Client-Cert HTTP Header Field
draft-ietf-httpbis-client-cert-field-01

HTTP                                                         B. Campbell
Internet-Draft                                             Ping Identity
Intended status: Informational                            M. Bishop, Ed.
Expires: 29 July 2022                                             Akamai
                                                         25 January 2022

                     Client-Cert HTTP Header Field
                draft-ietf-httpbis-client-cert-field-01

Abstract

   This document defines HTTP extension header fields that allow a TLS
   terminating reverse proxy to convey the client certificate
   information of a mutually-authenticated TLS connection to the origin
   server in a common and predictable manner.

About This Document

   This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

   Status information for this document may be found at
   https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-httpbis-client-cert-
   field/.

   Discussion of this document takes place on the HTTP Working Group
   mailing list (mailto:ietf-http-wg@w3.org), which is archived at
   https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/ietf-http-wg/.  Working Group
   information can be found at https://httpwg.org/.

   Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
   https://github.com/httpwg/http-extensions/labels/client-cert-field.

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
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   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 29 July 2022.

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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.1.  Requirements Notation and Conventions . . . . . . . . . .   4
     1.2.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   2.  HTTP Header Fields and Processing Rules . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.1.  Encoding  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.2.  Client-Cert HTTP Header Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.3.  Client-Cert-Chain HTTP Header Field . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     2.4.  Processing Rules  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   3.  Deployment Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.1.  Header Field Compression  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     3.2.  Header Block Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     5.1.  HTTP Field Name Registrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   6.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     6.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     6.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   Appendix A.  Example  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   Appendix B.  Considerations Considered  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     B.1.  Field Injection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     B.2.  The Forwarded HTTP Extension  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
     B.3.  The Whole Certificate and Certificate Chain . . . . . . .  14
   Appendix C.  Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   Appendix D.  Document History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17

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1.  Introduction

   A fairly common deployment pattern for HTTPS applications is to have
   the origin HTTP application servers sit behind a reverse proxy that
   terminates TLS connections from clients.  The proxy is accessible to
   the internet and dispatches client requests to the appropriate origin
   server within a private or protected network.  The origin servers are
   not directly accessible by clients and are only reachable through the
   reverse proxy.  The backend details of this type of deployment are
   typically opaque to clients who make requests to the proxy server and
   see responses as though they originated from the proxy server itself.
   Although HTTPS is also usually employed between the proxy and the
   origin server, the TLS connection that the client establishes for
   HTTPS is only between itself and the reverse proxy server.

   The deployment pattern is found in a number of varieties such as
   n-tier architectures, content delivery networks, application load
   balancing services, and ingress controllers.

   Although not exceedingly prevalent, TLS client certificate
   authentication is sometimes employed and in such cases the origin
   server often requires information about the client certificate for
   its application logic.  Such logic might include access control
   decisions, audit logging, and binding issued tokens or cookies to a
   certificate, and the respective validation of such bindings.  The
   specific details from the certificate needed also vary with the
   application requirements.  In order for these types of application
   deployments to work in practice, the reverse proxy needs to convey
   information about the client certificate to the origin application
   server.  A common way this information is conveyed in practice today
   is by using non-standard fields to carry the certificate (in some
   encoding) or individual parts thereof in the HTTP request that is
   dispatched to the origin server.  This solution works but
   interoperability between independently developed components can be
   cumbersome or even impossible depending on the implementation choices
   respectively made (like what field names are used or are
   configurable, which parts of the certificate are exposed, or how the
   certificate is encoded).  A well-known predictable approach to this
   commonly occurring functionality could improve and simplify
   interoperability between independent implementations.

   This document aspires to standardize two HTTP header fields, Client-
   Cert and Client-Cert-Chain, which a TLS terminating reverse proxy
   (TTRP) adds to requests sent to the backend origin servers.  The
   Client-Cert field value contains the end-entity client certificate
   from the mutually-authenticated TLS connection between the
   originating client and the TTRP.  Optionally, the Client-Cert-Chain
   field value contains the certificate chain used for validation of the

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   end-entity certificate.  This enables the backend origin server to
   utilize the client certificate information in its application logic.
   While there may be additional proxies or hops between the TTRP and
   the origin server (potentially even with mutually-authenticated TLS
   connections between them), the scope of the Client-Cert header field
   is intentionally limited to exposing to the origin server the
   certificate that was presented by the originating client in its
   connection to the TTRP.

