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The Entity Category SAML Entity Metadata Attribute Types
draft-young-entity-category-00

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This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 8409.
Authors Ian Young , Leif Johansson , Scott Cantor
Last updated 2014-05-14
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draft-young-entity-category-00
Network Working Group                                      I. Young, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                               Independent
Intended status: Informational                              L. Johansson
Expires: November 15, 2014                                           NDN
                                                               S. Cantor
                                                               Internet2
                                                            May 14, 2014

        The Entity Category SAML Entity Metadata Attribute Types
                     draft-young-entity-category-00

Abstract

   This document describes a SAML entity attribute which can be used to
   assign category membership semantics to an entity, and a second
   attribute for use in claiming interoperation or support for entities
   in such categories.

   This document is a product of the Research and Education Federations
   (REFEDS) Working Group process.

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 November 15, 2014.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2014 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

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   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction and Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Notation and Conventions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Entity Category Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  Syntax  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.2.  Semantics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.3.  Entity Category Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   3.  Entity Category Support Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     3.1.  Syntax  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     3.2.  Semantics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     3.3.  Entity Category Support Example . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   6.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     6.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     6.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Appendix A.  Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   Appendix B.  Change Log (to be removed by RFC Editor before
                publication) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     B.1.  Since draft-macedir-entity-category . . . . . . . . . . .   9

1.  Introduction and Motivation

   This document describes a SAML attribute, referred to here as the
   "entity category attribute", values of which represent entity types
   or categories.  When used with the SAML V2.0 Metadata Extension for
   Entity Attributes [SAML2MetadataAttr] each such entity category
   attribute value represents a claim that the entity thus labelled
   meets the requirements of, and is asserted to be a member of, the
   indicated category.

   These category membership claims MAY be used by a relying party to
   provision policy for release of attributes from an identity provider,
   to influence user interface decisions such as those related to
   identity provider discovery, or for any other purpose.  In general,
   the intended uses of any claim of membership in a given category will
   depend on the details of the category's definition, and will often be
   included as part of that definition.

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   Entity category attribute values are URIs, and this document does not
   specify a controlled vocabulary.  Category URIs may therefore be
   defined by any appropriate authority without any requirement for
   central registration.  It is anticipated that other specifications
   may provide management and discovery mechanisms for entity category
   attribute values.

   A second SAML attribute, referred to here as the "entity category
   support attribute", contains URI values which represent claims by an
   entity to support and/or interoperate with entities in a given
   category or categories.  These values, defined in conjunction with
   specific entity category values, provide entities in a category with
   the means to identify peer entities that wish to interact with them
   in category-specific fashion.

   The Research and Education Federations group ([REFEDS]) is the voice
   that articulates the mutual needs of research and education identity
   federations worldwide.  It aims to represent the requirements of
   research and education in the ever-growing space of access and
   identity management.

   From time to time REFEDS will wish to publish a document in the
   Internet RFC series.  Such documents will be published as part of the
   RFC Independent Submission Stream [RFC4844]; however the REFEDS
   working group sign-off process will have been followed for these
   documents, as described in the REFEDS Participant's Agreement
   [REFEDS.agreement].

   This document is a product of the REFEDS Working Group process.

1.1.  Notation and Conventions

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [BCP14].

2.  Entity Category Attribute

2.1.  Syntax

   Entity category attribute values MUST be URIs.  It is RECOMMENDED
   that http:-scheme or https:-scheme URLs are used, and further
   RECOMMENDED that each such value resolves to a human-readable
   document defining the category.

   The entity category attribute MUST be encoded as a SAML 2.0 Attribute
   element with @NameFormat urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-
   format:uri and @Name http://macedir.org/entity-category.

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   A SAML entity is associated with one or more categories by including
   the Attribute element described here in the entity's metadata through
   use of the [SAML2MetadataAttr] metadata extension, in which the
   Attribute element is contained within an mdattr:EntityAttributes
   element directly contained within an md:Extensions element directly
   contained within the entity's md:EntityDescriptor.  The meaning of
   the entity category attribute is undefined by this specification if
   it appears anywhere else within a metadata instance, or within any
   other XML document.

