4 Transport Layer Security Working D. Taylor
5 Group Forge Research Pty Ltd
6 Internet-Draft September 4, 2002
10 Using SRP for TLS Authentication
15 This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
16 all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
18 Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
19 Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that
20 other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-
23 Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
24 and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
25 time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
26 material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
28 The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://
29 www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt.
31 The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
32 http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.
34 This Internet-Draft will expire on March 5, 2003.
38 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.
42 This memo presents a technique for using the SRP [2] (Secure Remote
43 Password) protocol as an authentication method for the TLS
44 [1](Transport Layer Security) protocol.
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63 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
64 2. SRP Authentication in TLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
65 2.1 Modifications to the TLS Handshake Sequence . . . . . . . . 4
66 2.1.1 Message Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
67 2.1.2 Session Re-use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
68 2.2 SRP Verifier Message Digest Selection . . . . . . . . . . . 5
69 2.3 Changes to the Handshake Message Contents . . . . . . . . . 5
70 2.3.1 Client hello . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
71 2.3.2 Server hello . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
72 2.3.3 Server certificate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
73 2.3.4 Client key exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
74 2.3.5 Server key exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
75 2.4 Calculating the Pre-master Secret . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
76 2.5 Cipher Suite Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
77 2.6 New Message Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
78 2.6.1 ExtensionType . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
79 2.6.2 Client Hello . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
80 2.6.3 Server Hello . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
81 2.6.4 Client Key Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
82 2.6.5 Server Key Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
83 3. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
84 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
85 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
86 A. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
87 Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
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119 At the time of writing, TLS uses public key certificiates with RSA/
120 DSA digital signatures, or Kerberos, for authentication.
122 These authentication methods do not seem well suited to the
123 applications now being adapted to use TLS (IMAP [3], FTP [5], or
124 TELNET [6], for example). Given these protocols (and others like
125 them) are designed to use the user name and password method of
126 authentication, being able to safely use user names and passwords to
127 authenticate the TLS connection provides a much easier route to
128 additional security than implementing a public key infrastructure in
131 SRP is an authentication method that allows the use of user names and
132 passwords over unencrypted channels without revealing the password to
133 an eavesdropper. SRP also supplies a shared secret at the end of the
134 authetication sequence that can be used to generate encryption keys.
136 This document describes the use of the SRP authentication method for
139 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
140 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
141 document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
143 Changes in this version:
145 Changed the order of the s, N, and g parameters for the Server
146 Hello message in the handshake sequence diagram to conform to the
147 SRPExtension structure.
149 Removed the requirement to add leading zeros to encoded numbers
150 whose most significant bit is set.
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173 2. SRP Authentication in TLS
175 2.1 Modifications to the TLS Handshake Sequence
177 The SRP protocol can not be implemented using the sequence of
178 handshake messages defined in [1] due to the sequence in which the
179 SRP messages must be sent.
181 This document presents a new sequence of handshake messages for
182 handshakes using the SRP authentication method.
184 2.1.1 Message Sequence
186 Handshake Message Flow for SRP Authentication
190 Client Hello (U) ------------------------> |
191 | <---------------------------- Server Hello (s, N, g)
192 | <---------------------------- Certificate*
193 Client Key Exchange (A) -----------------> |
194 | <---------------------------- Server Key Exchange (B)
195 | <---------------------------- Server Hello Done
197 Finished --------------------------------> |
199 | <---------------------------- Finished
202 * Indicates optional or situation-dependent messages that are not
205 The identifiers given after each message name refer to the SRP
206 variables included in that message. The variables U, g, N, s, A, and
207 B are defined in [2].
209 Extended client and server hello messages, as defined in [7], are
210 used to to send the initial client and server values.
212 The client key exchange message is sent during the sequence of server
213 messages. This modification is required because the client must send
214 its public key (A) before it receives the servers public key (B), as
215 stated in Section 3 of [2].
219 The short handshake mechanism for re-using sessions for new
220 connections, and renegotiating keys for existing connections will
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229 still work with the SRP authentication mechanism and handshake.
231 When a client attemps to re-use a session that uses SRP
232 authentication, it MUST still include the SRP extension carrying the
233 user name (U) in the client hello message, in case the server cannot
234 or will not allow re-use of the session, meaning a full handshake
235 sequence is required.
