JOSE Working Group M. Jones
Internet-Draft Microsoft
Intended status: Standards Track J. Bradley
Expires: September 13, 2012 independent
N. Sakimura
Nomura Research Institute
March 12, 2012
JSON Web Signature JSON Serialization (JWS-JS)
draft-jones-json-web-signature-json-serialization-01
Abstract
The JSON Web Signature JSON Serialization (JWS-JS) is a means of
representing content secured with digital signatures or Hash-based
Message Authentication Codes (HMACs) using JSON data structures.
This specification describes a means of representing secured content
as a JSON data object (as opposed to the JWS specification, which
uses a compact serialization with a URL-safe representation). It
enables multiple digital signatures and/or HMACs to be applied to the
same content (unlike JWS). Cryptographic algorithms and identifiers
used with this specification are enumerated in the separate JSON Web
Algorithms (JWA) specification. The JSON Serialization for related
encryption functionality is described in the separate JSON Web
Encryption JSON Serialization (JWE-JS) specification.
Requirements Language
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].
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 http://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."
Jones, et al. Expires September 13, 2012 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft JWS JSON Serialization (JWS-JS) March 2012
This Internet-Draft will expire on September 13, 2012.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2012 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
(http://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 and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Jones, et al. Expires September 13, 2012 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft JWS JSON Serialization (JWS-JS) March 2012
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. JSON Serialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Example JWS-JS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Appendix A. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Appendix B. Document History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Jones, et al. Expires September 13, 2012 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft JWS JSON Serialization (JWS-JS) March 2012
1. Introduction
The JSON Web Signature JSON Serialization (JWS-JS) is a format for
representing content secured with digital signatures or Hash-based
Message Authentication Codes (HMACs) as a JSON [RFC4627] object. It
enables multiple digital signatures and/or HMACs to be applied to the
same content (unlike JWS [JWS]). The digital signature and HMAC
mechanisms used are independent of the type of content being secured,
allowing arbitrary content to be secured. Cryptographic algorithms
and identifiers used with this specification are enumerated in the
separate JSON Web Algorithms (JWA) [JWA] specification. The JSON
Serialization for related encryption functionality is described in
the separate JSON Web Encryption JSON Serialization (JWE-JS) [JWE-JS]
specification.
2. Terminology
This specification uses the same terminology as the JSON Web
Signature (JWS) [JWS] specification.
3. JSON Serialization
The JSON Serialization represents secured content as a JSON object
with members for each of three constituent parts: a "headers" member
whose value is a non-empty array of Encoded JWS Header values, a
"payload" member whose value is an Encoded JWS Payload value, and a
"signatures" member whose value is a non-empty array of Encoded JWS
Signature values, where the number of elements in both arrays is the
same.
Unlike the compact serialization used by JWSs, content using the JSON
Serialization MAY be secured with more than one digital signature
and/or HMAC value. Each is represented as an Encoded JWS Signature
in the "signatures" member array. For each, there is a corresponding
"headers" member array element that is an Encoded JWS Header
specifying the digital signature or HMAC applied to the Encoded JWS
Header value and the Encoded JWS Payload value to create the JWS
Signature value. Therefore, the syntax is:
{"headers":["<header 1 contents>",...,"<header N contents>"],
"payload":"<payload contents>",
"signatures":["<signature 1 contents>",...,"<signature N contents>"]
}
The contents of the Encoded JWS Header, Encoded JWS Payload, and
Encoded JWS Signature values are exactly as specified in JSON Web
Signature (JWS) [JWS]. They are interpreted and validated in the
Jones, et al. Expires September 13, 2012 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft JWS JSON Serialization (JWS-JS) March 2012
same manner, with each corresponding "headers" and "signatures" value
being created or validated together. The arrays MUST have the same
number of elements.
The i'th JWS Signature value is computed on the JWS Secured Input
corresponding to the concatenation of the i'th Encoded JWS Header, a
period ('.') character, and the Encoded JWS Payload in the same
manner described in the JWS specification. This has the desirable
result that each Encoded JWS signature value in the "signatures"
array is identical to the value that would be used for the same
header and payload in a JWS.
4. Example JWS-JS
This section contains an example using the JWS JSON Serialization.
