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ssldump

v1.9 open-source

SSLv3/TLS network protocol analyzer that decodes records, decrypts connections with keying material, and outputs JSON with JA3JA3A method for fingerprinting TLS clients by hashing fields from the ClientHello message, producing a short string that identifies the TLS library or application making a connection regardless of IP or port. and FAN/1 fingerprints.

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Summary

ssldump is an open-source command-line network protocol analyzer for SSLv3/TLS traffic, and it is free to use. It runs against a chosen network interface (or a pcappcapA packet capture, recorded network packets that can be inspected later. Analysts use it to reconstruct communication and investigate protocol behavior or suspicious traffic. file), identifying TCPTCPA network protocol that delivers a reliable, ordered stream of bytes between two endpoints. It detects lost data and retransmits it. connections, decoding SSLv3/TLS records, and, given the right keying material, decrypting and displaying application data; it also outputs JSON with JA3 and passive FAN/1 fingerprints for ClientHello, ServerHello, and certificate messages. This makes it a fit for network analysts and incident responders working directly with packet capturespacket capturesA packet capture, recorded network packets that can be inspected later. Analysts use it to reconstruct communication and investigate protocol behavior or suspicious traffic. rather than dashboards. It sits in the packet-capture and protocol-analysis space alongside tools like tcpdump and Wireshark, but focused specifically on interpreting and decrypting TLS sessions. First committed in 2015 and still maintained, with 22 contributors and 38 commits in the past year, though its most recent release was over 21 months ago.

SSLv3/TLS network protocol analyzer that decodes records, decrypts connections with keying material, and outputs JSON with JA3 and FAN/1 fingerprints.

How ssldump helps

Which TLS sessions in this capture were actually established, and between whom?

scans the interface or pcap file for TCP connections and identifies which ones carry SSLv3/TLS traffic, printing each handshake as it decodes it

What did an encrypted session actually send, once I have the session keys?

given the matching keying material, decrypts the recorded traffic and prints the application data in text form alongside the handshake

Which clients or servers in this traffic match known TLS fingerprints?

computes JA3 and passive FAN/1 fingerprints from ClientHello, ServerHello, and certificate messages and writes them out as JSON for matching against fingerprint databases

Can I tell whether a captured session was TLS 1.3 rather than an older version?

parses the handshake records themselves and reports the negotiated version and cipher details, including TLS 1.3 sessions

Does a capture taken from a tunnel or non-Ethernet interface still show readable sessions?

reads raw IP captures without Layer 2 headers, so traffic pulled from tunnel interfaces still gets parsed into connections and records

Can I trust the timing of events when replaying an old capture?

uses the timestamps stored in the pcap file itself rather than the current clock, so replayed captures show the original session timing

all 5 features, with the evidence for each →

Languages

Not documented

Features

5 capabilities across 4 capability groups · 2 backed by code, an API document or a real run

Built from ssldump's releases, docs, README and our own runs. “Seen” marks the month we first spotted a release the vendor didn't date. Group names and tags are our labels.

Compare with peers →

  • ssldump covers 3 of the 34 network analysis capabilities we track.
  • ssldump covers 1 of the 5 network observation capabilities we track.

What ssldump offers you

  • Command-line interface2
  • JSON data export2
TLS decryption from key logs 1 feature Network analysis since 2019
TLS 1.3 decryption and analysis shipped Enables the capture, decryption, and analysis of TLS 1.3 encrypted traffic using keying material. 5 releases · 2 other sources · first seen May 2019

Shared capability: TLS decryption from key logs

Also counts toward: Command-line interface

release

  • Supports TLS 1.3 traffic analysis. v1.9 · Nov 2024 · source · release history
  • Adds tls1.3 decryption support for capturing and analyzing encrypted traffic v1.7 · Apr 2023 · source · release history
  • Improves support by properly decoding TLS 1.3 ClientHello version 2 records v1.3 · Feb 2021 · source · release history
  • Adds support to decrypt resumed TLS sessions v1.2 · Sep 2020 · source · release history
  • Adds -l CLI flag to parse SSLKEYLOGFILE for session master secrets v1.0 · May 2019 · source · release history

example

  • Decrypt TLS traffic that uses session resumption. ssldump -k keys.pem -r capture.pcap v1.2 · Sep 2020 · source
  • Decrypt TLS traffic by passing the browser's SSLKEYLOGFILE to ssldump so Wireshark/tshark can decrypt the stream. ssldump -i eth0 -l /tmp/nsslog.txt v1.0 · May 2019 · source
Capture file formats 1 feature Network analysis since 2021
Output format options verified Controls how captured or decrypted packet data is written out, including JSON formatting for stdout and writing decrypted packets to a pcap file. 4 releases · 2 other sources · first seen Feb 2021

