Re: [auth48] AUTH48: RFC-to-be 9421 <draft-ietf-httpbis-message-signatures-19> for your review

[Justin Richer <[e-mail]>]

Hi RFC Editor!

Attached please find the XML file with some small edits applied with regard to the below, as well as a diff file from the provided XML.

There were a couple of small changes to the text that I caught on this read through that I fixed in the XML, not covered in the sections below:

- Section 1.3, bullet 2, "A combination" should be reverted to "Combination", as we are trying to say "the act and result of combining the fields with the same name" which is specifically described in HTTP

- Section 2.1, "content identifier" should be "component identifier"

- Section B.1.1. should be named "Example RSA Key", so I’ve updated the XML as appropriate.

- Example B.2 had an incorrect digest value, this has been corrected (see https://github.com/httpwg/http-extensions/pull/2669) — the calculated signature example that uses this value in B.2.4 had already been corrected and did not need to be changed.

I’ve also replied to the questions inline.


On Jan 22, 2024, at 6:54 PM, [e-mail] wrote:

Authors,

While reviewing this document during AUTH48, please resolve (as necessary)
the following questions, which are also in the XML file.

1) <!-- [rfced] Note that we have removed the URI <https://manu.sporny.org/>.  We checked its availability many times (including today) and were unable to connect.
       <uri>https://manu.sporny.org/</uri><https://manu.sporny.org/%3C/uri%3E> -->


That’s fine with me.


2) <!-- [rfced] Sections 1 and subsequent:  Because many changes were
made to this document during the EDIT and AUTH states, please review
all updates in this document carefully, and let us know if anything
is incorrect.

I’ve reviewed and, apart from the edits noted above, this section is good.


Also, a follow-on to December 2023 email discussions regarding the
use of <tt>:  Please (1) review current instances of <tt> and
(2) review changes from "header" to "header field" as instructed
during the AUTH state (not applied to all parameters).  Let us know
if further updates are needed. -->


I’ve gone through the document and have checked instances of <tt> and "header/header field" and these seem to be OK with the suggested edits.


3) <!-- [rfced] Please review the "type" attribute of each sourcecode
element in the XML file to ensure correctness.  If the current list
of preferred values for "type"
(https://www.rfc-editor.org/materials/sourcecode-types.txt) does not
contain an applicable type, please let us know.  Also, it is
acceptable to leave the "type" attribute not set.

In addition, review each artwork element.  Specifically, should any
artwork element be tagged as sourcecode? -->

I’ve gone through all of these, and they look correct. I made not changes in the attached file.



4) <!-- [rfced] Sections 2.2.8 and subsequent:  Please review the links
that we provided when we made updates to the citations to [HTMLURL]
(best viewed in the HTML and PDF output files), and let us know if
there are any issues.  For example, it appears to us that these links
would be stable, but please let us know if this is incorrect:

<https://url.spec.whatwg.org/#application/x-www-form-urlencoded>
  for Section 5
<https://url.spec.whatwg.org/#urlencoded-parsing>
  for Section 5.1
<https://url.spec.whatwg.org/#urlencoded-serializing>
  for Section 5.2 -->


These all seem to be correct. I made no changes in the attached file.


5) <!-- [rfced] For alignment with the IANA registry, would it be appropriate to change "Specification document(s)" to "Reference(s)" in the descriptions and the column headers throughout Section 6?

Example from Section 6.2.1:
  Specification document(s):
     Reference to the document(s) that specify the algorithm,
     preferably including a URI that can be used to retrieve a copy of
     the document(s).  An indication of the relevant sections may also
     be included but is not required.
-->


I’m OK with this change. I have changed the attached file to use "Reference" (with no (s) attached) for both the description and column name to match the created IANA registry.


6) <!-- [rfced] The description for ed25519 is slightly different than the other entries.  Is this intentional, or perhaps the description could be updated as follows:

Original:
  Edwards Curve DSA using curve edwards25519

Perhaps:
  ECDSA using curve edwards25519
-->


The existing text is correct as per rfc8032, no changes should be made.


