7 Network Working Group W. Hardaker
8 Request for Comments: 4509 Sparta
9 Category: Standards Track May 2006
12 Use of SHA-256 in DNSSEC Delegation Signer (DS) Resource Records (RRs)
17 This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
18 Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
19 improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
20 Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
21 and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
25 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
29 This document specifies how to use the SHA-256 digest type in DNS
30 Delegation Signer (DS) Resource Records (RRs). DS records, when
31 stored in a parent zone, point to DNSKEYs in a child zone.
35 1. Introduction ....................................................2
36 2. Implementing the SHA-256 Algorithm for DS Record Support ........2
37 2.1. DS Record Field Values .....................................2
38 2.2. DS Record with SHA-256 Wire Format .........................3
39 2.3. Example DS Record Using SHA-256 ............................3
40 3. Implementation Requirements .....................................3
41 4. Deployment Considerations .......................................4
42 5. IANA Considerations .............................................4
43 6. Security Considerations .........................................4
44 6.1. Potential Digest Type Downgrade Attacks ....................4
45 6.2. SHA-1 vs SHA-256 Considerations for DS Records .............5
46 7. Acknowledgements ................................................5
47 8. References ......................................................6
48 8.1. Normative References .......................................6
49 8.2. Informative References .....................................6
58 Hardaker Standards Track [Page 1]
60 RFC 4509 Use of SHA-256 in DNSSEC DS RRs May 2006
65 The DNSSEC [RFC4033] [RFC4034] [RFC4035] DS RR is published in parent
66 zones to distribute a cryptographic digest of one key in a child's
67 DNSKEY RRset. The DS RRset is signed by at least one of the parent
68 zone's private zone data signing keys for each algorithm in use by
69 the parent. Each signature is published in an RRSIG resource record,
70 owned by the same domain as the DS RRset, with a type covered of DS.
72 In this document, the key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED",
73 "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY",
74 and "OPTIONAL" are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
76 2. Implementing the SHA-256 Algorithm for DS Record Support
78 This document specifies that the digest type code 2 has been assigned
79 to SHA-256 [SHA256] [SHA256CODE] for use within DS records. The
80 results of the digest algorithm MUST NOT be truncated, and the entire
81 32 byte digest result is to be published in the DS record.
83 2.1. DS Record Field Values
85 Using the SHA-256 digest algorithm within a DS record will make use
86 of the following DS-record fields:
90 Digest: A SHA-256 bit digest value calculated by using the following
91 formula ("|" denotes concatenation). The resulting value is not
92 truncated, and the entire 32 byte result is to be used in the
93 resulting DS record and related calculations.
95 digest = SHA_256(DNSKEY owner name | DNSKEY RDATA)
97 where DNSKEY RDATA is defined by [RFC4034] as:
99 DNSKEY RDATA = Flags | Protocol | Algorithm | Public Key
101 The Key Tag field and Algorithm fields remain unchanged by this
102 document and are specified in the [RFC4034] specification.
114 Hardaker Standards Track [Page 2]
116 RFC 4509 Use of SHA-256 in DNSSEC DS RRs May 2006
119 2.2. DS Record with SHA-256 Wire Format
121 The resulting on-the-wire format for the resulting DS record will be
124 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3
125 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
126 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
127 | Key Tag | Algorithm | DigestType=2 |
128 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
130 / Digest (length for SHA-256 is 32 bytes) /
132 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-|
134 2.3. Example DS Record Using SHA-256
136 The following is an example DNSKEY and matching DS record. This
137 DNSKEY record comes from the example DNSKEY/DS records found in
138 section 5.4 of [RFC4034].
142 dskey.example.com. 86400 IN DNSKEY 256 3 5 ( AQOeiiR0GOMYkDshWoSKz9Xz
143 fwJr1AYtsmx3TGkJaNXVbfi/
144 2pHm822aJ5iI9BMzNXxeYCmZ
145 DRD99WYwYqUSdjMmmAphXdvx
146 egXd/M5+X7OrzKBaMbCVdFLU
147 Uh6DhweJBjEVv5f2wwjM9Xzc
148 nOf+EPbtG9DMBmADjFDc2w/r
152 The resulting DS record covering the above DNSKEY record using a
155 dskey.example.com. 86400 IN DS 60485 5 2 ( D4B7D520E7BB5F0F67674A0C
156 CEB1E3E0614B93C4F9E99B83
159 3. Implementation Requirements
161 Implementations MUST support the use of the SHA-256 algorithm in DS
162 RRs. Validator implementations SHOULD ignore DS RRs containing SHA-1
163 digests if DS RRs with SHA-256 digests are present in the DS RRset.
