TLS Working Group                                             A. Langley
Internet-Draft                                               N. Modadugu
Intended status: Experimental                                 B. Moeller
Expires: November 12, 2016                                        Google
                                                            May 11, 2016


               Transport Layer Security (TLS) False Start
                      draft-ietf-tls-falsestart-02

Abstract

   This document specifies an optional behavior of TLS client
   implementations, dubbed False Start.  It affects only protocol
   timing, not on-the-wire protocol data, and can be implemented
   unilaterally.  A TLS False Start reduces handshake latency to one
   round trip.

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
   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 November 12, 2016.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2016 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
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   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
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   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of




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   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Requirements Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   3.  False Start Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Client-side False Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     5.1.  Symmetric Cipher  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     5.2.  Protocol Version  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     5.3.  Key Exchange and Client Certificate Type  . . . . . . . .   7
   6.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   8.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   Appendix A.  Implementation Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10

1.  Requirements Notation

   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 RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

2.  Introduction

   A full handshake in TLS protocol versions up to TLS 1.2 [RFC5246]
   requires two full protocol rounds (four flights) before the handshake
   is complete and the protocol parties may begin to send application
   data.  Thus, using TLS can add a latency penalty of two network
   round-trip times for application protocols in which the client sends
   data first, such as HTTP [RFC7230].
















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      Client                                               Server

      ClientHello                  -------->
                                                      ServerHello
                                                     Certificate*
                                               ServerKeyExchange*
                                              CertificateRequest*
                                   <--------      ServerHelloDone
      Certificate*
      ClientKeyExchange
      CertificateVerify*
      [ChangeCipherSpec]
      Finished                     -------->
                                               [ChangeCipherSpec]
                                   <--------             Finished
      Application Data             <------->     Application Data

        Figure 1 [RFC5246].  Message flow for a full handshake

   This document describes a technique that alleviates the latency
   burden imposed by TLS: the client-side TLS False Start.  If certain
   conditions are met, the client can start to send application data
   when the full handshake is only partially complete, namely, when the
   client has sent its own "ChangeCipherSpec" and "Finished" messages
   (thus having updated its TLS Record Protocol write state as
   negotiated in the handshake), but has yet to receive the server's
   "ChangeCipherSpec" and "Finished" messages.  (By section 7.4.9 of
   [RFC5246], after a full handshake, the client would have to delay
   sending application data until it has received and validated the
   server's "Finished" message.)  Accordingly, the latency penalty for
   using TLS with HTTP can be kept at one round-trip time.

   (Note that in practice, the TCP three-way handshake [RFC0793]
   typically adds one round-trip time before the client can even send
   the ClientHello.  See [RFC7413] for a latency improvement at that
   level.)

   When an earlier TLS session is resumed, TLS uses an abbreviated
   handshake with only three protocol flights.  For application
   protocols in which the client sends data first, this abbreviated
   handshake adds just one round-trip time to begin with, so there is no
   need for a client-side False Start.  However, if the server sends
   application data first, the abbreviated handshake adds two round-trip
   times, and this could be reduced to just one added round-trip time by
   doing a server-side False Start.  There is little need for this in
   practice, so this document does not consider server-side False Starts
   further.




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   Note also that TLS versions 1.3 [tls13] and beyond are out of scope
   for this document.  False Start will not be needed with these newer
   versions since protocol flows minimizing the number of round trips
   have become a first-order design goal.

   In a False Start, when the client sends application data before it
   has received and verified the server's "Finished" message, there are
   two possible outcomes:

   o  The handshake completes successfully: Once both "Finished"
      messages have been received and verified, this retroactively
      validates the handshake.  In this case, the transcript of protocol
      data carried over the transport underlying TLS will look as usual,
      apart from the different timing.

   o  The handshake fails: If a party does not receive the other side's
      "Finished" message, or if the "Finished" message's contents are
      not correct, the handshake never gets validated.  This means that
      an attacker may have removed, changed, or injected handshake
      messages.  In this case, data has been sent over the underlying
      transport that would not have been sent without the False Start.