Shared capability: Capture file formats

Also counts toward: Command-line interface, JSON data export

release

  • Adds live list and purge functionality to the connection tracker for better session management. v1.9 · Nov 2024 · source · release history
  • Supports raw IP captures (packets without Layer 2 headers), enabling use with tunnel interfaces and similar sources. v1.9 · Nov 2024 · source · release history
  • Adds support for IPv6 traffic dump allowing capture of IPv6 network traffic v1.4 · May 2022 · source · release history
  • Adds JSON export capability for decoded TLS traffic data v1.3 · Feb 2021 · source · release history

command line

  • -w — Use outputpcap as the destination for decrypted packets. v1.3 · Feb 2021 · command-line history
  • -j — Switch output format to JSON. Only stdout is affected by this toggle. v1.3 · Feb 2021 · command-line history
TLS inspection and fingerprinting 1 feature Network analysis since 2020
JA3 and FAN/1 fingerprinting shipped Computes JA3/JA3S hashes for TLS handshakes and supports inspection of FAN/1 fingerprints from captured traffic. 2 releases · 3 other sources · first seen Sep 2020

Shared capability: TLS inspection and fingerprinting

Also counts toward: JSON data export

release

  • Adds support for ja3 & ja3s enabling TLS handshake fingerprinting via JA3/JA3S hash computation v1.4 · May 2022 · source · release history
  • Use sni in server_name field v1.2 · Sep 2020 · source · release history

example

  • View the Server Name Indication in the output for resumed sessions. ssldump -k keys.pem -r capture.pcap | grep server_name v1.2 · Sep 2020 · source
  • Inspect FAN/1 fingerprints from pcap ./ssldump -r yourcapture.pcap -j | jq 'select(.fan1_tls_fp != null or .cert_chain != null) | {handshake_type, fan1_tls_features, fan1_tls_fp, cert_chain}'
  • Run on all interfaces with JSON and JA3 output ./ssldump -j -ANH -n -i any | jq
Network traffic analysis 1 feature Network observation since 2021
TCP packet description verified Displays descriptions of TCP packets, with an option to prepend a timestamp to each entry. 2 releases · 2 other sources · first seen Feb 2021

Shared capability: Network traffic analysis

release

  • Adds -z CLI option to print timestamps in front of TCP headers 1.8 · Aug 2023 · source · release history
  • Adds -z CLI flag to ssldump to prefix TCP header output with timestamps. v1.8 · Aug 2023 · source · release history

command line

  • -z — Add timestamp in front of TCP packet description (-T) v1.8 · Aug 2023 · command-line history

example

  • Export SSL/TLS handshake details to a structured JSON file for programmatic analysis ssldump -J -i eth0 port 443 > traffic.json v1.3 · Feb 2021 · source
Other / not yet classified 1 feature Features we have not matched to a capability yet. A suggested match is marked.
Runtime control via signals shipped Allows runtime management of the cyber tool's operation through USR1 and USR2 signal handlers. 1 release · first seen Nov 2024

release

Lines in monospace are the tool's own words: help text parsed from its source, or an endpoint from its API document. Under release, a line is our summary of a dated release. Under docs, it is quoted from the tool's own documentation or website. Each links back to the source it came from.

Score card

  1. Shipping velocity releases a month, last 12 months
  2. Documentation quality release-notes rubric, 0–100
  3. Breaking-change discipline how rarely a release breaks users, and notice given
  4. Maintenance risk quiet time against its own cadence, maintainers
  5. Innovation & surface new capabilities, API and MCP surface
  6. Community health
  7. Contributor trend distinct committers, this year against last
  8. Maintainer concentration bus factor now against a year ago
  9. Issue backlog trend issues closed per issue opened, 12 months
  10. Responsiveness median time to a maintainer’s first reply

Nine scores for ssldump, each built from the releases, notes and API history this site tracks — and, on Researcher and Business, where it stands among every measured tool in its category and how that has moved.

