https://nalar.dev/tags/mutual-tls/ Recent content in Mutual TLS on Nalar Hugo en-us Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0700 https://nalar.dev/mutual-tls-moves-client-identity-into-the-handshake/ Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0700 https://nalar.dev/mutual-tls-moves-client-identity-into-the-handshake/ <h1 id="mutual-tls-moves-client-identity-into-the-handshake">Mutual TLS Moves Client Identity Into the Handshake</h1> <p>An internal API can receive a perfectly encrypted TLS connection and still have no cryptographic evidence about the process at the other end. Ordinary server-authenticated TLS proves the server&rsquo;s identity to the client and protects traffic in transit, but the application still needs another mechanism to identify its caller.</p> <p>Mutual TLS, commonly shortened to mTLS, adds certificate-based client authentication to that exchange. The server requests a client certificate, validates the presented chain according to its trust policy, and verifies a signature proving possession of the corresponding private key. The result is a transport connection associated with a cryptographic client identity before ordinary application requests are processed.</p>