1.1.  Requirements Notation and Conventions

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

1.2.  Terminology

   Phrases like TLS client certificate authentication or mutually-
   authenticated TLS are used throughout this document to refer to the
   process whereby, in addition to the normal TLS server authentication
   with a certificate, a client presents its X.509 certificate [RFC5280]
   and proves possession of the corresponding private key to a server
   when negotiating a TLS connection or the resumption of such a
   connection.  In contemporary versions of TLS [RFC8446] [RFC5246] this
   requires that the client send the Certificate and CertificateVerify
   messages during the handshake and for the server to verify the
   CertificateVerify and Finished messages.

   HTTP/2 restricts TLS 1.2 renegotiation (Section 9.2.1 of [RFC7540])
   and prohibits TLS 1.3 post-handshake authentication [RFC8740].
   However, they are sometimes used to implement reactive client
   certificate authentication in HTTP/1.1 [RFC7230] where the server
   decides whether to request a client certificate based on the HTTP
   request.  HTTP application data sent on such a connection after
   receipt and verification of the client certificate is also mutually-
   authenticated and thus suitable for the mechanisms described in this
   document.

2.  HTTP Header Fields and Processing Rules

   This document designates the following headers, defined further in
   Section 2.2 and Section 2.3 respectively, to carry the client
   certificate information of a mutually-authenticated TLS connection
   from a reverse proxy to origin server.

   Client-Cert:  Conveys the end-entity certificate used by the client

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      in the TLS handshake with the reverse proxy from the reverse proxy
      to the origin server.

   Client-Cert-Chain:  Conveys the certificate chain used for validation
      of the end-entity certificate used by the client in the TLS
      handshake from the reverse proxy to the origin server.

2.1.  Encoding

   The headers in this document encode certificates as Structured Field
   Byte Sequences (Section 3.3.5 of [RFC8941]) where the value of the
   binary data is a DER encoded [ITU.X690.1994] X.509 certificate
   [RFC5280].  In effect, this means that the binary DER certificate is
   encoded using base64 (without line breaks, spaces, or other
   characters outside the base64 alphabet) and delimited with colons on
   either side.

   Note that certificates are often stored encoded in a textual format,
   such as the one described in Section 5.1 of [RFC7468], which is
   already nearly compatible with a Structured Field Byte Sequence; if
   so, it will be sufficient to replace ---(BEGIN|END) CERTIFICATE---
   with : and remove line breaks in order to generate an appropriate
   item.

2.2.  Client-Cert HTTP Header Field

   In the context of a TLS terminating reverse proxy deployment, the
   proxy makes the TLS client certificate available to the backend
   application with the Client-Cert HTTP header field.  This field
   contains the end-entity certificate used by the client in the TLS
   handshake.

   Client-Cert is an Item Structured Header [RFC8941].  Its value MUST
   be a Byte Sequence (Section 3.3.5 of [RFC8941]).  Its ABNF is:

    Client-Cert = sf-binary

   The value of the header is encoded as described in Section 2.1.

   The Client-Cert header field is only for use in HTTP requests and
   MUST NOT be used in HTTP responses.  It is a single HTTP header field
   value as defined in Section 3.2 of [RFC7230], which MUST NOT have a
   list of values or occur multiple times in a request.

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2.3.  Client-Cert-Chain HTTP Header Field

   In the context of a TLS terminating reverse proxy deployment, the
   proxy MAY make the certificate chain used for validation of the end-
   entity certificate available to the backend application with the
   Client-Cert-Chain HTTP header field.  This field contains
   certificates used by the proxy to validate the certificate used by
   the client in the TLS handshake.  These certificates might or might
   not have been provided by the client during the TLS handshake.

   Client-Cert-Chain is a List Structured Header [RFC8941].  Each item
   in the list MUST be a Byte Sequence (Section 3.3.5 of [RFC8941])
   encoded as described in Section 2.1.

   The header's ABNF is:

    Client-Cert-Chain = sf-list

   The Client-Cert-Chain header field is only for use in HTTP requests
   and MUST NOT be used in HTTP responses.  It MAY have a list of values
   or occur multiple times in a request.  For header compression
   purposes, it might be advantageous to split lists into multiple
   instances.

