Internet DRAFT - draft-ietf-uta-use-san

draft-ietf-uta-use-san







UTA                                                              R. Salz
Internet-Draft                                       Akamai Technologies
Updates: 6125 (if approved)                                 1 April 2021
Intended status: Standards Track                                        
Expires: 3 October 2021


   Update to Verifying TLS Server Identities with X.509 Certificates
                       draft-ietf-uta-use-san-00

Abstract

   In the decade since [RFC6125] was published, the
   subjectAlternativeName extension (SAN), as defined in [RFC5280] has
   become ubiquitous.  This document updates [RFC6125] to specify that
   the fall-back techniques of using the commonName attribute to
   identify the service must not be used.  This document also places
   some limitations on the use of wildcards in SAN fields.

   The original context of [RFC6125] using X.509 certificates for server
   identity with Transport Layer Security (TLS), is not changed.

Discussion Venues

   This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

   This draft is discussed in the UTA working group,
   https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/uta/.

   Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
   https://github.com/richsalz/draft-rsalz-use-san.

Status of This Memo

   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).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   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."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 3 October 2021.



Salz                     Expires 3 October 2021                 [Page 1]

Internet-Draft  Update to Verifying TLS Server Identitie      April 2021


Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2021 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 (https://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.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Conventions and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  The New Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.1.  Designing Application Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.2.  Representing Server Identity  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     3.3.  Verifying Service Identity  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Constraints on Wildcards  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5

1.  Introduction

   In the decade since [RFC6125] was published, the
   subjectAlternativeName extension (SAN), as defined in [RFC5280] has
   become ubiquitous.  This document updates [RFC6125] to specify that
   the fall-back techniques of using the commonName attribute to
   identify the service must not be used.  This document also places
   some limitations on the use of wildcards in SAN fields.

   The original context of [RFC6125] using X.509 certificates for server
   identity with Transport Layer Security (TLS), is not changed.  In
   addition to the examples in that document, the Baseline Requirements
   of the CA/Browser Forum, [CABBR], might also be useful.








Salz                     Expires 3 October 2021                 [Page 2]

Internet-Draft  Update to Verifying TLS Server Identitie      April 2021


2.  Conventions and Definitions

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

   The terminology from [RFC6125] is used here.  Specifically, the
   following terms and brief definition (as a reminder):

   *  CN-ID: the Common Name element of a Distingiushed Name.

   *  DNS-ID: a domain name entry in a SAN extension.

3.  The New Rules

   The CN-ID MUST NOT be used.  The appropriate value in the SAN
   extension MUST be used to get the presented identity of the server.

   While not discussed in [RFC6125] this section also implicitly
   prohibits the use of the Domain Component or emailAddress RDN's.

   The following sections repeat the above rule in other forms, for the
   purpose of updating [RFC6125]

3.1.  Designing Application Protocols

   Applications should determine which form of name they want to use,
   and specify the appropriate SAN extension.  Unless there are reasons
   to do otherwise, applications SHOULD use the DNS-ID form.

3.2.  Representing Server Identity

   Servers MUST NOT request certificates that contain CN-ID in the
   subject.  If the Common Name RDN must be present in the certificate,
   it MUST be in a form that cannot be mistaken for a CN-ID.

3.3.  Verifying Service Identity

   When constructing a list of reference identifiers, the client MUST
   NOT include any CN-ID present in the certificate.  This means that
   section 6.4.4 of [RFC6125] MUST be ignored.








Salz                     Expires 3 October 2021                 [Page 3]

Internet-Draft  Update to Verifying TLS Server Identitie      April 2021


4.  Constraints on Wildcards

   Wildcard certificates are discussed in section 7.2 of [RFC6125] which
   says that the specifications "are not clear or consistent" about
   where a wildcard can appear.

   This documents specifies that a wildcard can appear

   *  only as the left-most label; or

   *  as the last character in a left-most label

   Clients that receive a DNS-ID that does not meet these criteria
   SHOULD ignore it.

5.  Security Considerations

   The CN-ID, domainComponent, and emailAddress RDN fields are
   unstructured free text, and using them is dependant on ordering and
   encoding concerns.  In addition, their evaluation when PKIX
   nameConstraints are present is ambiguous.  This document removes
   those fields from use, so a source of possible errors is removed.

   Because of the ambiguity around wildcards, [RFC6125] mentions that it
   is possible to have exploitable differences in behavior.  By
   simplifying those practices to one rule, this source of errors should
   be avoided.

   All other security considerations of [RFC6125] and its dependant
   documents are still relevant.

6.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no IANA actions.

7.  References

7.1.  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,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.








Salz                     Expires 3 October 2021                 [Page 4]

Internet-Draft  Update to Verifying TLS Server Identitie      April 2021


   [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,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5280>.

   [RFC6125]  Saint-Andre, P. and J. Hodges, "Representation and
              Verification of Domain-Based Application Service Identity
              within Internet Public Key Infrastructure Using X.509
              (PKIX) Certificates in the Context of Transport Layer
              Security (TLS)", RFC 6125, DOI 10.17487/RFC6125, March
              2011, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6125>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

7.2.  Informative References

   [CABBR]    CA/Browser Forum, "Baseline Requirements for the Issuance
              and Management of Publicly-Trusted Certificates", 2020,
              <https://cabforum.org/wp-content/uploads/CA-Browser-Forum-
              BR-1.7.3.pdf>.

Author's Address

   Rich Salz
   Akamai Technologies
   United States of America

   Email: rsalz@akamai.com




















Salz                     Expires 3 October 2021                 [Page 5]