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Cipher suites can only be negotiated for TLS versions which support them. The highest supported TLS version is always preferred in the TLS handshake. For example, SSL_CK_RC4_128_WITH_MD5 can only be used when both the client and server do not support TLS 1.2, 1.1 & 1.0 or SSL 3.0 since it is only supported with SSL 2.0.
Availability of cipher suites should be controlled in one of two ways:
- Default priority order is overridden when a priority list is configured. Cipher suites not in the priority list will not be used.
- Allowed when application passes SCH_USE_STRONG_CRYPTO: The Microsoft Schannel provider will filter out known weak cipher suites when the application uses the SCH_USE_STRONG_CRYPTO flag. In Windows10, version 1511, in addition to RC4, DES, export and null cipher suites are filtered out.
Important
HTTP/2 web services fail with non-HTTP/2-compatible cipher suites. To ensure your web services function with HTTP/2 clients and browsers, see How to deploy custom cipher suite ordering.
FIPS-compliance has become more complex with the addition of elliptic curves making the FIPS mode enabled column in previous versions of this table misleading. For example, a cipher suite such as TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256 is only FIPS-compliant when using NIST elliptic curves. To find out which combinations of elliptic curves and cipher suites will be enabled in FIPS mode, see section 3.3.1 of Guidelines for the Selection, Configuration, and Use of TLS Implementations.
For Windows10, version 1511, the following cipher suites are enabled and in this priority order by default using the Microsoft Schannel Provider:
| Cipher suite string | Allowed by SCH_USE_STRONG_CRYPTO | TLS/SSL Protocol versions |
|---|---|---|
| TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0 |
| TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0 |
| TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0 |
| TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0 |
| TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0 |
| TLS_DHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0 |
| TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256 | Yes | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0 |
| TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0 |
| TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA | Yes | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, SSL 3.0 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA | No | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, SSL 3.0 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 | No | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, SSL 3.0 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_NULL_SHA256 Only used when application explicitly requests. | No | TLS 1.2 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_NULL_SHA Only used when application explicitly requests. | No | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, SSL 3.0 |
| SSL_CK_DES_192_EDE3_CBC_WITH_MD5 Only used when application explicitly requests. | Yes | SSL 2.0 |
| SSL_CK_RC4_128_WITH_MD5 Only used when application explicitly requests. | No | SSL 2.0 |
The following cipher suites are supported by the Microsoft Schannel Provider, but not enabled by default:
| Cipher suite string | Allowed by SCH_USE_STRONG_CRYPTO | TLS/SSL Protocol versions |
|---|---|---|
| TLS_RSA_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA | No | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, SSL 3.0 |
| TLS_RSA_EXPORT1024_WITH_RC4_56_SHA | No | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, SSL 3.0 |
| TLS_RSA_EXPORT1024_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA | No | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, SSL 3.0 |
| TLS_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5 | No | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, SSL 3.0 |
| TLS_RSA_WITH_NULL_MD5 Only used when application explicitly requests. | No | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, SSL 3.0 |
| TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA | No | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, SSL 3.0 |
| TLS_DHE_DSS_EXPORT1024_WITH_DES_CBC_SHA | No | TLS 1.2, TLS 1.1, TLS 1.0, SSL 3.0 |
| SSL_CK_DES_64_CBC_WITH_MD5 | No | SSL 2.0 |
| SSL_CK_RC4_128_EXPORT40_WITH_MD5 | No | SSL 2.0 |
To add cipher suites, either deploy a group policy or use the TLS cmdlets:
- To use group policy, configure SSL Cipher Suite Order under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > SSL Configuration Settings with the priority list for all cipher suites you want enabled.
- To use PowerShell, see TLS cmdlets.
Note
Prior to Windows10, cipher suite strings were appended with the elliptic curve to determine the curve priority. Windows10 supports an elliptic curve priority order setting so the elliptic curve suffix is not required and is overridden by the new elliptic curve priority order, when provided, to allow organizations to use group policy to configure different versions of Windows with the same cipher suites.
Important
HTTP/2 web services are incompatible with custom TLS cipher suite orders. For more information see How to deploy custom cipher suite ordering.
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