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Each score is 0–100 on a published rubric, derived from data this site already shows. A dimension we cannot measure says so — it is never scored 0 and never enters a rank.

How this is scored
  • Shipping velocity — releases a month over the last 12 months, on a log scale where 16 a month scores 100. Needs 3 releases in the window.
  • Documentation quality — the release-notes rubric published on the analytics page, unchanged.
  • Breaking-change discipline — the share of releases carrying a breaking change (none scores 100, half or more scores 0). Only projects that label breaking changes are measured: a clean record cannot be told from an unlabelled one.
  • Maintenance risk — quiet time measured against the tool's own release cadence (quiet longer than 90 days and three typical gaps scores 0), plus the number of active maintainers and whether contributors are growing, where known. Higher is lower risk.
  • Innovation & surface — new capabilities in the feature ledger this year, API and MCP operations added, and the share of commits that are features: the mean of whichever we hold.
  • Community health (open-source tools only) — each is a direction, not a size: contributors this year against last, the bus factor now against a year ago, and issues closed per issue opened, where steady scores 50, doubled 100 and halved 0; plus the median time to a maintainer's first reply (an hour scores about 100, a month or more 0). A commercial card has no repository and carries none of the four.
  • Documented delivery (commercial tools) — when a vendor's documented new capabilities have slowed against its own baseline, that counts against the overall standing as heavily as two low dimensions. Steady delivery, or too little history to judge, leaves the standing alone; it is never a sixth score.
  • Open-source tools are scored on repository signals; commercial tools on their published changelog. Ranks compare tools within one category and one profile and need at least five measured peers; the overall standing needs three ranked dimensions. Best-in-breed or consolidator is a shape, not a quality, and is never scored.

Release-note detail over time

See how much detail ssldump puts in its release notes, quarter by quarter, and compare it with tracked tools in the same category. This history uses up to ten retained, reviewed notes per tool; sparse or blank older quarters may reflect that limit.

Checking release-note history…

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Releases

Show

8 entries

  1. November 20241
  3. August 20232
  6. April 20231
  8. May 20221
  10. February 20211
  12. September 20201
  14. May 20191
    Show

    8 entries

    1. v1.9 Nov 3, 2024 · release notes

      ssldump v1.9 adds TLS 1.3 support, raw IP capture, and original PCAPPCAPA packet capture, recorded network packets that can be inspected later. Analysts use it to reconstruct communication and investigate protocol behavior or suspicious traffic. timestamp preservation.

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v1.9 https://github.com/adulau/ssldump.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v1.9
      • Supports TLS 1.3 traffic analysis.
      • Supports raw IP captures (packets without Layer 2 headers), enabling use with tunnel interfaces and similar sources.
      • Preserves original PCAP timestamps instead of substituting live timeofday values, improving accuracy when replaying captures.
      • Adds live list and purge functionality to the connection tracker for better session management.
      • Adds USR1 and USR2 signal handlers for runtime control.

      5 details in Everything

    2. v1.8 Aug 14, 2023 · release notes

      ssldump v1.8 adds -z flag to print timestamps before TCPTCPA network protocol that delivers a reliable, ordered stream of bytes between two endpoints. It detects lost data and retransmits it. headers.

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v1.8 https://github.com/adulau/ssldump.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v1.8
      • Adds -z CLI flag to ssldump to prefix TCP header output with timestamps.

      1 detail in Everything

    3. 1.8 Aug 14, 2023 · release notes

      ssldump v1.8 adds -z flag for TCPTCPA network protocol that delivers a reliable, ordered stream of bytes between two endpoints. It detects lost data and retransmits it. timestamps and macOS/FreeBSD/OpenBSD support

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch 1.8 https://github.com/adulau/ssldump.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout 1.8
      • Adds -z CLI option to print timestamps in front of TCP headers

      1 detail in Everything

      └──▷ BREAKING ON UPGRADE
      • !Removes autotools files; build now requires CMake instead of autoconf/automake
    4. v1.7 Apr 9, 2023 · release notes

      ssldump v1.7 adds TLS 1.3 decryption support

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v1.7 https://github.com/adulau/ssldump.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v1.7
    5. v1.4 May 26, 2022 · release notes

      ssldump v1.4 adds IPv6IPv6The current version of the Internet Protocol, standardized by the IETF, using 128-bit addresses to replace the exhausted IPv4 space. Cyber tools target it because modern networks run dual-stack or IPv6-only. traffic dump support and ja3/ja3s fingerprint extraction capabilities.

