Network Working Group S. Josefsson
Internet-Draft SJD AB
Intended status: Standards Track J. Schaad
Expires: September 29, 2017 August Cellars
March 28, 2017

Algorithm Identifiers for Ed25519, Ed448, X25519 and X448 for use in the Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure
draft-ietf-curdle-pkix-04

Abstract

This document specifies algorithm identifiers and ASN.1 encoding formats for Elliptic Curve constructs using the Curve25519 and Curve448 curves. The signature algorithms covered are Ed25519 and Ed448. The key agreement algorithm covered are X25519 and X448. The encoding for Public Key, Private Key and EdDSA digital signature structures is provided.

Status of This Memo

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Copyright Notice

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

In [RFC7748], the elliptic curves Curve25519 and Curve448 are described. They are designed with performance and security in mind. The curves may be used for Diffie-Hellman and Digital Signature operations.

[RFC7748] describes the operations on these curves for the Diffie-Hellman operation. A convention has developed that when these two curves are used with the Diffie-Hellman operation, they are referred to as X25519 and X448. This RFC defines the ASN.1 Object Identifiers (OIDs) for the operations X25519 and X448 along with the parameters. The use of these OIDs is described for public and private keys.

In [RFC8032] the elliptic curve signature system Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA) is described along with a recommendation for the use of the Curve25519 and Curve448. EdDSA has defined two modes, the PureEdDSA mode without pre-hashing, and the HashEdDSA mode with pre-hashing. The convention used for identifying the algorithm/curve combinations are to use the Ed25519 and Ed448 for the PureEdDSA mode. The document does not provide the conventions needed for the pre-hash versions of the signature algorithm. The use of the OIDs is described for public keys, private keys and signatures.

[RFC8032] additionally defined the concept of a context. Contexts can be used to differentiate signatures generated for different purposes with the same key. The use of contexts is not defined in this document for the following reasons:

2. 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].

3. Curve25519 and Curve448 Algorithm Identifiers

Certificates conforming to [RFC5280] can convey a public key for any public key algorithm. The certificate indicates the algorithm through an algorithm identifier. This algorithm identifier is an OID and optionally associated parameters.

The AlgorithmIdentifier type, which is included for convenience, is defined as follows:

AlgorithmIdentifier  ::=  SEQUENCE  {
    algorithm   OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
    parameters  ANY DEFINED BY algorithm OPTIONAL
}

The fields in AlgorithmIdentifier have the following meanings:

In this document we defined four new OIDs for identifying the different curve/algorithm pairs. The curves being Curve25519 and Curve448. The algorithms being ECDH and EdDSA in pure mode. For all of the OIDs, the parameters MUST be absent. Regardless of the defect in the original 1997 syntax, implementations MUST NOT accept a parameters value of NULL.

The same algorithm identifiers are used for identifying a public key, identifying a private key and identifying a signature (for the four EdDSA related OIDs). Additional encoding information is provided below for each of these locations.

id-X25519    OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { 1 3 101 110 }
id-X448      OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { 1 3 101 111 }
id-Ed25519   OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { 1 3 101 112 }
id-Ed448     OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { 1 3 101 113 }

4. Subject Public Key Fields

In the X.509 certificate, the subjectPublicKeyInfo field has the SubjectPublicKeyInfo type, which has the following ASN.1 syntax:

SubjectPublicKeyInfo  ::=  SEQUENCE  {
    algorithm         AlgorithmIdentifier,
    subjectPublicKey  BIT STRING
}

The fields in SubjectPublicKeyInfo have the following meanings:

Both [RFC7748] and [RFC8032] define the public key value as being a byte string. It should be noted that the public key is computed differently for each of these documents, thus the same private key will not produce the same public key.

The following is an example of a public key encoded using the textual encoding defined in [RFC7468].

-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MCowBQYDK2VwAyEAGb9ECWmEzf6FQbrBZ9w7lshQhqowtrbLDFw4rXAxZuE=
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----      

5. Key Usage Bits

The intended application for the key is indicated in the keyUsage certificate extension.

If the keyUsage extension is present in a certificate that indicates id-X25119 or id-X448 in SubjectPublicKeyInfo, then the following MUST be present:

        keyAgreement;
      

one of the following MAY also be present:

          encipherOnly; or
          decipherOnly.
          