   The first certificate in the list SHOULD directly certify the end-
   entity certificate provided in the Client-Cert header; each following
   certificate SHOULD directly certify the one immediately preceding it.
   Because certificate validation requires that trust anchors be
   distributed independently, a certificate that specifies a trust
   anchor MAY be omitted from the chain, provided that the server is
   known to possess any omitted certificates.

   However, for maximum compatibility, servers SHOULD be prepared to
   handle potentially extraneous certificates and arbitrary orderings.

2.4.  Processing Rules

   This section outlines the applicable processing rules for a TLS
   terminating reverse proxy (TTRP) that has negotiated a mutually-
   authenticated TLS connection to convey the client certificate from
   that connection to the backend origin servers.  Use of the technique
   is to be a configuration or deployment option and the processing
   rules described herein are for servers operating with that option
   enabled.

   A TTRP negotiates the use of a mutually-authenticated TLS connection
   with the client, such as is described in [RFC8446] or [RFC5246], and
   validates the client certificate per its policy and trusted

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   certificate authorities.  Each HTTP request on the underlying TLS
   connection are dispatched to the origin server with the following
   modifications:

   1.  The client certificate is placed in the Client-Cert header field
       of the dispatched request, as described in Section 2.2.

   2.  If so configured, the validation chain of the client certificate
       is placed in the Client-Cert-Chain header field of the request,
       as described in Section 2.3.

   3.  Any occurrence of the Client-Cert or Client-Cert-Chain header
       fields in the original incoming request MUST be removed or
       overwritten before forwarding the request.  An incoming request
       that has a Client-Cert or Client-Cert-Chain header field MAY be
       rejected with an HTTP 400 response.

   Requests made over a TLS connection where the use of client
   certificate authentication was not negotiated MUST be sanitized by
   removing any and all occurrences of the Client-Cert and Client-Cert-
   Chain header fields prior to dispatching the request to the backend
   server.

   Backend origin servers may then use the Client-Cert header field of
   the request to determine if the connection from the client to the
   TTRP was mutually-authenticated and, if so, the certificate thereby
   presented by the client.

   Forward proxies and other intermediaries MUST NOT add the Client-Cert
   or Client-Cert-Chain header fields to requests, or modify an existing
   Client-Cert or Client-Cert-Chain header field.  Similarly, clients
   MUST NOT employ the Client-Cert or Client-Cert-Chain header field in
   requests.

   When the value of the Client-Cert request header field is used to
   select a response (e.g., the response content is access-controlled),
   the response MUST either be uncacheable (e.g., by sending Cache-
   Control: no-store) or be designated for selective reuse only for
   subsequent requests with the same Client-Cert header value by sending
   a Vary: Client-Cert response header.  If a TTRP encounters a response
   with a client-cert field name in the Vary header field, it SHOULD
   prevent the user agent from caching the response by transforming the
   value of the Vary response header field to *.

3.  Deployment Considerations

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3.1.  Header Field Compression

   If the client certificate header field is generated by an
   intermediary on a connection that compresses fields (e.g., using
   HPACK [RFC7541] or QPACK [I-D.ietf-quic-qpack]) and more than one
   client's requests are multiplexed into that connection, it can reduce
   compression efficiency significantly, due to the typical size of the
   field value and its variation between clients.  Recipients that
   anticipate connections with these characteristics can mitigate the
   efficiency loss by increasing the size of the dynamic table.  If a
   recipient does not do so, senders may find it beneficial to always
   send the field value as a literal, rather than entering it into the
   dynamic table.

3.2.  Header Block Size

   A server in receipt of a larger header block than it is willing to
   handle can send an HTTP 431 (Request Header Fields Too Large) status
   code per Section 5 of [RFC6585].  Due to the typical size of the
   field values containing certificate data, recipients may need to be
   configured to allow for a larger maximum header block size.  An
   intermediary generating client certificate header fields on
   connections that allow for advertising the maximum acceptable header
   block size (e.g.  HTTP/2 [RFC7540] or HTTP/3 [I-D.ietf-quic-http])
   should account for the additional size of header block of the
   requests it sends vs. requests it receives by advertising a value to
   its clients that is sufficiently smaller so as to allow for the
   addition of certificate data.