   The latter scenario makes it necessary to restrict when a False Start
   is allowed, as described in this document.  Section 3 considers basic
   requirements for using False Start.  Section 4 specifies the behavior
   for clients, referring to important security considerations in
   Section 5.

3.  False Start Compatibility

   TLS False Start as described in detail in the subsequent sections, if
   implemented, is an optional feature.

   A TLS server implementation is defined to be "False Start compatible"
   if it tolerates receiving TLS records on the transport connection
   early, before the protocol has reached the state to process these.
   For successful use of client-side False Start in a TLS connection,
   the server has to be False Start compatible.  Out-of-band knowledge
   that the server is False Start compatible may be available, e.g. if
   this is mandated by specific application profile standards.  As
   discussed in Appendix A, the requirement for False Start
   compatibility does generally not pose a hindrance in practice.

4.  Client-side False Start

   This section specifies a change to the behavior of TLS client
   implementations in full TLS handshakes.




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   When the client has sent its "ChangeCipherSpec" and "Finished"
   messages, its default behavior following [RFC5246] is to not send
   application data until it has received the server's
   "ChangeCipherSpec" and "Finished" messages, which completes the
   handshake.  With the False Start protocol modification, the client
   MAY send application data earlier (under the new Cipher Spec) if each
   of the following conditions is satisfied:

   o  The application layer has requested the TLS False Start option.

   o  The symmetric cipher defined by the cipher suite negotiated in
      this handshake has been whitelisted for use with False Start
      according to the Security Considerations in Section 5.1.

   o  The protocol version chosen by ServerHello.server_version has been
      whitelisted for use with False Start according to the Security
      Considerations in Section 5.2.

   o  The key exchange method defined by the cipher suite negotiated in
      this handshake and, if applicable, its parameters have been
      whitelisted for use with False Start according to the Security
      Considerations in Section 5.3.

   o  In the case of a handshake with client authentication, the client
      certificate type has been whitelisted for use with False Start
      according to the Security Considerations in Section 5.3.

   The rules for receiving data from the server remain unchanged.

   Note that the TLS client cannot infer the presence of an
   authenticated server until all handshake messages have been received.
   With False Start, unlike with the default handshake behavior,
   applications are able to send data before this point has been
   reached: from an application point of view, being able to send data
   does not imply that an authenticated peer is present.  Accordingly,
   it is recommended that TLS implementations allow the application
   layer to query whether the handshake has completed.

5.  Security Considerations

   In a TLS handshake, the "Finished" messages serve to validate the
   entire handshake.  These messages are based on a hash of the
   handshake so far processed by a PRF keyed with the new master secret
   (serving as a MAC), and are also sent under the new Cipher Spec with
   its keyed MAC, where the MAC key again is derived from the master
   secret.  The protocol design relies on the assumption that any server
   and/or client authentication done during the handshake carries over
   to this.  While an attacker could, for example, have changed the



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   cipher suite list sent by the client to the server and thus
   influenced cipher suite selection (presumably towards a less secure
   choice) or could have made other modifications to handshake messages
   in transmission, the attacker would not be able to round off the
   modified handshake with a valid "Finished" message: every TLS cipher
   suite is presumed to key the PRF appropriately to ensure
   unforgeability.  Once the handshake has been validated by verifying
   the "Finished" messages, this confirms that the handshake has not
   been tampered with, thus bootstrapping secure encryption (using
   algorithms as negotiated) from secure authentication.

   Using False Start interferes with this approach of bootstrapping
   secure encryption from secure authentication, as application data may
   have already been sent before "Finished" validation confirms that the
   handshake has not been tampered with -- so there is generally no hope
   to be sure that communication with the expected peer is indeed taking
   place during the False Start.  Instead, the security goal is to
   ensure that if anyone at all can decrypt the application data sent in
   a False Start, this must be the legitimate peer: while an attacker
   could be influencing the handshake (restricting cipher suite
   selection, modifying key exchange messages, etc.), the attacker
   should not be able to benefit from this.  The TLS protocol already
   relies on such a security property for authentication -- with False
   Start, the same is needed for encryption.  This motivates the rules
   put forth in the following subsections.

