NETWORK WORKING GROUP N. Williams
Internet-Draft Sun
Expires: September 26, 2008 March 25, 2008
Namespace Considerations and Registries for GSS-API Extensions
draft-ietf-kitten-gssapi-extensions-iana-04.txt
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Abstract
This document describes the ways in which the GSS-API may be extended
and directs the creation of an IANA registry for various GSS-API
namespaces.
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Table of Contents
1. Conventions used in this document . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Extensions to the GSS-API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Generic GSS-API Namespaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5. Language Binding-Specific GSS-API Namespaces . . . . . . . 4
6. Extension-Specific GSS-API Namespaces . . . . . . . . . . 4
7. Registration Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
8.1. Initial Namespace Registrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8.2. Registration Maintenance Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8.2.1. Sub-Namespace Symbol Pattern Matching . . . . . . . . . . 7
8.2.2. Expert Reviews of Individual Submissions . . . . . . . . . 7
8.2.3. Change Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
9. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
10. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
10.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
10.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . 11
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1. Conventions used in this document
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
2. Introduction
There is a need for private-use and mechanism-specific extensions to
the Generic Security Services Application Programming Interface (GSS-
API). As such extensions are designed and standardized (or not),
both at the IETF and elsewhere, there is a non-trivial risk of
namespace pollution and conflicts. To avoid this we set out
guidelines for extending the GSS-API and direct the creation of an
IANA registry for GSS-API namespaces.
Registrations of individual items and sub-namespaces are allowed.
Each sub-namespace may provide different rules for registration,
e.g., for mechanism-specific and private-use extensions.
3. Extensions to the GSS-API
Extensions to the GSS-API can be categorized as follows:
o Abstract API extensions
o Implementation-specific
o Mechanism-specific
o Language binding-specific
Extensions to the GSS-API may be purely semantic, without effect on
the GSS-API's namespaces. Or they may introduce new functions,
constants, types, etc...; these clearly affect the GSS-API
namespaces.
Extensions that affect the GSS-API namespaces should be registered
with the IANA as described herein.
4. Generic GSS-API Namespaces
The abstract API namespaces for the GSS-API are:
o Type names
o Function names
o Constant names for various types
o Constant values for various types
o Name types (OID, type name and syntaxes)
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Additionally we have namespaces associates with the OBJECT IDENTIFIER
(OID) type. The IANA already maintains a registry of such OIDs:
o Mechanism OIDs
o Name Type OIDs
5. Language Binding-Specific GSS-API Namespaces
Language binding specific namespaces include, among others:
o Header/interface module names
o Object classes and/or types
o Methods and/or functions
o Constant names
o Constant values
6. Extension-Specific GSS-API Namespaces
Extensions to the GSS-API may create additional namespaces. See
Section 8.2.
7. Registration Form
Registrations for GSS-API namespaces SHALL take the following form:
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Registration | Possible Values | Description |
| Field | | |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Registration | 'Instance', | Indicates whether this entry |
| type | 'Sub-Namespace' | reserves a given symbol name |
| | | (and possibly, constant |
| | | value), or whether it |
| | | reserves an entire |
| | | sub-namespace (the name is a |
| | | pattern) or constant value |
| | | range. |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Bindings | 'Generic', | Indicates the name of the |
| | 'C-bindings', | programming language that |
| | 'Java', 'C#', | this registration involves, |
| | <programming | or, if 'Generic', that this |
| | language name> | is an entry for the generic |
| | | abstract GSS-API (i.e., not |
| | | specific to any programming |
| | | language). |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
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| Object Type | 'Data-Type', | Indicates the type of the |
| | 'Function', | object whose symbolic name |
| | 'Method', | or constant value this entry |
| | 'Integer', | registers. The possible |
| | 'String', 'OID', | values of this field depend |
| | 'Context-Flag', | on the programming language |
| | 'Name-Type', | in question, therefore they |
| | 'Macro', | are not all specified here. |
| | 'Header-File-Name', | |
| | 'Module-Name', | |
| | 'Class', etcetera | |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Symbol | <Symbol name or | The name of a symbol or |
