Internet-Draft MLS Out-Of-Band AAD July 2026
Mahy Expires 22 January 2027 [Page]
Workgroup:
Network Working Group
Internet-Draft:
draft-mahy-oob-aad-00
Published:
Intended Status:
Informational
Expires:
Author:
R. Mahy

MLS Extension for Out-Of-Band Additional Authenticated Data

Abstract

This document specifies an explicit way to signal that the Additional Authenticated Data does include or should include data elements that are conveyed out-of-band (ex: are not in the MLS message).

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://rohanmahy.github.io/mls-oob-aad/draft-mahy-oob-aad.html. Status information for this document may be found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-mahy-oob-aad/.

Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at https://github.com/rohanmahy/mls-oob-aad.

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."

This Internet-Draft will expire on 22 January 2027.

1. Introduction

The Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol includes message types with Additional Authenticated Data.

[I-D.pham-mls-additional-wire-formats] defined new MLS Wire Formats for a similar purpose, however the Wire Format should be orthogonal to out-of-band AAD functionality.

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.

Out-Of-Band AAD and In-Band AAD.

3. Mechanism

struct {
    opaque group_id<V>;
    uint64 epoch;
    ContentType content_type;
    SafeAADItem oob_aad<V>;        /*  <== this is new     */
    opaque authenticated_data<V>;  /* usually just SafeAAD */
} PrivateContentAAD;

struct {
    ProtocolVersion version = mls10;
    WireFormat wire_format;
    FramedContent content;         /* can contain SafeAAD  */
    SafeAADItem oob_aad<V>;        /*  <== this is new     */
    select (FramedContentTBS.content.sender.sender_type) {
        case member:
        case new_member_commit:
            GroupContext context;
        case external:
        case new_member_proposal:
            struct{};
    };
} FramedContentTBS;

Consists of:

  • a oob-aad extension type. This specification cannot be a "safe" extension according to [I-D.ietf-mls-extensions] since it requires the MLS stack to modify its behavior outside of the concept of the specific components it also defines. The presence of the oob-aad extension type in the GroupContext means that all members of the group support the extensions and that if an out-of-band AAD component is signaled, the members of the room will include its actual value in Out-Of-Band AAD, without communicating it in the authenticated_data.

  • an default-oob-aad-component component type. When present in the app_data_dictionary in the GroupContext, the out-of-band value of each signaled as-needed component is also included in the Out-Of-Band AAD.

  • an as-needed-oob-aad-component component type.

    • When present in the app_data_dictionary in the GroupContext it enumerates OOB AAD that can be signaled on a per-message basis.

    • When present as a SafeAadItem in the aad_items list in the authenticated_content, the out-of-band value of each signaled as-needed component is also included in the Out-Of-Band AAD.

5. IANA Considerations

This document has no IANA actions.

6. References

6.1. Normative References

[I-D.ietf-mls-extensions]
Robert, R., "The Messaging Layer Security (MLS) Extensions", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-mls-extensions-10, , <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-mls-extensions-10>.
[RFC2119]
Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, , <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, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

6.2. Informative References

[I-D.pham-mls-additional-wire-formats]
Pham, A., Mularczyk, M., Robert, R., and P. Slatala, "MLS Wire Formats for PublicMessage and PrivateMessage without authenticated_data", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-pham-mls-additional-wire-formats-00, , <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-pham-mls-additional-wire-formats-00>.

Acknowledgments

TODO acknowledge.