170 Hardaker Standards Track [Page 3]
172 RFC 4509 Use of SHA-256 in DNSSEC DS RRs May 2006
175 4. Deployment Considerations
177 If a validator does not support the SHA-256 digest type and no other
178 DS RR exists in a zone's DS RRset with a supported digest type, then
179 the validator has no supported authentication path leading from the
180 parent to the child. The resolver should treat this case as it would
181 the case of an authenticated NSEC RRset proving that no DS RRset
182 exists, as described in [RFC4035], Section 5.2.
184 Because zone administrators cannot control the deployment speed of
185 support for SHA-256 in validators that may be referencing any of
186 their zones, zone operators should consider deploying both SHA-1 and
187 SHA-256 based DS records. This should be done for every DNSKEY for
188 which DS records are being generated. Whether to make use of both
189 digest types and for how long is a policy decision that extends
190 beyond the scope of this document.
192 5. IANA Considerations
194 Only one IANA action is required by this document:
196 The Digest Type to be used for supporting SHA-256 within DS records
197 has been assigned by IANA.
199 At the time of this writing, the current digest types assigned for
200 use in DS records are as follows:
202 VALUE Digest Type Status
208 6. Security Considerations
210 6.1. Potential Digest Type Downgrade Attacks
212 A downgrade attack from a stronger digest type to a weaker one is
213 possible if all of the following are true:
215 o A zone includes multiple DS records for a given child's DNSKEY,
216 each of which uses a different digest type.
218 o A validator accepts a weaker digest even if a stronger one is
226 Hardaker Standards Track [Page 4]
228 RFC 4509 Use of SHA-256 in DNSSEC DS RRs May 2006
231 For example, if the following conditions are all true:
233 o Both SHA-1 and SHA-256 based digests are published in DS records
234 within a parent zone for a given child zone's DNSKEY.
236 o The DS record with the SHA-1 digest matches the digest computed
237 using the child zone's DNSKEY.
239 o The DS record with the SHA-256 digest fails to match the digest
240 computed using the child zone's DNSKEY.
242 Then, if the validator accepts the above situation as secure, then
243 this can be used as a downgrade attack since the stronger SHA-256
246 6.2. SHA-1 vs. SHA-256 Considerations for DS Records
248 Users of DNSSEC are encouraged to deploy SHA-256 as soon as software
249 implementations allow for it. SHA-256 is widely believed to be more
250 resilient to attack than SHA-1, and confidence in SHA-1's strength is
251 being eroded by recently announced attacks. Regardless of whether
252 the attacks on SHA-1 will affect DNSSEC, it is believed (at the time
253 of this writing) that SHA-256 is the better choice for use in DS
256 At the time of this publication, the SHA-256 digest algorithm is
257 considered sufficiently strong for the immediate future. It is also
258 considered sufficient for use in DNSSEC DS RRs for the immediate
259 future. However, future published attacks may weaken the usability
260 of this algorithm within the DS RRs. It is beyond the scope of this
261 document to speculate extensively on the cryptographic strength of
262 the SHA-256 digest algorithm.
264 Likewise, it is also beyond the scope of this document to specify
265 whether or for how long SHA-1 based DS records should be
266 simultaneously published alongside SHA-256 based DS records.
270 This document is a minor extension to the existing DNSSEC documents
271 and those authors are gratefully appreciated for the hard work that
272 went into the base documents.
274 The following people contributed to portions of this document in some
275 fashion: Mark Andrews, Roy Arends, Olafur Gudmundsson, Paul Hoffman,
276 Olaf M. Kolkman, Edward Lewis, Scott Rose, Stuart E. Schechter, Sam
282 Hardaker Standards Track [Page 5]
284 RFC 4509 Use of SHA-256 in DNSSEC DS RRs May 2006
289 8.1. Normative References
291 [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
292 Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
294 [RFC4033] Arends, R., Austein, R., Larson, M., Massey, D., and S.
295 Rose, "DNS Security Introduction and Requirements", RFC
298 [RFC4034] Arends, R., Austein, R., Larson, M., Massey, D., and S.
299 Rose, "Resource Records for the DNS Security
300 Extensions", RFC 4034, March 2005.
302 [RFC4035] Arends, R., Austein, R., Larson, M., Massey, D., and S.
303 Rose, "Protocol Modifications for the DNS Security
304 Extensions", RFC 4035, March 2005.
306 [SHA256] National Institute of Standards and Technology, "Secure
307 Hash Algorithm. NIST FIPS 180-2", August 2002.
309 8.2. Informative References
311 [SHA256CODE] Eastlake, D., "US Secure Hash Algorithms (SHA)", Work in
322 EMail: hardaker@tislabs.com
338 Hardaker Standards Track [Page 6]
340 RFC 4509 Use of SHA-256 in DNSSEC DS RRs May 2006
343 Full Copyright Statement
345 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
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394 Hardaker Standards Track [Page 7]