LAMPS A. Melnikov, Ed.
Internet-Draft Isode Ltd
Intended status: Standards Track W. Chuang, Ed.
Expires: May 4, 2017 Google, Inc.
October 31, 2016
Internationalized Email Addresses in X.509 certificates
draft-ietf-lamps-eai-addresses-02
Abstract
This document defines a new name form for inclusion in the otherName
field of an X.509 Subject Alternative Name extension that allows a
certificate subject to be associated with an Internationalized Email
Address.
Status of This Memo
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This Internet-Draft will expire on May 4, 2017.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Conventions Used in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. Name Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4. Matching of Internationalized Email Addresses in X.509
certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5. Name constraints in path validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. Resource Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
9.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
9.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Appendix A. ASN.1 Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Appendix B. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1. Introduction
[RFC5280] defines rfc822Name subjectAltName choice for representing
[RFC5322] email addresses. This form is restricted to a subset of
US-ASCII characters and thus can't be used to represent
Internationalized Email addresses [RFC6531]. To fascilitate use of
these Internationalized Email addresses with X.509 certificates, this
document specifies a new name form in otherName so that
subjectAltName and issuerAltName can carry them.
2. 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].
The formal syntax use the Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) [RFC5234]
notation.
3. Name Definitions
The GeneralName structure is defined in [RFC5280], and supports many
different names forms including otherName for extensibility. This
section specifies the smtputf8Name name form of otherName, so that
Internationalized Email addresses can appear in the subjectAltName of
a certificate, the issuerAltName of a certificate, or anywhere else
that GeneralName is used.
id-on-smtputf8Name OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { id-on TBD }
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Smtputf8Name ::= UTF8String (SIZE (1..MAX))
When the subjectAltName (or issuerAltName) extension contains an
Internationalized Email address, the address MUST be stored in the
smtputf8Name name form of otherName. The format of smtputf8Name is
defined as the ABNF rule smtputf8Mailbox. smtputf8Mailbox is a
modified version of the Internationalized Mailbox which is defined in
Section 3.3 of [RFC6531] which is itself derived from SMTP Mailbox
from Section 4.1.2 of [RFC5321]. [RFC6531] defines the following
ABNF rules for Mailbox whose parts are modified for
internationalization: <Local-part>, <Dot-string>, <Quoted-string>,
<QcontentSMTP>, <Domain>, and <Atom>. In particular <Local-part> was
updated to also support UTF8-non-ascii. UTF8-non-ascii is described
by Section 3.1 of [RFC6532]. Also sub-domain is extended to support
U-label, as defined in [RFC5890]
This document further refines Internationalized [RFC6531] Mailbox
ABNF rules and calls this smtputf8Mailbox. In smtputf8Mailbox, sub-
domain that encode non-ascii characters SHALL use U-label Unicode
native character labels and MUST NOT use A-label [RFC5890]. This
restriction prevents having to determine which label encoding A- or
U-label is present in the Domain. As per Section 2.3.2.1 of
[RFC5890], U-label use UTF-8 [RFC3629] with Normalization Form C and
other properties specified there. In smtputf8Mailbox, sub-domain
that encode solely ASCII character labels SHALL use NR-LDH
restrictions as specified by section 2.3.1 of [RFC5890]. Note that a
smtputf8Mailbox has no phrase (such as a common name) before it, has
no comment (text surrounded in parentheses) after it, and is not
surrounded by "<" and ">".
In the context of building name constraint as needed by [RFC5280],
the smtputf8Mailbox rules are modified to allow partial productions
to allow for additional forms required by Section 5. Name
constraints may specify a complete email address, host name, or
domain. This means that the local-part may be missing, and domain
partially specified.
smtputf8Name is encoded as UTF8String. The UTF8String encoding MUST
NOT contain a Byte-Order-Mark (BOM) [RFC3629] to aid consistency
across implementations particularly for comparison.
4. Matching of Internationalized Email Addresses in X.509 certificates
In equivalence comparison with smtputf8Name, there may be some setup
work to enable the comparison i.e. processing of the smtputf8Name
content or the email address that is being compared against. The
process for setup for comparing with smtputf8Name is split into
domain steps and local-part steps. The comparison form for local-
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part always is UTF-8. The comparison form for domain depends on
context. While some contexts such as certificate path validation in
[RFC5280] specify transforming to A-label, this document RECOMMENDS
transforming to UTF-8 U-label even in place of those other
specifications. As more implementations natively support U-label
domain, requiring U-label reduces conversions required, which then
reduces likelihood of errors caused by bugs in implementation.
