Internet Engineering Task Force                              N. McCallum
Internet-Draft                                             Red Hat, Inc.
Updates: 7517 (if approved)                                June 30, 2017
Intended status: Standards Track
Expires: January 1, 2018


                       PKCS #11 for JSON Web Keys
                   draft-mccallum-jose-pkcs11-jwk-00

Abstract

   This document updates RFC 7517 in order to specify an extension to
   the JSON Web Key (JWK) format so that private key material may be
   stored in cryptographic hardware using PKCS #11.  It defines a new
   property for JWKs which contains the PKCS #11 URI identifying the
   location of the private key material.  Implementations can use this
   URI to offload the cryptographic operations to the identified
   hardware.

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on January 1, 2018.

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   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Document Conventions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   3.  JWK PKCS #11 URI Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   4.  Implementation Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   7.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5

1.  Introduction

   JSON Web Key (JWK) [RFC7517] defines a format for keys which can be
   used to perform cryptographic operations.  When these JWKs contain
   private key material, illegitimate access to this material creates
   the possibility for wide-scale security compromise.

   As a defensive strategy, other key types will offload their private
   key material to cryptographic hardware or other secure storage using
   PKCS #11.  The locations of these keys are communicated using PKCS
   #11 URIs [RFC7512].  Therefore, this document defines a method to
   replace the private key material of a JWK with a PKCS #11 URI.

2.  Document Conventions

   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].

3.  JWK PKCS #11 URI Property

   JWKs that wish to offload their private key material using PKCS #11
   will provide a JSON property named "p11" instead of the private key
   material.  The "p11" property MUST contain a valid PKCS #11 URI
   [RFC7517] that points to a private key object (that is,
   type=private).

   Private key material is defined by the Parameter Information Class of
   Section 8.1.1 of RFC 7517 [RFC7517].  JWKs MUST NOT provide both the
   "p11" property and other private key material.  However,
   implementations SHOULD provide full public key material appropriate
   to the key type.  This enables implementations to perform public key
   cryptographic operations without consulting PKCS #11.



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4.  Implementation Considerations

   The PKCS #11 URI standard provides mappings to URI format for most
   metadata attributes available over PKCS #11.  Some of these
   attributes may differ based on operating system, driver or even
   hardware implementations.  The generation of URIs which can only be
   used in a specific context should be avoided for the sake of clarity.

   The following path attributes are RECOMMENDED for general use:

   o model
   o manufacturer
   o serial
   o token
   o id
   o object
   o type

   The following query attributes are RECOMMENDED for general use:

   o pin-value

   Tools which generate PKCS #11 URIs for use in JWKs SHOULD NOT
   generate path or query attributes that are not recommended above.  On
   the other hand, tools which process JWKs containing the "p11"
   property MAY process path or query attributes that are not
   recommended above.

   Using PKCS #11 for cryptographic operations is usually associated
   with a performance penalty.  Implementations SHOULD perform public
   key operations, such as asymmetric signature verification or
   asymmetric encryption, without using PKCS #11 in order to increase
   speed and should fall back to PKCS #11 where access to the private
   key material is required.

5.  Security Considerations

   Accessing a JWK containing the "p11" property in place of the private
   key material may still allow an attacker to perform operations using
   the private key while not obtaining the private key itself.  This is
   particularly true when the "pin-value" query attribute is used.

   Nevertheless, because the attacker does not learn the private key
   itself, the attacker's access to use of the key can be limited to a
   particular context; for example, only the host with direct access to
   the hardware.  Because of this, the ability to remove the attacker's
   access to this context provides the option for significant damage
   mitigation strategies.  Therefore, offloading the private key



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   material should not be misunderstood to be a cryptographic panacea
   but rather a way to reduce the cost of a compromise.

   Exposing the "p11" property can leak institutional or configuration
   information to an attacker that could be used as part of a
   multifaceted attack.  This is particularly true when the PKCS #11 URI
   contains the "pin-value" or "pin-source" query attributes since this
   PIN is used to protect access to the private key material.  For this
   reason, the "p11" property MUST be treated as a private key material
   in its own right and care should be taken not to expose it.

   It may be desirable to avoid the use of the "pin-value" query
   attribute altogether by passing in this value out of band.  This
   strategy implies that the attacker will need to target the out of
   band delivery mechanism in addition to the JWK in order to use the
   private key material.

6.  IANA Considerations

   The following has been added to the "JSON Web Key Parameters"
   registry:

   o Parameter Name: "p11"
   o Parameter Description: The PKCS #11 URI
   o Parameter Information Class: Private
   o Used with "kty" Value(s): *
   o Change Controller: IESG
   o Specification Document(s): Section 3 of THIS DOCUMENT

7.  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>.

   [RFC7512]  Pechanec, J. and D. Moffat, "The PKCS #11 URI Scheme",
              RFC 7512, DOI 10.17487/RFC7512, April 2015,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7512>.

   [RFC7517]  Jones, M., "JSON Web Key (JWK)", RFC 7517,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7517, May 2015,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7517>.








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Author's Address

   Nathaniel McCallum
   Red Hat, Inc.
   100 East Davie Street
   Raleigh, NC  27601
   USA

   EMail: npmccallum@redhat.com










































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