Internet-Draft D. Bider Expires: June 3, 2016 Bitvise Limited December 3, 2015 Extension Negotiation in Secure Shell (SSH) draft-ssh-ext-info-04.txt Abstract This memo defines a mechanism for SSH clients and servers to exchange information about supported protocol extensions confidentially after completed key exchange. Status 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), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. 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." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/1id-abstracts.html The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html Copyright Copyright (c) 2015 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. Bider [Page 1]
Internet-Draft Extension Negotiation in SSH December 2015 1. Overview and Rationale Secure Shell (SSH) is a common protocol for secure communication on the Internet. The original design of the SSH transport layer [RFC4253] lacks proper extension negotiation. Meanwhile, diverse implementations take steps to ensure that known message types contain no unrecognized information. This makes it difficult for implementations to signal capabilities and negotiate extensions without risking disconnection. This obstacle has been recognized in relationship with [SSH-RSA-SHA2], where the need arises for a client to efficiently discover signature algorithms a server accepts, to avoid round-trips of trial and error. 1.1. Requirements Terminology 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]. 2. Extension Negotiation Mechanism 2.1. Signaling of Extension Negotiation in KEXINIT Applications implementing this mechanism MUST add to the field "kex_algorithms", in their KEXINIT packet sent for the first key exchange, one of the following indicator names: - When acting as server: "ext-info-s" - When acting as client: "ext-info-c" The indicator name is added without quotes, and MAY be added at any position in the name-list, subject to proper separation from other names as per name-list conventions. The names are added to the "kex_algorithms" field because this is one of two name-list fields in KEXINIT that do not have a separate copy for each data direction. The indicator names inserted by the client and server are different to ensure that these names will not produce a match, and will be neutral with respect to key exchange algorithm negotiation. The inclusion of textual indicator names is intended to provide a clue for implementers to discover this mechanism. 2.2. Enabling Criteria If a client or server offers "ext-info-c" or "ext-info-s" respectively, it must be prepared to accept a SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO message from the peer. Bider [Page 2]
Internet-Draft Extension Negotiation in SSH December 2015 Thus a server only needs to send "ext-info-s" if it intends to process SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO from the client. If a server receives an "ext-info-c", it MAY send an SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO message, but is not required to do so. If a SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO message is sent, then it MUST be the first message after the initial SSH_MSG_NEWKEYS. Implementations MUST NOT send an incorrect indicator name for their role. Implementations MAY disconnect if the counter-party sends an incorrect indicator. If "ext-info-c" or "ext-info-s" ends up being negotiated as a key exchange method, the parties MUST disconnect. 2.3. SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO Message A party that received the "ext-info-c" or "ext-info-s" indicator can send the the following message: byte SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO (value 7) uint32 nr-extensions repeat "nr-extensions" times: string extension-name string extension-value This message is sent without delay, and immediately after SSH_MSG_NEWKEYS. 2.4. Server's Secondary SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO If the client sent "ext-info-c", the server MAY send, but is not obligated to, send an SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO message immediately before SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS, as defined in [RFC4252]. The server MAY send this message whether or not it sent EXT_INFO after SSH_MSG_NEWKEYS. This allows a server to reveal support for additional extensions that it was unwilling to reveal to an unauthenticated client. If a server sends a subsequent SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO, this replaces any previous ones, and both the client and the server re-evaluate extensions in effect. The server's last EXT_INFO is matched against the client's original. 2.5. Interpretation of Extension Names and Values Each extension is identified by its extension-name, and defines the conditions under which the extension is considered to be in effect. Applications MUST ignore unrecognized extension-names. In general, if an extension requires both the client and the server to include it in order for the extension to take effect, the relative position of the extension-name in each EXT_INFO message is irrelevant. Bider [Page 3]
