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Reclassification of Suite B Documents to Historic Status
draft-housley-suite-b-to-historic-04

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 8423.
Authors Russ Housley , Lydia Zieglar
Last updated 2018-04-24 (Latest revision 2018-02-21)
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
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Reviews
Stream WG state (None)
Document shepherd Sean Turner
Shepherd write-up Show Last changed 2018-02-15
IESG IESG state Became RFC 8423 (Informational)
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Responsible AD Eric Rescorla
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IANA IANA review state IANA OK - No Actions Needed
draft-housley-suite-b-to-historic-04
Network Working Group                                         R. Housley
Internet-Draft                                            Vigil Security
Intended status: Informational                                L. Zieglar
Expires: August 25, 2018                        National Security Agency
                                                       February 21, 2018

        Reclassification of Suite B Documents to Historic Status
                  draft-housley-suite-b-to-historic-04

Abstract

   This document reclassifies the RFCs related to the U.S.  National
   Security Agency (NSA) Suite B cryptographic algorithms as Historic,
   and it discusses the reasons for doing so.  This document moves seven
   informational RFCs to Historic Status: RFC 5759, RFC 6239, RFC 6318,
   RFC 6379, RFC 6380, RFC 6403, and RFC 6460.  In addition, this
   document moves three obsolete informational RFCs to Historic Status:
   RFC 4869, RFC 5008, and RFC 5430.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on August 25, 2018.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2018 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must

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   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   3.  The RFCs Related to Suite B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   4.  Documents that Reference the Suite-B-related RFCs . . . . . .   3
     4.1.  Documents that Reference RFC 4869 . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     4.2.  Documents that Reference RFC 5759 . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.3.  Documents that Reference RFC 6379 . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.4.  Documents that Reference RFC 6403 . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.5.  Documents that Reference RFC 6460 . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Impact of Reclassifying the Suite-B-related RFCs to Historic    5
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   8.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7

1.  Introduction

   Several RFCs profile security protocols for use with the National
   Security Agency (NSA) Suite B Cryptography.  Suite B is no longer
   supported by NSA, and the web pages that specify the cryptographic
   algorithms are no longer available.

   In July 2015, NSA published the Committee for National Security
   Systems Advisory Memorandum 02-15 as the first step in replacing
   Suite B with NSA's Commercial National Security Algorithm (CNSA)
   Suite.  Information about the CNSA Suite can be found in [CNSA].

2.  Rationale

   As indicated in [CNSA], NSA is transitioning from Suite B to the CNSA
   Suite.  As a result, the profiles of the security protocols for the
   Suite B algorithms are now only of historic interest.

3.  The RFCs Related to Suite B

   Between 2007 and 2012, several Suite-B-related RFCs were published to
   profile security protocols for use with the Suite B algorithms.  They
   are:

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   o  [RFC4869], "Suite B Cryptographic Suites for IPsec" (Obsoleted by
      RFC 6379)

   o  [RFC5008], "Suite B in Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail
      Extensions (S/MIME)" (Obsoleted by RFC 6318)

   o  [RFC5430], "Suite B Profile for Transport Layer Security (TLS)"
      (Obsoleted by RFC 6460)

   o  [RFC5759], "Suite B Certificate and Certificate Revocation List
      (CRL) Profile"

   o  [RFC6239], "Suite B Cryptographic Suites for Secure Shell (SSH)"

   o  [RFC6318], "Suite B in Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail
      Extensions (S/MIME)"

   o  [RFC6379], "Suite B Cryptographic Suites for IPsec"

   o  [RFC6380], "Suite B Profile for Internet Protocol Security
      (IPsec)"

   o  [RFC6403], "Suite B Profile of Certificate Management over CMS"

   o  [RFC6460], "Suite B Profile for Transport Layer Security (TLS)"

4.  Documents that Reference the Suite-B-related RFCs

   There are several references among these RFCs.  These cross-
   references are not examined further.