237 If a client requests an existing session and the server agrees to use
238 it (meaning the short handshake will be used), the server MAY omit
239 the SRP extension from the server hello message, as the information
240 it contains is not used in the short handshake.
242 2.2 SRP Verifier Message Digest Selection
244 The cipher suites defined in this document use the SHA-1 message
245 digest with the SRP algorithm, as specified in [2]. Implementations
246 conforming to this document MUST use the SHA-1 message digest.
248 Future documents may define other cipher suites that use different
249 message digests, or other similar functions, with the SRP algorithm.
251 2.3 Changes to the Handshake Message Contents
253 This section describes the changes to the TLS handshake message
254 contents when SRP is being used for authentication. The definitions
255 of the new message contents and the on-the-wire changes are given in
260 The user name is appended to the standard client hello message using
261 the hello message extension mechanism defined in [7].
265 The the generator (g), the prime (N), and the salt value (s) read
266 from the SRP password file are appended to the server hello message
267 using the hello message extension mechanism defined in [7].
269 2.3.3 Server certificate
271 The server MUST send a certificate if it agrees to an SRP cipher
272 suite that requires the server to provide additional authentication
273 in the form of a digital signature. See Section 2.5 for details of
274 which ciphersuites defined in this document require a server
275 certificate to be sent.
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285 Because the server's certificate is only used for generating a
286 digital signature in SRP cipher suites, the certificate sent MUST
287 contain a public key that can be used for generating digital
290 2.3.4 Client key exchange
292 The client key exchange message carries the client's public key (A),
293 which is calculated using both information known locally, and
294 information received in the server hello message. This message MUST
295 be sent before the server key exchange message.
297 2.3.5 Server key exchange
299 The server key exchange message contains the server's public key (B).
300 The server key exchange message MUST be sent after the client key
303 If the server has sent a certificate message, the server key exchange
304 message MUST be signed.
306 2.4 Calculating the Pre-master Secret
308 The shared secret resulting from the SRP calculations (S) (defined in
309 [2]) is used as the pre-master secret.
311 The finished messages perform the same function as the client and
312 server evidence messages specified in [2]. If either the client or
313 the server calculate an incorrect value, the finished messages will
314 not be understood, and the connection will be dropped as specified in
317 2.5 Cipher Suite Definitions
319 The following cipher suites are added by this draft. The usage of
320 AES ciphersuites is as defined in [4].
322 CipherSuite TLS_SRP_SHA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA = { 0x00,0x50 };
324 CipherSuite TLS_SRP_SHA_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA = { 0x00,0x51 };
326 CipherSuite TLS_SRP_SHA_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA = { 0x00,0x52 };
328 CipherSuite TLS_SRP_SHA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA = { 0x00,0x53 };
330 CipherSuite TLS_SRP_SHA_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA = { 0x00,0x54 };
332 CipherSuite TLS_SRP_SHA_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA = { 0x00,0x55 };
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341 CipherSuite TLS_SRP_SHA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA = { 0x00,0x56 };
343 CipherSuite TLS_SRP_SHA_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA = { 0x00,0x57 };
345 CipherSuite TLS_SRP_SHA_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA = { 0x00,0x58 };
347 Cipher suites that do not include a digitial signature algorithm
348 identifier assume the server is authenticated by its possesion of the
351 Cipher suites that begin with TLS_SRP_SHA_RSA or TLS_SRP_SHA_DSS
352 require the server to send a certificate message containing a
353 certificate with the specified type of public key, and to sign the
354 server key exchange message using a matching private key.
356 Implementations conforming to this specification MUST implement the
357 TLS_SRP_SHA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA ciphersuite, SHOULD implement the
358 TLS_SRP_SHA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA and TLS_SRP_SHA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA
359 ciphersuites, and MAY implement the remaining ciphersuites.
361 2.6 New Message Structures
363 This section shows the structure of the messages passed during a
364 handshake that uses SRP for authentication. The representation
365 language used is the same as that used in [1].
369 A new value, "srp(6)", has been added to the enumerated
370 ExtensionType, defined in [7]. This value is used as the extension
371 number for the extensions in both the client hello message and the
372 server hello message.
