OOPS -- Correction. RE: pkix part 1, draft 4: UTCTime vs GeneralizedTime dates anomaly

"Hoffman, Mort" <Mort.Hoffman@gsc.gte.com> Thu, 03 April 1997 14:00 UTC

Date: Thu, 03 Apr 1997 09:01:30 -0500
From: "Hoffman, Mort" <Mort.Hoffman@gsc.gte.com>
Subject: OOPS -- Correction. RE: pkix part 1, draft 4: UTCTime vs GeneralizedTime dates anomaly
To: "'ietf-pkix@tandem.com'" <ietf-pkix@tandem.com>, 'Tim Polk' <polk@csmes.ncsl.nist.gov>, "'Hoffman, Mort'" <Mort.Hoffman@gsc.gte.com>
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Sorry, one wrong word makes it all make no sense.  Correction below:

>----------
>From: 	Hoffman, Mort[SMTP:Mort.Hoffman@GSC.GTE.Com]
>Sent: 	Wednesday, April 02, 1997 4:55 PM
>To: 	'ietf-pkix@tandem.com'; 'Tim Polk'
>Subject: 	RE: pkix part 1, draft 4:  UTCTime vs GeneralizedTime dates anomaly
>
>Tim,
>
>Reading throught the spec I ran into the following anomaly:  section
>4.1.2.5 specifies that dates in the year 2050 should be generated as
>GeneralizedTime (not UTCTime), and section 4.1.2.5.1 specifies that UTCTime
>dates encoded with
>the year set to 50 shall be interpreted as 2050.  Now, since there were
>no CAs existing in the year 1950, then there should not exist any such
>dates in certificates at all (OK, this could be argued with on strictly
>technical grounds, but I think it is basically true).  Therefore the
>anomaly in the spec should not really affect anything, but if someone
>writing code to generate certificates read section 4.1.2.5.1 instead of
>4.1.2.5, then he would be lead astray.
>
>I imagine all this traces back to the discussion in the X.509 arena on
>the dates, but I deleted that mail and I don't know if the anomaly
>existed there.  If it didn't then the fix would be to fully align to
>what was agreed in X.509.  Otherwise, I guess I'd recommend that a
>UTCTime encoded with 50 should be rejected, since it could not have been
>legally generated.
>
>Mort 
>
>

OOPS -- Correction. RE: pkix part 1, draft 4: UTC… Hoffman, Mort