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COSE Header parameter for RFC 3161 Time-Stamp Tokens
draft-ietf-cose-tsa-tst-header-parameter-02

Document Type Active Internet-Draft (cose WG)
Authors Henk Birkholz , Thomas Fossati , Maik Riechert
Last updated 2024-02-24
Replaces draft-birkholz-cose-tsa-tst-header-parameter
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draft-ietf-cose-tsa-tst-header-parameter-02
COSE                                                         H. Birkholz
Internet-Draft                                            Fraunhofer SIT
Intended status: Standards Track                              T. Fossati
Expires: 27 August 2024                                           Linaro
                                                             M. Riechert
                                                               Microsoft
                                                        24 February 2024

          COSE Header parameter for RFC 3161 Time-Stamp Tokens
              draft-ietf-cose-tsa-tst-header-parameter-02

Abstract

   RFC 3161 provides a method for timestamping a message digest to prove
   that the message was created before a given time.  This document
   defines a CBOR Signing And Encrypted (COSE) header parameter that can
   be used to combine COSE message structures used for signing (i.e.,
   COSE_Sign and COSE_Sign1) with existing RFC 3161-based timestamping
   infrastructure.

Discussion Venues

   This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.

   Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at
   https://github.com/ietf-scitt/draft-birkholz-cose-tsa-tst-header-
   parameter.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 27 August 2024.

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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2024 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
   and restrictions with respect to this document.  Code Components
   extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as
   described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are
   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Modes of use  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  Timestamp then COSE (TTC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.2.  COSE then Timestamp (CTT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  RFC 3161 Time-Stamp Tokens COSE Header Parameters . . . . . .   4
     3.1.  3161-ttc  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     3.2.  3161-ctt  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   4.  Timestamp Processing  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   6.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7

1.  Introduction

   RFC 3161 [RFC3161] provides a method to timestamp a message digest to
   prove that it was created before a given time.

   This document defines a new COSE [STD96] header parameter that
   carries the TimestampToken (TST) output of RFC 3161, thus allowing
   existing and widely deployed trust infrastructure to be used with
   COSE structures used for signing (COSE_Sign and COSE_Sign1).

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1.1.  Requirements Notation

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
   BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

2.  Modes of use

   There are two different modes of composing COSE protection and
   timestamping.

2.1.  Timestamp then COSE (TTC)

   Figure 1 shows the case where a datum is first digested and submitted
   to a TSA to be timestamped.

   A signed COSE message is then built as follows:

   *  The obtained timestamp token is added to the protected headers,

   *  The original datum becomes the payload of the signed COSE message.

 .---------.              .---------------.     .----------------------.
 | payload +------------->| Sig_structure +---->| COSE_Sign/COSE_Sign1 |
 '----+----'              '---------------'     '----------------------'
      |                          ^
      |     .---.                |
      |    |     |     .-----.   |
      '--->| TSA +---->| TST +---'
           |     |     '-----'
            '---'

                  Figure 1: Timestamp, then COSE (TTC)

   The message imprint sent to the TSA (Section 2.4 of [RFC3161]) MUST
   be the hash of the payload field of the COSE signed object.

2.2.  COSE then Timestamp (CTT)

   Figure 2 shows the case where the signature(s) field of the signed
   COSE object is digested and submitted to a TSA to be timestamped.
   The obtained timestamp token is then added back as an unprotected
   header into the same COSE object.

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                 .----------------------.         .-----.
                 | COSE_Sign/COSE_Sign1 |<--------+ TST |
                 '----+-----------------'         '-----'
                      |                              ^
                      v                              |
                 .----------------------.            |
                 | signatures/signature |            |
                 '----+-----------------'            |
                      |                     .---.    |
                      |                    |     |   |
                      '------------------->| TSA +---'
                                           |     |
                                            '---'

                    Figure 2: COSE, then Timestamp (CTT)

   In this context, timestamp tokens are similar to a countersignature
   [RFC9338] made by the TSA.