If the keyUsage extension is present in an end-entity certificate that indicates id-EdDSA25519 or id-EdDSA448, then the keyUsage extension MUST contain one or both of the following values:

        nonRepudiation; and
        digitalSignature.

If the keyUsage extension is present in a certification authority certificate that indicates id-EdDSA25519 or id-EdDSA448, then the keyUsage extension MUST contain one or more of the following values:

       nonRepudiation;
       digitalSignature;
       keyCertSign; and
       cRLSign.
       

6. EdDSA Signatures

Signatures can be placed in a number of different ASN.1 structures. The top level structure for a certificate is given below as being illustrative of how signatures are frequently encoded with an algorithm identifier and a location for the signature.

   Certificate  ::=  SEQUENCE  {
        tbsCertificate       TBSCertificate,
        signatureAlgorithm   AlgorithmIdentifier,
        signatureValue       BIT STRING  }

The same algorithm identifiers are used for signatures as are used for public keys. When used to identify signature algorithms, the parameters MUST be absent.

The data to be signed is prepared for EdDSA. Then, a private key operation is performed to generate the signature value. This value is the opaque value ENC(R) || ENC(S) described in section 3.3 of [RFC8032]. The octet string representing the signature is encoded directly in the BIT STRING without adding any additional ASN.1 wrapping. For the Certificate structure, the signature value is wrapped in the 'signatureValue' BIT STRING field.

7. Private Key Format

Asymmetric Key Packages [RFC5958] describes how encode a private key in a structure that both identifies what algorithm the private key is for, but allows for the public key and additional attributes about the key to be included as well. For illustration, the ASN.1 structure OneAsymmetricKey is replicated below. The algorithm specific details of how a private key is encoded is left for the document describing the algorithm itself.

OneAsymmetricKey ::= SEQUENCE {
   version Version,
   privateKeyAlgorithm PrivateKeyAlgorithmIdentifier,
   privateKey PrivateKey,
   attributes [0] Attributes OPTIONAL,
   ...,
   [[2: publicKey [1] PublicKey OPTIONAL ]],
   ...
}

PrivateKey ::= OCTET STRING

PublicKey ::= OCTET STRING

For the keys defined in this document, the private key is always an opaque byte sequence. The ASN.1 type CurvePrivateKey is defined in this document to hold the byte sequence. Thus when encoding a OneAsymmetricKey object, the private key is wrapped in an CurvePrivateKey object and wrapped by the OCTET STRING of the 'privateKey' field.

CurvePrivateKey ::= OCTET STRING

To encode a EdDSA, X25519 or X448 private key, the "privateKey" field will hold the encoded private key. The "privateKeyAlgorithm" field uses the AlgorithmIdentifier structure. The structure is encoded as defined above. If present, the "publicKey" field will hold the encoded key as defined in [RFC7748] and [RFC8032]. public key.

The following is an example of a private key encoded using the textual encoding defined in [RFC7468].

-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
MC4CAQAwBQYDK2VwBCIEINTuctv5E1hK1bbY8fdp+K06/nwoy/HU++CXqI9EdVhC
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----

8. Human Readable Algorithm Names

For the purpose of consistent cross-implementation naming this section establishes human readable names for the algorithms specified in this document. Implementations SHOULD use these names when referring to the algorithms. If there is a strong reason to deviate from these names -- for example, if the implementation has a different naming convention and wants to maintain internal consistency -- it is encouraged to deviate as little as possible from the names given here.

Use the string "ECDH" when referring to a public key of type X25519 or X448 when the curve is not known or relevant.

When the curve is known, use the more specific string of X25519 or X448.

Use the string "EdDSA" when referring to a signing public key or signature when the curve is not known or relevant.

When the curve is known, use a more specific string. For the id-EdDSA25519 value use the string "Ed25519". For id-EdDSA448 use "Ed448".

9. ASN.1 Module

For reference purposes, the ASN.1 syntax is presented as an ASN.1 module here.

