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Preparation and Comparison of Internationalized Strings Representing Usernames and Passwords
draft-ietf-precis-saslprepbis-04

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 7613.
Authors Peter Saint-Andre , Alexey Melnikov
Last updated 2013-08-04
Replaces draft-melnikov-precis-saslprepbis
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draft-ietf-precis-saslprepbis-04
PRECIS                                                    P. Saint-Andre
Internet-Draft                                       Cisco Systems, Inc.
Obsoletes: 4013 (if approved)                                A. Melnikov
Intended status: Standards Track                               Isode Ltd
Expires: February 5, 2014                                 August 4, 2013

  Preparation and Comparison of Internationalized Strings Representing
                        Usernames and Passwords
                    draft-ietf-precis-saslprepbis-04

Abstract

   This document describes how to handle Unicode strings representing
   usernames and passwords.  This profile is intended to be used by
   protocols that exchange or otherwise make use of usernames and
   passwords.  This document obsoletes RFC 4013.

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 February 5, 2014.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2013 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

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   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  What the Username and Password Profiles Provide  . . . . . . .  3
   3.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   4.  Usernames  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     4.1.  Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     4.2.  Preparation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   5.  Passwords  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
     5.1.  Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
     5.2.  Preparation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   6.  Migration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     6.1.  Usernames  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     6.2.  Passwords  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   7.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     7.1.  Password/Passphrase Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     7.2.  Identifier Comparison  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     7.3.  Reuse of PRECIS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     7.4.  Reuse of Unicode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   8.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
     8.1.  Use of IdentifierClass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
     8.2.  Use of FreeformClass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   9.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     9.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
     9.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   Appendix A.  Differences from RFC 4013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   Appendix B.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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1.  Introduction

   Usernames and passwords are widely used for authentication and
   authorization on the Internet, either directly when provided in
   plaintext (as in the SASL PLAIN mechanism [RFC4616] or the HTTP Basic
   scheme [RFC2617]) or indirectly when provided as the input to a
   cryptographic algorithm such as a hash function (as in the SASL SCRAM
   mechanism [RFC5802] or the HTTP Digest scheme [RFC2617]).  To
   increase the likelihood that the input and comparison of usernames
   and passwords will work in ways that make sense for typical users
   throughout the world, this document defines rules for preparing and
   comparing internationalized strings that represent usernames and
   passwords.

   The methods specified in this document define a PRECIS profile as
   explained in the PRECIS framework specification
   [I-D.ietf-precis-framework].  This document assumes that all strings
   are comprised of characters from the Unicode character set [UNICODE],
   with special attention to characters outside the ASCII range [RFC20].
   The methods defined here might be applicable wherever usernames or
   passwords are used.  However, the methods are not intended for use in
   preparing strings that are not usernames (e.g., email addresses and
   LDAP distinguished names), nor in cases where identifiers or secrets
   are not strings (e.g., keys and certificates) or require specialized
   handling.

   This document obsoletes RFC 4013 (the "SASLprep" profile of
   stringprep [RFC3454]) but can be used by technologies other than the
   Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) [RFC4422], such as
   HTTP authentication [RFC2617].

2.  What the Username and Password Profiles Provide

   Profiles of the PRECIS framework enable software to handle Unicode
   characters outside the ASCII range in an automated way, so that such
   characters are treated carefully and consistently in application
   protocols.  In large measure, these profiles are designed to protect
   application developers from the potentially negative consequences of
   supporting the full range of Unicode characters.  For instance, in
   almost all application protocols it would be dangerous to treat the
   Unicode character SUPERSCRIPT ONE (U+0089) as equivalent to DIGIT ONE
   (U+0031), since that would result in false positives during
   comparison, authentication, and authorization (e.g., an attacker
   could easy spoof an account "user1@example.com").

   Whereas a naive use of Unicode would make such attacks trivially
   easy, the Username PRECIS profile defined in this document generally

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   protects applications from inadvertently causing such problems.
   (Similar considerations apply to passwords, although here it is
   desirable to support a wider range of characters so as to maximize
   entropy during authentication.)

