Re: [AVTCORE] draft-ietf-avtcore-srtp-aes-gcm-15: Issue with short tags

"Ben Campbell" <ben@nostrum.com> Wed, 22 July 2015 11:24 UTC

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From: Ben Campbell <ben@nostrum.com>
To: Stephen Farrell <stephen.farrell@cs.tcd.ie>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 13:23:41 +0200
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Cc: Magnus Westerlund <magnus.westerlund@ericsson.com>, Tim Polk <tim.polk@nist.gov>, avt@ietf.org, mcgrew@cisco.com
Subject: Re: [AVTCORE] draft-ietf-avtcore-srtp-aes-gcm-15: Issue with short tags
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I think you already cleared, but you had mentioned re-reviewing after 
the short tag was removed :-)

On 22 Jul 2015, at 13:22, Stephen Farrell wrote:

> On 22/07/15 12:20, Ben Campbell wrote:
>> Hi Stephen,
>>
>> It looks like version 17 removed the short tag. Do you still expect 
>> to
>> re-review?
>
> Nope, will clear soon's I get a chance
> S
>
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Ben.
>>
>> On 29 Jun 2015, at 18:33, Stephen Farrell wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Ben,
>>>
>>> Back from vacation... and I've cleared that. Happy to review
>>> when the short tag stuff is taken out of course (and I support
>>> taking that out).
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> S.
>>>
>>> On 16/06/15 23:12, Ben Campbell wrote:
>>>> Hi Stephen,
>>>>
>>>> If you are satisfied, please feel free to clear, unless you want to 
>>>> hold
>>>> a discuss on the short tag issue itself. I will not approve until 
>>>> that
>>>> (and some other things) are resolved.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks!
>>>>
>>>> Ben.
>>>> On 7 Jun 2015, at 15:03, Stephen Farrell wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>> I currently have a discuss on this for a related reason that
>>>>> would otherwise be cleared by -16. I also support removal of the
>>>>> ciphersuite discussed below.
>>>>>
>>>>> So for Ben and chairs - I can either clear or keep my discuss
>>>>> and am happy to do whichever you prefer - just let me know.
>>>>>
>>>>> Lastly - thanks all for your forbearance in putting up with me
>>>>> trying to trim the list of ciphersuites at the last stage in
>>>>> the process.
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>> S.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 02/06/15 14:42, Magnus Westerlund wrote:
>>>>>> WG,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have seen no reactions on this email from John. To my 
>>>>>> understanding
>>>>>> this appears to be a real issue and without anyone disputing his
>>>>>> claims
>>>>>> I see the way forward is to request that the authors remove the
>>>>>> ciphers
>>>>>> with short tags.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cheers
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Magnus Westerlund
>>>>>> (As WG chair)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> John Mattsson skrev den 2015-05-21 17:35:
>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> My previous standpoint was that usage of GCM with short tags was
>>>>>>> acceptable if the NIST requirements were followed. Thinking more
>>>>>>> about the usage of GCM with short tags in general and the usage 
>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> GCM in SRTP in particular I have changed my mind.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I do not think GCM with short tags (i.e. 64 bits) should be
>>>>>>> standardized by IETF even if the NIST requirements are followed, 
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>> fact I think that NIST should revise SP 800-38D.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I strongly recommend that AEAD_AES_128_GCM_8 is removed from
>>>>>>> draft-ietf-avtcore-srtp-aes-gcm.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> (Note that this is only about GCM with short tags. I do fully
>>>>>>> recommend GCM for usage with 128-bit tags. I believe that with 
>>>>>>> its
>>>>>>> excellent performance and proven security, it should be the 
>>>>>>> first
>>>>>>> choice for everybody wanting an AEAD algorithm.)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> General usage of GCM with short tags:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Regarding the general usage of GCM with short tags, I wrote a 
>>>>>>> paper
>>>>>>> suggesting improvements to, and analyzing the complexity of,
>>>>>>> Ferguson’s method for authentication key recovery. In summary 
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> security level (i.e. the effective key lengths) for GCM with 
>>>>>>> 64-bit
>>>>>>> tags are 70–75 bits, far below not only the current NIST 
>>>>>>> requirement