   Other RFC make reference to these Suite-B-related RFCs; these
   references are discussed in the following subsections.

4.1.  Documents that Reference RFC 4869

   One other RFC makes reference to RFC 4869 [RFC4869].

   RFC 6071, "IP Security (IPsec) and Internet Key Exchange (IKE)
   Document Roadmap" [RFC6071], points out that RFC 4869 adds four pre-
   defined suites based upon Suite B specifications.  They are:

   o  IKE/ESP suite "Suite-B-GCM-128"

   o  IKE/ESP suite "Suite-B-GCM-256"

   o  IKE/AH suite "Suite-B-GMAC-128"

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   o  IKE/AH suite "Suite-B-GMAC-256"

   In each case, these suite definitions make use of algorithms that are
   defined in other RFCs.  No interoperability or security concerns are
   raised if implementations continue to make use of these suite names.

4.2.  Documents that Reference RFC 5759

   One other RFC makes reference to RFC 5759 [RFC5759].

   RFC 6187, "X.509v3 Certificates for Secure Shell Authentication"
   [RFC6187], points out that RFC 5759 provides additional guidance for
   Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) keys when used
   with Suite B.

4.3.  Documents that Reference RFC 6379

   One other RFC makes reference to RFC 6379 [RFC6379].

   RFC 7321, "Cryptographic Algorithm Implementation Requirements and
   Usage Guidance for Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) and
   Authentication Header (AH) [RFC7321], points out that the AES-GCM
   algorithm is used by Suite B, and it has emerged as the preferred
   authenticated encryption method in IPsec.

4.4.  Documents that Reference RFC 6403

   Two other RFCs make reference to RFC 6403 [RFC6403].

   RFC 6402, "Certificate Management over CMS (CMC) Updates" [RFC6402],
   says that development of the profile for Suite B was the activity
   that demonstrated the need for these updates.

   RFC 7030, "Enrollment over Secure Transport" [RFC7030], points out
   that the scenarios in the two documents are very similar.

4.5.  Documents that Reference RFC 6460

   Three other RFCs make reference to RFC 6460 [RFC6460].

   RFC 6605, "Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) for
   DNSSEC" [RFC6605], states that material was copied liberally from RFC
   6460.  The standards-track status of RFC 6605 is not affected by RFC
   6460 moving to Historic status.

   RFC 7525, "Recommendations for Secure Use of Transport Layer Security
   (TLS) and Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS)" [RFC7525],

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   observes that the Suite B profile of TLS 1.2 uses different cipher
   suites.

   RFC 8253, "PCEPS: Usage of TLS to Provide a Secure Transport for the
   Path Computation Element Communication Protocol (PCEP)" [RFC8253],
   points RFC 6460 for the TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 and
   TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 cipher suites.  Both of these
   ciphersuites are defined in [RFC5289], which would have been a better
   reference.  The standards-track status of RFC 8253 is not affected by
   RFC 6460 moving to Historic status.

5.  Impact of Reclassifying the Suite-B-related RFCs to Historic

   No interoperability or security concerns are raised by reclassifing
   the Suite-B-related RFCs to Historic Status.

6.  IANA Considerations

   No changes are requested to any IANA registries.

7.  Security Considerations

   The CNSA Suite includes algorithms using the larger key sizes that
   are included in Suite B.  There are no interoperability or security
   concerns raised by reclassifying the Suite-B-related RFCs to Historic
   Status.

8.  References

8.1.  Normative References

   [RFC4869]  Law, L. and J. Solinas, "Suite B Cryptographic Suites for
              IPsec", RFC 4869, DOI 10.17487/RFC4869, May 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4869>.

   [RFC5008]  Housley, R. and J. Solinas, "Suite B in Secure/
              Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME)", RFC 5008,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5008, September 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5008>.

   [RFC5430]  Salter, M., Rescorla, E., and R. Housley, "Suite B Profile
              for Transport Layer Security (TLS)", RFC 5430,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5430, March 2009,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5430>.