4.  Security Considerations

   The header fields described herein enable a TTRP and backend or
   origin server to function together as though, from the client's
   perspective, they are a single logical server side deployment of
   HTTPS over a mutually-authenticated TLS connection.  Use of the
   header fields outside that intended use case, however, may undermine
   the protections afforded by TLS client certificate authentication.
   Therefore, steps MUST be taken to prevent unintended use, both in
   sending the header field and in relying on its value.

   Producing and consuming the Client-Cert and Client-Cert-Chain header
   fields SHOULD be configurable options, respectively, in a TTRP and
   backend server (or individual application in that server).  The
   default configuration for both should be to not use the header fields
   thus requiring an "opt-in" to the functionality.

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   In order to prevent field injection, backend servers MUST only accept
   the Client-Cert and Client-Cert-Chain header fields from a trusted
   TTRP (or other proxy in a trusted path from the TTRP).  A TTRP MUST
   sanitize the incoming request before forwarding it on by removing or
   overwriting any existing instances of the fields.  Otherwise,
   arbitrary clients can control the field values as seen and used by
   the backend server.  It is important to note that neglecting to
   prevent field injection does not "fail safe" in that the nominal
   functionality will still work as expected even when malicious actions
   are possible.  As such, extra care is recommended in ensuring that
   proper field sanitation is in place.

   The communication between a TTRP and backend server needs to be
   secured against eavesdropping and modification by unintended parties.

   The configuration options and request sanitization are necessarily
   functionally of the respective servers.  The other requirements can
   be met in a number of ways, which will vary based on specific
   deployments.  The communication between a TTRP and backend or origin
   server, for example, might be authenticated in some way with the
   insertion and consumption of the Client-Cert and Client-Cert-Chain
   header fields occurring only on that connection.  Alternatively the
   network topology might dictate a private network such that the
   backend application is only able to accept requests from the TTRP and
   the proxy can only make requests to that server.  Other deployments
   that meet the requirements set forth herein are also possible.

5.  IANA Considerations

5.1.  HTTP Field Name Registrations

   Please register the following entries in the "Hypertext Transfer
   Protocol (HTTP) Field Name Registry" defined by
   [I-D.ietf-httpbis-semantics]:

   *  Field name: Client-Cert

   *  Status: permanent

   *  Specification document: Section 2 of [this document]

   *  Field name: Client-Cert-Chain

   *  Status: permanent

   *  Specification document: Section 2 of [this document]

6.  References

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6.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

   [RFC5280]  Cooper, D., Santesson, S., Farrell, S., Boeyen, S.,
              Housley, R., and W. Polk, "Internet X.509 Public Key
              Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List
              (CRL) Profile", RFC 5280, DOI 10.17487/RFC5280, May 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5280>.

   [ITU.X690.1994]
              International Telecommunications Union, "Information
              Technology - ASN.1 encoding rules: Specification of Basic
              Encoding Rules (BER), Canonical Encoding Rules (CER) and
              Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER)", ITU-T Recommendation
              X.690, 1994.

   [RFC8941]  Nottingham, M. and P-H. Kamp, "Structured Field Values for
              HTTP", RFC 8941, DOI 10.17487/RFC8941, February 2021,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8941>.

6.2.  Informative References

   [RFC8446]  Rescorla, E., "The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol
              Version 1.3", RFC 8446, DOI 10.17487/RFC8446, August 2018,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8446>.

   [RFC5246]  Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security
              (TLS) Protocol Version 1.2", RFC 5246,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5246, August 2008,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5246>.

   [RFC7540]  Belshe, M., Peon, R., and M. Thomson, Ed., "Hypertext
              Transfer Protocol Version 2 (HTTP/2)", RFC 7540,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7540, May 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7540>.

   [RFC8740]  Benjamin, D., "Using TLS 1.3 with HTTP/2", RFC 8740,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8740, February 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8740>.

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   [RFC7230]  Fielding, R., Ed. and J. Reschke, Ed., "Hypertext Transfer
              Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Message Syntax and Routing",
              RFC 7230, DOI 10.17487/RFC7230, June 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7230>.

   [RFC7468]  Josefsson, S. and S. Leonard, "Textual Encodings of PKIX,
              PKCS, and CMS Structures", RFC 7468, DOI 10.17487/RFC7468,
              April 2015, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7468>.

   [RFC7541]  Peon, R. and H. Ruellan, "HPACK: Header Compression for
              HTTP/2", RFC 7541, DOI 10.17487/RFC7541, May 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7541>.