3.  Terminology

   Many important terms used in this document are defined in
   [I-D.ietf-precis-framework], [RFC5890], [RFC6365], and [UNICODE].
   The term "non-ASCII space" refers to any Unicode code point having a
   general category of "Zs", with the exception of U+0020 (here called
   "ASCII space").

   As used here, the term "password" is not literally limited to a word;
   i.e., a password could be a passphrase consisting of more than one
   word, perhaps separated by spaces or other such characters.

   Some SASL mechanisms (e.g., CRAM-MD5, DIGEST-MD5, and SCRAM) specify
   that the authentication identity used in the context of such
   mechanisms is a "simple user name" (see Section 2 of [RFC4422] as
   well as [RFC4013]).  Various application technologies also assume
   that the identity of a user or account takes the form of a username
   (e.g., authentication for the HyperText Transfer Protocol [RFC2617]),
   whether or not they use SASL.  Note well that the exact form of a
   username in any particular SASL mechanism or application technology
   is a matter for implementation and deployment, and that a username
   does not necessarily map to any particular application identifier
   (such as the localpart of an email address).

   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
   [RFC2119].

4.  Usernames

4.1.  Definition

   This document specifies that a username is a string of Unicode code
   points [UNICODE], encoded using UTF-8 [RFC3629], and structured
   either as an ordered sequence of "userparts" (where the complete
   username can consist of a single userpart or a space-separated
   sequence of userparts) or as a userpart@domainpart (where the
   domainpart is an IP literal, an IPv4 address, or a fully-qualified
   domain name).

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   The syntax for a username is defined as follows using the Augmented
   Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) [RFC5234].

      username   = userpart [1*(1*SP userpart)]
                   / userpart '@' domainpart
      userpart   = 1*(idpoint)
                   ;
                   ; an "idpoint" is a UTF-8 encoded Unicode code point
                   ; that conforms to the PRECIS "IdentifierClass"
                   ;
      domainpart = IP-literal / IPv4address / ifqdn
                   ;
                   ; the "IPv4address" and "IP-literal" rules are
                   ; defined in RFC 3986, and the first-match-wins
                   ; (a.k.a. "greedy") algorithm described in RFC 3986
                   ; applies
                   ;
                   ; reuse of the IP-literal rule from RFC 3986 implies
                   ; that IPv6 addresses are enclosed in square brackets
                   ; (i.e., beginning with '[' and ending with ']')
                   ;
      ifqdn      = 1*1023(domainpoint)
                   ;
                   ; a "domainpoint" is a UTF-8 encoded Unicode code
                   ; point that conforms to RFC 5890
                   ;

   All code points and blocks not explicitly allowed in the PRECIS
   IdentifierClass are disallowed; this includes private use characters,
   surrogate code points, and the other code points and blocks that were
   defined as "Prohibited Output" in [RFC4013].  In addition, common
   constructions such as "user@example.com" are allowed as usernames
   under this specification, as they were under [RFC4013].

4.2.  Preparation

   A username MUST NOT be zero bytes in length.  This rule is to be
   enforced after any normalization and mapping of code points.

   Each userpart of a username MUST conform to the definition of the
   PRECIS IdentifierClass provided in [I-D.ietf-precis-framework], where
   the width mapping, additional mapping, case mapping, normalization,
   and directionality rules are as follows.

   1.  Fullwidth and halfwidth characters MUST be mapped to their
       decomposition equivalents.

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   2.  So-called additional mappings MAY be applied, such as those
       defined in [I-D.ietf-precis-mappings].
   3.  Uppercase and titlecase characters SHOULD be mapped to their
       lowercase equivalents (not doing so can lead to false positives
       during authentication and authorization, as described in
       [RFC6943]).
   4.  Unicode Normalization Form C (NFC) MUST be applied to all
       characters.

   With regard to directionality, the "Bidi Rule" provided in [RFC5893]
   applies.

   SASL mechanisms that directly re-use this profile MUST specify
   whether and when case mapping is to be applied to authentication
   identifiers.  SASL mechanisms SHOULD delay any case mapping to the
   last possible moment, such as when doing a lookup by username,
   username comparisons, or generating a cryptographic salt from a
   username.  In keeping with RFC4422, SASL mechanisms are not to apply
   this or any other profile to authorization identifiers.