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   [RFC5759]  Solinas, J. and L. Zieglar, "Suite B Certificate and
              Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile", RFC 5759,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5759, January 2010,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5759>.

   [RFC6239]  Igoe, K., "Suite B Cryptographic Suites for Secure Shell
              (SSH)", RFC 6239, DOI 10.17487/RFC6239, May 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6239>.

   [RFC6318]  Housley, R. and J. Solinas, "Suite B in Secure/
              Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME)", RFC 6318,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6318, June 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6318>.

   [RFC6379]  Law, L. and J. Solinas, "Suite B Cryptographic Suites for
              IPsec", RFC 6379, DOI 10.17487/RFC6379, October 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6379>.

   [RFC6380]  Burgin, K. and M. Peck, "Suite B Profile for Internet
              Protocol Security (IPsec)", RFC 6380,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6380, October 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6380>.

   [RFC6403]  Zieglar, L., Turner, S., and M. Peck, "Suite B Profile of
              Certificate Management over CMS", RFC 6403,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6403, November 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6403>.

   [RFC6460]  Salter, M. and R. Housley, "Suite B Profile for Transport
              Layer Security (TLS)", RFC 6460, DOI 10.17487/RFC6460,
              January 2012, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6460>.

8.2.  Informative References

   [CNSA]     National Security Agency, "Commercial National Security
              Algorithm (CNSA) Suite", 2015,
              <https://www.iad.gov/iad/programs/iad-initiatives/
              cnsa-suite.cfm>.

   [RFC5289]  Rescorla, E., "TLS Elliptic Curve Cipher Suites with SHA-
              256/384 and AES Galois Counter Mode (GCM)", RFC 5289,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5289, August 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5289>.

   [RFC6071]  Frankel, S. and S. Krishnan, "IP Security (IPsec) and
              Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Document Roadmap", RFC 6071,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6071, February 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6071>.

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   [RFC6187]  Igoe, K. and D. Stebila, "X.509v3 Certificates for Secure
              Shell Authentication", RFC 6187, DOI 10.17487/RFC6187,
              March 2011, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6187>.

   [RFC6402]  Schaad, J., "Certificate Management over CMS (CMC)
              Updates", RFC 6402, DOI 10.17487/RFC6402, November 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6402>.

   [RFC6605]  Hoffman, P. and W. Wijngaards, "Elliptic Curve Digital
              Signature Algorithm (DSA) for DNSSEC", RFC 6605,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6605, April 2012,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6605>.

   [RFC7030]  Pritikin, M., Ed., Yee, P., Ed., and D. Harkins, Ed.,
              "Enrollment over Secure Transport", RFC 7030,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7030, October 2013,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7030>.

   [RFC7321]  McGrew, D. and P. Hoffman, "Cryptographic Algorithm
              Implementation Requirements and Usage Guidance for
              Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) and Authentication
              Header (AH)", RFC 7321, DOI 10.17487/RFC7321, August 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7321>.

   [RFC7525]  Sheffer, Y., Holz, R., and P. Saint-Andre,
              "Recommendations for Secure Use of Transport Layer
              Security (TLS) and Datagram Transport Layer Security
              (DTLS)", BCP 195, RFC 7525, DOI 10.17487/RFC7525, May
              2015, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7525>.

   [RFC8253]  Lopez, D., Gonzalez de Dios, O., Wu, Q., and D. Dhody,
              "PCEPS: Usage of TLS to Provide a Secure Transport for the
              Path Computation Element Communication Protocol (PCEP)",
              RFC 8253, DOI 10.17487/RFC8253, October 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8253>.

Authors' Addresses

   Russ Housley
   Vigil Security, LLC
   918 Spring Knoll Drive
   Herndon, VA  20170
   US

   Email: housley@vigilsec.com

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   Lydia Zieglar
   National Security Agency
   9800 Savage Road
   Ft. George G. Meade, MD  20755-6940
   US

   Email: llziegl@nsa.gov

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