3.  RFC 3161 Time-Stamp Tokens COSE Header Parameters

   The two modes described in Section 2.1 and Section 2.2 use different
   inputs into the timestamping machinery, and consequently create
   different kinds of binding between COSE and TST.  To clearly separate
   their semantics two different COSE header parameters are defined as
   described in the following subsections.

3.1.  3161-ttc

   The 3161-ttc COSE _protected_ header parameter MUST be used for the
   mode described in Section 2.1.

   The 3161-ttc protected header is defined as follows:

   *  Name: 3161-ttc

   *  Label: TBD

   *  Value Type: bstr

   *  Value Registry: [IANA.cose]

   *  Description: RFC 3161 timestamp token

   *  Reference: Section 3.1 of RFCthis

   The content of the byte string are the bytes of the DER-encoded RFC
   3161 TimeStampToken structure.

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3.2.  3161-ctt

   The 3161-ctt COSE _unprotected_ header parameter MUST be used for the
   mode described in Section 2.2.

   The message imprint sent in the request to the TSA MUST be either:

   *  the hash of the signature field of the COSE_Sign1 message.

   *  the hash of the signatures field of the COSE_Sign message.

   In either case, to minimize dependencies, the hash algorithm SHOULD
   be the same as the algorithm used for signing the COSE message.  This
   may not be possible if the timestamp token has been obtained outside
   the processing context in which the COSE object is assembled.

   The 3161-ctt unprotected header is defined as follows:

   *  Name: 3161-ctt

   *  Label: TBD

   *  Value Type: bstr

   *  Value Registry: [IANA.cose]

   *  Description: RFC 3161 timestamp token

   *  Reference: Section 3.2 of RFCthis

4.  Timestamp Processing

   RFC 3161 timestamp tokens use CMS as signature envelope format.
   [STD70] provides the details about signature verification, and
   [RFC3161] provides the details specific to timestamp token
   validation.  The payload of the signed timestamp token is the TSTInfo
   structure defined in [RFC3161], which contains the message imprint
   that was sent to the TSA.  The hash algorithm is contained in the
   message imprint structure, together with the hash itself.

   As part of the signature verification, the receiver MUST make sure
   that the message imprint in the embedded timestamp token matches
   either the payload or the signature fields, depending on the mode of
   use.

   Appendix B of [RFC3161] provides an example that illustrates how
   timestamp tokens can be used to verify signatures of a timestamped
   message when utilizing X.509 certificates.

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5.  Security Considerations

   The security considerations made in [RFC3161] as well as those of
   [RFC9338] apply.

6.  IANA Considerations

   IANA is requested to add the two COSE header parameters described in
   Section 3 to the "COSE Header Parameters" subregistry of the
   [IANA.cose] registry.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [IANA.cose]
              IANA, "CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE)",
              <http://www.iana.org/assignments/cose>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119>.

   [RFC3161]  Adams, C., Cain, P., Pinkas, D., and R. Zuccherato,
              "Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Time-Stamp
              Protocol (TSP)", RFC 3161, DOI 10.17487/RFC3161, August
              2001, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3161>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8174>.

   [STD70]    Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", STD 70,
              RFC 5652, DOI 10.17487/RFC5652, September 2009,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5652>.

   [STD96]    Schaad, J., "CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE):
              Structures and Process", STD 96, RFC 9052,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9052, August 2022,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9052>.

7.2.  Informative References

   [RFC9338]  Schaad, J., "CBOR Object Signing and Encryption (COSE):
              Countersignatures", STD 96, RFC 9338,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC9338, December 2022,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9338>.

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Authors' Addresses

   Henk Birkholz
   Fraunhofer SIT
   Rheinstrasse 75
   64295 Darmstadt
   Germany
   Email: henk.birkholz@sit.fraunhofer.de

   Thomas Fossati
   Linaro
   Email: thomas.fossati@linaro.org

   Maik Riechert
   Microsoft
   United Kingdom
   Email: Maik.Riechert@microsoft.com

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