7) <!-- [rfced] We were unable to verify this statement.  Please confirm that the reference is correct.

Original:
  As discussed in [DIGEST], the value of the Content-Digest field is
  dependent on the content encoding of the message.
-->


Yes, this is discussed at length in sections 2 and 3 of DIGEST.

An aside from the authors - we will need to update this reference to the digest RFC number, right?


8) <!-- [rfced] Section 7.3.3:  As it appears that "its" actually refers
to the symmetric cryptographic methods, we changed "its" to "their".
If this is incorrect, please clarify what "its" refers to.

Original (the previous sentence is included for context):
The HTTP Message Signatures specification allows for both asymmetric
and symmetric cryptography to be applied to HTTP messages.  By its
nature, symmetric cryptographic methods require the same key material
to be known by both the signer and verifier.

Currently:
By their
nature, symmetric cryptographic methods require the same key material
to be known by both the signer and verifier. -->


Yes, this change is OK.


9) <!-- [rfced] For clarity, may we update "other historical drafts" to "other Internet-Drafts"?  Is mention of "historical" important?

Original:
  It is recommended
  that developers wishing to support both this specification and other
  historical drafts do so carefully and deliberately, as
  incompatibilities between this specification and various versions of
  other drafts could lead to unexpected problems.
-->


I think "historical" is reasonable to keep as it is.


10) <!-- [rfced] Because this document is a Proposed Standard, may we update the following text?

Original:
  It is recommended that implementers first detect and validate the
  Signature-Input field defined in this specification to detect that
  this standard is in use and not an alternative.

Perhaps:
  It is recommended that implementers first detect and validate the
  Signature-Input field defined in this specification to detect that
  the mechanism described in this document is in use and not an
  alternative.
-->

Yes, this change is fine. I have updated the text as proposed. The sentence also ends with "this specification", is this OK to keep?



11) <!-- [rfced] Please review the "Inclusive Language" portion of the
online Style Guide at
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/styleguide/part2/#inclusive_language>,
and let us know if any changes are needed.

For example, please consider whether the following should be updated:

whitespace -->


This is the specific term used in [HTTP] so I believe we shouldn’t vary from it.


12) <!-- [rfced] Please let us know if any changes are needed for the
following:

a) The following terms were used inconsistently in this document.
We chose to use the latter forms.  Please let us know any objections.

"@authority" derived component (last paragraph of Section 7.2.4) /
  @authority derived component (per unquoted names of derived
    components in the rest of this document)


I have changed this to be wrapped in <tt> tags as in other places in the document, removing the quotes.

dictionary / Dictionary (per [STRUCTURED-FIELDS]; we see that
  [STRUCTURED-FIELDS] uses the term "Dictionary".)


This change is fine.

dictionary structured field / Dictionary structured field /
  Dictionary Structured Field
  (per [STRUCTURED-FIELDS]; we see that [STRUCTURED-FIELDS] uses
  the terms "Dictionary" and "Structured Field".)


This change is fine.

Note:  We also changed instances of "structured field" where used
  more generally to "Structured Field", also per usage in
  [STRUCTURED-FIELDS].  Please let us know any concerns.


This change is fine.

ed25519 algorithm / Ed25519 algorithm (per RFC 8032)


This change is fine.

encoded in big-endian unsigned integers /
  encoded as big-endian unsigned integers

This change is fine


Host field (1 instance) / Host header field

This change is fine. I believe I found a few other places that were not using "field" and have updated them in the attached text.


host name (2 instances in original) /
  hostname (5 instances in original)

This change is fine


HTTP Signature Algorithm(s) (used generally in Sections 6.2
  and 6.2.1) / HTTP signature algorithm(s)


This change is fine.

key id (Section 4.3) / keyid

I changed this to "key" to be consistent with other uses of identifying keys directly in examples. "keyid" on its own is used as "<tt>keyid</tt> parameter" or similar, and "key identifier" is used when speaking of the term generically.


line-folding / line folding (per RFC 9112)


This change is fine.

