New functions
Other changes to extensions
Migrating from PHP 5.5.x to PHP 5.6.x
PHP Manual

## OpenSSL changes in PHP 5.6.x

### Stream wrappers now verify peer certificates and host names by default when using SSL/TLS

All encrypted client streams now enable peer verification by default. By default, this will use OpenSSL's default CA bundle to verify the peer certificate. In most cases, no changes will need to be made to communicate with servers with valid SSL certificates, as distributors generally configure OpenSSL to use known good CA bundles.

The default CA bundle may be overridden on a global basis by setting either the openssl.cafile or openssl.capath configuration setting, or on a per request basis by using the `cafile` or `capath` context options.

While not recommended in general, it is possible to disable peer certificate verification for a request by setting the `verify_peer` context option to `FALSE`, and to disable peer name validation by setting the `verify_peer_name` context option to `FALSE`.

### Certificate fingerprints

Support has been added for extracting and verifying certificate fingerprints. openssl_x509_fingerprint() has been added to extract a fingerprint from an X.509 certificate, and two SSL stream context options have been added: capture_peer_cert to capture the peer's X.509 certificate, and peer_fingerprint to assert that the peer's certificate should match the given fingerprint.

### Default ciphers updated

The default ciphers used by PHP have been updated to a more secure list based on the » Mozilla cipher recommendations, with two additional exclusions: anonymous Diffie-Hellman ciphers, and RC4.

This list can be accessed via the new `OPENSSL_DEFAULT_STREAM_CIPHERS` constant, and can be overridden (as in previous PHP versions) by setting the `ciphers` context option.

### Compression disabled by default

SSL/TLS compression has been disabled by default to mitigate the CRIME attack. PHP 5.4.13 added a `disable_compression` context option to allow compression to be disabled: this is now set to `TRUE` (that is, compression is disabled) by default.

### Allow servers to prefer their cipher order

The `honor_cipher_order` SSL context option has been added to allow encrypted stream servers to mitigate BEAST vulnerabilities by preferring the server's ciphers to the client's.

### Access the negotiated protocol and cipher

The protocol and cipher that were negotiated for an encrypted stream can now be accessed via stream_get_meta_data() or stream_context_get_options() when the `capture_session_meta` SSL context option is set to `TRUE`.

`<?php
$ctx = stream_context_create(['ssl' => [
'capture_session_meta' => TRUE
]]);
$html = file_get_contents('https://google.com/', FALSE, $ctx);
$meta = stream_context_get_options($ctx)['ssl']['session_meta'];
var_dump($meta);
?>`

The above example will output:

    array(4) {
      ["protocol"]=>
      string(5) "TLSv1"
      ["cipher_name"]=>
      string(20) "ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA"
      ["cipher_bits"]=>
      int(128)
      ["cipher_version"]=>
      string(11) "TLSv1/SSLv3"
    }

### New options for perfect forward secrecy in encrypted stream servers

Encrypted client streams already support perfect forward secrecy, as it is generally controlled by the server. PHP encrypted server streams using certificates capable of perfect forward secrecy do not need to take any additional action to enable PFS; however a number of new SSL context options have been added to allow more control over PFS and deal with any compatibility issues that may arise.

`ecdh_curve`

  This option allows the selection of a specific curve for use with ECDH ciphers. If not specified, prime256v1 will be used.

`dh_param`

  A path to a file containing parametrs for Diffie-Hellman key exchange, such as that created by the following command:

      openssl dhparam -out /path/to/my/certs/dh-2048.pem 2048

`single_dh_use`

  If set to `TRUE`, a new key pair will be created when using Diffie-Hellman parameters, thereby improving forward secrecy.

`single_ecdh_use`

  If set to `TRUE`, a new key pair will always be generated when ECDH cipher suites are negotiated. This improves forward secrecy.

### SSL/TLS version selection

It is now possible to select specific versions of SSL and TLS via the `crypto_method` SSL context option or by specifying a specific transport when creating a stream wrapper (for example, by calling stream_socket_client() or stream_socket_server()).

The `crypto_method` SSL context option accepts a bitmask enumerating the protocols that are permitted, as does the `crypto_type` of stream_socket_enable_crypto().

Selected protocol versions and corresponding options
Protocol(s) | Client flag | Server flag | Transport
--- | --- | --- | ---
Any TLS or SSL version | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_ANY_CLIENT` | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_ANY_SERVER` | ssl://
Any TLS version | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLS_CLIENT` | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLS_SERVER` | tls://
TLS 1.0 | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLSv_1_0_CLIENT` | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLSv_1_0_SERVER` | tlsv1.0://
TLS 1.1 | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLSv_1_1_CLIENT` | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLSv_1_1_SERVER` | tlsv1.1://
TLS 1.2 | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLSv_1_2_CLIENT` | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLSv_1_2_SERVER` | tlsv1.2://
SSL 3 | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_SSLv3_CLIENT` | `STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_SSLv3_SERVER` | sslv3://