>>>>>>> of 112-bit security, but also the old NIST requirement of 80-bit
>>>>>>> security.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> https://eprint.iacr.org/2015/477
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Note that draft-ietf-avtcore-srtp-aes-gcm-15 does not follow the 
>>>>>>> NIST
>>>>>>> requirements, it choses deliberately to ignore them. This means 
>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>> the security level for 64-bit tags against authentication key
>>>>>>> recovery is only 64 bits, down from the already low 70–75 bits
>>>>>>> offered by the NIST specification.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Usage of GCM with short tags in SRTP:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Regarding the usage of GCM in SRTP, Appendix C of SP 800-38D 
>>>>>>> lists
>>>>>>> several guidelines for protocols using GCM with short tags. Two 
>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> these guidelines are that AAD should be limited to necessary 
>>>>>>> header
>>>>>>> information and that protocols should not provide feedback 
>>>>>>> regarding
>>>>>>> the integrity of individual packets. NIST then makes the 
>>>>>>> statement:
>>>>>>> “An example of a protocol that meets these guidelines is 
>>>>>>> Secure
>>>>>>> Real-time Transport Protocol carrying Voice over Internet 
>>>>>>> Protocol,
>>>>>>> running over User Datagram Protocol”. This is not a correct 
>>>>>>> statement
>>>>>>> and SRTP does in fact violate both of the guidelines mentioned
>>>>>>> above:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> - The AAD is not at all limited. In RTP, the associated data 
>>>>>>> consists
>>>>>>> of the RTP header, which is not limited as e.g. the header in 
>>>>>>> the TLS
>>>>>>> record layer. The RTP header is extensible with proprietary 
>>>>>>> header
>>>>>>> extensions carrying any type of information. In RTCP, the scope 
>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> the AAD depends on the encryption flag E. If the encryption flag 
>>>>>>> is
>>>>>>> '1', the AAD data is limited to necessary header information, 
>>>>>>> but if
>>>>>>> the encryption flag is '0', the AAD consists of the entire RTCP
>>>>>>> packet.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> - RTCP receiver reports provide a wealth of information that can 
>>>>>>> be
>>>>>>> used to determine the integrity of individual forged RTP 
>>>>>>> packages,
>>>>>>> e.g. SSRC of the source, cumulative number of packets lost, 
>>>>>>> extended
>>>>>>> highest sequence number received, last SR timestamp, and delay 
>>>>>>> since
>>>>>>> last SR. The RTCP extension for port mapping [RFC6284] is even 
>>>>>>> worse
>>>>>>> as it echoes back the 64-bit nonce received in the request.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> - RTP Rapid Synchronisation [RFC6051] is used, a forged Rapid
>>>>>>> Resynchronisation Request results in a RTP header extension with 
>>>>>>> sync
>>>>>>> information sent from the sender.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> - If the RTP header extension Client-to-Mixer Audio Level 
>>>>>>> Indication
>>>>>>> [RFC6464] is used, a forged RTP packet with a high audio level 
>>>>>>> will
>>>>>>> result in the MCU forwarding the SSRC. As the SSRC is not 
>>>>>>> encrypted,
>>>>>>> this is easily detected by the attacker.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Even if encryption of RTCP is mandated and specific RTP header
>>>>>>> extensions and RTCP packets types are forbidden, an attacker may
>>>>>>> still in many cases determine whether a forgery was successful 
>>>>>>> by
>>>>>>> looking at the length of packets. Either by looking at the 
>>>>>>> length of
>>>>>>> RTCP packets from the sender or by looking at the length of RTP
>>>>>>> packets forwarded by an MCU.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A further problem with SRTP and GCM is that SRTP is very often 
>>>>>>> used
>>>>>>> in one-to-many scenarios. The maximum number of invocations of 
>>>>>>> each
>>>>>>> instance of the authenticated decryption function would have to 
>>>>>>> be
>>>>>>> restricted to q/r, where q is the maximum total number of 
>>>>>>> invocations
>>>>>>> of the authenticated decryption function, and r is the total 
>>>>>>> number
>>>>>>> of receivers, including any late joiners.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> All in all, SRTP does absolutely not meet the NIST guidelines 
>>>>>>> for
>>>>>>> usage of GCM with short tags.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Cheers, John
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Audio/Video Transport Core Maintenance
>>>>> avt@ietf.org
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