-- ASN.1 Module

Safecurves-pkix-0 {1 3 101 120}

DEFINITIONS EXPLICIT TAGS ::=
BEGIN

IMPORTS
  SIGNATURE-ALGORITHM, KEY-AGREE, PUBLIC-KEY, KEY-WRAP,
  KeyUsage, AlgorithmIdentifier
  FROM AlgorithmInformation-2009 
    {iso(1) identified-organization(3) dod(6) internet(1) security(5)
    mechanisms(5) pkix(7) id-mod(0)
    id-mod-algorithmInformation-02(58)}

  mda-sha512
  FROM PKIX1-PSS-OAEP-Algorithms-2009
    { iso(1) identified-organization(3) dod(6) internet(1)
      security(5) mechanisms(5) pkix(7) id-mod(0)
      id-mod-pkix1-rsa-pkalgs-02(54) }

  kwa-aes128-wrap, kwa-aes256-wrap
  FROM CMSAesRsaesOaep-2009
    { iso(1) member-body(2) us(840) rsadsi(113549) pkcs(1) pkcs-9(9)
      smime(16) modules(0) id-mod-cms-aes-02(38) }
  ;
    

id-edwards-curve-algs OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { 1 3 101 }

id-X25519        OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { id-edwards-curve-algs 110 }
id-X448          OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { id-edwards-curve-algs 111 }
id-EdDSA25519    OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { id-edwards-curve-algs 112 }
id-EdDSA448      OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { id-edwards-curve-algs 113 }


 sa-EdDSA25519 SIGNATURE-ALGORITHM ::= {
    IDENTIFIER id-EdDSA25519
     PARAMS ARE absent
     PUBLIC-KEYS {pk-EdDSA25519}
     SMIME-CAPS { IDENTIFIED BY id-EdDSA25519 }
 }

 pk-EdDSA25519 PUBLIC-KEY ::= {
     IDENTIFIER id-EdDSA25519
     -- KEY no ASN.1 wrapping --
     PARAMS ARE absent
     CERT-KEY-USAGE {digitalSignature, nonRepudiation,
                     keyCertSign, cRLSign}
     PRIVATE-KEY CurvePrivateKey
 }

 kaa-X25519 KEY-AGREE ::= {
     IDENTIFIER id-X25519
     PARAMS ARE absent
     PUBLIC-KEYS {pk-X25519}
     UKM -- TYPE no ASN.1 wrapping -- ARE preferredPresent
     SMIME-CAPS {
        TYPE AlgorithmIdentifier{KEY-WRAP, {KeyWrapAlgorithms}}
        IDENTIFIED BY id-X25519 }
 }

 pk-X25519 PUBLIC-KEY ::= {
     IDENTIFIER id-X25519
     -- KEY no ASN.1 wrapping --
     PARAMS ARE absent
     CERT-KEY-USAGE { keyAgreement }
     PRIVATE-KEY CurvePrivateKey
 }

 KeyWrapAlgorithms KEY-WRAP ::= {
     kwa-aes128-wrap | kwa-aes256-wrap,
     ...
 }
     
 kaa-X488 KEY-AGREE ::= {
     IDENTIFIER id-X448
     PARAMS ARE absent
     PUBLIC-KEYS {pk-X448}
     UKM -- TYPE no ASN.1 wrapping  -- ARE preferredPresent
     SMIME-CAPS {
        TYPE AlgorithmIdentifier{KEY-WRAP, {KeyWrapAlgorithms}}
        IDENTIFIED BY id-X448 }
 }

 pk-X448 PUBLIC-KEY ::= {
     IDENTIFIER id-X448
     -- KEY no ASN.1 wrapping --
     PARAMS ARE absent
     CERT-KEY-USAGE { keyAgreement }
     PRIVATE-KEY CurvePrivateKey
 }

CurvePrivateKey ::= OCTET STRING
    
                                 
END

10. Examples

This section contains illustrations of EdDSA public keys and certificates, illustrating parameter choices.