   [I-D.ietf-quic-qpack]
              Krasic, C. '., Bishop, M., and A. Frindell, "QPACK: Header
              Compression for HTTP/3", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
              draft-ietf-quic-qpack-21, 2 February 2021,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-quic-
              qpack-21>.

   [RFC6585]  Nottingham, M. and R. Fielding, "Additional HTTP Status
              Codes", RFC 6585, DOI 10.17487/RFC6585, April 2012,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6585>.

   [I-D.ietf-quic-http]
              Bishop, M., "Hypertext Transfer Protocol Version 3
              (HTTP/3)", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
              quic-http-34, 2 February 2021,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-quic-
              http-34>.

   [I-D.ietf-httpbis-semantics]
              Fielding, R. T., Nottingham, M., and J. Reschke, "HTTP
              Semantics", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-
              httpbis-semantics-19, 12 September 2021,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-httpbis-
              semantics-19>.

   [RFC7239]  Petersson, A. and M. Nilsson, "Forwarded HTTP Extension",
              RFC 7239, DOI 10.17487/RFC7239, June 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7239>.

   [RFC8705]  Campbell, B., Bradley, J., Sakimura, N., and T.
              Lodderstedt, "OAuth 2.0 Mutual-TLS Client Authentication
              and Certificate-Bound Access Tokens", RFC 8705,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8705, February 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8705>.

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Appendix A.  Example

   In a hypothetical example where a TLS client presents the client and
   intermediate certificate from Figure 1 when establishing a mutually-
   authenticated TLS connection with the TTRP, the proxy would send the
   Client-Cert field shown in {#example-header} to the backend.  Note
   that line breaks and whitespace have been added to the field value in
   Figure 2 for display and formatting purposes only.

   -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
   MIIBqDCCAU6gAwIBAgIBBzAKBggqhkjOPQQDAjA6MRswGQYDVQQKDBJMZXQncyBB
   dXRoZW50aWNhdGUxGzAZBgNVBAMMEkxBIEludGVybWVkaWF0ZSBDQTAeFw0yMDAx
   MTQyMjU1MzNaFw0yMTAxMjMyMjU1MzNaMA0xCzAJBgNVBAMMAkJDMFkwEwYHKoZI
   zj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAE8YnXXfaUgmnMtOXU/IncWalRhebrXmckC8vdgJ1p
   5Be5F/3YC8OthxM4+k1M6aEAEFcGzkJiNy6J84y7uzo9M6NyMHAwCQYDVR0TBAIw
   ADAfBgNVHSMEGDAWgBRm3WjLa38lbEYCuiCPct0ZaSED2DAOBgNVHQ8BAf8EBAMC
   BsAwEwYDVR0lBAwwCgYIKwYBBQUHAwIwHQYDVR0RAQH/BBMwEYEPYmRjQGV4YW1w
   bGUuY29tMAoGCCqGSM49BAMCA0gAMEUCIBHda/r1vaL6G3VliL4/Di6YK0Q6bMje
   SkC3dFCOOB8TAiEAx/kHSB4urmiZ0NX5r5XarmPk0wmuydBVoU4hBVZ1yhk=
   -----END CERTIFICATE-----
   -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
   MIIB5jCCAYugAwIBAgIBFjAKBggqhkjOPQQDAjBWMQswCQYDVQQGEwJVUzEbMBkG
   A1UECgwSTGV0J3MgQXV0aGVudGljYXRlMSowKAYDVQQDDCFMZXQncyBBdXRoZW50
   aWNhdGUgUm9vdCBBdXRob3JpdHkwHhcNMjAwMTE0MjEzMjMwWhcNMzAwMTExMjEz
   MjMwWjA6MRswGQYDVQQKDBJMZXQncyBBdXRoZW50aWNhdGUxGzAZBgNVBAMMEkxB
   IEludGVybWVkaWF0ZSBDQTBZMBMGByqGSM49AgEGCCqGSM49AwEHA0IABJf+aA54
   RC5pyLAR5yfXVYmNpgd+CGUTDp2KOGhc0gK91zxhHesEYkdXkpS2UN8Kati+yHtW
   CV3kkhCngGyv7RqjZjBkMB0GA1UdDgQWBBRm3WjLa38lbEYCuiCPct0ZaSED2DAf
   BgNVHSMEGDAWgBTEA2Q6eecKu9g9yb5glbkhhVINGDASBgNVHRMBAf8ECDAGAQH/
   AgEAMA4GA1UdDwEB/wQEAwIBhjAKBggqhkjOPQQDAgNJADBGAiEA5pLvaFwRRkxo
   mIAtDIwg9D7gC1xzxBl4r28EzmSO1pcCIQCJUShpSXO9HDIQMUgH69fNDEMHXD3R
   RX5gP7kuu2KGMg==
   -----END CERTIFICATE-----
   -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
   MIICBjCCAaygAwIBAgIJAKS0yiqKtlhoMAoGCCqGSM49BAMCMFYxCzAJBgNVBAYT
   AlVTMRswGQYDVQQKDBJMZXQncyBBdXRoZW50aWNhdGUxKjAoBgNVBAMMIUxldCdz
   IEF1dGhlbnRpY2F0ZSBSb290IEF1dGhvcml0eTAeFw0yMDAxMTQyMTI1NDVaFw00
   MDAxMDkyMTI1NDVaMFYxCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMRswGQYDVQQKDBJMZXQncyBBdXRo
   ZW50aWNhdGUxKjAoBgNVBAMMIUxldCdzIEF1dGhlbnRpY2F0ZSBSb290IEF1dGhv
   cml0eTBZMBMGByqGSM49AgEGCCqGSM49AwEHA0IABFoaHU+Z5bPKmGzlYXtCf+E6
   HYj62fORaHDOrt+yyh3H/rTcs7ynFfGn+gyFsrSP3Ez88rajv+U2NfD0o0uZ4Pmj
   YzBhMB0GA1UdDgQWBBTEA2Q6eecKu9g9yb5glbkhhVINGDAfBgNVHSMEGDAWgBTE
   A2Q6eecKu9g9yb5glbkhhVINGDAPBgNVHRMBAf8EBTADAQH/MA4GA1UdDwEB/wQE
   AwIBhjAKBggqhkjOPQQDAgNIADBFAiEAmAeg1ycKHriqHnaD4M/UDBpQRpkmdcRF
   YGMg1Qyrkx4CIB4ivz3wQcQkGhcsUZ1SOImd/lq1Q0FLf09rGfLQPWDc
   -----END CERTIFICATE-----

