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Post-quantum hybrid ECDHE-MLKEM Key Agreement for TLSv1.3
draft-kwiatkowski-tls-ecdhe-mlkem-00

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Replaced".
Authors Kris Kwiatkowski , Panos Kampanakis
Last updated 2024-08-15
Replaced by draft-ietf-tls-ecdhe-mlkem
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draft-kwiatkowski-tls-ecdhe-mlkem-00
Transport Layer Security                                  K. Kwiatkowski
Internet-Draft                                                  PQShield
Intended status: Informational                             P. Kampanakis
Expires: 16 February 2025                                            AWS
                                                          15 August 2024

       Post-quantum hybrid ECDHE-MLKEM Key Agreement for TLSv1.3
                  draft-kwiatkowski-tls-ecdhe-mlkem-00

Abstract

   This draft defines a hybrid key agreement for TLS 1.3 that combines a
   post-quantum KEM with elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDHE).

About This Document

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

   The latest revision of this draft can be found at https://post-
   quantum-cryptography.github.io/draft-kwiatkowski-tls-ecdhe-mlkem/.
   Status information for this document may be found at
   https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-kwiatkowski-tls-ecdhe-mlkem/.

   Discussion of this document takes place on the Transport Layer
   Security Working Group mailing list (mailto:tls@ietf.org), which is
   archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/tls/.  Subscribe
   at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/tls/.

   Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
   https://github.com/post-quantum-cryptography/draft-kwiatkowski-tls-
   ecdhe-mlkem.

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."

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on 16 February 2025.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2024 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
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   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Motivation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Negotiated Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.1.  Construction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   6.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     6.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     6.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Appendix A.  Change log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6

1.  Introduction

1.1.  Motivation

   ML-KEM is a key encapsulation method (KEM) that is designed to
   withstand cryptanalytic attacks from quantum computers.

   Experimentation and early deployments are crucial steps in
   transitioning to post-quantum cryptography.  This document specifies
   a hybrid post-quantum key agreement for use in the TLS 1.3 protocol
   to promote interoperability of these deployments.

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2.  Conventions and Definitions

   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.

3.  Negotiated Groups

   This document introduces a new supported group for hybrid post-
   quantum key agreements in TLS 1.3.  The hybrid key agreement is
   detailed in the [hybrid] draft, which combines the ML-KEM as defined
   in [FIPS-203], with the ECDHE scheme using elliptic curves from ANSI
   X9.62 [ECDSA] and NIST SP 800-186 [DSS].

   The new group enables the derivation of TLS session keys using FIPS-
   approved schemes.  NIST's special publication 800-56Cr2 [SP56C]
   approves the usage of HKDF [HKDF] with two distinct shared secrets,
   with the condition that the first one is computed by a FIPS-approved
   key-establishment scheme.  This draft specifies a new supported group
   where both shared secrets are calculated by FIPS-approved mechanisms.
   The first one involves ECDHE with a FIPS-approved curve secp256r1
   (NIST P-256) specified by NIST SP 800-56Ar3 [SP56A] and NIST SP
   800-186 [DSS].  The second shared secret is obtained from the FIPS-
   approved ML-KEM-768 as defined in [FIPS-203].

3.1.  Construction

   The name of the new supported hybrid post-quantum group is
   SecP256r1MLKEM768.

   When this group is negotiated, the client's share is a fixed-size
   concatenation of the ECDHE share and ML-KEM's public key.  The ECDHE
   share is the serialized value of the uncompressed ECDH point
   representation as defined in Section 4.2.8.2 of [RFC8446].  The ML-
   KEM's ephemeral share is the public key of the key generation step
   (see [FIPS-203], section 7.1) represented as an octet string.  The
   size of client share is 1249 bytes (65 bytes of ECDHE part and 1184
   of ML-KEM part).

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   The server's share is a fixed-size concatenation of ECDHE share and
   ML-KEM's ciphertext returned from encapsulation (see [FIPS-203],
   section 7.2).  The server ECDHE share is the serialized value of the
   uncompressed ECDH point representation as defined in Section 4.2.8.2
   of [RFC8446].  The server share is the ML-KEM's ciphertext returned
   from the Encapsulate step (see [FIPS-203], section 7.2) represented
   as an octet string.  The size of server's share is 1153 bytes (65
   bytes of ECDHE part and 1088 of ML-KEM part).