| Name/Prefix | name pattern> | symbol sub-namespace being |
| | | registered. See |
| | | Section 8.2.1 |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Binding of | <Name of abstract | If the registration is for a |
| | API element of | specific language binding of |
| | which this object | the GSS-API, then this names |
| | is a binding> | the abstract API element of |
| | | which it is a binding |
| | | (OPTIONAL). |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Constant | <Constant value> or | The value of the constant |
| Value/Range | <constant value | named by the <Symbol |
| | range> | Name/Prefix>. This field is |
| | | present only for Instance |
| | | and Sub-namespace |
| | | registrations of Constant |
| | | object types. |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Description | <Text> | Description of the |
| | | registration. Multiple |
| | | instances of this field may |
| | | result (see Section 8.2.3). |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Registration | Values from | Describes the rules for |
| Rules | [RFC2434], such as | allocation of items that |
| | 'IESG Approval', | fall in this sub-namespace, |
| | 'Expert Review', | for entries with |
| | 'First Come First | Registration Type of |
| | Served', 'Private | Sub-namespace (OPTIONAL). |
| | Use', etcetera. | For private use |
| | | sub-namespaces the submitter |
| | | MUST provide the e-mail |
| | | address of a responsible |
| | | contact. |
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| Reference | <Reference> | Reference to document that |
| | | describes the registration, |
| | | if any (OPTIONAL). Multiple |
| | | instances of this field are |
| | | allowed, with one reference |
| | | each. |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Expert | <Name of expert | OPTIONAL, see Section 8.2.2. |
| Reviewer | reviewers, possibly | Multiple instances of this |
| | WG names> | field are allowed, with one |
| | | expert reviewer |
| | | per-instance. |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Expert | <Notes from the | Expert reviewers may request |
| Review Notes | expert review> | that some comments be |
| | | included with the |
| | | registration, e.g., |
| | | regarding security |
| | | considerations of the |
| | | registered extension. |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Status | 'Registered', | Status of the registration. |
| | 'Obsoleted' | |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
| Obsoleting | <Reference> | Reference to document, if |
| Reference | | any, that obsoletes this |
| | | registration. Multiple |
| | | instances of this field are |
| | | allowed, with one reference |
| | | each. (OPTIONAL) |
+--------------+---------------------+------------------------------+
The IANA should create a single GSS-API namespace registry, or
multiple registries, one for symbolic names and one for constant
values, and/or it may create a registry per-programming language, at
its convenience.
Entries in these registries should consist of all the fields from
their corresponding registration entries.
Entries should be sorted by: registration type, progamming language,
object type, and symbol name/pattern.
8. IANA Considerations
This document deals with IANA considerations throughout.
Specifically it creates a single registry of various kinds of things,
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thought the IANA may instead create multiple registries each for one
of those kinds of things. Of particular interest may be that IANA
will now be the registration authority for the GSS-API name type OID
space.
8.1. Initial Namespace Registrations
Initial registry content corresponding to the items defined in
[RFC2743], [RFC2744], [RFC2853], [RFC1964] and [RFC4121] and others
will be supplied during the IANA review portion of the RFC publishing
process. The KITTEN WG chairs MUST indicate that such content has
been reviewed by the WG and that there is WG consensus that the
entries are in agreement with those RFCs.
8.2. Registration Maintenance Guidelines
Standards-Track RFCs can create new items with any non-conflicting
Symbol Name/Prefix value for this registry by virtue of IESG approval
to publish as a Standards-Track RFC -- that is, without additional
expert review.
Standards-Track RFCs can mark existing entries as obsolete, and can
even create conflicting entries if explicitly stated (the IESG, of
course, should review conflicts carefully, and may reject them).
IANA shall also consider submissions from individuals, and via
Informational and Experimental RFCs, subject to Expert Review. IANA
SHALL allow such registrations if a) they are not conflicting, b)
provided that the registration is for object types other than
Context-Flags, and c) subject to expert review. Guidelines for
expert reviews are given below.
8.2.1. Sub-Namespace Symbol Pattern Matching
Sub-namespace registrations must provide a pattern for matching
symbols for which the sub-namespace's registration rules apply. The
pattern consists of a string with the following special tokens:
o '*', meaning "match any string."
o "%m", meaning "match any mechanism family short-hand name."
o "%i", meaning "match any implementor vanity short-hand name."
