Re: [secdir] Secdir review of draft-ietf-karp-crypto-key-table-08.txt

[Sam Hartman <[e-mail]>]

>>>>> "Russ" == Russ Housley <[e-mail]> writes:

    Russ> Klaas: The property you describe depends on the inputs to the
    Russ> KDF, not just the definition of the function.

    Russ> Notice that an IANA registry is defined, and each entry should
    Russ> point to a definition of the function.

So, there are a couple of things.
There are functions that take a random bit string and convert them into
a key.  For example if you have 56 random bits and want a 64-bit
correct-parity DES key.

I don't have  a good name for such a function but it's not a KDF.

There are functions that take the output of key agreement (DH, ECDH,
etc) and convernt into a good symmetric key.  I've heard those described
as key expansion functions or KDFs.

There are functions that take one symmetric key and turn it into another
symmetric key so that you can construct a key hierarchy.  I've also seen
these described as KDFs.  It's probable that any function that's really
good at taking key agreement output as input and producing a strong key
will also be good enough  for establishing a key hierarchy.

I'm not aware of definitive definitions in this space, and I'm fairly
sure the text we added in 08 is what we mean for this document.