376 The user name (U) is encoded in an SRPExtension structure, and sent
377 in an extended client hello message, using an extension of type
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397 enum { client, server } ClientOrServerExtension;
400 select(ClientOrServerExtension) {
402 opaque srp_U<1..2^8-1>;
404 opaque srp_s<1..2^8-1>
405 opaque srp_N<1..2^16-1>;
406 opaque srp_g<1..2^16-1>;
413 The generator (g), the prime (N), and the salt value (s) are encoded
414 in an SRPExtension structure, which is sent in an extended server
415 hello message, using an extension of type "srp".
417 2.6.4 Client Key Exchange
419 When the value of KeyExchangeAlgorithm is set to "srp", the client's
420 ephemeral public key (A) is sent in the client key exchange message,
421 encoded in an ClientSRPPublic structure.
423 An extra value, srp, has been added to the enumerated
424 KeyExchangeAlgorithm, originally defined in TLS [1].
427 select (KeyExchangeAlgorithm) {
428 case rsa: EncryptedPreMasterSecret;
429 case diffie_hellman: ClientDiffieHellmanPublic;
430 case srp: ClientSRPPublic; /* new entry */
434 enum { rsa, diffie_hellman, srp } KeyExchangeAlgorithm;
437 opaque srp_A<1..2^16-1>;
441 2.6.5 Server Key Exchange
443 When the value of KeyExchangeAlgorithm is set to "srp", the server's
444 ephemeral public key (B) is sent in the server key exchange message,
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453 encoded in an ServerSRPPublic structure.
455 The following table gives the SignatureAlgorithm value to be used for
458 Ciphersuite SignatureAlgorithm
460 TLS_SRP_SHA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA anonymous
462 TLS_SRP_SHA_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA rsa
464 TLS_SRP_SHA_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA dsa
466 TLS_SRP_SHA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA anonymous
468 TLS_SRP_SHA_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA rsa
470 TLS_SRP_SHA_DSS_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA dsa
472 TLS_SRP_SHA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA anonymous
474 TLS_SRP_SHA_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA rsa
476 TLS_SRP_SHA_DSS_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA dsa
480 select (KeyExchangeAlgorithm) {
482 ServerDHParams params;
483 Signature signed_params;
485 ServerRSAParams params;
486 Signature signed_params;
487 case srp: /* new entry */
488 ServerSRPPublic params;
489 Signature signed_params;
494 opaque srp_B<1..2^16-1>;
495 } ServerSRPPublic; /* SRP parameters */
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509 3. Security Considerations
511 If an attacker is able to steal the SRP verifier file, the attacker
512 can masquerade as the real host. Filesystem based X.509 certificate
513 installations are vulnerable to a similar attack unless the server's
514 certificate is issued from a PKI that maintains revocation lists, and
515 the client TLS code can both contact the PKI and make use of the
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567 [1] Dierks, T. and C. Allen, "The TLS Protocol", RFC 2246, January
570 [2] Wu, T., "The SRP Authentication and Key Exchange System", RFC
571 2945, September 2000.
573 [3] Newman, C., "Using TLS with IMAP, POP3 and ACAP", RFC 2595, June
576 [4] Chown, P., "Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Ciphersuites for
577 Transport Layer Security (TLS)", RFC 3268, June 2002.
579 [5] Ford-Hutchinson, P., Carpenter, M., Hudson, T., Murray, E. and
580 V. Wiegand, "Securing FTP with TLS", draft-murray-auth-ftp-ssl-
581 09 (work in progress), April 2002.
583 [6] Boe, M. and J. Altman, "TLS-based Telnet Security", draft-ietf-
584 tn3270e-telnet-tls-06 (work in progress), April 2002.
586 [7] Blake-Wilson, S., Nystrom, M., Hopwood, D., Mikkelsen, J. and T.
587 Wright, "TLS Extensions", draft-ietf-tls-extensions-05 (work in
588 progress), July 2002.
594 Forge Research Pty Ltd
596 EMail: DavidTaylor@forge.com.au
597 URI: http://www.forge.com.au/
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621 Appendix A. Acknowledgements
623 Thanks to all on the IETF tls mailing list for ideas and analysis.
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677 Full Copyright Statement
679 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.
681 This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
682 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
683 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
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685 kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
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