For example, "GSS_%m_*" matches "GSS_krb5_foo" since "krb5" is a
common short-hand for the Kerberos V GSS-API mechanism [RFC1964].
But "GSS_%m_*" does not match "GSS_foo_bar" unless "foo" is asserted
to be a short-hand for some mechanism.
8.2.2. Expert Reviews of Individual Submissions
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Expert review selection SHALL be done as follows. If, at the time
that the IANA receives an individual submission for registration in
this registry, there is are any IETF Working Groups chartered to
produce GSS-API-related documents, then the IANA SHALL ask the chairs
of such WGs to be expert reviewers or to name one. If there are no
such WGs at that time, then the IANA SHALL ask past chairs of the
KITTEN WG and the author/editor of this RFC to act as expert
reviewers or name an alternate.
Expert reviewers of individual registration submissions with
Registration Type == Sub-namespace should check that the registration
request has a suitable description (which need not be sufficiently
detailsed for others to implement) and that the Symbol Name/Prefix is
sufficiently descriptive of the purpose of the sub-namespace or
reflective of the name of the submitter or associated company.
Expert reviewers of individual registration submissions with
Registration Type == Instance should check that the Symbol Name falls
under a sub-namespace controlled by the submitter. Registration of
such entries which do not fall under such a sub-namespace may be
allowed provided that they correspond to long existing non-standard
extensions to the GSS-API and this can be easily checked or
demonstrated, otherwise IESG Protocol Action is REQUIRED (see
previous section). Also, reviewers should check that any
registration of constant values have a detailed description that is
suitable for other implementors to reproduce, and that they don't
conflict with other usages or are otherwise dangerous in the
reviewers estimation.
Expert reviewers should review impact on mechanisms, security and
interoperability, and may reject or annotate registrations which can
have mechanism impact that requires IESG protocol action. Consider,
for example, new versions of GSS_Init_sec_context() and/or
GSS_Accept_sec_context which have new input and/or output parameters
which imply changes on the wire or in behaviour that may result in
interoperability issues. A reviewer could choose to add notes to the
registration describing such issues, or the reviewer might conclude
that the danger to Internet interoperability is sufficient to warrant
rejecting the registration.
8.2.3. Change Control
Registered entries may be marked obsoleted using the same expert
review process as for registering entries. Obsoleted entries are
not, however, to be deleted, but merely marked having Obsoleted
Status. Note that entries may be created as obsoleted to record the
fact that the given symbol(s) have been used before, even though
continued use of them is discouraged.
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Registered entries may also be updated in two other ways: additional
references, obsoleting references, and descriptions may be added.
All changes are subject to expert review. The submitter of a change
request need not be the same as the original submitter.
Registrations may be modified by addtion, but under no circumstance
may any fields be modified except for the Status field.
The IANA SHALL add a field describing the date that a an addition or
modification was made, and a description of the change.
9. Security Considerations
General security considerations relating to IANA registration
services apply; see [RFC2434].
Also, expert reviewers should look for and may document security
related issues with submitters' GSS-API extensions, to the best of
the reviewers' ability given the information furnished by the
submitter. Reviewers may add comments regarding their limited
ability to review a submission for security problems if the submitter
is unwilling to provide sufficient documentation.
10. References
10.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC2434] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 2434,
October 1998.
10.2. Informative References
[RFC1964] Linn, J., "The Kerberos Version 5 GSS-API Mechanism",
RFC 1964, June 1996.
[RFC2743] Linn, J., "Generic Security Service Application Program
Interface Version 2, Update 1", RFC 2743, January 2000.
[RFC2744] Wray, J., "Generic Security Service API Version 2 :
C-bindings", RFC 2744, January 2000.
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[RFC2853] Kabat, J. and M. Upadhyay, "Generic Security Service API
Version 2 : Java Bindings", RFC 2853, June 2000.
[RFC4121] Zhu, L., Jaganathan, K., and S. Hartman, "The Kerberos
Version 5 Generic Security Service Application Program
Interface (GSS-API) Mechanism: Version 2", RFC 4121,
July 2005.
Author's Address
Nicolas Williams
Sun Microsystems
5300 Riata Trace Ct
Austin, TX 78727
US
Email: Nicolas.Williams@sun.com
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