RE: RFC 2634 Questions

[suchet singh khalsa <[e-mail]>]

Jim,
   Do you not think the following is more appropriate
:
1. The RFC 822 FROM header should always remain
unchanged. It should always show the originator of the
mail.
2. The RFC 822 SENDER should be replaced to contain
the email address of the list of which the current
recipient is the member. In the case proposed by Russ,
this header will contain the email address of the
nested list.

Also, you said earlier "The match of names only
applies to the innermost layer on a triple wrapped
message."
Although this is a very practical and common sensical
conclusion, and I agree with it, I do not find it
mentioned anywhere in the RFC's.
So, are there/can there be Mail User Agents out there
which may try to match RFC822 From and Sender headers
with the outer signature ?

Can you also please answer this question :
An application/pkcs7-mime bodypart is enclosed in
another multipart, so that it is not the level 1
bodypart. What should the MLA do in this case ?
Possibilities are :
1.  Create the outermost signature (according to
RFC2634 page 34) for the whole mail.
2.  Create the outermost signature (according to
RFC2634 page 34) only for the application/pkcs7-mime
content. The unsigned content is left unsigned.

Thanks,
Suchet
 
--- Jim Schaad <[e-mail]> wrote:
> Russ,
> 
> While the FROM adddress indicates MLA2, the Sender
> address would still
> indicate the original sender.  That is name that
> would then be matched.
> 
> jim
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Russ Housley [mailto:[e-mail]] 
> > Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 10:22 AM
> > To: [e-mail]; 'suchet singh khalsa'
> > Cc: [e-mail]
> > Subject: RE: RFC 2634 Questions
> > 
> > 
> > Jim:
> > 
> > What about mail lists that contain other MLAs? 
> Consider:
> > 
> >     Originator --> MLA1 --> MLA2 --> Recipient
> > 
> > When the message gets to the recipient, the outer
> signature 
> > belongs to the 
> > MLA2, and the inner signature belongs to the
> original 
> > Originator.  The FROM 
> > address should indicate MLA2.
> > 
> > Russ
> > 
> > At 11:17 AM 9/1/2003 -0700, Jim Schaad wrote:
> > 
> > >Suchet,
> > >
> > >The match of names only applies to the innermost
> layer on a triple 
> > >wrapped message.
> > >
> > >I am not sure what you mean by a mail merge
> functionality.  
> > It could be 
> > >one of two things:
> > >1) merging a mail message with a database - in
> this case the correct 
> > >person to sign the message is the MLA since that
> is the entity that 
> > >actually sees the final message.
> > >2) merging of multiple messages together in a
> summary.  This 
> > could be 
> > >done in a method that perserves the original
> signatures, but I would 
> > >expect that they would actually be stripped.  The
> types of 
> > MLAs that we 
> > >are working with would not provide this type of
> feature.
> > >
> > >jim
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: [e-mail] 
> > > > [mailto:[e-mail]] On
> Behalf Of suchet singh 
> > > > khalsa
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 9:55 AM
> > > > To: [e-mail]
> > > > Cc: [e-mail]
> > > > Subject: RFC 2634 Questions
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Hi Paul,
> > > >   Can you please answer the following
> questions w.r.t
> > > > MLA processing of S/MIME messages :
> > > >
> > > >
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > > >
> > > > According to RFC 2632, while verifying
> signatures it
> > > > should confirmed that the sender (RFC822 From
> or
> > > > Sender headers) of the message is the same as
> the
> > > > signed entity. Does this apply to ONLY the
> innermost 
> > signature in a 
> > > > triple wrapped message ? If no, this will
> impact MLA 
> > processing as 
> > > > documented in RFC 2634 in the following manner
> :
> > > >
> > > > 1.  The MLA creates an outermost SignedData
> layer
> > > > using the private key of the list. The final
> recipient
> > > > will not be able to verify this signature
> since the
> > > > From header is not the list email address. Is
> the
> > > > solution here to set the list email address as
> the RFC
> > > > 822 Sender header ?
> > > >
> > > > 2.  Most MLA's support mail merge
> functionality. Is
> > > > the intent of RFC 2634 to mandate that S/MIME
> and mail 
> > merge do not 
> > > > go hand in hand ? The reason for this question
> is : When MLA does 
> > > > mail merge, the innermost signature in a
> triple wrapped 
> > message will 
> > > > become invalid -  so the MLA will have to sign
> with the
> > > > private key of the list. So, the end recipient
> will
> > > > not be able to verify this signature since the
> From
> > > > header of the mail is not the list email
> address.
> > > >
> > > >
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > > >
> > > > RFC 2634 does not talk about this case :
> > > > An application/pkcs7-mime bodypart is enclosed
> in
> > > > another multipart, so that it is not the level
> 1
> > > > bodypart. What should the MLA do in this case
> ? 
> > Possibilities are :
> > > > 1.  Create the outermost signature (according
> to
> > > > RFC2634 page 34) for the whole mail.
> > > >
> > > > 2.  Create the outermost signature (according
> to
> > > > RFC2634 page 34) only for the
> application/pkcs7-mime content.
> > > >
> > > >
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > Suchet
> > > >
> > > > __________________________________
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> > > >
> > 
> 


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