China is now blocking all encrypted HTTPS traffic using TLS 1.3 and ESNI

5 years ago (zdnet.com)

Up until now, I thought "The Great Firewall" was limited to layer 2, layer 3, and just layer-7 DNS controls.

The capability described in this article sounds more like a full layer-7 MITM.

That's terrifying. Is any HTTPS secure within mainlan China's networks?

Or am I misunderstanding, and it's just the government websites that are blocking incoming TLS 1.3 connections?

  • GFW has been all layer for a long time, including actively re-probing and connecting back to a server from random (really, virtually any CN IP space).

    HTTPS is somewhat secure, but subject to MITM. Most Chinese forks of browsers ignore certificate errors and allow everything through.