Security levels

Refer to the sections below for three different security levels and how Cloudflare recommends that you set them up if you need to restrict the cipher suites used between Cloudflare and clients that access your website or application.

Refer to Customize cipher suites to learn how to specify cipher suites at zone level or per hostname.

Warning

When opting for compatible or modern, make sure to up your Minimum TLS version to 1.2 and enable TLS 1.3 on your zone.

Modern

Offers the best security and performance, limiting your range of clients to modern devices and browsers. Supports TLS 1.2-1.3 cipher suites. All suites are forward-secret and support authenticated encryption (AEAD).

Cipher suites list

AEAD-AES128-GCM-SHA256¹, AEAD-AES256-GCM-SHA384², AEAD-CHACHA20-POLY1305-SHA256³,ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256, ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305, ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256, ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384

If you are customizing cipher suites via API, refer to Steps and API examples for a snippet you can copy with the formatted array.

Compatible

Provides broader compatibility with somewhat weaker security. Supports TLS 1.2-1.3 cipher suites. All suites are forward-secret.

Cipher suites list

AEAD-AES128-GCM-SHA256, AEAD-AES256-GCM-SHA384, AEAD-CHACHA20-POLY1305-SHA256, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256, ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305, ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256, ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256, ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384, ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384

If you are customizing cipher suites via API, refer to Steps and API examples for a snippet you can copy with the formatted array.

Legacy (default)

Includes all cipher suites that Cloudflare supports today. Broadest compatibility with the weakest security. Supports TLS 1.0-1.3 cipher suites.

Cipher suites list

AEAD-AES128-GCM-SHA256, AEAD-AES256-GCM-SHA384, AEAD-CHACHA20-POLY1305-SHA256, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256, ECDHE-ECDSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305, ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256, ECDHE-RSA-CHACHA20-POLY1305, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256, ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384, ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384, ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA, ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA, AES128-GCM-SHA256, AES128-SHA256, AES128-SHA, ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, AES256-GCM-SHA384, AES256-SHA256, AES256-SHA, DES-CBC3-SHA

To reset your option to the default, use an empty array.

Footnotes

1. Same as TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256. Refer to TLS 1.3 cipher suites for details. ↩

2. Same as TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384. Refer to TLS 1.3 cipher suites for details. ↩

3. Same as TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256. Refer to TLS 1.3 cipher suites for details. ↩