Internet-Draft Extension Negotiation in SSH December 2015 Extension-value fields are interpreted as defined by their respective extension. An extension-value field MAY be empty if so permitted by the extension. Applications that do not implement or recognize a particular extension MUST ignore the associated extension-value field, regardless of its size or content. The cumulative size of an SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO message is limited only by the maximum packet length that an implementation may apply in accordance with [RFC4253]. Implementations MUST accept well-formed SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO messages up to the maximum packet length they accept. 3. Initially Defined Extensions 3.1. "server-sig-algs" This extension is sent with the following extension name and value: string "server-sig-algs" name-list signature-algorithms-accepted Note that the name-list type is a strict subset of the string type, and is thus permissible as an extension-value. This extension is sent by the server only, and contains a list of signature algorithms that the server is able to process as part of a "publickey" request. A client that wishes to proceed with public key authentication MAY wait for the server's SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO so it can send a "publickey" authentication request with an appropriate signature algorithm, rather than resorting to trial and error. Servers that implement public key authentication SHOULD implement this extension. If a server does not send this extension, a client SHALL NOT make any assumptions about the server's signature algorithm support, and MAY proceed with authentication request trial and error. 3.2. "no-flow-control" This extension is sent with the following extension name and value: string "no-flow-control" string (empty) This extension MUST be sent by both parties in order to take effect. If included by both parties, the effect of this extension is that the "initial window size" fields in the messages SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_OPEN and Bider [Page 4]
Internet-Draft Extension Negotiation in SSH December 2015 SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_OPEN_CONFIRMATION, as defined in [RFC4254], become meaningless. The values of these fields MUST be ignored, and a channel behaves as if the window size in either direction is infinite. Neither side is required to send any SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_WINDOW_ADJUST messages, and if received, such messages MUST be ignored. This extension is intended, but not limited to, use by file transfer applications that are only going to use one channel, and for which the flow control provided by SSH is an impediment, rather than a feature. Implementations MUST refuse to open more than one simultaneous channel when this extension is in effect. Nevertheless, server implementations SHOULD support clients opening more than one non-simultaneous channel. 3.3. "accept-channels" This extension is sent with the following extension name and value: string "accept-channels" name-list channel-types-accepted An implementation MAY use this extension to signal to the other party a list of channel types it might accept. A server that adapts the list of available channel types based on authentication MAY defer sending this extension until a subsequent EXT_INFO, just before sending the message USERAUTH_SUCCESS. An implementation is not obligated to unconditionally accept open requests for channel types advertised in this extension. An open request for a listed channel type MAY still fail for another reason. Bider [Page 5]
Internet-Draft Extension Negotiation in SSH December 2015 4. IANA Considerations 4.1. Additions to existing tables IANA is requested to insert the following entry into the table Message Numbers under Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol Parameters [RFC4250]: Value Message ID Reference 7 SSH_MSG_EXT_INFO [this document] IANA is requested to insert the following entries into the table Key Exchange Method Names: Method Name Reference Note ext-info-s [this document] Section 2.2 ext-info-c [this document] Section 2.2 4.2. New table: Extension Names Also under Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol Parameters, IANA is requested to create a new table, Extension Names, with initial content: Extension Name Reference Note server-sig-algs [this document] Section 3.1 no-flow-control [this document] Section 3.2 accept-channels [this document] Section 3.3 4.2.1. Future Assignments to Extension Names Names in the Extension Names table MUST follow the Conventions for Names defined in [RFC4250], Section 4.6.1. Requests for assignments of new non-local names in the Extension Names table (i.e. names not including the '@' character) MUST be done through the IETF CONSENSUS method, as described in [RFC5226]. Bider [Page 6]
Internet-Draft Extension Negotiation in SSH December 2015 6. References 6.1. Normative References [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. [RFC4250] Lehtinen, S. and C. Lonvick, Ed., "The Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol Assigned Numbers", RFC 4250, January 2006. [RFC4252] Ylonen, T. and C. Lonvick, Ed., "The Secure Shell (SSH) Authentication Protocol", RFC 4252, January 2006. [RFC4253] Ylonen, T. and C. Lonvick, Ed., "The Secure Shell (SSH) Transport Layer Protocol", RFC 4253, January 2006. [RFC4254] Ylonen, T. and C. Lonvick, Ed., "The Secure Shell (SSH) Connection Protocol", RFC 4254, January 2006. [RFC5226] Narten, T. and Alvestrand, H., "Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226, May 2008. 6.2. Informative References [SSH-RSA-SHA2] Bider, D., "Use of RSA Keys with SHA-2 256 and 512 in Secure Shell (SSH)", draft-rsa-dsa-sha2-256-02, November 2015, <https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-rsa-dsa-sha2-256-02>. Bider [Page 7]
Internet-Draft Extension Negotiation in SSH December 2015 Author's Address Denis Bider Bitvise Limited Suites 41/42, Victoria House 26 Main Street GI Phone: +506 8315 6519 EMail: ietf-ssh3@denisbider.com URI: https://www.bitvise.com/ Acknowledgments Thanks to Markus Friedl and Damien Miller for comments and initial implementation. Bider [Page 8]