This example demonstrates the capability for conveying multiple
digital signatures and/or HMACs for the same payload.
The Encoded JWS Payload used in this example is the same as used in
the examples in Appendix A of JWS (with line breaks for display
purposes only):
eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0dHA6Ly9leGFt
cGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ
Two digital signatures are used in this example: an RSA SHA-256
signature, for which the header and signature values are the same as
in Appendix A.2 of JWS, and an ECDSA P-256 SHA-256 signature, for
which the header and signature values are the same as in Appendix A.3
of JWS. The two Decoded JWS Header Segments used are:
{"alg":"RS256"}
and:
{"alg":"ES256"}
Since the computations of the JWS Header and JWS Signature values are
the same as in Appendix A.2 and Appendix A.3 of JWS, they are not
repeated here.
The complete JSON Web Signature JSON Serialization (JWS-JS) for these
values is as follows (with line breaks for display purposes only):
Jones, et al. Expires September 13, 2012 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft JWS JSON Serialization (JWS-JS) March 2012
{"headers":[
"eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiJ9",
"eyJhbGciOiJFUzI1NiJ9"],
"payload":"eyJpc3MiOiJqb2UiLA0KICJleHAiOjEzMDA4MTkzODAsDQogImh0
dHA6Ly9leGFtcGxlLmNvbS9pc19yb290Ijp0cnVlfQ",
"signatures":[
"cC4hiUPoj9Eetdgtv3hF80EGrhuB__dzERat0XF9g2VtQgr9PJbu3XOiZj5RZ
mh7AAuHIm4Bh-0Qc_lF5YKt_O8W2Fp5jujGbds9uJdbF9CUAr7t1dnZcAcQjbKBY
NX4BAynRFdiuB--f_nZLgrnbyTyWzO75vRK5h6xBArLIARNPvkSjtQBMHlb1L07Q
e7K0GarZRmB_eSN9383LcOLn6_dO--xi12jzDwusC-eOkHWEsqtFZESc6BfI7noO
PqvhJ1phCnvWh6IeYI2w9QOYEUipUTI8np6LbgGY9Fs98rqVt5AXLIhWkWywlVmt
VrBp0igcN_IoypGlUPQGe77Rw",
"DtEhU3ljbEg8L38VWAfUAqOyKAM6-Xx-F4GawxaepmXFCgfTjDxw5djxLa8IS
lSApmWQxfKTUJqPP3-Kg6NU1Q"]
}
5. IANA Considerations
This specification makes no requests of IANA.
6. Security Considerations
The security considerations for this specification are the same as
those for the JSON Web Signature (JWS) [JWS] specification.
7. References
7.1. Normative References
[JWA] Jones, M., "JSON Web Algorithms (JWA)", March 2012.
[JWS] Jones, M., Bradley, J., and N. Sakimura, "JSON Web
Signature (JWS)", March 2012.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC4627] Crockford, D., "The application/json Media Type for
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)", RFC 4627, July 2006.
7.2. Informative References
[JSS] Bradley, J. and N. Sakimura (editor), "JSON Simple Sign",
September 2010.
Jones, et al. Expires September 13, 2012 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft JWS JSON Serialization (JWS-JS) March 2012
[JWE-JS] Jones, M., "JSON Web Encryption JSON Serialization
(JWE-JS)", March 2012.
[MagicSignatures]
Panzer (editor), J., Laurie, B., and D. Balfanz, "Magic
Signatures", January 2011.
Appendix A. Acknowledgements
JSON serializations for secured content were previously explored by
Magic Signatures [MagicSignatures] and JSON Simple Sign [JSS].
Appendix B. Document History
-01
o Corrected the Magic Signatures reference.
-00
o Created the initial version incorporating JOSE working group input
and drawing from the JSON Serialization previously proposed in
draft-jones-json-web-token-01.
Authors' Addresses
Michael B. Jones
Microsoft
Email: mbj@microsoft.com
URI: http://self-issued.info/
John Bradley
independent
Email: ve7jtb@ve7jtb.com
Nat Sakimura
Nomura Research Institute
Email: n-sakimura@nri.co.jp
Jones, et al. Expires September 13, 2012 [Page 7]