New cryptographic signature methods for DKIM
draft-ietf-dcrup-dkim-crypto-04

• Status
• IESG evaluation record
• IESG writeups
• Email expansions
• History

• Versions
• 00
• 01
• 02
• 03
• 04
• 05
• 06
• 07
• 08
• 09
• 10
• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14

Network Working Group                                          J. Levine
Internet-Draft                                      Taughannock Networks
Updates: 6376 (if approved)                                July 27, 2017
Intended status: Standards Track
Expires: January 28, 2018

              New cryptographic signature methods for DKIM
                    draft-ietf-dcrup-dkim-crypto-04

Abstract

   DKIM was designed to allow new cryptographic algorithms to be added.
   This document adds a new signing algorithm and a new way to represent
   signature validation keys, and deprecates an obsolete signing
   algorithm.

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 http://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 January 28, 2018.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2017 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
   (http://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
   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.

Levine                  Expires January 28, 2018                [Page 1]
Internet-Draft             DKIM Crypto Update                  July 2017

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Conventions Used in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Public key fingerprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Ed25519-SHA256 Signing Algorithm  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Signature and key syntax  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     5.1.  Signature syntax  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     5.2.  Key syntax  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   6.  Key and algorithm choice and strength . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  Transition Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   8.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     8.1.  Duplicate Signature Key Selection . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   9.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     9.1.  DKIM Signature Tag Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     9.2.  DKIM Key Type registry  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   10. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     10.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     10.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     10.3.  URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   Appendix A.  Change log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7

1.  Introduction

   Discussion Venue:    Discussion about this draft is directed to the
      dcrup@ietf.org [1] mailing list.

   DKIM [RFC6376] signs e-mail messages, by creating hashes of the
   message headers and content and signing the header hash with a
   digital signature.  Message recipients fetch the signature
   verification key from the DNS where it is stored in a TXT record.
   The defining documents specify a single signing algorithm, RSA
   [RFC3447], and recommends key sizes of 1024 to 2048 bits.  While 1024
   bit signatures are common, stronger signatures are not.  Widely used
   DNS configuration software places a practical limit on key sizes,
   because the software only handles a single 256 octet string in a TXT
   record, and RSA keys longer than 1156 bits don't fit in 256 octets.

   This document adds a new stronger signing algorithm, Edwards-Curve
   Digital Signature Algorithm using the Curve25519 curve (ed25519),
   which has much shorter keys than RSA for similar levels of security.
   It also adds a new key representation for RSA keys, with the key
   itself in the signature and a key fingerprint that fits in a a 256
   octet string in the DNS regardless of the key length.

Levine                  Expires January 28, 2018                [Page 2]
Internet-Draft             DKIM Crypto Update                  July 2017