   Application protocols that use SASL (such as IMAP [RFC4616] and XMPP
   [RFC6120]) and that directly re-use this profile MUST specify whether
   case mapping is to be applied to authorization identifiers.  Such
   "SASL application protocols" SHOULD delay any case mapping of
   authorization identifiers to the last possible moment, which happens
   to necessarily be on the server side.  In keeping with RFC4422, SASL
   application protocols are not to apply this or any other profile to
   authentication identifiers.

   Application protoocls that do not use SASL (such as HTTP
   authentication with the Basic and Digest schemes [RFC2617]) MUST
   specify whether and when case mapping is to be applied to
   authentication identifiers and authorization identifiers.  Such
   application protocols SHOULD delay any case mapping to the last
   possible moment, such as when doing a lookup by username, username
   comparisons, or generating a cryptographic salt from a username.

   In protocols that provide usernames as input to a cryptographic
   algorithm such as a hash function, the client will need to perform
   proper preparation of the username before applying the algorithm,
   since the username is not available to the server in plaintext form.

5.  Passwords

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5.1.  Definition

   This document specifies that a password is a string of Unicode code
   points [UNICODE], encoded using UTF-8 [RFC3629], and conformant to
   the PRECIS FreeformClass.

   The syntax for a password is defined as follows using the Augmented
   Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) [RFC5234].

      password       = 1*(freepoint)
                       ;
                       ; a "freepoint" is a UTF-8 encoded
                       ; Unicode code point that conforms to
                       ; the PRECIS "FreeformClass"
                       ;

   All code points and blocks not explicitly allowed in the PRECIS
   FreeformClass are disallowed; this includes private use characters,
   surrogate code points, and the other code points and blocks defined
   as "Prohibited Output" in Section 2.3 of RFC 4013.

5.2.  Preparation

   A password MUST NOT be zero bytes in length.  This rule is to be
   enforced after any normalization and mapping of code points.

   A password MUST conform to the definition of the PRECIS FreeformClass
   provided in [I-D.ietf-precis-framework], where the width mapping,
   additional mapping, case mapping, normalization, and directionality
   rules are as described below.

   1.  Fullwidth and halfwidth characters MUST NOT be mapped to their
       decomposition equivalents.
   2.  Any instances of non-ASCII space MUST be mapped to ASCII space
       (U+0020).
   3.  So-called additional mappings MAY be applied, such as those
       defined in [I-D.ietf-precis-mappings].
   4.  Uppercase and titlecase characters MUST NOT be mapped to their
       lowercase equivalents.
   5.  Unicode Normalization Form C (NFC) MUST be applied to all
       characters.

   With regard to directionality, the "Bidi Rule" (defined in [RFC5893])
   and similar rules are unnecessary and inapplicable to passwords,
   since they can reduce the range of characters that are allowed in a
   string and therefore reduce the amount of entropy that is possible in
   a password.  Furthermore, such rules are intended to minimize the
   possibility that the same string will be displayed differently on a

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   system set for right-to-left display and a system set for left-to-
   right display; however, passwords are typically not displayed at all
   and are rarely meant to be interoperable across different systems in
   the way that non-secret strings like domain names and usernames are.

   In protocols that provide passwords as input to a cryptographic
   algorithm such as a hash function, the client will need to perform
   proper preparation of the password before applying the algorithm,
   since the password is not available to the server in plaintext form.

6.  Migration

   The rules defined in this specification differ slightly from those
   defined by the SASLprep specification [RFC4013].  The following
   sections describe these differences, along with their implications
   for migration, in more detail.

6.1.  Usernames

   Deployments that currently use SASLprep for handling usernames might
   need to scrub existing data when migrating to use of the rules
   defined in this specification.  In particular:

