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

Stephen Farrell <stephen.farrell@cs.tcd.ie> Wed, 22 July 2015 11:22 UTC

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Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 12:22:08 +0100
From: Stephen Farrell <stephen.farrell@cs.tcd.ie>
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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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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
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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