   Finally, the shared secret is a concatenation of the ECDHE and the
   ML-KEM shared secrets.  The ECDHE shared secret is the x-coordinate
   of the ECDH shared secret elliptic curve point represented as an
   octet string as defined in Section 7.4.2 of [RFC8446].  The ML-KEM
   shared secret is the value returned from either encapsulation (on the
   server side) or decapsulation (on the client side) represented as an
   octet string.  The size of a shared secret is 64 bytes (32 bytes of
   ECDHE part and 32 of ML-KEM part).

4.  Security Considerations

   The same security considerations as those described in [hybrid] apply
   to the approach used by this document.  Implementers are encouraged
   to use implementations resistant to side-channel attacks, especially
   those that can be applied by remote attackers.

5.  IANA Considerations

   This document requests/registers a new entry to the TLS Supported
   Groups registry, according to the procedures in Section 6 of
   [tlsiana].  These identifiers are to be used with the final, ratified
   by NIST, version of ML-KEM which is specified in [FIPS-203].

   Value:  25499 (0x639B)

   Description:  SecP256r1MLKEM768

   DTLS-OK:  Y

   Recommended:  N

   Reference:  This document

   Comment:  Combining secp256r1 ECDH with the ML-KEM-768

6.  References

6.1.  Normative References

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   [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>.

   [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>.

6.2.  Informative References

   [DSS]      Chen, L., Moody, D., Regenscheid, A., Robinson, A., and K.
              Randall, "Recommendations for Discrete Logarithm-based
              Cryptography:: Elliptic Curve Domain Parameters", National
              Institute of Standards and Technology,
              DOI 10.6028/nist.sp.800-186, February 2023,
              <https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.sp.800-186>.

   [ECDSA]    American National Standards Institute, "Public Key
              Cryptography for the Financial Services Industry: The
              Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA)",
              ANSI ANS X9.62-2005, November 2005.

   [FIPS-203] "Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism
              Standard", National Institute of Standards and Technology,
              DOI 10.6028/nist.fips.203, August 2024,
              <https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.fips.203>.

   [HKDF]     Krawczyk, H. and P. Eronen, "HMAC-based Extract-and-Expand
              Key Derivation Function (HKDF)", RFC Editor,
              DOI 10.17487/rfc5869, May 2010,
              <https://doi.org/10.17487/rfc5869>.

   [hybrid]   Stebila, D., Fluhrer, S., and S. Gueron, "Hybrid key
              exchange in TLS 1.3", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
              draft-ietf-tls-hybrid-design-10, 5 April 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-tls-
              hybrid-design-10>.

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   [SP56A]    Barker, E., Chen, L., Roginsky, A., Vassilev, A., and R.
              Davis, "Recommendation for pair-wise key-establishment
              schemes using discrete logarithm cryptography", National
              Institute of Standards and Technology,
              DOI 10.6028/nist.sp.800-56ar3, April 2018,
              <https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.sp.800-56ar3>.

   [SP56C]    Barker, E., Chen, L., and R. Davis, "Recommendation for
              Key-Derivation Methods in Key-Establishment Schemes",
              National Institute of Standards and Technology,
              DOI 10.6028/nist.sp.800-56cr2, August 2020,
              <https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.sp.800-56cr2>.

   [tlsiana]  Salowey, J. A. and S. Turner, "IANA Registry Updates for
              TLS and DTLS", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-
              ietf-tls-rfc8447bis-09, 30 April 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-tls-
              rfc8447bis-09>.

Appendix A.  Change log

   *  draft-kwiatkowski-tls-ecdhe-mlkem-00:

      -  Change Kyber name to ML-KEM

      -  Swap reference to I-D.cfrg-schwabe-kyber with FIPS-203

      -  Change codepoint.  New value is equal to old value + 1.

   *  draft-kwiatkowski-tls-ecdhe-kyber-01: Fix size of key shares
      generated by the client and the server

   *  draft-kwiatkowski-tls-ecdhe-kyber-00: updates following IANA
      review

Authors' Addresses

   Kris Kwiatkowski
   PQShield
   Email: kris@amongbytes.com

   Panos Kampanakis
   AWS
   Email: kpanos@amazon.com

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