   It is prudent for applications to be even more restrictive.  If
   heuristically a small list of cipher suites and a single protocol
   version is found to be sufficient for the majority of TLS handshakes
   in practice, it could make sense to forego False Start for any
   handshake that does not match this expected pattern, even if there is
   no concrete reason to assume a cryptographic weakness.  Similarly, if
   handshakes almost always use ephemeral ECDH over one of a few named
   curves, it could make sense to disallow False Start with any other
   supported curve.

5.1.  Symmetric Cipher

   Clients MUST NOT use the False Start protocol modification in a
   handshake unless the cipher suite uses a symmetric cipher that is
   considered cryptographically strong.

   Implementations may have their own classification of ciphers (and may
   additionally allow the application layer to provide a
   classification), but generally only symmetric ciphers with an
   effective key length of 128 bits or more can be considered strong.
   Also, various ciphers specified for use with TLS are known to have
   cryptographic weaknesses regardless of key length (none of the



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   ciphers specified in [RFC4492] and [RFC5246] can be recommended for
   use with False Start).  The AES_128_GCM_SHA256 or AES_256_GCM_SHA384
   ciphers specified in [RFC5288] and [RFC5289] can be considered
   sufficiently strong for most uses.  Implementations that support
   additional cipher suites have to be careful to whitelist only
   suitable symmetric ciphers; if in doubt, False Start should not be
   used with a given symmetric cipher.

   While an attacker can change handshake messages to force a downgrade
   to a less secure symmetric cipher than otherwise would have been
   chosen, this rule ensures that in such a downgrade attack no
   application data will be sent under an insecure symmetric cipher.

5.2.  Protocol Version

   Clients MUST NOT use the False Start protocol modification in a
   handshake unless the protocol version chosen by
   ServerHello.server_version has been whitelisted for this use.

   Generally, to avoid potential protocol downgrade attacks,
   implementations should whitelist only their latest (highest-valued)
   supported TLS protocol version (and, if applicable, any earlier
   protocol versions that they would use in fallback retries without
   TLS_FALLBACK_SCSV [RFC7507]).

   The details of nominally identical cipher suites can differ between
   protocol versions, so this reinforces Section 5.1.

5.3.  Key Exchange and Client Certificate Type

   Clients MUST NOT use the False Start protocol modification in a
   handshake unless the cipher suite uses a key exchange method that has
   been whitelisted for this use.  Also, clients MUST NOT use the False
   Start protocol modification unless any parameters to the key exchange
   methods (such as ServerDHParams, ServerECDHParams) have been
   whitelisted for this use.  Furthermore, when using client
   authentication, clients MUST NOT use the False Start protocol
   modification unless the client certificate type has been whitelisted
   for this use.

   Implementations may have their own whitelists of key exchange
   methods, parameters, and client certificate types (and may
   additionally allow the application layer to specify whitelists).
   Generally, out of the options from [RFC5246] and [RFC4492], the
   following whitelists are recommended:

   o  Key exchange methods: DHE_RSA, ECDHE_RSA, DHE_DSS, ECDHE_ECDSA




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   o  Parameters: well-known DH groups (at least 3,072 bits), named
      curves (at least 256 bits)

   o  Client certificate types: none

   However, if an implementation that supports only key exchange methods
   from [RFC5246] and [RFC4492] does not support any of the above key
   exchange methods, all of its supported key exchange methods can be
   whitelisted for False Start use.  Care is required with any
   additional key exchange methods, as these may not have similar
   properties.