        Figure 1: Certificate Chain (with client certificate first)

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   Client-Cert: :MIIBqDCCAU6gAwIBAgIBBzAKBggqhkjOPQQDAjA6MRswGQYDVQQKDBJ
    MZXQncyBBdXRoZW50aWNhdGUxGzAZBgNVBAMMEkxBIEludGVybWVkaWF0ZSBDQTAeFw0
    yMDAxMTQyMjU1MzNaFw0yMTAxMjMyMjU1MzNaMA0xCzAJBgNVBAMMAkJDMFkwEwYHKoZ
    Izj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAE8YnXXfaUgmnMtOXU/IncWalRhebrXmckC8vdgJ1p5Be
    5F/3YC8OthxM4+k1M6aEAEFcGzkJiNy6J84y7uzo9M6NyMHAwCQYDVR0TBAIwADAfBgN
    VHSMEGDAWgBRm3WjLa38lbEYCuiCPct0ZaSED2DAOBgNVHQ8BAf8EBAMCBsAwEwYDVR0
    lBAwwCgYIKwYBBQUHAwIwHQYDVR0RAQH/BBMwEYEPYmRjQGV4YW1wbGUuY29tMAoGCCq
    GSM49BAMCA0gAMEUCIBHda/r1vaL6G3VliL4/Di6YK0Q6bMjeSkC3dFCOOB8TAiEAx/k
    HSB4urmiZ0NX5r5XarmPk0wmuydBVoU4hBVZ1yhk=:

          Figure 2: Header Field in HTTP Request to Origin Server

   If the proxy were configured to also include the certificate chain,
   it would also include this header:

