Re: [OAUTH-WG] Fixing the Authorization Server Mix-Up: Call for Adoption

[Mike Jones <[e-mail]>]

Option A.  I have higher confidence that this specification solves the problems because it was designed during a 4-day security meeting dedicated to this task by a group of over 20 OAuth security experts, including both sets of researchers in Germany who originally identified the problem.  This solution has also been implemented and interop tested by Roland Hedberg, Brian Campbell, and I believe others.  Note that the reason I am advocating this specification is *not* because I'm an editor of it; my role was to record in spec language what the OAuth security experts designed together over the 4-day period in Darmstadt.



I’ll also note that even if Option B also solves the problem, it comes at significant adoption costs and complexity not found in A.  In particular, it requires that developers understand support a new “Link Relation” syntax not used elsewhere in OAuth.  As Nat writes about his own draft in http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/oauth/current/msg15789.html - there is not a standard JSON syntax for link relations.  He writes “we could easily create a parallel to it”.  I’d rather we solve the problem using standard mechanisms already employed in OAuth, rather than risk bifurcating OAuth in the developer community by unnecessarily inventing/creating new syntax that is unfamiliar to developers and that many of them may reject using.



                                                          -- Mike



P.S.  Information about the OAuth security meeting can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/136Cz2iwUFMdoKWZPCqZRhkmfmHAlJ6kM5OyeXzGptU4/edit and https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRa11EgimnTeJZR1-PUpNRpi_u_EoSpO5NtakVbA_sk/edit .



-----Original Message-----
From: OAuth [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Hannes Tschofenig
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 11:43 AM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [OAUTH-WG] Fixing the Authorization Server Mix-Up: Call for Adoption



Early February I posted a mail to the list to make progress on the solution to the OAuth Authorization Server Mix-Up problem discovered late last year.



Here is my mail about the Authorization Server Mix-Up:

http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/oauth/current/msg15336.html



Here is my mail to the list that tries to summarize the discussion status and asked a few questions:

http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/oauth/current/msg15697.html



Unfortunately, my mail didn't lead to the intended success. While there was some feedback I wasn't getting the desired response.



In order to move forward I believe we need a working group document that serves as a starting point for further work in the group*. We have two documents that provide similar functionality in an attempt to solve the Authorization Server Mix-Up problem.



So, here is the question for the group. Which document do you want as a starting point for work on this topic:



-- Option A: 'OAuth 2.0 Mix-Up Mitigation' by Mike Jones and John Bradley



Link:

https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-jones-oauth-mix-up-mitigation-01



-- Option B: 'OAuth Response Metadata' by Nat Sakimura, Nov Matake and Sascha Preibisch



Link:

https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-sakimura-oauth-meta-07



Deadline for feedback is March, 4th.



Ciao

Hannes & Derek



PS: (*) Regardless of the selected solution we will provide proper acknowledgement for those who contributed to the work.