RSA PSS / RSA-PSS (per post-6000 published RFCs, including
  RFC 8017)


This change is fine.

signature field / Signature field


This change is fine.

Unix timestamp / UNIX timestamp


This change is fine.

b) The following terms appear to be used inconsistently in this
document.  Please let us know which form is preferred.

Accept header (noun) (4 instances) /
  Accept-Header (adj.) ("Accept-Header signature") (1 instance)


This should be "Accept header field", I have changed this in the attached file.

boolean / Boolean

This change is fine.


"host" header field ('"host" header field is specific to HTTP/1.1') /
  Host header ('the Host header field in HTTP/1.1')


This should be Host header field, I have changed this in the attached file.

HTTP Message / HTTP message (used generally in text, e.g.,
  "of an HTTP message.  Note that a given HTTP Message can contain",
  "the HTTP message and", "the HTTP Message and", "from the HTTP
  Message", "from the HTTP message")


This change is fine.

HTTP Message Signature(s) / HTTP message signature(s) /
  HTTP Message signature (in running text)
  (e.g., "Applications of HTTP Message Signatures", "an application
  of HTTP message signatures", "An HTTP Message Signature"
  (Section 3), "an HTTP message signature" (Section 3.1),
  "An HTTP Message signature MUST use")


This change is fine.

Referer / Referrer (Appendix B.4)
  We see both spellings used in post-6000 published RFCs.  Google
  searches for "what is a referer header?" and "what is a referrer
  header?" both seem to indicate that "Referer" is technically
  correct but that it is "a misspelling of Referrer".

  Because RFC 9110 uses "Referer", it might be best to use that
  form, but we defer to your choice.  Please advise.


This should be "Referer header field", I have updated the text in the attached file.

signature value(s) (37 instances in text) /
  Signature value(s) (6 instances in text)


The distinction is correct, but was unclear in the text. When used uppercase as "Signature value" it is referring specifically to the Signature field value, so I have changed those instances to "Signature field value" to be precise. I’ve made the same change to Signature-Input field value here. The lowercase instances all refer to the value of the HTTP message signature itself, not specifically the field.

status code derived component / @status code /
  @status derived component
  (We suggest the latter, as @status is defined as "The status code
  for a response" in Section 2.2.)


This should be left as is.

string value / String value


This change is fine.

The hash function (Hash) SHA-<###> / The hash SHA-<###> /
  The hash function SHA-<###>


This should be left as -is since <tt>Hash</tt> is defined as an algorithm variable in the associated RFC8017.

c) Spacing after colons in message examples:  Should there be only
one space after the colons for the following?

 X-OWS-Header:   Leading and trailing whitespace.
 Cache-Control:    must-revalidate
 Example-Dict:  a=1,    b=2;x=1;y=2,   c=(a   b   c)
 Example-Dict:  a=1,    b=2;x=1;y=2,   c=(a   b   c)
 Example-Dict:  a=1, b=2;x=1;y=2, c=(a   b    c), d

 For example, in post-6000 published RFCs, we see entries for
 "Cache-Control:" (e.g., RFCs 9126, 9205, and 9449) and
 "Example-Dict:" (RFC 8941) with only one space between the colon
 and the parameter(s) in question.



The extra spaces here are specifically for an aberrant example of what to do with non-conforming text on the wire, and they should be left in.

d) Should "Digest" in this sentence be "Content-Digest"?  We ask
because of "Content-Digest field defined in [DIGEST]" in Section 1.4.

Original:
*  Requiring a specific set of header fields to be signed (e.g.,
   Authorization, Digest). -->


Yes, this can change to "Content-Digest", I have updated the attached file.


Thank you.

RFC Editor


On Jan 22, 2024, at 3:47 PM, [e-mail]<mailto:[e-mail]> wrote:

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--------------------------------------
RFC9421 (draft-ietf-httpbis-message-signatures-19)

Title            : HTTP Message Signatures
Author(s)        : A. Backman, Ed., J. Richer, Ed., M. Sporny
WG Chair(s)      : Mark Nottingham, Tommy Pauly
Area Director(s) : Murray Kucherawy, Francesca Palombini