   Client-Cert-Chain: :MIIB5jCCAYugAwIBAgIBFjAKBggqhkjOPQQDAjBWMQsw
    CQYDVQQGEwJVUzEbMBkGA1UECgwSTGV0J3MgQXV0aGVudGljYXRlMSowKAYDVQQ
    DDCFMZXQncyBBdXRoZW50aWNhdGUgUm9vdCBBdXRob3JpdHkwHhcNMjAwMTE0Mj
    EzMjMwWhcNMzAwMTExMjEzMjMwWjA6MRswGQYDVQQKDBJMZXQncyBBdXRoZW50a
    WNhdGUxGzAZBgNVBAMMEkxBIEludGVybWVkaWF0ZSBDQTBZMBMGByqGSM49AgEG
    CCqGSM49AwEHA0IABJf+aA54RC5pyLAR5yfXVYmNpgd+CGUTDp2KOGhc0gK91zx
    hHesEYkdXkpS2UN8Kati+yHtWCV3kkhCngGyv7RqjZjBkMB0GA1UdDgQWBBRm3W
    jLa38lbEYCuiCPct0ZaSED2DAfBgNVHSMEGDAWgBTEA2Q6eecKu9g9yb5glbkhh
    VINGDASBgNVHRMBAf8ECDAGAQH/AgEAMA4GA1UdDwEB/wQEAwIBhjAKBggqhkjO
    PQQDAgNJADBGAiEA5pLvaFwRRkxomIAtDIwg9D7gC1xzxBl4r28EzmSO1pcCIQC
    JUShpSXO9HDIQMUgH69fNDEMHXD3RRX5gP7kuu2KGMg==:, :MIICBjCCAaygAw
    IBAgIJAKS0yiqKtlhoMAoGCCqGSM49BAMCMFYxCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMRswGQYDV
    QQKDBJMZXQncyBBdXRoZW50aWNhdGUxKjAoBgNVBAMMIUxldCdzIEF1dGhlbnRp
    Y2F0ZSBSb290IEF1dGhvcml0eTAeFw0yMDAxMTQyMTI1NDVaFw00MDAxMDkyMTI
    1NDVaMFYxCzAJBgNVBAYTAlVTMRswGQYDVQQKDBJMZXQncyBBdXRoZW50aWNhdG
    UxKjAoBgNVBAMMIUxldCdzIEF1dGhlbnRpY2F0ZSBSb290IEF1dGhvcml0eTBZM
    BMGByqGSM49AgEGCCqGSM49AwEHA0IABFoaHU+Z5bPKmGzlYXtCf+E6HYj62fOR
    aHDOrt+yyh3H/rTcs7ynFfGn+gyFsrSP3Ez88rajv+U2NfD0o0uZ4PmjYzBhMB0
    GA1UdDgQWBBTEA2Q6eecKu9g9yb5glbkhhVINGDAfBgNVHSMEGDAWgBTEA2Q6ee
    cKu9g9yb5glbkhhVINGDAPBgNVHRMBAf8EBTADAQH/MA4GA1UdDwEB/wQEAwIBh
    jAKBggqhkjOPQQDAgNIADBFAiEAmAeg1ycKHriqHnaD4M/UDBpQRpkmdcRFYGMg
    1Qyrkx4CIB4ivz3wQcQkGhcsUZ1SOImd/lq1Q0FLf09rGfLQPWDc:

        Figure 3: Certificate Chain in HTTP Request to Origin Server

Appendix B.  Considerations Considered

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B.1.  Field Injection

   This draft requires that the TTRP sanitize the fields of the incoming
   request by removing or overwriting any existing instances of the
   Client-Cert and Client-Cert-Chain header fields before dispatching
   that request to the backend application.  Otherwise, a client could
   inject its own values that would appear to the backend to have come
   from the TTRP.  Although numerous other methods of detecting/
   preventing field injection are possible; such as the use of a unique
   secret value as part of the field name or value or the application of
   a signature, HMAC, or AEAD, there is no common general standardized
   mechanism.  The potential problem of client field injection is not at
   all unique to the functionality of this draft, and it would therefore
   be inappropriate for this draft to define a one-off solution.  In the
   absence of a generic standardized solution existing currently,
   stripping/sanitizing the fields is the de facto means of protecting
   against field injection in practice today.  Sanitizing the fields is
   sufficient when properly implemented and is a normative requirement
   of Section 4.