Comparison of two smtputf8Name can be straightforward. No setup work
is needed and it can be an octet for octet comparison. For other
email address forms such as Internationalized email address or
rfc822Name, the comparison requires additional setup to convert the
format for comparison. Domain setup is particularly important for
forms that may contain A- or U-label such as International email
address, or A-label only forms such as rfc822Name. This document
specifies the process to transform the domain to U-label. (To
convert the domain to A-label, follow the process process specified
in section 7.5 and 7.2 in [RFC5280]) The first step is to detect
A-label by using section 5.1 of [RFC5891]. Next if necessary,
transform the A-label to U-label Unicode as specified in section 5.2
of [RFC5891]. Finally if necessary convert the Unicode to UTF-8 as
specified in section 3 of [RFC3629]. In setup for smtputf8Mailbox,
the email address local-part MUST be converted to UTF-8 if it is not
already. The <Local-part> part of an Internationalized email address
is already in UTF-8. For the rfc822Name local-part is IA5String
(ASCII), and conversion to UTF-8 is trivial since ASCII octets maps
to UTF-8 without change. Once the setup is completed, comparison is
an octet for octet comparison.
This specification expressly does not define any wildcards characters
and smtputf8Name comparison implementations MUST NOT interpret any
character as wildcards. Instead, to specify multiple specifying
multiple email addresses through smtputf8Name, the certificate should
use multiple subjectAltNames or issuerAltNames to explicitly carry
those email addresses.
5. Name constraints in path validation
This section defines use of smtputf8Name name for name constraints.
The format for smtputf8Name in name constraints is identical to the
use in subjectAltName as specified in Section 3 with the extension as
noted there for partial productions.
Constraint comparison on complete email address with smtputf8Name
name uses the matching procedure defined by Section 4. As with
rfc822Name name constraints as specified in Section 4.2.1.10 of
[RFC5280], smtputf8Name name can specify a particular mailbox, all
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addresses at a host, or all mailboxes in a domain by specifying the
complete email address, a host name, or a domain.
Name constraint comparisons in the context [RFC5280] is specified
with smtputf8Name name are only done on the subjectAltName (and
issuerAltName) smtputf8Name name, and says nothing more about
constaints on other email address forms such as rfc822Name.
Consequently it may be necessary to include other name constraints
such as rfc822Name in addition to smtputf8Name to constrain all
potential email addresses. For example a domain with both ascii and
non-ascii local-part email addresses may require both rfc822Name and
smtputf8Name name constraints. This can be illustrated in the
following non-normative diagram Figure 1 which shows a name
constraint set in the intermediate CA certificate, which then applies
to the children entity certificates. Note that a constraint on
rfc822Name does not apply to smtputf8Name and vice versa.
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+------------------------------------------------------+
| Root CA Cert |
+------------------------------------------------------+
|
v
+------------------------------------------------------+
| Intermediate CA Cert |
| Name Constraint Extension |
| Permitted |
| rfc822Name: allowed.example.com |
| smtputf8Name: allowed.example.com |
| Excluded |
| rfc822Name: ignored.example.com |
+------------------------------------------------------+
| |
v |
+------------------------------------------------------+
| Entity Cert (w/explicitly permitted subjects) |
| SubjectAltName Extension |
| rfc822Name: student@allowed.example.com |
| smtputf8Name: \u8001\u5E2B@allowed.example.com |
+------------------------------------------------------+
|
v
+------------------------------------------------------+
| Entity Cert (w/permitted subject- excluded |
| rfc822Name does not exclude smtputf8Name) |
| SubjectAltName Extension |
| smtputf8Name: \u4E0D\u5C0D@ignored.example.com |
+------------------------------------------------------+
Figure 1
6. Resource Considerations
For email addresses whose local-part is ASCII it may be more
reasonable to continue using rfc822Name instead of smtputf8Name. Use
of smtputf8Name incurs higher byte representation overhead due to
encoding with otherName and the additional OID needed. This document
RECOMMENDS using smtputf8Name when local-part contains non-ASCII
characters, and otherwise rfc822Name.