10.1. Example Ed25519 Public Key

An example of a Ed25519 public key:

      Public Key Information:
          Public Key Algorithm: EdDSA25519
          Algorithm Security Level: High

      Public Key Usage:
      
      Public Key ID: 9b1f5eeded043385e4f7bc623c5975b90bc8bb3b
      
      -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
      MCowBQYDK2VwAyEAGb9ECWmEzf6FQbrBZ9w7lshQhqowtrbLDFw4rXAxZuE=
      -----END PUBLIC KEY-----

10.2. Example X25519 Certificate

An example of a self issued PKIX certificate using Ed25519 to sign a X25519 public key would be:

  0 300: SEQUENCE {
  4 223:   SEQUENCE {
  7   3:     [0] {
  9   1:       INTEGER 2
       :       }
 12   8:     INTEGER 56 01 47 4A 2A 8D C3 30
 22   5:     SEQUENCE {
 24   3:       OBJECT IDENTIFIER
       :         EdDSA 25519 signature algorithm { 1 3 101 112 }
       :       }
 29  25:     SEQUENCE {
 31  23:       SET {
 33  21:         SEQUENCE {
 35   3:           OBJECT IDENTIFIER commonName (2 5 4 3)
 40  14:           UTF8String 'IETF Test Demo'
       :           }
       :         }
       :       }
 56  30:     SEQUENCE {
 58  13:       UTCTime 01/08/2016 12:19:24 GMT
 73  13:       UTCTime 31/12/2040 23:59:59 GMT
       :       }
 88  25:     SEQUENCE {
 90  23:       SET {
 92  21:         SEQUENCE {
 94   3:           OBJECT IDENTIFIER commonName (2 5 4 3)
 99  14:           UTF8String 'IETF Test Demo'
       :           }
       :         }
       :       }
115  42:     SEQUENCE {
117   5:       SEQUENCE {
119   3:         OBJECT IDENTIFIER
       :           ECDH 25519 key agreement { 1 3 101 110 }
       :         }
124  33:       BIT STRING
       :         85 20 F0 09 89 30 A7 54 74 8B 7D DC B4 3E F7 5A
       :         0D BF 3A 0D 26 38 1A F4 EB A4 A9 8E AA 9B 4E 6A
       :       }
159  69:     [3] {
161  67:       SEQUENCE {
163  15:         SEQUENCE {
165   3:           OBJECT IDENTIFIER basicConstraints (2 5 29 19)
170   1:           BOOLEAN TRUE
173   5:           OCTET STRING, encapsulates {
175   3:             SEQUENCE {
177   1:               BOOLEAN FALSE
       :               }
       :             }
       :           }
180  14:         SEQUENCE {
182   3:           OBJECT IDENTIFIER keyUsage (2 5 29 15)
187   1:           BOOLEAN FALSE
190   4:           OCTET STRING, encapsulates {
192   2:             BIT STRING 3 unused bits
       :               '10000'B (bit 4)
       :             }
       :           }
196  32:         SEQUENCE {
198   3:           OBJECT IDENTIFIER subjectKeyIdentifier (2 5 29 14)
203   1:           BOOLEAN FALSE
206  22:           OCTET STRING, encapsulates {
208  20:             OCTET STRING
       :               9B 1F 5E ED ED 04 33 85 E4 F7 BC 62 3C 59 75
       :               B9 0B C8 BB 3B
       :             }
       :           }
       :         }
       :       }
       :     }
230   5:   SEQUENCE {
232   3:     OBJECT IDENTIFIER
       :       EdDSA 25519 signature algorithm { 1 3 101 112 }
       :     }
237  65:   BIT STRING
       :     AF 23 01 FE DD C9 E6 FF C1 CC A7 3D 74 D6 48 A4
       :     39 80 82 CD DB 69 B1 4E 4D 06 EC F8 1A 25 CE 50
       :     D4 C2 C3 EB 74 6C 4E DD 83 46 85 6E C8 6F 3D CE
       :     1A 18 65 C5 7A C2 7B 50 A0 C3 50 07 F5 E7 D9 07
       :   }
      
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIBLDCB36ADAgECAghWAUdKKo3DMDAFBgMrZXAwGTEXMBUGA1UEAwwOSUVURiBUZX
N0IERlbW8wHhcNMTYwODAxMTIxOTI0WhcNNDAxMjMxMjM1OTU5WjAZMRcwFQYDVQQD
DA5JRVRGIFRlc3QgRGVtbzAqMAUGAytlbgMhAIUg8AmJMKdUdIt93LQ+91oNvzoNJj
ga9OukqY6qm05qo0UwQzAPBgNVHRMBAf8EBTADAQEAMA4GA1UdDwEBAAQEAwIDCDAg
BgNVHQ4BAQAEFgQUmx9e7e0EM4Xk97xiPFl1uQvIuzswBQYDK2VwA0EAryMB/t3J5v
/BzKc9dNZIpDmAgs3babFOTQbs+BolzlDUwsPrdGxO3YNGhW7Ibz3OGhhlxXrCe1Cg
w1AH9efZBw==
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

