leap of faith:
% sudo tlsdate -V -l -t
Fri Apr 19 18:08:03 PDT 2013
Some SSL/TLS services do not provide accurate time in their handshake process;
tlsdate may also be used to fetch time by processing the HTTP Date headers of
HTTP services:
% sudo tlsdate -V -l -t -w
Wed Oct 30 18:08:46 CET 2013