   o  SASLprep specified the use of Unicode Normalization Form KC
      (NFKC), whereas this usage of the PRECIS IdentifierClass employs
      Unicode Normalization Form C (NFC).  In practice this change is
      unlikely to cause significant problems, because NFKC provides
      methods for mapping Unicode code points with compatibility
      equivalents to those equivalents, whereas the PRECIS
      IdentifierClass entirely disallows Unicode code points with
      compatibility equivalents (i.e., during comparison NFKC is more
      "aggressive" about finding matches than is NFC).  A few examples
      might suffice to indicate the nature of the problem: (1) U+017F
      LATIN SMALL LETTER LONG S is compatibility equivalent to U+0073
      LATIN SMALL LETTER S (2) U+2163 ROMAN NUMERAL FOUR is
      compatibility equivalent to U+0049 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I and
      U+0056 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V (3) U+FB01 LATIN SMALL LIGATURE FI
      is compatibility equivalent to U+0066 LATIN SMALL LETTER F and
      U+0069 LATIN SMALL LETTER I. Under SASLprep, the use of NFKC also
      handled the mapping of fullwidth and halfwidth code points to
      their decomposition equivalents (see [I-D.ietf-precis-mappings]).
      Although it is expected that code points with compatibility
      equivalents are rare in existing usernames, for migration purposes
      deployments might want to search their database of usernames for
      Unicode code points with compatibility equivalents and map those
      code points to their compatibility equivalents.

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   o  SASLprep mapped non-ASCII spaces to ASCII space (U+0020), whereas
      the PRECIS IdentifierClass entirely disallows non-ASCII spaces.
      The non-ASCII space characters are U+00A0 NO-BREAK SPACE, U+1680
      OGHAM SPACE MARK, U+180E MONGOLIAN VOWEL SEPARATOR, U+2000 EN QUAD
      through U+200A HAIR SPACE, U+202F NARROW NO-BREAK SPACE, U+205F
      MEDIUM MATHEMATICAL SPACE, and U+3000 IDEOGRAPHIC SPACE.  For
      migration purposes, deployments might want to convert non-ASCII
      space characters to ASCII space in usernames.

   o  SASLprep mapped the "characters commonly mapped to nothing" from
      Appendix B.1 of [RFC3454]) to nothing, whereas the PRECIS
      IdentifierClass entirely disallows most of these characters, which
      correspond to the code points from the "M" category defined under
      Section 6.13 of [I-D.ietf-precis-framework] (with the exception of
      U+1806 MONGOLIAN TODO SOFT HYPHEN, which was "commonly mapped to
      nothing" in Unicode 3.2 but at the time of this writing does not
      have a derived property of Default_Ignorable_Code_Point in Unicode
      6.2).  For migration purposes, deployments might want to remove
      code points contained in the PRECIS "M" category from usernames.

   o  SASLprep allowed uppercase and titlecase characters, whereas this
      usage of the PRECIS IdentifierClass maps uppercase and titlecase
      characters to their lowercase equivalents.  For migration
      purposes, deployments can either convert uppercase and titlecase
      characters to their lowercase equivalents in usernames (thus
      losing the case information) or preserve uppercase and titlecase
      characters and ignore the case difference when comparing
      usernames.

6.2.  Passwords

   Depending on local service policy, migration from RFC 4013 to this
   specification might not involve any scrubbing of data (since
   passwords might not be stored in the clear anyway); however, service
   providers need to be aware of possible issues that might arise during
   migration.  In particular:

   o  SASLprep specified the use of Unicode Normalization Form KC
      (NFKC), whereas this usage of the PRECIS FreeformClass employs
      Unicode Normalization Form C (NFC).  Because NFKC is more
      aggressive about finding matches than NFC, in practice this change
      is unlikely to cause significant problems and indeed has the
      security benefit of probably resulting in fewer false positives
      when comparing passwords.  A few examples might suffice to
      indicate the nature of the problem: (1) U+017F LATIN SMALL LETTER
      LONG S is compatibility equivalent to U+0073 LATIN SMALL LETTER S
      (2) U+2163 ROMAN NUMERAL FOUR is compatibility equivalent to
      U+0049 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I and U+0056 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V

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      (3) U+FB01 LATIN SMALL LIGATURE FI is compatibility equivalent to
      U+0066 LATIN SMALL LETTER F and U+0069 LATIN SMALL LETTER I. Under
      SASLprep, the use of NFKC also handled the mapping of fullwidth
      and halfwidth code points to their decomposition equivalents (see
      [I-D.ietf-precis-mappings]).  Although it is expected that code
      points with compatibility equivalents are rare in existing
      passwords, some passwords that matched when SASLprep was used
      might no longer work when the rules in this specification are
      applied.

