Re: [netconf] ietf crypto types - permanently hidden

[Juergen Schoenwaelder <[e-mail]>]

I agree, I do not understand the second sentence either. My problem
is that I do not know what a 'real' private key is, are hidden keys
somewhat unreal? Or is "not hidden" = "real"?

The last sentence can probably be fixed; I think the intention was
to say that you can't backup and restore hidden keys by retrieving
configuration and restoring the configuration.

In general, I think we need a definition what a hidden key is. Is
something not exposed via a YANG interface a hidden key (but it may be
a regular key when using other device access methods)? Or do we
require that a hidden key is generally protected? I assume some people
want to have flexibility here but from the viewpoint of a security
administrator it matters a lot whether 'hidden' means 'generally not
accessible' or only 'not accessible via YANG protocols'.

The description of install-hidden-key seems to indicate a key is
already 'hidden' if it only exists in <operational>. Is this really a
'hidden' key or more an 'ephemeral' key?

/js

On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 02:23:27PM +0000, Balázs Kovács wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> The 'generate-hidden-key' action is meant for cases when the key must be generated in the device and not the operator is configuring it. The 'generate-hidden-key' is said to produce a 'permanently-hidden' asymmetric key. The description of 'permanently-hidden' is as follows:
> 
>                 "The private key is inaccessible due to being
>                   protected by the system (e.g., a cryptographic
>                   hardware module).  It is not possible to
>                   configure a permanently hidden key, as a real
>                   private key value must be set.  Permanently
>                   hidden keys cannot be archived or backed up.";
> 
> Th second sentence doesn't sound right. I can create a permanently hidden key any time by calling the 'generate-hidden-key' action, or if the device or the model allows I could even switch to non-hidden key, I believe, by providing the binary. So I find the second sentence irrelevant in this description.
> 
> More importantly, I find the "Permanently hidden keys cannot be archived or backed up" statement false. Isn't that implementation specific how archiving is done? If a device puts the hidden keys on some storage, it may still be possible to back them up. I would prefer to remove this sentence and leave backup considerations to implementations.
> 
> Could these changes be done?
> 
> Br,
> Balazs

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-- 
Juergen Schoenwaelder           Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH
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