Encrypted Client Hello Is Coming: A View from Passive Measurements

The Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) extension to Transport Layer Security (TLS) and the new type of Domain Name System (DNS) records called HTTPS represent the latest efforts to improve user privacy by encrypting the server’s domain name during the TLS handshake. While prior studies have assessed ECH adoption from the server perspective, little is known about its usage in the wild from a passive network standpoint. In this paper, we present the first passive analysis of ECH and HTTPS DNS adoption using a month-long dataset collected from an operational network. We find that HTTPS DNS queries already make up approximately 8% of total DNS traffic, although responses to those queries are often incomplete, leading to increased query volume. Furthermore, 59% of QUIC flows include ECH, although only a negligible fraction is directed to servers supporting it. The remaining ECH flows are composed of GREASE values, intended to prevent protocol ossification. Our findings provide new insights into the current state and challenges in deploying privacy-enhancing protocols at scale.