   o  SASLprep mapped the "characters commonly mapped to nothing" from
      Appendix B.1 of [RFC3454]) to nothing, whereas the PRECIS
      FreeformClass entirely disallows such characters, which correspond
      to the code points from the "M" category defined under Section
      6.13 of [I-D.ietf-precis-framework] (with the exception of U+1806
      MONGOLIAN TODO SOFT HYPHEN, which was commonly mapped to nothing
      in Unicode 3.2 but at the time of this writing is allowed by
      Unicode 6.2).  In practice, this change will probably have no
      effect on comparison, but user-oriented software might reject such
      code points instead of ignoring them during password preparation.

7.  Security Considerations

7.1.  Password/Passphrase Strength

   The ability to include a wide range of characters in passwords and
   passphrases can increase the potential for creating a strong password
   with high entropy.  However, in practice, the ability to include such
   characters ought to be weighed against the possible need to reproduce
   them on various devices using various input methods.

7.2.  Identifier Comparison

   The process of comparing identifiers (such as SASL simple user names,
   authentication identifiers, and authorization identifiers) can lead
   to either false negatives or false positives, both of which have
   security implications.  A more detailed discussion can be found in
   [RFC6943].

7.3.  Reuse of PRECIS

   The security considerations described in [I-D.ietf-precis-framework]
   apply to the "IdentifierClass" and "FreeformClass" base string
   classes used in this document for usernames and passwords,
   respectively.

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7.4.  Reuse of Unicode

   The security considerations described in [UTR39] apply to the use of
   Unicode characters in usernames and passwords.

8.  IANA Considerations

   [Note to RFC Editor: please change XXXX to the number issued for this
   specification.]

8.1.  Use of IdentifierClass

   The IANA shall add an entry to the PRECIS Usage Registry for reuse of
   the PRECIS IdentifierClass, as follows:

   Applicability:  Usernames in security and application protocols.
   Base Class:  IdentifierClass.
   Subclass:  No.
   Replaces:  The SASLprep profile of Stringprep.
   Width Mapping:  Map fullwidth and halfwidth characters to their
      decomposition equivalents.
   Additional Mappings:  None.
   Case Mapping:  Not recommended, but to be defined by application
      protocols that use this profile.
   Normalization:  NFC.
   Directionality:  The "Bidi Rule" defined in RFC 5893 applies.
   Specification:  RFC XXXX.

8.2.  Use of FreeformClass

   The IANA shall add an entry to the PRECIS Usage Registry for reuse of
   the PRECIS FreeformClass, as follows:

   Applicability:  Passwords in security and application protocols.
   Base Class:  FreeformClass
   Subclass:  No.
   Replaces:  The SASLprep profile of Stringprep.
   Width Mapping:  None.
   Additional Mappings:  Map non-ASCII space characters to ASCII space.
   Case Mapping:  None.
   Normalization:  NFC.
   Directionality:  None.
   Specification:  RFC XXXX.

9.  References

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9.1.  Normative References

   [I-D.ietf-precis-framework]
              Saint-Andre, P. and M. Blanchet, "Precis Framework:
              Handling Internationalized Strings in Protocols",
              draft-ietf-precis-framework-09 (work in progress),
              July 2013.

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

   [RFC3629]  Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
              10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003.

   [RFC5234]  Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
              Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234, January 2008.

   [UNICODE]  The Unicode Consortium, "The Unicode Standard, Version
              6.1", 2012,
              <http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.1.0/>.

9.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-precis-mappings]
              YONEYA, Y. and T. NEMOTO, "Mapping characters for PRECIS
              classes", draft-ietf-precis-mappings-02 (work in
              progress), May 2013.

   [RFC20]    Cerf, V., "ASCII format for network interchange", RFC 20,
              October 1969.

   [RFC2617]  Franks, J., Hallam-Baker, P., Hostetler, J., Lawrence, S.,
              Leach, P., Luotonen, A., and L. Stewart, "HTTP
              Authentication: Basic and Digest Access Authentication",
              RFC 2617, June 1999.

   [RFC3454]  Hoffman, P. and M. Blanchet, "Preparation of
              Internationalized Strings ("stringprep")", RFC 3454,
              December 2002.

