Re: [Ace] Security of the Communication Between C and RS

Stefanie Gerdes <gerdes@tzi.de> Tue, 18 December 2018 14:47 UTC

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To: Hannes Tschofenig <Hannes.Tschofenig@arm.com>, Ludwig Seitz <ludwig.seitz@ri.se>, Jim Schaad <ietf@augustcellars.com>, "ace@ietf.org" <ace@ietf.org>
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From: Stefanie Gerdes <gerdes@tzi.de>
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Subject: Re: [Ace] Security of the Communication Between C and RS
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Hi Hannes,

On 12/15/2018 04:04 PM, Hannes Tschofenig wrote:
> Hi Steffi,
> 
> ~snip~
> 
> 
>> I also think that the client must be able to assume that RS' RPK that C receives from AS is also valid as long as the token, unless C has additional information.
> 
> I would think that it is rather unlikely that the RS will change its public/private key pair so quickly. Right?

I don't really know what you mean with "quickly". Access tokens may be
valid for a long time, depending on the application scenario. Also, RS
may already have its RPK for a while at the time when AS generates the
access token. RPKs do not contain semantic information and C may not
have additional information about the RPK. Therefore, C must be able to
assume that the RS' RPK is valid as long as the access token.

> 
>> The access information optionally can contain an expires_in field. It would help to prevent security breaches under the following conditions:
> 1. the keying material is valid as long as the ticket, 2. the expires_in field is present in the access information that AS sends to C, 3. the client checks the expires_in field when it gets the access information from the AS, and 4. the client checks if the keying material is still valid each time before it sends a request to RS.
> 
> These checks make sense to me.
> 
> 
>> Without these steps, the confidentiality of the request data that C sends to RS may be breached, and C may communicate with the wrong RS using outdated keying material.
> 
> Not sure how you came to this conclusion. Why is the request sent by the C to the RS revealed to an attacker when the token expires?

I did not refer to the token, but to the keying material for RS that AS
provides to C. If it is outdated, it may have been compromised.

Viele Grüße
Steffi