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v1.4 https://github.com/adulau/ssldump.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v1.4
      • Adds support for IPv6 traffic dump allowing capture of IPv6 network traffic
      • Adds support for ja3 & ja3s enabling TLS handshake fingerprinting via JA3JA3A method for fingerprinting TLS clients by hashing fields from the ClientHello message, producing a short string that identifies the TLS library or application making a connection regardless of IP or port./JA3S hash computation

      2 details in Everything

    6. v1.3 Feb 2, 2021 · release notes

      ssldump v1.3 adds JSON export output and proper ClientHello v2 decoding

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v1.3 https://github.com/adulau/ssldump.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v1.3
      └──▷ TRY IT
      Export SSL/TLS handshake details to a structured JSON file for programmatic analysis
      $ ssldump -J -i eth0 port 443 > traffic.json
      • Adds JSON export capability for decoded TLS traffic data
      • Improves support by properly decoding TLS 1.3 ClientHello version 2 records

      2 details in Everything

    7. v1.2 Sep 22, 2020 · release notes

      ssldump v1.2 adds support for decrypting resumed TLS sessions and extracts SNISNIA TLS extension that lets a client declare which hostname it is connecting to during the handshake, allowing one server to host multiple certificates on a single IP address. from server_name.

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v1.2 https://github.com/adulau/ssldump.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v1.2
      └──▷ USE IT
      Decrypt TLS traffic that uses session resumption.
      shell 
      ssldump -k keys.pem -r capture.pcap
      View the Server Name Indication in the output for resumed sessions.
      shell 
      ssldump -k keys.pem -r capture.pcap | grep server_name
      • Adds support to decrypt resumed TLS sessions
      • Use sni in server_name field

      2 details in Everything

    8. v1.0 May 26, 2019 · release notes

      ssldump v1.0 adds -l flag for sslkeylogfile support, GREASEGREASEA TLS extension mechanism (RFC 8701) maintained by the IETF that injects reserved dummy values into handshakes to keep implementations from rejecting unknown extensions, ensuring future protocol additions deploy cleanly., TLS 1.3 ciphersuites, SNISNIA TLS extension that lets a client declare which hostname it is connecting to during the handshake, allowing one server to host multiple certificates on a single IP address., and E2M

      └──▷ GET THIS VERSION 
      $ git clone --branch v1.0 https://github.com/adulau/ssldump.git
# already have the repo? check out this version:
$ git checkout v1.0
      └──▷ TRY IT
      Decrypt TLS traffic by passing the browser's SSLKEYLOGFILE to ssldump so Wireshark/tshark can decrypt the stream.
      $ ssldump -i eth0 -l /tmp/nsslog.txt
      • Adds -l CLI flag to parse SSLKEYLOGFILE for session master secrets

      1 detail in Everything

    Project health

    Issue, contributor and maintainer activity in adulau/ssldump, 2023-10 – 2026-09, as of 2026-09-25. Twelve-month figures first; the trend lines run the whole window.

    1. Contributors 1 −1 vs prior 12 months
    2. Maintainers 1 +1 joined · −1 left, last 12 months
    3. Bus factor 1 committers behind half the commits
    4. Community-filed 100% of issues opened, last 12 months
    5. Median time to close not measured issues closed, last 12 months
    6. Open backlog 18 of 40 issues ever filed
    1. Issues opened / month 0 · 0 communitymaintainers
    2. Open backlog 18
    3. Contributors / month 0
    4. Commits / month 0
    5. Stars 258
    Issue themes, last 12 months
    • other 100%

    Counts from the project's public repository and git history; no individuals are identified. Maintainers are the committers covering 80% of the last year's commits. how we measure this

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    What its latest release locks, checked against known advisories.

    None of its release's images build from a lockfile we can read.

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