7. Security Considerations
Use for smtputf8Name for certificate subjectAltName (and
issuerAltName) will incur many of the same security considerations of
Section 8 in [RFC5280] but further complicated by permitting non-
ASCII characters in the email address local-part. As mentioned in
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Section 4.4 of [RFC5890] and in Section 4 of [RFC6532] Unicode
introduces the risk for visually similar characters which can be
exploited to deceive the recipient. The former document references
some means to mitigate against these attacks.
8. IANA Considerations
This document makes use of object identifiers for the smtputf8Name
defined in Section Section 3 and the ASN.1 module identifier defined
in Section Appendix A. IANA is kindly requested to make the
following assignments for:
The LAMPS-EaiAddresses-2016 ASN.1 module in the "SMI Security for
PKIX Module Identifier" registry (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.0).
The smtputf8Name otherName in the "PKIX Other Name Forms" registry
(1.3.6.1.5.5.7.8).
9. References
9.1. 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,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC3629] Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, DOI 10.17487/RFC3629, November
2003, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3629>.
[RFC5234] Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5234, January 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5234>.
[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,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5280>.
[RFC5321] Klensin, J., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", RFC 5321,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5321, October 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5321>.
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[RFC5890] Klensin, J., "Internationalized Domain Names for
Applications (IDNA): Definitions and Document Framework",
RFC 5890, DOI 10.17487/RFC5890, August 2010,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5890>.
[RFC5891] Klensin, J., "Internationalized Domain Names in
Applications (IDNA): Protocol", RFC 5891,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5891, August 2010,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5891>.
[RFC5912] Hoffman, P. and J. Schaad, "New ASN.1 Modules for the
Public Key Infrastructure Using X.509 (PKIX)", RFC 5912,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5912, June 2010,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5912>.
[RFC6531] Yao, J. and W. Mao, "SMTP Extension for Internationalized
Email", RFC 6531, DOI 10.17487/RFC6531, February 2012,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6531>.
[RFC6532] Yang, A., Steele, S., and N. Freed, "Internationalized
Email Headers", RFC 6532, DOI 10.17487/RFC6532, February
2012, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6532>.
9.2. Informative References
[RFC5322] Resnick, P., Ed., "Internet Message Format", RFC 5322,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5322, October 2008,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5322>.
Appendix A. ASN.1 Module
The following ASN.1 module normatively specifies the Smtputf8Name
structure. This specification uses the ASN.1 definitions from
[RFC5912] with the 2002 ASN.1 notation used in that document.
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LAMPS-EaiAddresses-2016
{ iso(1) identified-organization(3) dod(6)
internet(1) security(5) mechanisms(5) pkix(7) id-mod(0)
id-mod-lamps-eai-addresses-2016(TBD) }
DEFINITIONS IMPLICIT TAGS ::=
BEGIN
IMPORTS
id-pkix OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::=
{iso(1) identified-organization(3) dod(6) internet(1) security(5)
mechanisms(5) pkix(7)}
--
-- otherName carries additional name types for subjectAltName, issuerAltName,
-- and other uses of GeneralNames.
--
id-on OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { id-pkix 8 }
SmtpUtf8OtherNames OTHER-NAME ::= { on-smtputf8Name, ... }
on-smtputf8Name OTHER-NAME ::= {
SmtpUtf8Name IDENTIFIED BY id-on-smtputf8Name
}
id-on-smtputf8Name OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { id-on TBD }
SmtpUtf8Name ::= UTF8String (SIZE (1..MAX))
END
Figure 2
Appendix B. Acknowledgements
Thank you to Magnus Nystrom for motivating this document. Thanks to
Russ Housley, Nicolas Lidzborski, Laetitia Baudoin, Ryan Sleevi, Sean
Leonard, Sean Turner, and Jim Schaad for their feedback. Also thanks
to John Klensin for his valuable input on internationalization,
Unicode and ABNF formatting.
Authors' Addresses
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Alexey Melnikov (editor)
Isode Ltd
14 Castle Mews
Hampton, Middlesex TW12 2NP
UK
Email: Alexey.Melnikov@isode.com
Weihaw Chuang (editor)
Google, Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
US
Email: weihaw@google.com
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