B.2.  The Forwarded HTTP Extension

   The Forwarded HTTP header field defined in [RFC7239] allows proxy
   components to disclose information lost in the proxying process.  The
   TLS client certificate information of concern to this draft could
   have been communicated with an extension parameter to the Forwarded
   field; however, doing so would have had some disadvantages that this
   draft endeavored to avoid.  The Forwarded field syntax allows for
   information about a full chain of proxied HTTP requests, whereas the
   Client-Cert and Client-Cert-Chain header fields of this document are
   concerned only with conveying information about the certificate
   presented by the originating client on the TLS connection to the TTRP
   (which appears as the server from that client's perspective) to
   backend applications.  The multi-hop syntax of the Forwarded field is
   expressive but also more complicated, which would make processing it
   more cumbersome, and more importantly, make properly sanitizing its
   content as required by Section 4 to prevent field injection
   considerably more difficult and error-prone.  Thus, this draft opted
   for a flatter and more straightforward structure.

B.3.  The Whole Certificate and Certificate Chain

   Different applications will have varying requirements about what
   information from the client certificate is needed, such as the
   subject and/or issuer distinguished name, subject alternative
   name(s), serial number, subject public key info, fingerprint, etc..
   Furthermore, some applications, such as [RFC8705], make use of the
   entire certificate.  In order to accommodate the latter and ensure

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   wide applicability by not trying to cherry-pick particular
   certificate information, this draft opted to pass the full encoded
   certificate as the value of the Client-Cert field.

   The handshake and validation of the client certificate (chain) of the
   mutually-authenticated TLS connection is performed by the TTRP.  With
   the responsibility of certificate validation falling on the TTRP, the
   end-entity certificate is oftentimes sufficient for the needs of the
   origin server.  The separate Client-Cert-Chain field can convey the
   certificate chain for deployments that require such information.

Appendix C.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank the following individuals who've
   contributed in various ways ranging from just being generally
   supportive of bringing forth the draft to providing specific feedback
   or content:

   *  Evan Anderson

   *  Annabelle Backman

   *  Alan Frindell

   *  Rory Hewitt

   *  Fredrik Jeansson

   *  Benjamin Kaduk

   *  Torsten Lodderstedt

   *  Kathleen Moriarty

   *  Mark Nottingham

   *  Erik Nygren

   *  Mike Ounsworth

   *  Matt Peterson

   *  Eric Rescorla

   *  Justin Richer

   *  Michael Richardson

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   *  Joe Salowey

   *  Rich Salz

   *  Mohit Sethi

   *  Rifaat Shekh-Yusef

   *  Travis Spencer

   *  Nick Sullivan

   *  Martin Thomson

   *  Peter Wu

   *  Hans Zandbelt

Appendix D.  Document History

      To be removed by the RFC Editor before publication as an RFC

   draft-ietf-httpbis-client-cert-field-01

   *  Use RFC 8941 Structured Field Values for HTTP

   *  Introduce a separate header that can convey the certificate chain

   *  Add considerations on header compression and size

   *  Describe interaction with caching

   *  Fill out IANA Considerations with HTTP field name registrations

   *  Discuss renegotiation

   draft-ietf-httpbis-client-cert-field-00

   *  Initial WG revision

   *  Mike Bishop added as co-editor

   draft-bdc-something-something-certificate-05

   *  Change intended status of the draft to Informational

   *  Editorial updates and (hopefully) clarifications

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   draft-bdc-something-something-certificate-04

   *  Update reference from draft-ietf-oauth-mtls to RFC8705

   draft-bdc-something-something-certificate-03

   *  Expanded further discussion notes to capture some of the feedback
      in and around the presentation of the draft in SECDISPATCH at IETF
      107 and add those who've provided such feedback to the
      acknowledgements

   draft-bdc-something-something-certificate-02

   *  Editorial tweaks + further discussion notes

   draft-bdc-something-something-certificate-01

   *  Use the RFC v3 Format or die trying

   draft-bdc-something-something-certificate-00

   *  Initial draft after a time constrained and rushed secdispatch
      presentation (https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/106/materials/
      slides-106-secdispatch-securing-protocols-between-proxies-and-
      backend-http-servers-00) at IETF 106 in Singapore with the
      recommendation to write up a draft (at the end of the minutes
      (https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/106/materials/minutes-
      106-secdispatch)) and some folks expressing interest despite the
      rather poor presentation

Authors' Addresses

   Brian Campbell
   Ping Identity

   Email: bcampbell@pingidentity.com

   Mike Bishop (editor)
   Akamai

   Email: mbishop@evequefou.be

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