   [RFC4013]  Zeilenga, K., "SASLprep: Stringprep Profile for User Names
              and Passwords", RFC 4013, February 2005.

   [RFC4422]  Melnikov, A., Ed. and K. Zeilenga, Ed., "Simple
              Authentication and Security Layer (SASL)", RFC 4422,
              June 2006.

   [RFC4616]  Zeilenga, K., "The PLAIN Simple Authentication and

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              Security Layer (SASL) Mechanism", RFC 4616, August 2006.

   [RFC5802]  Newman, C., Menon-Sen, A., Melnikov, A., and N. Williams,
              "Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism
              (SCRAM) SASL and GSS-API Mechanisms", RFC 5802, July 2010.

   [RFC5890]  Klensin, J., "Internationalized Domain Names for
              Applications (IDNA): Definitions and Document Framework",
              RFC 5890, August 2010.

   [RFC5891]  Klensin, J., "Internationalized Domain Names in
              Applications (IDNA): Protocol", RFC 5891, August 2010.

   [RFC5893]  Alvestrand, H. and C. Karp, "Right-to-Left Scripts for
              Internationalized Domain Names for Applications (IDNA)",
              RFC 5893, August 2010.

   [RFC5894]  Klensin, J., "Internationalized Domain Names for
              Applications (IDNA): Background, Explanation, and
              Rationale", RFC 5894, August 2010.

   [RFC6120]  Saint-Andre, P., "Extensible Messaging and Presence
              Protocol (XMPP): Core", RFC 6120, March 2011.

   [RFC6365]  Hoffman, P. and J. Klensin, "Terminology Used in
              Internationalization in the IETF", BCP 166, RFC 6365,
              September 2011.

   [RFC6943]  Thaler, D., "Issues in Identifier Comparison for Security
              Purposes", RFC 6943, May 2013.

   [UTR39]    The Unicode Consortium, "Unicode Technical Report #39:
              Unicode Security Mechanisms", August 2010,
              <http://unicode.org/reports/tr39/>.

Appendix A.  Differences from RFC 4013

   This document builds upon the PRECIS framework defined in
   [I-D.ietf-precis-framework], which differs fundamentally from the
   stringprep technology [RFC3454] used in SASLprep [RFC4013].  The
   primary difference is that stringprep profiles allowed all characters
   except those which were explicitly disallowed, whereas PRECIS
   profiles disallow all characters except those which are explicitly
   allowed (this "inclusion model" was originally used for
   internationalized domain names in [RFC5891]; see [RFC5894] for
   further discussion).  It is important to keep this distinction in
   mind when comparing the technology defined in this document to

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   SASLprep [RFC4013].

   The following substantive modifications were made from RFC 4013.

   o  A single SASLprep algorithm was replaced by two separate
      algorithms: one for usernames and another for passwords.
   o  The new preparation algorithms use PRECIS instead of a stringprep
      profile.  The new algorithms work independenctly of Unicode
      versions.
   o  As recommended in the PRECIS framwork, changed the Unicode
      normalization form to NFC (from NFKC).
   o  Some Unicode code points that were mapped to nothing in RFC 4013
      are simply disallowed by PRECIS.

Appendix B.  Acknowledgements

   The following individuals provided helpful feedback on this document:
   Marc Blanchet, Alan DeKok, Joe Hildebrand, Jeffrey Hutzelman, Simon
   Josefsson, Jonathan Lennox, Matt Miller, Chris Newman, Yutaka OIWA,
   Pete Resnick, Andrew Sullivan, and Nico Williams (Nico in particular
   provided text that was used in Section 2.2).  Thanks also to Yoshiro
   YONEYA and Takahiro NEMOTO for implementation feedback.

   This document borrows some text from [RFC4013] and [RFC6120].

Authors' Addresses

   Peter Saint-Andre
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   1899 Wynkoop Street, Suite 600
   Denver, CO  80202
   USA

   Phone: +1-303-308-3282
   Email: psaintan@cisco.com

   Alexey Melnikov
   Isode Ltd
   5 Castle Business Village
   36 Station Road
   Hampton, Middlesex  TW12 2BX
   UK

   Email: Alexey.Melnikov@isode.com

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