   The recommended whitelists are such that if cryptographic algorithms
   suitable for forward secrecy would possibly be negotiated, no False
   Start will take place if the current handshake fails to provide
   forward secrecy.  (Forward secrecy can be achieved using ephemeral
   Diffie-Hellman or ephemeral Elliptic-Curve Diffie-Hellman; there is
   no forward secrecy when a using key exchange method of RSA, RSA_PSK,
   DH_DSS, DH_RSA, ECDH_ECDSA, or ECDH_RSA, or a client certificate type
   of rsa_fixed_dh, dss_fixed_dh, rsa_fixed_ecdh, or ecdsa_fixed_ecdh.)
   As usual, the benefits of forward secrecy may need to be balanced
   against efficiency, and accordingly even implementations that support
   the above key exchange methods might whitelist further key exchange
   methods and client certificate types.

   Client certificate types rsa_sign, dss_sign, and ecdsa_sign do allow
   forward security, but using False Start with any of these means
   sending application data tied to the client's signature before the
   server's authenticity (and, thus, the CertificateRequest message) has
   been completely verified, so these too are not generally suitable for
   the client certificate type whitelist.

6.  Acknowledgments

   The authors wish to thank Wan-Teh Chang, Ben Laurie, Martin Thomson,
   Eric Rescorla, and Brian Smith for their input.

7.  IANA Considerations

   None.

8.  References

8.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.




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   [RFC4492]  Blake-Wilson, S., Bolyard, N., Gupta, V., Hawk, C., and B.
              Moeller, "Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) Cipher Suites
              for Transport Layer Security (TLS)", RFC 4492, May 2006.

   [RFC5246]  Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security
              (TLS) Protocol Version 1.2", RFC 5246, August 2008.

   [RFC5288]  Salowey, J., Choudhury, A., and D. McGrew, "AES Galois
              Counter Mode (GCM) Cipher Suites for TLS", RFC 5288,
              August 2008.

   [RFC5289]  Rescorla, E., "TLS Elliptic Curve Cipher Suites with
              SHA-256/384 and AES Galois Counter Mode (GCM)", RFC 5289,
              August 2008.

8.2.  Informative References

   [RFC0793]  Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol", STD 7, RFC
              793, DOI 10.17487/RFC0793, September 1981,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc793>.

   [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,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7230>.

   [RFC7413]  Cheng, Y., Chu, J., Radhakrishnan, S., and A. Jain, "TCP
              Fast Open", RFC 7413, DOI 10.17487/RFC7413, December 2014,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7413>.

   [RFC7507]  Moeller, B. and A. Langley, "TLS Fallback Signaling Cipher
              Suite Value (SCSV) for Preventing Protocol Downgrade
              Attacks", RFC 7507, April 2015.

   [tls13]    Rescorla, E., "The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol
              Version 1.3", Work in Progress, draft-ietf-tls-tls13-12,
              March 2016.

Appendix A.  Implementation Notes

   TLS False Start is a modification to the TLS protocol, and some
   implementations that conform to [RFC5246] may have problems
   interacting with implementations that use the False Start
   modification.  If the peer uses a False Start, application data
   records may be received directly following the peer's "Finished"
   message, before the TLS implementation has sent its own "Finished"
   message.  False Start compatibility as defined in Section 3 ensures




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   that these records with application data will simply remain buffered
   for later processing.

   A False Start compatible TLS implementation does not have to be aware
   of the False Start concept, and is certainly not expected to detect
   whether a False Start handshake is currently taking place: thanks to
   transport layer buffering, typical implementations will be False
   Start compatible without having been designed for it.

Authors' Addresses

   Adam Langley
   Google Inc.
   345 Spear St
   San Francisco, CA  94105
   USA

   Email: agl@google.com


   Nagendra Modadugu
   Google Inc.
   1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
   Mountain View, CA  94043
   USA

   Email: nagendra@cs.stanford.edu


   Bodo Moeller
   Google Switzerland GmbH
   Brandschenkestrasse 110
   Zurich  8002
   Switzerland

   Email: bmoeller@acm.org















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