Can numerical cipher values be used in XCOM

Products

• XCOM Data Transport - z/OS
• XCOM Data Transport
• XCOM Data Transport - Linux PC
• XCOM Data Transport - Windows

Issue/Introduction

Using XCOM for z/OS and changing the default ciphers in the XCOM_CONFIG_SSL file SYSconfigSSL.cnf per below to meet security requirements:

CURRENT
INITIATE_SIDE = ALL:!ADH:!AES:!LOW:!EXP:MD5:@STRENGTH

RECEIVE_SIDE  = ALL:!ADH:!AES:!LOW:!EXP:!MD5:@STRENGTH   

NEW
INITIATE_SIDE = TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256:
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256:TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256

RECEIVE_SIDE = TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256:
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256:TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256

Referencing IBM page z/OS Cryptographic Services System SSL Programming > Cipher suite definitions Table 2, is it possible to use a shorter form of the indvidual cipher names like the 4 character numerical values documented there?

Resolution

With XCOM It is required to specify the short names specified in Table 2 of the page z/OS Cryptographic Services System SSL Programming > Cipher suite definitions i.e. it is not possible to use the 4-character cipher numbers.
The short names are the standard names as set by the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority). XCOM needs the cipher names which it later converts to cipher numbers using internal conversion tables for passing to System SSL.

Additional Information

The same advice applies to XCOM on distributed OS platforms.