Files
cpp-httplib/docs-src/pages/en/cookbook/t05-peer-cert.md
T
yhirose 9bfd2ddf1c Fix README and docs pages that no longer match the code
Bring the READMEs and the docs pages (en and ja) in line with the
current header:

- Fix the client sample that does not compile, the Transfer-Encoding
  statement for default headers, the verifier callback comment, the
  thread pool spawn rule, the sanitize_filename description, and the
  inverted Accept-Encoding sentence.
- Describe recent behaviour: TLS errors behind Read/Write failures,
  Host validation, Connection: close for a body without length,
  content_reader rules, refused CONNECT, WebSocketClient proxies,
  CPPHTTPLIB_INTERIM_RESPONSE_MAX_COUNT, the SSE event size limit, and
  the payload limit of the Stream API.
- Complete the API references of WebSocket, WebSocketClient and the
  stream:: helpers, and the SSE reconnect rules.
- Fix cookbook pages: keychain loading on every backend, received Close
  status, a multipart sample that trusted the client's file name, an
  echo sample that sent binary as text, SNI, pre-request handler scope,
  stop() with WebSocket handlers, and the thread pool notes.
- Restore the mutex in the LLM app's Chapter 5 code.
2026-10-18 10:13:57 -04:00

89 lines
3.0 KiB
Markdown

---
title: "T05. Access the Peer Certificate on the Server Side"
order: 47
status: "draft"
---
In an mTLS setup, you can read the client's certificate from inside a handler. Pull out the CN or SAN to identify the user or log the request.
## Basic usage
```cpp
svr.Get("/me", [](const httplib::Request &req, httplib::Response &res) {
auto cert = req.peer_cert();
if (!cert) {
res.status = 401;
res.set_content("no client certificate", "text/plain");
return;
}
auto cn = cert.subject_cn();
res.set_content("hello, " + cn, "text/plain");
});
```
`req.peer_cert()` returns a `tls::PeerCert`. It's convertible to `bool`, so check whether a cert is present before using it.
## Available fields
From a `PeerCert`, you can get:
```cpp
auto cert = req.peer_cert();
std::string cn = cert.subject_cn(); // CN
std::string issuer = cert.issuer_name(); // issuer
std::string serial = cert.serial(); // serial number
time_t not_before, not_after;
cert.validity(not_before, not_after); // validity period
auto sans = cert.sans(); // SANs
for (const auto &san : sans) {
std::cout << san.value << std::endl;
}
```
There's also a helper that checks whether the certificate covers a hostname. It follows the rules of TLS hostname verification: an IP address is matched against the IP address SANs, a name against the DNS SANs, and the CN is used only when there's no DNS SAN.
```cpp
if (cert.check_hostname("alice.corp.example.com")) {
// matches
}
```
## Cert-based authorization
You can gate routes by CN or SAN.
```cpp
svr.set_pre_request_handler(
[](const httplib::Request &req, httplib::Response &res) {
auto cert = req.peer_cert();
if (!cert) {
res.status = 401;
return httplib::Server::HandlerResponse::Handled;
}
if (req.matched_route.rfind("/admin", 0) == 0) {
auto cn = cert.subject_cn();
if (!is_admin_cn(cn)) {
res.status = 403;
return httplib::Server::HandlerResponse::Handled;
}
}
return httplib::Server::HandlerResponse::Unhandled;
});
```
Combined with a pre-request handler, you can keep all authorization logic in one place. See [S11. Authenticate per route with a pre-request handler](../s11-pre-request).
## SNI (Server Name Indication)
Clients send SNI automatically. On the server, `req.sni()` returns the name the client asked for. `SSLServer` presents the same certificate whatever that name is, though, so to host several domains on one server, use a certificate that covers all of them. To choose a certificate per name, hook into the TLS backend yourself — with OpenSSL, for example, set a servername callback through the `SSLServer` constructor that takes a context setup callback.
> **Warning:** `req.peer_cert()` only returns a meaningful value when mTLS is enabled and the client actually presented a certificate. For plain TLS, you get an empty `PeerCert`. Always do the `bool` check before using it.
> To set up mTLS, see [T04. Configure mTLS](../t04-mtls).