Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 3.2 Certificate Handling
RFC 5750

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                       B. Ramsdell
Request for Comments: 5750                              Brute Squad Labs
Obsoletes: 3850                                                S. Turner
Category: Standards Track                                           IECA
ISSN: 2070-1721                                             January 2010

   Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) Version 3.2
                          Certificate Handling

Abstract

   This document specifies conventions for X.509 certificate usage by
   Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) v3.2 agents.
   S/MIME provides a method to send and receive secure MIME messages,
   and certificates are an integral part of S/MIME agent processing.
   S/MIME agents validate certificates as described in RFC 5280, the
   Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and CRL Profile.
   S/MIME agents must meet the certificate processing requirements in
   this document as well as those in RFC 5280.  This document obsoletes
   RFC 3850.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by
   the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further
   information on Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of
   RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any
   errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5750.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2010 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

Ramsdell & Turner            Standards Track                    [Page 1]
RFC 5750             S/MIME 3.2 Certificate Handling        January 2010

   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.

   This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
   Contributions published or made publicly available before November
   10, 2008.  The person(s) controlling the copyright in some of this
   material may not have granted the IETF Trust the right to allow
   modifications of such material outside the IETF Standards Process.
   Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
   the copyright in such materials, this document may not be modified
   outside the IETF Standards Process, and derivative works of it may
   not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format
   it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
   than English.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................3
      1.1. Definitions ................................................3
      1.2. Conventions Used in This Document ..........................4
      1.3. Compatibility with Prior Practice S/MIME ...................4
      1.4. Changes from S/MIME v3 to S/MIME v3.1 ......................5
      1.5. Changes since S/MIME v3.1 ..................................5
   2. CMS Options .....................................................6
      2.1. Certificate Revocation Lists ...............................6
      2.2. Certificate Choices ........................................6
      2.3. CertificateSet .............................................7
   3. Using Distinguished Names for Internet Mail .....................8
   4. Certificate Processing ..........................................9
      4.1. Certificate Revocation Lists ..............................10
      4.2. Certificate Path Validation ...............................11
      4.3. Certificate and CRL Signing Algorithms and Key Sizes ......11
      4.4. PKIX Certificate Extensions ...............................12
   5. Security Considerations ........................................15
   6. References .....................................................17
      6.1. Reference Conventions .....................................17
      6.2. Normative References ......................................17
      6.3. Informative References ....................................19
   Appendix A. Moving S/MIME v2 Certificate Handling to Historic
               Status.................................................21
   Appendix B. Acknowledgments........................................21

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