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Last Call Review of draft-mcgrew-fundamental-ecc-
review-mcgrew-fundamental-ecc-secdir-lc-tsou-2010-07-11-00

Request Review of draft-mcgrew-fundamental-ecc
Requested revision No specific revision (document currently at 04)
Type Last Call Review
Team Security Area Directorate (secdir)
Deadline 2010-07-13
Requested 2010-06-11
Authors Kevin Igoe , David McGrew , Margaret Salter
I-D last updated 2010-07-11
Completed reviews Secdir Last Call review of -?? by Tina Tsou (Ting ZOU)
Assignment Reviewer Tina Tsou (Ting ZOU)
State Completed
Request Last Call review on draft-mcgrew-fundamental-ecc by Security Area Directorate Assigned
Completed 2010-07-11
review-mcgrew-fundamental-ecc-secdir-lc-tsou-2010-07-11-00





Hi,




I have reviewed this document as 
part of the security directorate's

ongoing effort to review all IETF 
documents being processed by the IESG.

These comments were written primarily 
for the benefit of the security

area directors.  Document editors and WG 
chairs should treat these

comments just like any other comments.




 




Abstract




1. First sentence: Should >are< rather be >were< 
?




Introduction




2. Introduction (p.2): I would insert the word >finite< before 
>fields<.




3. Introduction (p.4): >ECDH< should be replaced by >Elliptic 
Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) <.




Mathematical 
Background




4. Mathematical Background (p.1): Should >is< rather be >are< 
? The same holds in Sec.~2.2 (p.1).




5. Sec.~2.2 (p.3): The term >g< is undefined. Hence, >g^N< 
should be replaced by >a^N<. The same holds for >Note that a^M is equal 
to g^ (M mod R)< in (p.9).




6. Sec.~2.3 (p.2):

  

From this 
description, it appears to me that all elements in Z_p can perform division 
operation. However, only non-zero elements, namely elements in the set 





Z_p^* = 
Z_p-

{0}




can perform the division operation. Moreover, all the mathematical 
operations over Z_p are in the sense of mod p. In addition, a prime number p is 
called the 

characteristic

 of a field, if 
1+…+1=0 (add p times); in this case F_q contains the prime field F_p, where 
q=p^n, n>=1. So I think the definition of the F_p lacks 
precision.




Elliptic Curve 
Groups




7. Elliptic Curve Groups (p.1): I think the last sentence is too abstract 
to understand. More precisely, the elliptic curve satisfies the 
equations,




y^2+cy=x^3+ax+b,




y^2=x^3+ax^2+bx+c,




when the 
characteristic of the field is 2 and 3, 
respectively.




       

8. Elliptic 
Curve Groups (p.3): The first sentence says that >when both points are the 
point at Infinity<. Maybe such statement is not accurate enough due to the 
fundamental fact that each elliptic curve abelian group has only one 

infinity

, i.e., the identity 
element.




       

9. Sec.~3.1 
(p.2): It seems to me that the projection space representation >x=X/Z mod p , 
y=Y/Z mod p< is a special case of x=X/Z^

{c_1}

 mod p and y=Y/Z^

{c_2}

 mod p when both c_1 and c_2 are equal to 1. If 
so, should it be clearly explained ?




       

10. 
Sec.~

3.3.1

: I would simply state the reason for the 
non-zero discriminant, namely, to ensure that the elliptic curve is chosen to be 
a non-singular one, i.e., it has no self intersections or 
cusps.




Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman 
(ECDH)




       

11. 
Elliptic Curve Groups (p.1): >an arbitrary cyclic group<

  

instead of >an arbitrary mathematical 
group< ?




Elliptic Curve ElGamal 
Signatures




       

12. 
Sec.~5.1 (p.1): Insert >Galois< before >field 
GF(2^w)<.




       

13. 
Sec.~5.3 (p.2): Why not denote the generator >alpha< as >g< for 
consistency in this draft ?




       

14. 
Sec.~

5.3.2

 (4): As the symbol >*< denotes 
the scalar multiplication, why use such a symbol in Sec.~2.2 to represent the 
addition operation in a group ? Needs to be modified 
?




       

15. 
Sec.~

5.3.3

 (p.1): Insert >the generator g, 
the group order q< before >the public key Y< in that these two 
parameters must know in advance before the signature verification 
procedure.




       

16. 
Sec.~

5.3.2

 (1): Should >0<s_1<q< be 
replaced by >s_

1 
in

 Z_q< for consistency ? The same holds for 
>0<s_2<q< and the sentence in Sec.~5.4.3 
(1).




       

17. 
Sec.~

5.3.2

 (3): As mentioned above, the symbol 
>*< in the equation 




>R'=alpha^

{u_1}

 * 
Y^

{u_2}

< represents the addition 
operation of two points on the elliptic curve; while in >u_2=s_1 * s_2 mod 
q<, it means the scalar multiplication 
operation.




       

18. 
Sec.~5.6 (p.2): In the equations >A=m< and >m=-r*z+s*k (mod q)<, 
does the symbol m represent a message digest ? If so, I think m should be 
replaced by h(m), although the hash function is not necessary here. If not, it 
should be transformed to an integer since it has been defined to be a bit string 
in Sec.~5.2. The same holds for the equation >m*s=-r*s*z+k (mod 
q)<.




Converting between integers and 
octet strings




19. the title >Converting between integers and octet strings<, why 
not >Converting between Integers and Octet Strings< for consistency ? The 
same goes for other titles and subtitles.










Security 
Considerations

 




       

20. Sec.~10.1 (p.3): I 
think it is necessary to explain the physical meaning of the 

cofactor

 and the reason that a 
number of attacks are possible against ECDH when the cofactor is not equal to 
1.




 




 




B. R.

Tina

http://tinatsou.weebly.com/contact.html