2.2.  Semantics

   The presence of the entity category attribute within an entity's
   entity attributes represents a series of claims (one for each
   attribute value) that the entity is a member of each named category.
   The precise semantics of such a claim depend on the definition of the
   category itself.

   The definition of the concept of a category is intentionally not
   addressed in this document, in order to leave it as general as
   possible.  However, to be useful, category definitions SHOULD include
   the following as appropriate:

   o  A definition of the authorities who may validly assert membership
      in the category.  While membership in some categories may be self-
      asserted informally by an entity's owner, others may need to be
      validated by third parties such as the entity's home federation or
      other registrar.

   o  A set of criteria by which an entity's membership in the category
      can be objectively assessed.

   o  A definition of the processes by which valid authorities may
      determine that an entity meets the category's membership criteria.

   o  A description of the anticipated uses for category membership by
      relying parties.

   If significant changes are made to a category definition, the new
   version of the category SHOULD be represented by a different category
   URI.

   Entity category attribute value URIs MUST be treated as opaque
   strings.

2.3.  Entity Category Example

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   <md:EntityDescriptor xmlns:md="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata"
     entityID="https://service.example.com/entity">
     <md:Extensions>
       <mdattr:EntityAttributes
         xmlns:mdattr="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:metadata:attribute">
         <Attribute xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion"
           NameFormat="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:uri"
           Name="http://macedir.org/entity-category">
           <AttributeValue
             >http://example.org/category/dog</AttributeValue>
           <AttributeValue>urn:oid:1.3.6.1.4.1.21829</AttributeValue>
         </Attribute>
       </mdattr:EntityAttributes>
     </md:Extensions>
     ...
   </md:EntityDescriptor>

3.  Entity Category Support Attribute

3.1.  Syntax

   Entity category support attribute values MUST be URIs.  It is
   RECOMMENDED that http:-scheme or https:-scheme URLs are used, and
   further RECOMMENDED that each such value resolves to a human-readable
   document defining the value's semantics.  A given entity category
   value MAY be associated with multiple support values in order to
   allow for multiple forms of support, participation, or interoperation
   with entities in the category.

   The entity category support attribute MUST be encoded as a SAML 2.0
   Attribute element with @NameFormat urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0
   :attrname-format:uri and @Name http://macedir.org/entity-category-
   support.

   A SAML entity claims a form of support for entities in one or more
   categories by including the Attribute element described here in the
   entity's metadata through use of the [SAML2MetadataAttr] metadata
   extension, in which the Attribute element is contained within an
   mdattr:EntityAttributes element directly contained within an
   md:Extensions element directly contained within the entity's
   md:EntityDescriptor.  The meaning of the entity category support
   attribute is undefined by this specification if it appears anywhere
   else within a metadata instance, or within any other XML document.

3.2.  Semantics

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   The presence of the entity category support attribute within an
   entity's entity attributes represents a series of claims (one for
   each attribute value) that the entity supports peer entities in a
   category in a particular fashion.  The precise semantics of such a
   claim depend on the definition of the category support identifier
   itself.  Category support claims will often be defined to be self-
   asserted.

   The definition of the concept of "support" for a category is
   intentionally not addressed in this document, in order to leave it as
   general as possible.  It is assumed that entity category definitions
   MAY define one or more support values signifying particular
   definitions for "support" by peers as motivated by use cases arising
   from the definition of the category itself.

   A common case is expected to be the definition of a single support
   value whose URI is identical to that defined for the category itself.

   If significant changes are made to a category support definition, the
   new version SHOULD be represented by a different category support
   URI.

   Entity category support attribute value URIs MUST be treated as
   opaque strings.

3.3.  Entity Category Support Example

   <md:EntityDescriptor xmlns:md="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata"
     entityID="https://idp.example.edu/entity">
     <md:Extensions>
       <mdattr:EntityAttributes
         xmlns:mdattr="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:metadata:attribute">
         <Attribute xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion"
           NameFormat="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:uri"
           Name="http://macedir.org/entity-category-support">
           <AttributeValue
             >http://example.org/category/dog/basic</AttributeValue>
           <AttributeValue
             >http://example.org/category/dog/advanced</AttributeValue>
           <AttributeValue>urn:oid:1.3.6.1.4.1.21829</AttributeValue>
         </Attribute>
       </mdattr:EntityAttributes>
     </md:Extensions>
     ...
   </md:EntityDescriptor>

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4.  IANA Considerations

   This memo includes no request to IANA.

