Re: [Trans] RFC6962 BIS Log file encodings.

On 31/03/14 10:32, Rob Stradling wrote:
> Hi Rick.  Dave's analysis is correct.  6962, interpreted in the light of
> X.509/5280, is unambiguous.  That said, I think we could make life
> easier for implementers by improving the text in RFC6962-bis.
>
> We should certainly add at least one example of an encoded SCTList
> extension.

http://trac.tools.ietf.org/wg/trans/trac/ticket/14

> On 28/03/14 18:00, Rick Andrews wrote:
>> Thanks, Dave, I’ll forward this on. But are you saying that the
>> descriptions in 6962 are precise enough? Would you have any objections
>> to defining structures in 6962 using the same syntax as 5280?
>>
>> -Rick
>>
>> *From:*David A. Cooper [mailto:david.cooper@nist.gov]
>> *Sent:* Friday, March 28, 2014 10:55 AM
>> *To:* Rick Andrews
>> *Cc:* trans@ietf.org
>> *Subject:* Re: [Trans] RFC6962 BIS Log file encodings.
>>
>> Rick,
>>
>> I haven't read RFC 6962 in detail, but the ASN.1 experts you spoke with
>> may not be familiar with the definition of Extension in certificates.
>> X.509 defines it as:
>>
>> *   Extension ::= SEQUENCE {
>>              extnId EXTENSION.&id ({ExtensionSet}),
>>              critical BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
>>              extnValue OCTET STRING
>>     (CONTAINING EXTENSION.&ExtnType({ExtensionSet}{@extnId})
>>                                                      ENCODED BY der)}
>>
>>     der OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= {joint-iso-itu-t asn1(1) ber-derived(2)
>> distinguished-encoding(1)}
>> *
>> In RFC 5280 it is:
>> *   Extension  ::=  SEQUENCE  {
>>          extnID      OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
>>          critical    BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
>>          extnValue   OCTET STRING
>>                      -- contains the DER encoding of an ASN.1 value
>>                      -- corresponding to the extension type identified
>>                      -- by extnID
>>          }*
>>
>> It is my understanding that the two definitions are based on different
>> versions of ASN.1, but are considered to be equivalent. The important
>> point is that both indicate that the extension value must contain the
>> DER encoding of some ASN.1 value. So, the only way to interpret the RFC
>> 6962 text in a manner that is consistent with X.509 is that the
>> extnValue contains the tag for OCTET STRING followed by a length then a
>> second OCTET STRING tag and a second length and then the (non-ASN.1)
>> encoded SignedCertificateTimestampList structure. Given that the
>> SignedCertificateTimestampList structure is not ASN.1, and so it cannot
>> be DER encoded, this seems the only reasonable way to include it in a
>> certificate.
>>
>> This is similar to the subjectKeyIdentifier extension. The
>> subjectKeyIdentifier just contains a string of bits, such as the SHA-1
>> hash of the subject public key. It is defined in RFC 5280 as follows:
>>
>> *     KeyIdentifier ::= OCTET STRING
>>
>>       -- subject key identifier OID and syntax
>>
>>       id-ce-subjectKeyIdentifier OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::=  { id-ce 14 }
>>
>>       SubjectKeyIdentifier ::= KeyIdentifier*
>>
>> and here is an example of an encoded subjectKeyIdentifier extension:
>> *SEQUENCE {**
>>           SEQUENCE {
>>             OBJECT IDENTIFIER subjectKeyIdentifier (2 5 29 14)
>>             OCTET STRING, encapsulates {
>>               OCTET STRING
>>                 08 68 AF 85 33 C8 39 4A 7A F8 82 93 8E 70 6A 4A
>>                 20 84 2C 32
>>               }
>>             }*
>>
>> RFC 5912 shows the extensions in the newer ASN.1 syntax.
>>
>> Dave
>>
>> On 03/28/2014 01:31 PM, Rick Andrews wrote:
>>
>>     In addition, our ASN.1 experts have asked for the syntax to be
>>     described in “ASN.1-like” syntax, as is used in RFCs 3280 and 5280.
>>
>>     For example, 3280/5280 defines an Extension like this:
>>
>>     Extension  ::=  SEQUENCE  {
>>
>>           extnID      OBJECT IDENTIFIER,
>>
>>           critical    BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE,
>>
>>           extnValue   OCTET STRING  }
>>
>>     so the extnValue is defined as an OCTET STRING, yet 6962 says
>>     “…encoding the SignedCertificateTimestampList structure as an ASN.1
>>     OCTET STRING and inserting the resulting data in the TBSCertificate
>>     as an X.509v3 certificate extension…”. The ASN.1 folks say it’s not
>>     clear if that means that the Extension contains the OCTET STRING
>>     data type (for extnValue) and length followed by another OCTET
>>     STRING data type identifier and length of the SCT. Or is the second
>>     OCTET STRING identifier redundant?
>>
>>     Those updating existing cert generation code will probably be
>>     dealing with ASN.1 compilers, so a precise definition of structures
>>     in ASN.1-like syntax will go a long way. In addition, defining OIDs
>>     as arc plus extension (like this: id-kp-serverAuth  OBJECT
>>     IDENTIFIER ::= { id-kp 1 }) would help.
>>
>>     -Rick
>>
>>     *From:*Trans [mailto:trans-bounces@ietf.org] *On Behalf Of *Eran
>> Messeri
>>     *Sent:* Friday, March 14, 2014 3:01 AM
>>     *To:* Phillip Hallam-Baker
>>     *Cc:* Rob Stradling; trans@ietf.org <mailto:trans@ietf.org>
>>     *Subject:* Re: [Trans] RFC6962 BIS Log file encodings.
>>
>>     I strongly support clarifying the description of the file format.
>>     When I started implementing aspects of RFC6962 (with no background
>>     in TLS encoding or ASN.1) it was very unclear.
>>
>>      From other posts
>>
>> <https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21topic/certificate-transparency/T9CDwnsercQ>
>>
>>     on the list it seems this was unclear to others as well.
>>
>>     On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 10:50 PM, Phillip Hallam-Baker
>>     <hallam@gmail.com <mailto:hallam@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 4:20 PM, Rob Stradling
>>     <rob.stradling@comodo.com <mailto:rob.stradling@comodo.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     (Inspired by RFC5280 Appendix C)
>>
>>     Would it help to include one or more example SCTs in the text?
>>
>>     I think we definitely need that for Proposed. But right now I am
>>     trying to see how complete the description is.
>>
>>     --
>>     Website: http://hallambaker.com/
>>
>>
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>

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Rob Stradling
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