10.3. Example Ed25519 Private Key

An example of an Ed25519 private key:

-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
MC4CAQAwBQYDK2VwBCIEINTuctv5E1hK1bbY8fdp+K06/nwoy/HU++CXqI9EdVhC
-----END PRIVATE KEY-----

The same item dumped as asn1 yields:

 0 30   46: SEQUENCE {
 2 02    1:   INTEGER 0
 5 30    5:   SEQUENCE {
 7 06    3:     OBJECT IDENTIFIER
          :       EdDSA 25519 signature algorithm { 1 3 101 112 }
          :     }
12 04   34:   OCTET STRING
          :     04 20 D4 EE 72 DB F9 13 58 4A D5 B6 D8 F1 F7 69
          :     F8 AD 3A FE 7C 28 CB F1 D4 FB E0 97 A8 8F 44 75
          :     58 42
          :   }
          

Note that the value of the private key is:

D4 EE 72 DB F9 13 58 4A D5 B6 D8 F1 F7 69 F8 AD
3A FE 7C 28 CB F1 D4 FB E0 97 A8 8F 44 75 58 42

11. Acknowledgements

Text and/or inspiration were drawn from [RFC5280], [RFC3279], [RFC4055], [RFC5480], and [RFC5639].

The following people discussed the document and provided feedback: Klaus Hartke, Ilari Liusvaara, Erwann Abalea, Rick Andrews, Rob Stradling, James Manger, Nikos Mavrogiannopoulos, Russ Housley, David Benjamin, and Alex Wilson.

A big thank you to Symantec for kindly donating the OIDs used in this draft.

12. IANA Considerations

None.

13. Security Considerations

The security considerations of [RFC5280], [RFC7748], and [RFC8032] apply accordingly.

The procedures for going from a private key to a public key is different for when used with Diffie-Helman and when used with Edwards Signatures. This means that the same public key cannot be used for both ECDH and EdDSA.

14. References

14.1. 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.
[RFC5280] Cooper, D., Santesson, S., Farrell, S., Boeyen, S., Housley, R. and W. Polk, "Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile", RFC 5280, DOI 10.17487/RFC5280, May 2008.
[RFC5480] Turner, S., Brown, D., Yiu, K., Housley, R. and T. Polk, "Elliptic Curve Cryptography Subject Public Key Information", RFC 5480, DOI 10.17487/RFC5480, March 2009.
[RFC7748] Langley, A., Hamburg, M. and S. Turner, "Elliptic Curves for Security", RFC 7748, DOI 10.17487/RFC7748, January 2016.
[RFC8032] Josefsson, S. and I. Liusvaara, "Edwards-Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA)", RFC 8032, DOI 10.17487/RFC8032, January 2017.
[RFC5958] Turner, S., "Asymmetric Key Packages", RFC 5958, DOI 10.17487/RFC5958, August 2010.

14.2. Informative References

[RFC3279] Bassham, L., Polk, W. and R. Housley, "Algorithms and Identifiers for the Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile", RFC 3279, DOI 10.17487/RFC3279, April 2002.
[RFC4055] Schaad, J., Kaliski, B. and R. Housley, "Additional Algorithms and Identifiers for RSA Cryptography for use in the Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile", RFC 4055, DOI 10.17487/RFC4055, June 2005.
[RFC5639] Lochter, M. and J. Merkle, "Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) Brainpool Standard Curves and Curve Generation", RFC 5639, DOI 10.17487/RFC5639, March 2010.
[RFC7468] Josefsson, S. and S. Leonard, "Textual Encodings of PKIX, PKCS, and CMS Structures", RFC 7468, DOI 10.17487/RFC7468, April 2015.

Authors' Addresses

Simon Josefsson SJD AB EMail: simon@josefsson.org
Jim Schaad August Cellars EMail: ietf@augustcellars.com