5.  Security Considerations

   The presence of the entity category attribute within an entity's
   entity attributes represents a series of claims (one for each
   attribute value) that the entity is a member of the named categories.
   Before accepting and acting on such claims, any relying party needs
   to establish, at a level of assurance sufficient for the intended
   use, a chain of trust concluding that the claim is justified.

   Some of the elements in such a chain of trust might include:

   o  The integrity of the metadata delivered to the relying party, as
      for example assured by a digital signature.

   o  If the entity category attribute is carried within a signed
      assertion, the assertion itself must be evaluated.

   o  The procedures and policies of the immediate source of the
      metadata; in particular, any procedures the immediate source has
      with regard to aggregation of metadata from other sources.

   o  The policies and procedures implemented by agents along the
      publication path from the original metadata registrar: this may be
      determined either by examination of the published procedures of
      each agent in turn, or may be simplified if the entity metadata
      includes publication path metadata as described in the
      [SAML2MetadataDRI] extension.

   o  The policies and procedures implemented by the original metadata
      registrar.

   o  The definition of the category itself; in particular, any
      statements it makes about whether membership of the category may
      be self-asserted, or may only be asserted by particular
      authorities.

   Although entity category support attribute values will often be
   defined as self-asserted claims by the containing entity, the
   provenance of the metadata remains relevant to a relying party's
   decision to accept a claim of support as legitimate, and the specific
   definition of a support claim will influence the assurance required
   to act on it.

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6.  References

6.1.  Normative References

   [BCP14]    Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels ", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [SAML2MetadataAttr]
              Cantor, S., Ed., "SAML V2.0 Metadata Extension for Entity
              Attributes", August 2009,
              <http://wiki.oasis-open.org/security/SAML2MetadataAttr>.

   [SAML2MetadataDRI]
              La Joie, C., Ed., "SAML V2.0 Metadata Extensions for
              Registration and Publication Information Version 1.0",
              April 2012,
              <http://wiki.oasis-open.org/security/SAML2MetadataDRI>.

6.2.  Informative References

   [REFEDS.agreement]
              Research and Education Federations, "REFEDS Participant's
              Agreement", , <https://refeds.org/about/
              about_agreement.html>.

   [REFEDS]   Research and Education Federations, "REFEDS Home Page", ,
              <http://www.refeds.org/>.

   [RFC4844]  Daigle, L. Internet Architecture Board, "The RFC Series
              and RFC Editor", RFC 4844, July 2007.

Appendix A.  Acknowledgements

   This work has been a collaborative effort within the REFEDS and MACE-
   Dir communities.  Special thanks to (in no particular order):

   o  RL 'Bob' Morgan

   o  Ken Klingenstein

   o  Keith Hazelton

   o  Steven Olshansky

   o  Mikael Linden

   o  Nicole Harris

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   o  Ian A. Young

   o  Tom Scavo

Appendix B.  Change Log (to be removed by RFC Editor before publication)

B.1.  Since draft-macedir-entity-category

   Adopted as base for draft-young-entity-category-00.

   Changed ipr from "pre5378Trust200902" to "trust200902" and submission
   type from IETF to independent.

   Designate Ian Young as editor for this version.  Set more general
   affiliation.

   Modernised reference to RFC 2119 [BCP14] and moved that reference to
   the introduction.

   Adjusted layout of examples so that they don't exceed the RFC
   standard line length.

   Minor typographical nits but (intentionally) no substantive content
   changes.

Authors' Addresses

   Ian A. Young (editor)
   Independent

   EMail: ian@iay.org.uk

   Leif Johansson
   NORDUNet

   EMail: leifj@sunet.se

   Scott Cantor
   Internet2

   EMail: cantor.2@osu.edu

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