`<?php
// Requiring TLS 1.0 or better when using file_get_contents():
$ctx = stream_context_create([
'ssl' => [
'crypto_method' => STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLS_CLIENT,
],
]);
$html = file_get_contents('https://google.com/', false, $ctx);
// Requiring TLS 1.1 or 1.2:
$ctx = stream_context_create([
'ssl' => [
'crypto_method' => STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLSv_1_1_CLIENT |
STREAM_CRYPTO_METHOD_TLSv_1_2_CLIENT,
],
]);
$html = file_get_contents('https://google.com/', false, $ctx);
// Connecting using the tlsv1.2:// stream socket transport.
$sock = stream_socket_client('tlsv1.2://google.com:443/');
?>`

### openssl_get_cert_locations() added

The openssl_get_cert_locations() function has been added: it returns the default locations PHP will search when looking for CA bundles.

`<?php
var_dump(openssl_get_cert_locations());
?>`

The above example will output:

    array(8) {
      ["default_cert_file"]=>
      string(21) "/etc/pki/tls/cert.pem"
      ["default_cert_file_env"]=>
      string(13) "SSL_CERT_FILE"
      ["default_cert_dir"]=>
      string(18) "/etc/pki/tls/certs"
      ["default_cert_dir_env"]=>
      string(12) "SSL_CERT_DIR"
      ["default_private_dir"]=>
      string(20) "/etc/pki/tls/private"
      ["default_default_cert_area"]=>
      string(12) "/etc/pki/tls"
      ["ini_cafile"]=>
      string(0) ""
      ["ini_capath"]=>
      string(0) ""
    }

### SPKI support

Support has been added for generating, extracting and verifying signed public key and challenges (SPKAC). openssl_spki_new(), openssl_spki_verify(), openssl_spki_export_challenge(), and openssl_spki_export() have been added to create, verify export PEM public key and associated challenge from SPKAC's generated from a KeyGen HTML5 element.

`openssl_spki_new`

  Generates a new SPKAC using private key, challenge string and hashing algorithm.

  `<?php
  $pkey = openssl_pkey_new();
  openssl_pkey_export($pkey, 'secret passphrase');
  $spkac = openssl_spki_new($pkey, 'challenge string');
  ?>`

  The above example will output:

      SPKAC=MIIBXjCByDCBnzANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOBjQAwgYkCgYEA3L0IfUijj7+A8CPC8EmhcdNoe5fUAog7OrBdhn7EkxFButUp40P7+LiYiygYG1TmoI/a5EgsLU3s9twEz3hmgY9mYIqb/rb+SF8qlD/K6KVyUORC7Wlz1Df4L8O3DuRGzx6/+3jIW6cPBpfgH1sVuYS1vDBsP/gMMIxwTsKJ4P0CAwEAARYkYjViMzYxMTktNjY5YS00ZDljLWEyYzctMGZjNGFhMjVlMmE2MA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAwUAA4GBAF7hu0ifzmjonhAak2FhhBRsKFDzXdKIkrWxVNe8e0bZzMrWOxFM/rqBgeH3/gtOUDRS5Fnzyq425UsTYbjfiKzxGeCYCQJb1KJ2V5Ij/mIJHZr53WYEXHQTNMGR8RPm7IxwVXVSHIgAfXsXZ9IXNbFbcaLRiSTr9/N4U+MXUWL7

`openssl_spki_verify`

  Verifies provided SPKAC.

  `<?php
  $pkey = openssl_pkey_new();
  openssl_pkey_export($pkey, 'secret passphrase');
  $spkac = openssl_spki_new($pkey, 'challenge string');
  var_dump(openssl_spki_verify($spkac));
  ?>`
`openssl_spki_export_challenge`

  Exports associated challenge from provided SPKAC.

  `<?php
  $pkey = openssl_pkey_new();
  openssl_pkey_export($pkey, 'secret passphrase');
  $spkac = openssl_spki_new($pkey, 'challenge string');
  $challenge = openssl_spki_export_challenge($spkac):
  echo $challenge;
  ?>`

  The above example will output:

      challenge string

`openssl_spki_export`

  Exports the PEM formatted RSA public key from SPKAC.

  `<?php
  $pkey = openssl_pkey_new();
  openssl_pkey_export($pkey, 'secret passphrase');
  $spkac = openssl_spki_new($pkey, 'challenge string');
  echo openssl_spki_export($spkac);
  ?>`

  The above example will output:

      -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
      MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDcvQh9SKOPv4DwI8LwSaFx02h7
      l9QCiDs6sF2GfsSTEUG61SnjQ/v4uJiLKBgbVOagj9rkSCwtTez23ATPeGaBj2Zg
      ipv+tv5IXyqUP8ropXJQ5ELtbXPUN/gvw7cO5EbPHr/7eMhbpw8Gl+AfWxW5hLW8
      MGw/+AwwjHBOwong/QIDAQAB
      -----END PUBLIC KEY-----

New functions
Other changes to extensions
Migrating from PHP 5.5.x to PHP 5.6.x
PHP Manual