`dh-composite` can be mitigated by using the "NORMAL:%PROFILE_MEDIUM" priority string[1], "NORMAL:%PROFILE_HIGH" [2] will pass all 26 badssl test while still allowing connection to ELPA/MELPA without even supplying CRL files (GnuTLS already does OCSP stapling verifcation transparently, and Emacs is using it already minus surfacing `GNUTLS_CERT_MISSING_OCSP_STATUS` when it fails). The exact meaning these levels appears to be spread out among different tables in ENISA's Algorithms, Key Sizes and Parameters Report - 2013 [3].
As a possible way to avoid confusion, I would suggest we consolidate the 2 different meaning of profiles (NSM and GnuTLS) into GnuTLS's. Instead of having users to edit an alist like Lars has done in commit 6584bc67, we could:
1. Append `network-security-level` to `gnutls-algorithm-priority`, i.e. `network-security-level` will be a list of predefined symbols that will be mapped to GnuTLS's `%PROFILE_*` strings, and append to it when setting up `gnutls-boot-parameters`.
2. Forget about letting users decide whether they want to accept problematic certs or not, no modern browsers does it anymore. Doing network security checks in 2 different places also introduces impedance mismatch. Specifically, GnuTLS by default disables a number of cyphers and hashes. The only way to stop it from generating fatal alerts is to enable everything GnuTLS has implemented and reinvent all the wheels in LISP (do you really want to reenable SSL3?). This is insane from both a security and performance perspective, as we don't have reliable NETSEC resources to respond to any security issues that we may introduce during the process. Even if we do, there's a larger problem of Emacs's release process.
3. To solve the problem of letting users fine tune the client's acceptable cyphersuite, MACs and whatnot for emergencies out of Emacs' release cycles, let's introduce a bunch of new defcustoms such as `gnutls-cyphersuite`, `gnutls-key-exchange` etc, see [1] for the table.
4. Normally, the fine tuning defcustoms in 3) will be nil, in which case `gnutls-algorithm-priority` takes precedence, otherwise they are combined into a final priority string supplied to `gnutls-boot-parameters`.
5. Merge nsm into the gnutls group. No more distinction between interactive and non-interactive sessions due to 2).
References: