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HTTP Authentication Considerations
draft-hallambaker-httpauth-00

The information below is for an old version of the document.
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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Expired".
Author Phillip Hallam-Baker
Last updated 2012-10-02
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draft-hallambaker-httpauth-00
Internet Engineering Task Force                          P. Hallam-Baker
Internet-Draft                                         Comodo Group Inc.
Intended status: Standards Track                         October 2, 2012
Expires: April 5, 2013

                   HTTP Authentication Considerations
                     draft-hallambaker-httpauth-00

Abstract

   This draft is input to the HTTP Working Group discussion of HTTP
   authentication schemes.

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 http://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 April 5, 2013.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2012 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
   (http://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 Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

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Table of Contents

   1.  What is Wrong in Web Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     1.1.  Password Promiscuity  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
       1.1.1.  Password Recovery Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
       1.1.2.  Password Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     1.2.  Provider Lock In  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     1.3.  Strong Credentials Compromised by Weak Binding  . . . . . . 3
       1.3.1.  Confirmation vs Authentication  . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   2.  User Authentication is Three Separate Problems  . . . . . . . . 3
     2.1.  Registration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     2.2.  Credential Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     2.3.  Message Authentication  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   3.  Deployment Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     3.1.  Password Managers as Transition Path  . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     3.2.  Non-Transferable Credentials  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     4.1.  Impersonation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     4.2.  Credential Disclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     4.3.  Credential Oracle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     4.4.  Randomness of Secret Key  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
   6.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

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1.  What is Wrong in Web Authentication

1.1.  Password Promiscuity

1.1.1.  Password Recovery Schemes

1.1.2.  Password Recovery

1.2.  Provider Lock In

1.3.  Strong Credentials Compromised by Weak Binding

1.3.1.  Confirmation vs Authentication

2.  User Authentication is Three Separate Problems

2.1.  Registration

2.2.  Credential Presentation

2.3.  Message Authentication

3.  Deployment Approach

3.1.  Password Managers as Transition Path

3.2.  Non-Transferable Credentials

4.  Security Considerations

4.1.  Impersonation

4.2.  Credential Disclosure

4.3.  Credential Oracle

4.4.  Randomness of Secret Key

5.  IANA Considerations

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6.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

Author's Address

   Phillip Hallam-Baker
   Comodo Group Inc.

   Email: philliph@comodo.com

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